Ankyra Sound Any rain softly kisses us on the face

Perhaps it was due to how hard Tux took his family's abandonment, but Ephraim's eyes flashed when Mallaidh revealed that she had left Drageda. The first thing he wanted to do was demand to know how she wasn't branded a natrona like Wildfire and Kiwi—maybe there was some hope for the rauna's family to return and resume their life in Dragedakru, healing his friend's heart in the process. Part of him knew better and recognized that he was jumping to conclusions. He forced his mind to quit its racing.

You were away on a mission? he asked instead, for this was the more likely assumption, even though she sort of muddied it by saying it was complicated. Like Tux, he didn't find it very complicated at all—you were Drakru or brana, you were a total outsider, or you were natrona. That was all there was. He didn't consider that there could be extenuating circumstances or little nuances to these three possibilities, if only because he had never considered leaving himself.

These wolves had saved his life and filled in the role of family when his was long gone. Where else would he—or anyone, he passionately thought—rather be?