Wapun Meadow do we stand a chance to rise above it all

"neither did i," insisted marten, his ears pressing forwards. he wasn't trying to say he wanted to be treated like a big adult, this wasn't about him, he was just saying that... well. "i just mean that they can take care of themselves now," he said with a frown. they didn't need someone to watch over them relentlessly. maybe that was why they'd left in the first place -- or maybe they'd just gotten lost. either way, marten imagined that if they wanted to come home... they would've. 

"i can't understand if you don't tell me," he added, not appearing it on the surface but feeling rather hurt that laurel had told him this. as if she was to know what marten knew and didn't know. he'd grown up such a strange life, he'd seen more than most wolves had to in their early childhood.