Sun Mote Copse Hidalgo

It hadn't been enough.

All that he tried and it hadn't been enough. Eljay blamed himself, of course, because he should've been a more competent healer. He should've been able to save Uncle Colt. It felt like he could somehow make up for not being able to save Wiffle. But instead of a redemption story, Eljay was just lost again, unable to save yet another family member that slipped through his grasp no matter how hard he tried to chomp down. It just wasn't enough, and it was a stark reminder that he'd never been enough.

There were so few left but that was somehow not something Eljay fully realised. The threat of disbanding the home that Wiffle had started, that he had joined, this place that was Wiffle's -- he didn't realise it. Of course they would stay; that much was out of the question for the caretaker. He wouldn't give up Wiffle's home. Eljay wondered why the pups were excluded; even though he felt responsible to make the decisions as an adult, he somehow felt that the children should at least have a say in who would lead them next. Eljay just knew it wasn't going to be him. Other than that, he trusted each one of the adults that had already gathered; and he trusted them all to respect Wiffle's memory enough to stay here.

As Eljay arrived, he saw Niamh and dad. He looked at them sorrowfully, not sure what he could even say to Niamh now. It felt like there were no words for this situation. He noticed mom, a bit further off, and took a few steps towards her but then was stopped by her aura of gloom, a silent mood that screamed loudly in the sensitive man's ears and his ears folded backwards as though she had just literally shouted at him, and he stepped away from her, too. He looked at Wraen, who also hadn't approached the others but seemed a lot more confident about it than he, and smiled meekly, a second or two, before the smile fell off and he waited for Niamh to start this meeting.