Sun Mote Copse so rested he by the tumtum tree

Let's put it like this - Elfie did not dislike his cousins per se, he just wished they could understand his point of view. But he was well aware of the coolness in their attitude to him and he was too proud to either apologize or seek their acceptance. Hadn't Wraen said it herself - they were all different and they should deal with that (not in so many words, but something like that)?

"I will be fine," he retreated from Sugar Glider and turned his head away. "Thank you," he added for a good measure, in case Bronco decided to be a knight-all-mighty and reprimand him for not being polite. He got to his feet and walked off to a less slippery and unsafe terrain, all the while wincing at the pulsating pain in his skull and blinking the blood away. This was not the way he had imagined getting his first battle scar and it did not seem a very royal way to do it either.

"I will find Wraen and tell her, what has happened," he looked over the shoulder at the two love-birds and decided that they were good enough to be left on their own. What would a half blind cousin, who had swallowed a good deal of muddy water, do for them.