Sun Mote Copse Jabberjay

They were harsh words coming from Wraen. Not intended that way, likely so, but they hit Eljay hard nonetheless. He looked away as he tried to process them and grew silent, feeling less and less like continuing the conversation the deeper it got. Of course he projected his own thoughts of what would make Elfie happy and what would make him healthy. He was the father, he was supposed to keep his child safe and make sure that he was happy. And it felt to Eljay that all the things Elfie wanted were dangerous things that he should be protected from. It would be a lot easier if Elfie didn't like dangerous things so much. He was a lot like mommy in that sense, Eljay felt, and he'd worried all his life for his mother's safety, too. Despite all that experience he wasn't quite prepared to do it as a father all over again.

The thought that he might be ruining Elfie's life in the process was too much for the father to bear. He chewed his lip as he thought of it, and Wraen's next question came too soon for him to have fully processed the things she had said before then.

The question made no sense to him because she had just established that he was not doing the right things for Elfie already, confirming that he was failing as a parent. And now she asked him why he thought his love was not good enough? Eljay felt ridiculed and mocked, and moreover, humiliated by the question itself. Eljay didn't know how to respond at all, and at first he remained silent still. Eventually he said, Because I don't want him to do the things he likes the most because they're dangerous, and he hates me. Eljay still looked away, because the only way he could say the words was by pretending that he wasn't saying them to another person, in response to a real question.