Sun Mote Copse paradise

It was hard for Eljay to fathom that Niamh wasn't terrified to lose Phox, when she had lost Colt too soon. He was not quite sure that he would be able to do the same. He was not quite sure he would be able to do it all alone again after all that had happened and he both didn't understand and admired Niamh for wantin to take that leap again. Of course, it was easier for him to think this, since he wasn't in the position where he loved someone again. He wasn't quite sure he ever would be; it had taken four years to find Wiffle in that way, and he doubted there was more than one woman out there who could love him that way. That was alright; it was a fate he had accepted, and he felt that everyone around him knew it, too, in some way. He just wasn't made to be loved in that way, but that was alright for him as long as he could be loved as a father, as a brother, as a son, as a caretaker.

Yeah... was all Eljay said, not wanting to speak his fears -- but what if it wasn't? but what if it happened again? -- and he smiled meekly at Niamh. Then he turned back to the ground, sniffing the air. I think there's something this way, he said, ears perking to his right side. Smells like -- deer? He glanced at Niamh to confirm.