Neverwinter Forest Paradise on the right, hell on the left

Her first reaction was to tell him that things could be that simple; they didn't have to be so complicated all the time, which was obviously easy for her to say with her no children and life with considerably more freedom because of that fact. But as he continued to speak, she realized why things were more complicated and that there was an actual someone he was interested in that lead another pack. At first, she didn't pick up on what he was implying. He was mentioning Aiolos, which told her that the pack was Yuèlóng, but she gave him a confused look otherwise. Why would Aiolos have told Mal about the pups? Did he know how Mal felt about his leader? Maybe there was more to it that she didn't know?

He told her that he went to Yuèlóng to see this woman and that's how he found out. She nodded, her expression still holding some confusion as it shifted to concern. She felt the anger bubble again at his dejected statement about being the one who had to figure out how to make things work. She was going to offer her opinion on that but then everything clicked with his final words. The pups were his; that was why he was so upset by the whole thing and why he seemed sad that they didn't know him. More of a reason for her to be angry with whoever this was. I'm sorry, Mal, she offered. There was no judgement about that fact that he had yet another litter of pups; that would just be poking his wounds. Plus, it wasn't exactly like she judged him in the first place; she just wanted him to be careful and protect himself a little more. It's not just on you to make it work, she added because she couldn't help it. It's on both of you. Again, that was easy for her to say being unbound by the responsibility of caring for children, but there was still some truth to it—not an easy truth, but truth nonetheless.