Sun Mote Copse what you gon' do

Weejay- the young naturalist, who seemed to have taken after the Elwood line of Blackthorns in terms of personality. She believed that most of the children and grandchildren of Finley and Elwood still tended to lean toward the characteristics of one or the other of the founding couple- Eljay and Weejay were more soft-spoken, kindly and caring, like Elwood. The plethora of others were a bit more 'spicy' in nature, and took after the fiery- but still loving- Finley. Weejay it seemed was the one who had been tending to the garden, and when Eljay mentioned its ruin, he seemed to be implying that it wasn't simply the floodwaters that had done the damage...But that he'd noticed a certain amount of neglect had happened because Weejay might not have tended to it. She smiled softly. 

"Kids, Eljay," She sighed, "Am I right?" It seemed Weejay might have lost interest in her garden, which was potentially something Eljay had wanted to have as a bonding experience with his daughter. "Maybe she'll pick it up again come spring, hey? I mean, give it a month or two an' there'll be snow, so you won't be able to garden anyway. Maybe there's something winter-y that the two of you can do together," She suggested hopefully, trying to wean a bit of a smile out of him. She knew Eljay might take it personally should Weejay drift further from him but as Niamh knew...It was simply what kids did. There would be more, she assumed, come spring- but she didn't want to simply tell Eljay to forget about last year's litter and look forward to however many brats she'd inevitably give birth to come springtime. 

He asked about the child and Niamh's lips pursed. She shrugged. "Tough nut, that one." She sighed. "He's healing up alright, but still not saying much. Maybe he's just quiet, but I get the feeling that wherever the kid came from...It wasn't good." She said. "I'm hoping he can spend more some time with Phox- I think he likes hearing about the stars. He's named after a star in the Lion consolation." She said, oblivious of her malapropism, hoping that if by any chance, Eljay knew anything about stars that he might use it to endear himself to the child more. He was a gentle soul- and with both Primrose and Rasalas, she had decided to be softer, gentler, and put less pressure on them to become warriors. Phox and Eljay would make wonderful male role models for the kids.

"But lissen," She slurred, moving on to a topic she'd promised Towhee she'd addressed. It also seemed to her that Eljay might've been fishing to segue into a conversation about the day she'd brought Rasalas home by bringing his name up. "I- well, apparently there's some tension between Fennec an' I, an' I s'pose you wanna talk about that." She said. She didn't leave him long to interject, as per usual. "Thing is- I gotta confess. I'm not a hunnert percent sure why you put a yearling with no training in charge of tending to the wounds of an injured youngster, rather'n a packmate who's cleaned hundreds of wounds before. 'Specially considering he's shy, and I'm the only one he sort-of trusts. Now, on someone like me who's older an' tougher, sure- go ahead an' put whoever you want in charge of tending my wounds, so they can get experience without potentially scaring or scarring their patient 'cause I don't care, I'm tough, I'll sit through it- but I didn't want this poor, scared child to be handled by a novice, not after whatever it is he's been through." She said. "And especially without your supervision." She said. "So after you left, I decided to put my skills to use, an' ask Fennec to help me keep him warm. Was that such a bad decision? Because apparently it seems like everyone else thinks I'm bonkers for not lettin' a complete rookie tend to severe facial wounds on a scared, lost child." And then she realized she had to give a bit back, too. "I'm an over-protective Mama, Eljay. I h'ain't letting anyone but the best touch my kids if they're hurt. And that's you. An' if you're not around...Well, then I'm the one who'll do it, until you take on an apprentice. An' on that day when you get an apprentice, I will fully volunteer myself to be practiced on however you choose. Consider me your crash test dummy for your apprentice to heal until they get trained. But until then- I don't want my kids treated by an apprentice unless they're supervised by you." All four of them had had wounds to tend to- wounds that had nearly cost them their lives, lending them some experience in the area.