Sun Mote Copse what you gon' do

Oh — no, I didn't mean to imply — I mean... He tried to gather his words and then finally managed to collect them enough to push out a sentence: Maybe she realises better than me that it's going to end soon, huh? The garden, I mean, what with the flooding and then winter on its way. It wasn't entirely a 'they' thing -- flowers were, he supposed, but it was always Weejay who had taken to the garden more than he. He didn't at all feel like they were drifting apart, so he wanted to quell whatever thoughts Niamh might have towards such a thing.

Niamh spoke of Rasalas then, and Eljay nodded with a frown. Do you think he might've been kidnapped by someone bad or something? Because the thought that his parents would've done anything bad to him was completely outlandish to Eljay, so the thought did not even occur to him at all. But what could've happened? How had he ended up this way? Eljay could not help but think of Elfie, wondering if maybe he'd got hurt too and some pack of wolves'd found him. What if they had thought that he was being mistreated and maybe didn't have parents anymore? What if he was still out there somewhere, but he'd never see him again? I'm glad he's healing alright, though. I hope we can get through to him to get some information on where he's from and if he wants to go back there and if his parents are alive still.

At first Eljay was glad that Niamh started on the subject of Fennec and what happened that day. Eljay had no time to say anything in between the story she told. There were a lot of feelings: his relief was short-lived as Niamh said that she wasn't a hundred percent sure why he would put a yearling in charge of cleaning the wounds. He hadn't known how shy Rasalas was at the time, of course, but if there was one thing Eljay knew for sure it was that it was hard cleaning wounds and being the one to comfort someone. In general, it was more comforting to have someone you loved and trusted hugging you and keeping you warm while someone else cleaned wounds. The way Niamh brought the story left little space to interject his own opinion though. Was that such a bad decision? suggested that it certainly wasn't, even despite being brought as a question. And before he had a chance to answer the question, Niamh had already continued saying that she decided to take charge after he had left. But I instructed specifically on what should happen, why did you change it? Do you not trust my judgement? There was no space to say those things -- though it showed on his face that he felt a lot of things -- his eyebrows knit to a frown and some sort of emotion hidden in those shimmering green eyes -- before Niamh continued again. This time her words were a bit softer, but beneath the layer of compliments for him was still something -- I don't trust anyone but you, not even who you appoint when you can't be there -- that would make it very hard to say anything back. Because she did say that he was good. She did say she trusted him. But implicitly she also said she didn't trust his judgement.

Eljay was silent while chewing his lip for a few seconds after Niamh finally stopped talking, while he tried to gather his thoughts. She'd said so many individual things and he wasn't sure he even remembered everything he had initially wanted to say something back to. In the end, he decided to just sort of.. go for his own story. It went to show that practising what you were going to say at these sort of meetings never really worked.

Niamh, I.. I get that you're protective. And I appreciate that you trust me as a caretaker. So far the least scary part of what he was going to say. He took a deep breath and continued, the first words a bit shaky as he tried to find his proverbial footing: B-but I need you to trust my judgement, too. You were better off keeping him warm and calm while someone else just cleaned his face. And I couldn't be in two places at once. I could've cleaned his wounds all the way properly, but then I would not have been able to get the herb to reduce his pain. And you were needed to soothe him - you, too, can't be at more than one place at once. Cleaning wounds hurts, so I'd never advise doing that simultaneous to keeping someone calm. Maybe it went well this time, but next time, if it was someone who didn't trust her as much yet as Rasalas already had, they might shriek and run at the painful betrayal of their new guardian. There was just no telling. He was quick to resume: Look, I don't think we need to discuss what was the best medic decision back there. I.. I know you're the leader, but I... Eljay bit his lip while he was starting to feel physically nauseous. He didn't remember ever standing up for himself like this, and his statement lacked conviction and confidence because of it; .. I'm the medic, and I need you to trust me and my judgements and words, whether I'm there or not. Eljay licked his lips and looked to his paws; completely subconsciously showing signs of submission because this was just so incredibly scary and definitely all new for him to do. He was still convinced it was the right thing, but he was also terrified that Niamh'd hate him for it forever.