Sun Mote Copse Don't like where I'm at, 34 was bad, so I just turn to 35

Maia seemed to be pretty impressed with what he said, and Eljay wondered if he'd told it wrong. He hadn't meant to make it sound like he had actually contributed; he had pretty much just been in the way and then he had gotten hurt. He didn't remember all the details, as the event had been traumatic, painful and was very foggy in his brain, but he did remember that he had certainly not been good and hadn't done anything to actually help.

Oh, I-- He wanted to say that he must've told it wrong, that he didn't want to leave the wrong impression, but Maia said that she thought he did more than he must think, and then he realised that maybe he hadn't told it wrong; she just interpreted it differently. I don't think... But as he looked at her bright smile, Eljay didn't want to tell her that she was wrong and he wasn't the hero she thought he was. Sometimes, people needed to believe in something. So instead he swallowed the worry and the uncertainty and he just said: .. Thanks. with a soft smile.

When Maia said that his secret title needed to be cooler with what he had told her, Eljay could feel his cheeks flush with embarrassment. He hadn't meant to attract a lot of attention like that. Oh, uh... he said with a short laugh and he trailed off, clearly not really sure how to react to that at all. He didn't really think anyone had ever been this enthusiastic about his life or thought he was some kinda hero. Yeah, sure, most wolves respected him well enough for his caretaking work and they were nice to him. They thought that he was doing as well as he could with the crappy lemons life'd given him. They thought he carried his part, maybe, even. But there weren't many who really thought he was, well, really good at things. That he had some unique qualities that others might not. That he helped. Anyway, maybe he was just imagining that that was what she thought. He didn't really know. Maybe Maia was just this excited about literally everyone, and he was just no exception. But it still felt kinda good, and it showed with a big smile on his face.