Redhawk Caldera For the excitement to arrive

That was a pickle.  Even Fennec could admit that the idea of earning Niamh's ire bothered her, though likely for vastly different reasons.  She was starting to feel like she was earning a place as her mentee, but she still silently decided that she'd go to bat for Alyx if necessary.  Even if they weren't ever super close, they were sisters, and Fennec understood what she wanted too well to be okay with letting her struggle with it solo.

Dad might be okay making you stay.  But he and mom would make sure you could come back.  That she could say with one hundred percent certainty.  It didn't matter a whit what Niamh thought of her daughter visiting... dad wouldn't make it weird.  She couldn't even begin to picture it, though perhaps one day he'd prove her wrong.

It's no big deal.  Fennec dismissed immediately, then thought a little better of it.  She wasn't the most feely wolf, but being stuck here was hard.  And Alyx's conversation had made her forget, for a pretty long chunk of time, about how much things sucked right now.  Thanks, too.