Lake Rodney time after time

Eljay chuckled at Wraen's comment; it was very true. Just like he would never be able to tell whether Maia was good -- she'd always be good -- Wraen was too close as well. Eljay nodded at Wraen's comment. Yeah. It's great that she's getting the chance, Eljay said with a soft smile. He truly did think it would be good for Maia to give this a try and discover more about herself. More self confidence too, he hoped.

Wraen mentioned having two pregnant ladies to look after. Eljay's face fell initially in surprise; he did not know about this. Presumably this was about Niamh, and.. Towhee, maybe? It was the only one he could think of. Oh, uh — yeah, Eljay said, choking away his surprise. Why hadn't they told him? Why had they told Wraen, but not him? He felt a weird feeling of indignation. Eljay wasn't angry very often and he quickly swallowed his feelings, unsure how to deal with this hurt feeling.

He was easily lured back into the conversation by Wraen's next question. He was silent for a second or two before he said with a soft smile, I get to visit Maia sometimes. It was a bit corny, maybe, but it was just the first thing that came to mind when Wraen asked about things he enjoyed. And Fennec's back here, so it's not all on me. I'm not sure how much she knows about delivering pups, though, so... He'd be needed for that, at least, this season. But maybe she could learn. He hadn't forgotten about his thoughts when he lived back at the Copse, to follow Maia on her wild adventures and leave home.

Everything had changed when they'd moved back to Redhawk Caldera, though; his home. Where he really wanted to see his children grow up. Everything was muddled now, but at least Fennec was back and that brought some perspective, at the very least. He knew he should perhaps consider his own feelings more than the pack's in this -- they'd find a way, a new caretaker would take his place even if he left them without -- but he found it impossible to discount.