Broken Antler Fen Let your arms be a place she feels safe in

Eljay smiled when Maia suggested she would come with him to any trip. It wasn't that there were many trips out there — especially now that he lived with Maia, because that was basically the person he would want to take a trip to — but he appreciated the sentiment, even if it did not give him back his personal freedom. He was also pretty sure leaders weren't doomed to be stuck to their pack all the time, but chuckled a little when Maia said the advantage of having multiples was that she could go out. She was cute when she was being all responsible and leaderly. My mom used to scout all the time even though she was a Beta for as long as I can remember, Eljay said with a small smile; he could not help but feel once more like he had unrightfully deserted the Redhawks, being a Blackthorn and all. I'm sure you'll be fine. But for now, I'm fine being right here. He nosed Maia's shoulder affectionately to prove his point.

The thought of seeing Penn again was a good one — Eljay was really looking forward to catching up with his brother. They'd never bonded much because he had been in his depression after losing Wifi, and whatever energy he had left at the time he spent on his own children. Despite living in the same den as where his parents' last litter grew up in, Eljay didn't know them very well at all. That's nice. I hope he sticks around. It'd be nice to have another familiar face, even if they did not know each other very well. Hopefully it'd give an opportunity to improve on that, make up for all the lost days spent mourning over Wildfire rather than bonding with his siblings.