Broken Antler Fen I could fight forever, but life's too short

Instead of letting out her worries right away, Maia apologised, which caused a frown to Eljay's face. You don't have to be sorry, he said right away, the tone of his voice a bit stricter than usually; as if to show that he meant it. Nobody would hold it together all the time with all that's happened. Then Maia said that she couldn't sleep, and that she hated lying to the children. Eljay had mostly skirted around the subject of mom, though he mostly felt like Maia might not feel ready for it. He thought it might be easier to rip off the band-aid right away, but then again, it was a tricky situation and he was afraid for how it would affect them as much as Maia, so he hadn't suggested that yet.

I don't know... I think — I think we might just have to tell them. Eljay grimaced at the thought, knowing that it would not be well-received. But what else could they do? The pups deserved to know, too, even if they were way too young to understand. It was a tricky age to break such news in. I think that we also need to let them know that they'll be living with us from now on and that we will be their mom and dad, and that we love them very much. So they know it's not — that they weren't abandoned. That worried him the most about it all; if they felt abandoned it might cause trouble in their lives, and he didn't want that for them. He wanted them to have a family to feel welcome in, and he wanted to offer that safe haven within his and Maia's family.