Blacktail Deer Plateau cicadas

Maegi approached first, then Mou arrived shortly after. Mou, quiet as ever, though there was something about him that seemed familiar today. Phox chalked it up to being around more familiar faces over the past week. That had done him a great deal of good mentally, and yet he found he was happy to be back here and to maybe make some more progress with Vesper and Peregrine. He did not know where they were now, and he looked expectantly for them, but he figured they were old enough now to spend some time on their own.

I want to thank you two for taking care of the kids. Not just for the past week, but all the time leading up to it, too. I don't know why Niamh did or said what she did, and I suppose I never will. You two acted in the kids' best interest, and I will forever be in your debt for that. I want to stay here until they want to come with me or until they're old enough to be comfortably on their own. I don't think it would be bad for you two to be involved in their lives, either.

He knew it was a lot to take in all at once, so Phox let his words hang in the air there, wondering what they would think. Would they want to remain in Peregrine and Vesper's lives? He hoped so, if only for the kids' sake. Phox couldn't very well rip the children away from their adoptive parents. It would be just as cruel as ripping them away from him.