Redhawk Caldera Lakeside sunset

Eljay chuckled when Ceridwen asked why he would think that he was not good enough for his family, because it spoke of the confidence she had that he had certainly lacked as a child (and sometimes did even today). Thank you, said Eljay with a humble smile. I didn't think so, especially when I was young. I was always different from others, more sensitive, and I thought it was a bad thing. Among other things by having some children that were sensitive and caring — Weejay came to mind — Eljay had grown to accept that trait in himself better.

He nodded when Ceridwen suggested that Maia had become his home. That was true; while Eljay was happy that they had ended up back at his birth home, he could've lived anywhere and lived a happy life with Maia.

We knew each other for a long time before we got together, Eljay explained. We lived some bit west of here at first. Your mother lived there because of her sister Wraen, and I lived there because of my childhood friend. He left out the bit where he and Wildfire'd been mates, because it would only complicate the story. When my friend died, your mother was there for me, but I didn't really see her at that time, because I was hurting from losing my friend. It was only after she and Wraen left to find Brecheliant that I understood how much she meant to me. Of course, that was not the end of the story. I moved to this very place, and your mother lived to the west, at a place called Broken Antler Fen, in Brecheliant. We eventually admitted that we liked each other, but neither of us wanted to move at first. That's when I, eventually, moved to live with her. He realised only by the end that he had circled back to their original conversation, and so he left it at that.