so Eden sank to grief

Understandably so xD

She frowned, but he didn't need to wonder long which words had caused her face to fall. His brows twitched inward when she attested to her ignorance of Caiaphas, and her words made him wonder if she'd listened to the pack meeting at all. He had mentioned the wraith by name, for she had been the one who had left the severed head on their border. He prepared to tell her this, but chose to remain silent, for Scarlett held no interest for the sea wolf now, and he didn't need to give her one. Caiaphas was no longer of her concern, and he would not change that.

His attention, rather, shifted to the accusation that followed, and this time Malachi did not stay stilent. "No." He said, voice firm, for he had known nothing of their contempt until the meeting, and even then their disdain for Scarlett was hazy at best. He could not speak for the others present, but he had never despised her, not even behind her back. "I didn't always agree with you, but I never hated you. I never faked our friendship, you have to trust me on that." It did not prove his point that he had fallen silent in the time Scarlett needed his support the most. He agreed with her words, but not in the way she had delivered them. And though he disagreed with much of Tuwawi now, he knew he could never despise her, either, even if her wrath ran strong against him.

She was quick to deny his help - hardly a surprise, but in this he did press her. "I wasn't calling you a failure. Heck, you're the best caretaker I know. But that doesn't change how hard it is what you're about to do. It's winter, and you'll be alone with an injured youth by your side. I want to help you because I just do. My parents cast me out, and I was alone until I found Duskfire, just like you. I don't think we're as different as you make us out to be."