Big Salmon Lake on my mind

For a moment it seemed that their meeting could end, but the moment easily passed and she continued speaking. Eljay was taken aback visibly by the waterfall of words. When she offered to help him remove the brambles he was inclined to say 'no', but somehow still ended up saying, "Sure," almost like he was afraid to disappoint her, because she was being so nice and well-meaning and he didn't want to make her feel bad.

His question seemed to trigger quite a lot of thought from the girl, as she started speaking excitedly of packs and how she had been in only one. Eljay just smiled throughout her story, feeling uncomfortable and like he was never getting out of this conversation, but he also felt relief that she wasn't anyone hostile.

He froze again when she said that he must belong to a pack. Eljay bit his lip and frowned, thinking back to Redhawk Caldera and the great thing that he had left behind. Maybe it wasn't always perfect, but at least he had his family... "I... No," he said, his eyes shimmering with emotion while he tried to wrestle himself through the sentence, "I don't belong to a pack." He wished he could just say 'Redhawk Caldera', and then take the girl there so that she'd have some place to live, too. But he'd told Gannet that he was leaving and he would only be in the way in the Caldera; he needed to find someplace else.

In the turmoil of his thoughts he had completely forgotten to introduce himself (again), and when he realised that he quickly said, "Oh, uh, I'm Eljay." He had already forgotten her name, and considered asking, but then he hoped it might come up in conversation naturally so that he wouldn't have to ask again and be awkward about it.