Dragoncrest Cliffs Where we keep the light we're given

It was somewhat alarming for Ephraim to note that he hadn't been to Hougeda since returning to Dragoncrest Cliffs. Normally he slept out in the forest, in a little hollow beneath a tree where he had a decent view of the lake. Even during the colossal storm, Ephraim had retreated to his little hollow instead of the communal pack den. There was no real reason for it—he had no aversion to the place—but for whatever reason, time had crept by and he hadn't been back there.

As he slipped through the heavy foliage screening its entrance from view, he felt like he was three months old again, padding on huge paws into unknown territory alongside a host of unknown cubs. If you'd have asked him then, Ephraim would have claimed he could never amount to what all those pups would become. Half of them were gone now, the other half his brothers-in-arms. Dipping down into the comfortably dim cavern, Ephraim smiled wanly. Seems he wasn't the only one not suited to the life they were born into, not that he knew it.

He slid down onto his belly in the pale dawn light cast through the cavern's open roof, taking a deep breath of the musty air and feeling some semblance of peace for the first time in a while.

@Mallaidh