Sun Mote Copse How can we live in charcoal towns?

His question fell to deaf ears it seemed. Eljay had never thought Towhee to be one with a flair for the dramatic, but he tasted some of it here, now, where he was beginning to wonder if she really would never be able to have any, or if she just hadn't so far. He understood the woes of not being able to conceive, the frustration behind that, but he didn't want to exclude the possibility at all. Eljay figured he would just look up Towhee later and ask what precisely Raven had said; just so he knew what to prepare for, whether there'd be pups from Towhee this season. Eljay honestly wasn't sure who else he should expect them from this year, except for of course mom and dad.

The look Towhee gave him when she walked away, clearly inviting only the children, was clear enough. Eljay felt that it was a little ungrateful that she would just walk away like that when he had come to make sure she was alright, looking out for her health. He frowned at that. Nellie had already left and he hadn't even managed a good-bye before she took off.

Eljay was left standing there alone, feeling rejected and lonely, and not taken seriously in his midwife expertise at all.