Broken Antler Fen greathawk

Eljay was close to the den, in a small clearing just outside it. Now that the pups were getting more mobile — and they had Ibis' three to boot — he wanted to make sure that everything was more pup-proof around here. His world had been very inward-focused. The only thing he'd done outside of Brecheliant was accept Izumi at its borders, and even then he had felt like he hadn't been doing the right thing exactly, what with Maia hurrying back to the den after he arrived. He should talk to her about this. Why was she so insecure? Was it really because she wanted to hurry back to the pups, or was it something to do with her being a leader, still?

Teya lifted him from his thoughts while he mindlessly was disposing the clearing of some sharp branches, and Eljay lifted his head to look at her. He smiled at her, but when he saw the serious, somewhat downtrodden expression on her face and the quietness of the words she spoke, he sensed something was wrong. What happened? he asked, a little nervously, and he waited to hear. It was hard to be up to date with pack affairs when you had five little children and tried to process a truckload of grief, so he was grateful that Teya came to him.