Dragoncrest Cliffs I've never given in to madness, never given in to madness

Ephraim didn't deign to reply for a long time. He let Blixen say everything she had on her mind, gritting his teeth at some points and frowning into the sand at others. Of course she had family outside of Drageda. She might not acknowledge them, but they shared her blood nonetheless, and she would be inclined toward mercy with them whether she knew it now or not, he was certain. Her apology made him raise his head a little, but then she went on and nullified its significance, and he glared at his paws once more.

You think that's what I'm gonna do? Go down there, join them, turn on you? Drageda saved my life. I owe this pack my life. I don't get why my so-called family isn't thanking you for what you've all done for me. I'd never join such ingrates. But it's my life, Blixen, and I'm not willing to forfeit it at the hands of my family, no matter how horrible they are. She might not acknowledge her family outside of Drageda, but he always privately dreamed he would get to meet up with his mother and father, his brothers and his sister again, let them know he was alive and well, catch up on their lives, show them what he'd made of himself. He'd imagined they would be proud of him. A dream dashed by circumstance, and if Antumbra had spoken the truth, then it was the exact opposite of what he'd hoped.

Then again, they were nothing like what he'd hoped either.

It's insulting you would think so little of me, he said with a wrinkle of his muzzle, then he turned away from her, splaying his ears back but otherwise appearing to reject her company. Ephraim wanted to leave Drageda, yes. He wanted to leave a situation that left him feeling hopeless and out of control. But to think he intended to run off so he could join the enemy and turn on them? Wow.