Sun Mote Copse My mood's shifting to manic places

Well, said Alyx, hesitating a bit. She was sure Eljay wouldn't run off and tell her parents what she told him, but she didn't really know him that well, either. Was it weird to tell him something she wouldn't even confide to her own siblings? The thought of sharing her secret with Quetzal tied her stomach into knots as she anticipated the teasing she would receive. Rosie might be a better confidant, but she thought he was too mushy-gushy and would tell everyone. She was pretty anti-Niamh right about now, and Towhee and Phox were just much too close to her mom for her to trust them, either, not to mention her dad had held her to the ground recently, so he was on her shit-list, too.

So, Eljay it was!

When I was in Rusalka I made a friend, she shared, his name's Val. He's kind of dirty but he's got this big huge smile and these soft eyes and I really, really liked hanging out with him. It made me feel all fluffy and glittery inside, like he's the best friend ever and I think he might be magic. None of my friends here are like that. She'd already decided that was because her "friends" were her family, and therefore, not friends she'd chosen for herself. She couldn't just not be friends with her littermates! I wanted to go and live with his pack so we could hang out more and I could make more friends like him and make us allies, y'know, like how Meerkat lives with Moonspear and is an ambassador or whatever and makes our packs closer, but mom and Towma and dad wouldn't let me.

She didn't realize she'd given the remains of the carcass a little kick until it rolled over to Eljay's ankle. With a sheepish glance upward, she stuck out a paw to reclaim it. It's just, it's so unfair. They let Meerkat do it! And she didn't even have a good reason! Well, not one that Alyx understood, anyway. The whole thing just seemed like some extension of Towhee's and Hydra's friendship. Which it was. It just didn't make any sense to her.