I'm Not a Cynic

Indeed, Clouse’s thoughts on the rarity of her compromises was the truth. Ellery was rigid in her beliefs and had a very hard and fast set of morals. She was an unwavering compass, a fur-clad knight, and while she didn’t believe her word to be law, she believed her actions upheld the greater good on most occasions. She’d always been this way, even in her youth. Most pups would venture beyond the borders and test the boundaries of their parents’ rules, but Elle never had. In her opinion, that had actually given her a longer leash than most other kids got. That much was shown in the way her roudier siblings were handled. But, with her brother looking up at her with those bright, happy eyes, she felt her iron heart melting a little. Maybe it way okay to slip a little.

However, she did falter a bit when he mentioned never going back. She wasn’t sure what he meant by that, exactly, and she was suddenly feeling a little more nervous. “Well, like I said, Mother really just wants to wait until you, Vash, Rashina, Gaia and Torrin are a bit older and through winter before we start looking for somewhere else. You don’t ever have to go back to the Dell if you don’t want to, though I will have to go retrieve them at some point,” she explained with a shrug. Then, she paused, pursing her lips, “Unless...you meant you don’t want to go back to being with the rest of the family.” Ancestors, she hoped that wasn’t it.