A low chuckle rolled in his throat as the dark pup pushed her muzzle under his raised paw, hiding her entire face. However she soon reemerged, looking up at him with those gorgeous puppy-blues. Her words stabbed at his heart once more, the tone making it seem like she felt guilty for her pack mates lack of affection. Still, she went on with a pups naive persistence, mentioning her brother, which made Drestig's ears perk. He raised an eyebrow at her comment, wanting to ask what made the boy weird; Perhaps simply the fact that he is a boy..? But before he could part his jowls, she was talking again, @Jessie's name inadvertently drawing his undivided attention. The thought of the grey woman cuddling with anyone seemed completely absurd; Especially a pup!

But again, before he could ask any questions, the dark child had moved on; She sure is spirited! Quickly getting to her feat and lifting herself up, Sahalie leaned against him, and the raven man turned his head to watch as she seemed to study his body thoroughly. He flashed her a small smile, considering if he should roll over to let her get to the soft, silver hairs on his belly, but then she suddenly looked back at him. Their eyes met, and her expression was uncomfortably serious when she finally answered his question.

The smile was gone, and the ebony scout had to fight his feelings for a moment, feeling that thick guilt well up in his chest again; Wallowing isn't gonna do any good! He chastised himself harshly, looking into the tiny face to remind himself of his audience. What she needed was support, his excuses and bad feelings would not solve anything. With a small sigh, Drestig shuffled on the ground, moving around a little before finally deciding to sit up, moving gently to give her time to take her paws down. Once comfortably seated, turned towards the shadowy pup, head bowed to look down at her, he offered a new smile, small and melancholic, but a smile at least. Voice so soft it would barely reach her, the Avalon said: "I'm afraid you can't fix everything, lass. No one can." It was a hard lesson, but one every wolf would need to learn; Even if she is still so young... For a moment, his eyes drifted away from her, trailing over the dark oaken trees wrapped in ghostly fog, and he clenched his teeth as his own pain pressed within. Then he shook his head lightly and looked back down at the gangly girl, blinking moisture from his eyes; "But you can help." His voice was a little hoarse, but he cleared it quickly and then smiled at Sahalie, a genuine expression of happiness this time.

Suddenly moving forwards, Drestig stretched out his leg to lay a paw across the girl's back and pull her closer, his pale chest and stomach now exposed for her to cuddle against. "You see we all have many reasons to be sad, but what you do is remind us that we also have reasons to be happy. And that's very important." The lean adult lowered his nose close to the pup's, looking into her eyes with all the warmth he could muster in his gaze; "When you're happy, we realize that we can still be happy too." Gently he touched his nose to hers, hoping that his words hadn't been too much for her to understand; The last thing I want is for her to be sad too...

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A whole range of emotions appeared to roll over the young girl, every one of them visible in her changing expressions. It was like her little body couldn't contain the feelings, and instead they spilled out all around her, big and wild and unstoppable. Drestig tried carefully not to react while he waited for her to settle, watching with rising amusement as she opened her mouth, but then just glared, cheeks puffed out in frustration. He could not remember a time when he himself had had any trouble articulating his thoughts, but Darrah and Zera had had the difficulties, and he was sure it had been no different for himself at that age; Has to be frustrating though... If the situation had been less serious, he might have smiled at her hardship, perhaps that was a good thing; Wouldn't want to upset her even more.

Finally, Sahalie seemed to find control of her tongue, plastering a wide, unconvincing smile across her face. The adult wrinkled his brow lightly, but she didn't continue this affectation, opting instead for blunt questioning. A spout of panic flashed over Drestig as he was suddenly faced with such an honest, unavoidable inquiry. He honestly didn't know how to answer, he didn't want to lie or brush her of; But telling her the truth..! Never had he imagined he would even be in this situation, having to explain; I can't! Not fully at least.

His eyes had closed as he grappled with the dilemma, leg sliding off her shoulders to plant his last paw firmly in the ground along with the others. There was no way he could explain it all to the young pup, certainly not the part about her mother; I don't think any of us are ready to open that can of worms! But, he decided, he wanted to give her some answer, something honest, that was more than an excuse or a way to reject the subject. So he opened his eyes and looked down at her, lips pursed and head tilted slightly as he tried to gather his words. Finally he pushed himself a little backwards, lying down on his stomach with one front leg stretched out on either side of her, head level with her own dark dome. He looked into her murky eyes, their color intelligible in the middle of their process of shifting out of puppy-blue and into something brighter. Tongue slipped out to wet his dark lips, a small rumble leaving his mouth as he cleared his throat. Then he spoke: "A lot of things happened Halie, I think that's why a lot of us are having a hard time staying happy. There's not just one reason, but many..." He paused, glancing sideways for a moment as he thought, then looked back and continued; "Over the past few years, many of us have experienced sad things, several sad things, and I think, at least for my part... All those things have mixed together, making us even more sad."

He realized he wasn't making a lot of sense, and shook his head, looking up at the leaves above them, almost invisible through the dimness and fog. Then he made a quick decision and looked down at her again, straightening up a little; "You know about loss Halie? Have you ever lost something, something you really liked?" He could be making a huge mistake here, explaining this to a young pup might get very complicated; And wrong! But he couldn't figure out another way to say it, not one who would feel honorable enough telling her. With a little sigh, he lifted a dusty paw to caress the top of her head, leaning forwards again to touch his nose to hers; "Something you'll never get back? That... That can make you very sad."

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He had made the decision not to lie, not to try and shield her from the real world, because there was no point, sooner or later she would have to face these things herself, no amount of shelter and care would change that; That is the world… Raising her on white lies and misguided attempts at protection would not save her, it would only make the blow harder in the end; Better to try and prepare her, talk it over… At least that was his opinion, and he was rolling with it. Whether it was the right choice, only time would tell, for now he just focused on her immediate reaction. There was a glint of desperation in her eyes, and for a moment the elder man feared that he had gone too far, but he felt her press into his caress and saw her expression grow thoughtful. So he held his breath, waiting to see what conclusion she might come to.

Her delicate, young features twisted as she toppled with big thoughts, and Drestig found himself discreetly biting his own lip. As far as he knew, the pups had no memory of Nayeli, they had been so young when she disappeared, but for every moment that passed, the man worried more and more that he might have drudged up something he didn't mean to. So part of him was relieved when Sahalie finally spoke, though it was a small part, quickly pushed out by the rest of his feelings. He nodded at the pup, a pained expression on his face; Jessie… But the thought of the grey woman confessing in the dark pup was oddly soothing, he couldn't be her only support, that wasn't healthy for either one of them; But neither is bottling it up.

Then his expression morphed into surprise as the girl continued to talk, ember eyes staring wide down at her. He took a moment to process her words, then a smile began to spread on his face, a low, warm laughter bubbling from his maw; Trust the young to be the wise… White tainted paw lifted from her head, to wrap around dark shoulders, and he looked into her hopeful, honest eyes. "Yes," He rumbled, tone warm; "Yes we do." The black man smiled lovingly at the pup, no longer worried about her ability to handle the subject; Hell, she's doing better than the rest of us! Then he lifted his head, glancing back over his shoulder for a second before turning back to her; "Come now, we better get you back."

Word count: 428

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