There were probably more appropriate ways of making such an important decision than just blurting it out—namely, she could have discussed it. She still had so many questions, and there were things to consider and deliberate on as a team, but Sahalie had been caught in the throes of wanting to impress Castel. She wanted to show Castel that there was so much more to her than some teenage girl fated to fall in love: Sahalie had dreams and ambitions of making a difference. Letting herself be defined by the relationship between Alastor and herself felt wrong. Alastor was surely surprise by the sudden change—last night Sahalie had groggily dismissed his proposal—and while his expression gave no indication of his reaction to her announcement, the boy still had his own surprising hand. He offered for Castel to join them. Her eyebrows jumped.
In times like these she had to remember the promises she had made to herself as a small girl to trust freely, to not grow old and bitter. Alastor, who trusted almost no one, was indicating in this bold way that believed in Castel, and Sahalie knew that she should believe in her too. As the quirky loner proclaimed, after all, life was short. Sahalie only had so much space in her heart for grudges, and most of that space was already taken up by the woman. And Castel was in—she wanted to be a part of this wild journey and Sahalie was so thirsty for the buoyant optimism that had been so absent from her life in the past few weeks. It made her ache to see a version of herself that was so recent, the version of herself that she wanted. Her sweet smile grew, "You seem like a good companion for an adventure." More than good enough, perhaps, if she could eventually restore the radiance to Sahalie's world. "We'll get to know each other as time goes on."
Her eyes slid over to Alastor, feeling a little sorry he had been forced to the sidelines for most of the meeting, "Well, we have a lot to plan still. Almost nothing is decided yet, but I've wanted to build a haven for as long as I could remember." She had believed that sanctuary would be Oak Tree Bend, but why could it not be anywhere else? Castel would be going to the "small" pack, which Sahalie took to mean Drestig's. She would be safe there, at least. Sahalie worried enough that Whitestone Monadnock was eating her alive, though she also worried a little if Drestig would mind her stealing away a member of his in the coming season.