"I will." Peck on the cheek and back to finish rounds.

Laithan is a normal amount of happy about the peck on the cheek!!

Later that night, when Pelape has finished her rounds and they are back in their room after dinner, Eefa has a question.

"Are you going to leave me to the wolves."

"No! What gave you that idea?"

Eefa is givng Pelape a look again.

"You said it wasn't sustsa....sustain-able."

"Something has to change. I don't know what it is but basically all possible answers are better than leaving you to the wolves."

"Why."

"- well, because it keeps being enormously destructive whenever there's a confrontation with wolves and there's only so much stuff around to destroy."

"So?"

"...so it will eventually wind up being hard to get, like, food and shelter, if stuff keeps getting destroyed wherever we live because of wolves?"

"Only around me."

"I mean, we don't actually know what motivates them, it's not out of the question that ones who know I've been taking care of you would continue to go after me even if you ran away."

Eefa stares at Pelape skeptically.

"The time they showed up in the kitchen I had a gun to my head, I don't know exactly how far away from you I would have to be for that not to happen and anyway do not plan to abandon you to find out!"

"Why not."

"I am taking care of you and that's not the sort of thing one can just drop in the middle!"

Blink blink.

"Why."

"- I'm trying to act like you're my kid, here, not like I'm just a babysitter?"

"Babysitter?"

"When I leave you with Laithan's parents for a little while they're babysitting."

"... because they don't want to keep me?"

"Because they're making sure you're okay for me. They are doing a little bit of my job for a little while. But it's my job. I take it back afterwards."

"Even if it could hurt you?"

"Yes."

Eefa is going to cling to Pelape now, like Pelape clings to her while sleeping.