© 2002-2024 Evie and Heidi
Part 3

**Good journey, then. May the High Ones guide you.** He really didn't know what else to say. He was disappointed, but by Crimson's bloody blade, he wasn't going to admit it. Besides, he hadn't stopped others before when they had wanted to leave. Not when they were dead-set sure it was in their best interest.

However, something in him stirred--angrily. She hadn't given his tribe a chance. He knew she'd fit in and knew she would seamlessly--given time. Temper fueling his thoughts, he finally sent his true feelings. **I'm sorry you seem to think my tribe is less welcoming than your mother's will be.**

Pyre was shocked for a moment as his sending hit her, and set her on temper aflare with the sting of his mind voice. **You said you will teach me the Way, yet all I have learned since coming is that elves fear and dislike anything different from them!** she sent back just as fueled by stubborness. **And don't tell me again that there are no differences between me and your tribe...why is that??? Because you say it is so** She threw the last thing she needed into her pack and stood up straight.

**I never said for sure that I wasn't coming back, but I can't say that I am.** She closed her eyes for a moment, trying to reign in her anger. **Do you know what I see when some of the elves look at me. They think of humans...that's what I remind them of. And when you send scouts and some of them see humans for the first time...they'll see dark skinned creatures with long limbs. Like me.**

**Just because some have not been very receptive, doesn't mean all of us haven't,** the chief whirled around to reply. Strangely, a slight scent of ozone filled the air, but when Wildlight took a deep breath to calm himself, it was gone. **Was there ever a time when *I* made you feel that you were not welcome? I've wracked my brain since you ran off earlier, and I can't think of one. As for being compared to a human, there is no comparison. I've seen them and I know. Others of us have, too, and there is no way we would make a comparison between our two kinds.**

He folded his arms over his chest. **But there are some here who won't accept change easily. It took Snapjaw literal turns to even accept that some of us bond to griffins now, and I still don't quite think he accepts them as equals. It took a lot of work and a lot of proving on their behalf to even get to the point where they did now. They kept at it, and I know if you gave it a chance, you'd find it would be the same for you. I have faith in you, can see the Wolfrider blood in you.**