Merrick watches her as she speaks, watches the way her eyes light up when she fearlessly admits just how much better she is now that she's left the clan. She vocalizes what he's been feeling so easily, but has felt far too conflicted to admit.

The tent is about finished. He crouches down to adjust the stakes, biting his lip a moment before speaking.

"I just wonder how the clan is doing," he murmurs. "We left them short four hunters and two of their mages. I protected everyone." He hammers the stake deep into the ground hard--perhaps too hard. "And then I left."