You have to learn to face it all

[Claudius Aston]

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[/html] Claudius stepped forward to assist the Kalona, at which point Dawali laughed quietly. Claudius immediately flattened his ears and recoiled ever so slightly. While the recoil was more of a habitual twitch, and more internal than external, it was nonetheless evident if one looked hard enough or was perceptive enough. Claudius straightened up after a second and flicked his ears forward into a curious position. He tried to reply with a chuckle in kind to the Chief’s words, but found it difficult. Insanity? Wasn’t it better if the Kalona waited and then only left the town hall when he absolutely had to, rather than risking re-injury and committing himself to many more months of healing? Moreover, Claudius didn’t understand what was so bad about living in town hall. He supposed it would be rather busy with most of AniWaya living nearby and visiting every few days. That sounded quite nice to Claudius.

When Dawali chose to accept his help, however, the smile came easily to Claudius. The boy – now definitely a man of two years – reached out with his arms to help Dawali into the cave. Since he lived an odd Optime life in a Lupus cave, he didn’t have any chairs or seats. He normally sat on the floor of his cave with a candle or small fire to as a light source. Claudius kept his arms steady and ready to accept the Kalona’s weight and guide him inside.

“Y-yes, it w-w-w-would, since y-you ins-s-sist on taking r-r-r-risks,” he replied in an almost chiding (but nonetheless friendly) tone.[html]

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