It was interesting to know that the ones who run the local casino also help out with assisting people settling in here. In that way, Ellie Rushwater's offer to help me find work back then makes a lot more sense.
However, Zoé's tone made me look at her more… carefully. There was definite loneliness there. A kind of resigned acceptance that made my chest tighten with comparison and memory.
Yet, as much as I'd like to empathize with her… the best I could do is sympathy. Because *I* had a group I was supposed to belong to - the royal fox lineage I was born in.
> I just didn't fit it. Not unless wedged and molded and pressed into position as best they could. Even then, it only 'worked' because I started allowing it to… <
"What's that been like? If I may ask. Being here without the affiliation of your people?"
