He declared it all miserably enough, but his eyes only contained sadness for the briefest few seconds.
"But this time, we had it defended, and I didn't lose anyone close," Greeves said. "I ain't going to toot my horn and say that was all my doing. That little fox Nila put it all together, and that Pendragon lioness you sent to look after us cleaned it up. But aye, there was peril, and we survived it, and the losses were comparatively little."
"Is that what has you so excited?" Oliver said.
"It's progress, ain't it?" Greeves said. "I thought I'd been wasting the year, but Loriel would be pleased. I know she would. That we can protect it now, instead of letting things go as they did in the past, she'd praise that."