"How do you even know what I saw or where I was last night?" you ask, still trying to remain evasive just in case they're bluffing in order to get you to confess.
Jolon looks at Bly, and she shrugs. "I suppose there's no reason to hide it," she says. "Tiva told us everything. That you infiltrated the humans' stronghold and saw what happens to the adults when they go there."
You stare in slack-jawed shock at the news of Tiva's betrayal.
"Don't worry!" Bly says, holding up a hand to keep you from springing up and out of the room. "We won't tell anyone what you did. In fact, we're here to help you through it."
You're not quite sure how to respond. Most of your friends treat Bly as an outcast, and there have been strange rumors surrounding her ever since she quit her lessons and refused to attend her evening job. She sits right on the very cusp of adulthood, and yet few in the pack expect her to fulfill her role in the pack's affairs. "Why should I trust you?" you ask, genuinely curious.
"I don't expect you to," Bly says. "I imagine trust is in short supply where you're at right now, and I can't blame you if you're wary of what anyone tells you."
Jolon walks over to the door and puts his ear up against it, making sure no one is listening in. He nods to Bly, and she continues.
"Let me ask you a question. Didn't you ever wonder why I abandoned all the duties our system expected of me? Why I don't just blindly go along with what the adults tell me to do?"
You have to admit, you haven't thought about it. Like most of your friends, you always just assumed Bly was crazy.
"I saw what you saw three years ago. Unlike you, I had no one to share the burden with. No one to talk to. I kept it inside until I felt like I was going to burst. The way everything around me just continued going on as if nothing had changed—it was crazy! Everything had changed to me! I stopped going to classes. I stopped going to work. I used my time to train my body and my mind, to work out my anger on practice dummies and anyone stupid enough to get in my way."