Audrey's confidence in the future is one that Eddy has a harder time getting on board with, but maybe she really is privy to something the rest of them can't see. Either way, in this moment, that seems like the better place to be. Calm. Sure. He tries to soak in some of her confidence. "Yeah," he agrees softly. "Can't not be." Even without the school reopening, he'd find his way back. Somehow.

He forces his hands apart and ignores the immediate itching to resume fidgeting. Especially when the praise comes. A deep breath in, and then exhaled. "Whole holler," he says, and Audrey is not forced to divine what he means by those two words when he clarifies further, "To thank. Protecting their home." He'd found Pouch's heart without meaning to. Just dumb luck, one seed in what seemed like millions. Even then it was just a small piece of a greater war.

"Saved her. Believed in her." He nods his chin slightly to the moss running along her shoulder. "That's the heart it really wanted." This time he doesn't clarify, because explaining that a half-man-half-anemone told him seems like a story for another day.