Zell paused before answering Squall to give Squall's moogle a little wave back. She was so tiny! But at least it proved Squall had a moogle. So he had to have been taken from home. Was the local Squall still even around then? Or... he had no idea how this worked.

"Because there's... ah... it's kind of a long story." Not super long, but he didn't have just a straight answer without having to explain other things too. He at least wanted Squall to understand that and agree to hearing all of it.