He was wallowing, that much was clear. If he hadn't known better, he'd think that it was the forthcoming children that spelled his name in twisted bones and aching muscles. Except he did know better; it was hard not to after all these years. And still the buck was wallowing, nose burrowed deep in his mane of hair and body shivering in shadow instead of basking in the sunlight.
"What has you so tied into knots, child?" the stag finally asked. He felt the kinship more than he knew it; the similarity to his granddaughter, who seemed less part of this world of bone and blood, and then something familiar about himself that niggled unnamed between them. A descendant of his, this was.
Sylph shifted his head to open his eyes, giving a glance to the Legendary that stood towering above him. And then sighed.
"Do you think she'll forgive me?" he asked, mouth hidden beneath reams of hair.
Bitter Heartbeat raised his brows, "Does she not want children?"
"Fluke will adore them," he replied, shaking his head from side to side. "Just as she did ours, I'm sure."
"Then these are another's?"
Sylph nodded, "Yes...," he began, than paused. "Pearl is lovely, exquisite even. I like her very much but Fluke is my trusted. And, I, her breath. We are not bound yet we never discussed other children..." And now it was much too late to ask first.
"I understand," the stag smiled. "I, myself, have one truest love. Wolf Parade." Even now the name made his smile brighter and he almost seemed to fade as his thoughts carried him off. That was for another time then, he shook himself into the present. "And yet seem to have found myself in a relationship of sorts with an acha..." It would never produce children as they were both males but that information need not be given lest the buck before him bemoaned how different their situations actually were.And they were different. For all that Bitter Heartbeat loved Wolf Parade, she had always been less in love with him than he was with her. His affections for Choke were less enthralled and more ordinary, he supposed, with all the comfort of it. If the acha had been female, it never would have grown at all. He was too devoted to Wolf Parade. He'd have wanted, needed, her permission and guidance. (She'd have teased him the whole while, he knew, and probably watched, too.) The thought of it made his cheeks flame beneath his fur.
"I am sure Fluke will adore you still as you clearly do her. There need not be anything wrong with sharing love with others." That, however, was for Sylph to deal with himself and in the future. For now, "What about these children? Do you have wishes for them?"
That was easier to deal with, "Just love and freedom..." What a wistful thought that was.
"Then they shall be." Which all sounded so final, really. "Let us go see if Pearl would add anything." He suggested, half to get the buck to stop his moping and half to spend time with this new member of his family he had found.
