Blackfoot Forest somewhere inside, I hope you still see me just the way I was before I walked away

Perhaps it should have been an immediate thing, his recognition of her, for there was blood shared between them. It was by his doings that she and her siblings had been conceived, and it had been his heart so awfully fragmented by their separation. Yet, despite those factors, the pieces had not all fallen into place right away. She had grown since the last time that they’d seen one another, filled out and aged into a beautiful, young woman. In fact, he really should not have found it within himself to recognise her at all, but those eyes disallowed him the chance to look no further into her. The same fire that he bore witness to come time to catch his own reflection burned upon her face, contained within two orbs so that the world might not be incinerated by them. It was those eyes that made everything click into place, for a father could never forget the stare of his own flesh and blood.

“Your name?” he requested, a fondness creeping into his voice that he knew he should have kept out. Although he felt as if he knew her, there was no certainty behind his assumptions, and so it was with practised caution that he spoke. Should she not be his, he wanted nothing more than to not attempt a connection with a total stranger. Yet, at the same time, the possibility that she was left him unable to be cold. Swallowing, he tried to free himself of his inner battle before looking directly at her, awaiting an answer and hoping that it’d be the one he wanted to hear.