Wheeling Gull Isle you were beautiful

When she left him he felt her absence acutely, but it was not long before she returned and brought something with her. A part of him thought maybe it was a mouse, because it was something so small and soft, but as soon as the child was placed down and she began to fawn over it, Mou understood. He saw a connection to this child that wasn't right — the image of a dark body underneath his had produced this — and he looked upon Koi with shock and wonder.

The girl fawned over the two of them. She was so careful and so kind, and he returned the kindness. The boy sniffed and watched; he barely moved but for the wiggle of his nose, or the tremble of his ears when he heard the little voice. The babe was reaching out without thought and he felt the brush of the softest, smallest toes across his face, and his eye was suddenly glistening. He blinked it away as Coelacanth explained but she really did not need to — this was his family. This was his, all of it, and he was at peace with that.

New life, she crooned softly, first over the child and then, looking to him. A weak smile spread on his face then. A wetness spreading across his eye again, this time without any thought to stop it, and soon his face was streaked with happy tears. He couldn't speak but the look on his face was filled with amazement and love.