Two Rivers Isle i knock the ice from my bones

omg, thank you so much. your compliment made my night! <3

 

The grin that his pallid daughter gave him was one to out match the devil's own, and Arturo felt a swell of pride midst the warmth and emotion that rose in his chest, up his throat where it caught. For a moment, the Fearghal was overwhelmed with it, struggling with all that he wanted to say. Cearney's appearance had been enough to bring the king to his knees but it was Devin's that was strong enough to break him. He had thought, speaking his goodbyes to Bain, Devin and Cearney (for Bowie had already left Quicksilver Hollow at that point) that he would never see them again. They had outgrown their need for him as Arturo had outgrown the Hollow. The legacy he'd created there would always live in his mother's shadow and thus it had been time for the Fearghal to move it elsewhere, to build it back from the ground up, ungoverned and free of the warrior queen's shadow.

Arturo had allowed Devin to make the decision to approach him and the moment the gaunt coywolf felt his daughter's head press against the fur of his flank — so quick that it would easily be missed if his daughter had not been paying attention — the Fearghal monarch let out a single, quiet sob. Letting them go had always been apart of the growing up process but he would never stop being their father and he would never stop loving them as his children. Arturo struggled to understand what to do with the overwhelming feelings that consumed him. Someday, he would have more children, but for now Devin and her siblings were all he had and thus the subject to all of his worry and affection.

“I missed you too, little dove,” Arturo whispered, barely managing to hear her words muffled as they'd been by his fur. Devin's scowl reminded Arturo that he was probably being too suffocating for her liking but in that moment he hadn't — and didn't — care. She could live with it. He'd been reunited with his daughters and that was something that Arturo intended to treasure. It was a mystical thing for him to wrap his mind around after admitting to himself of the very real possibility that he would never see them again. “Adult or not you will always be my child.” He reminded her softly, not taking her words to heart. Arturo had no qualms with treating her like the adult she was — but sometimes he still saw his children as the mewling infants and curious pups they'd been. Devin didn't understand because she was not a parent, and Arturo didn't expect her to. Perhaps, one day, she would come to learn why he (and no doubt Duana) had sometimes struggled with it. He didn't focus upon that thought long, though. Instead, he was silently thanking whatever deities would listen that he was so fortunate to have been reunited with not one but two of his children. “Someday, when you have kids of your own you will understand, Devin.”

She spoke of sharing the meal and was patient enough to let him inspect her to assure himself that she was alright and whole before she scooted aside, a silent gesture for him to join her, yet the gangster did not. Everything he did, he did for his family. Instead, he reclined back upon his haunches watching her eat. Part of him wanted to gorge himself on the half she was clearly attempting to save for him, but he would put her before himself as he always had. As a father was expected to. “Do not worry about me, little dove,” Arturo attempted to assure her. “You eat.” He reiterated, his deep timber forged with a subtle assertion. He didn't want any arguments: he wanted her to eat until her hunger was salved and if there was any left for him he would eat and if he didn't...it wasn't as if it would be the first time he'd went hungry.