Two Rivers Isle i knock the ice from my bones

A sage nod was given when Devin admitted that she had intentions of going to the coast. It never got easier, Arturo realized, as he placed the icy feeling in the pit of his stomach to be a mixture of anxiety and dread, sorrow, perhaps, at knowing that yet again he had to part ways with her...as he had Cearney. They were adults now, all of them, and he — as he'd said to Ambrosia — had to let them make their own paths in life; but accepting that was easier than actually facing it. He'd done it once with the same feeling in his stomach and now he had to repeat it. How many times would he part ways with them until his belief became true? That he would never see them again. Duana and him had done the best that they could, to raise them to take care of themselves, but the worry never really went away. Every fiber of Arturo's being wanted to ask her to stay, but unlike with Cearney he did not bother the attempt with Devin. He knew her too well.

He ceased eating and took a step back, having only taken a few bites. The knot in his stomach prevented him from eating anymore. If he did, even to keep up the appearance that he wasn't struggling with saying goodbye to Devin again — perhaps a last time — he would throw up what little he had gotten down. Perhaps to a father that did not love his children as endlessly as Arturo did this would be easier: but his children had become his world from the moment they'd entered it, four wailing little newborns. They were the only good thing left in Arturo anymore and he knew that. His reputation as a ruthless gang leader was proof enough of that.

“I hope you're right,” Arturo murmured. What he'd seen of the Hinterlands thus far there had not been a territory left spared by the swarm. “My intentions have not changed. I plan to build my empire and reputation in these Wilds,” He informed her, knowing at he did not have to tell Devin that she was always welcome when he eventually put his plans into action. “but not a fucking thing can be built in these Wilds as they are now.” It would be some time until they were restored and the prey returned and Arturo knew this. “I have to find a pack, for now,” Although as slow going as that was he'd probably survive the famine before he actually found one to take him in. “I am loathe to do it, to degrade myself to the role of subordinate.” Arturo admitted to his daughter; but the famine had seen that there was no room for pride and that if he did not stifle it, it would be the death of him. “but my survival instincts have always been stronger than my hubris.”