Blackbeak Bluff I'll die for you, I will

Though the news Nova Rose had given him made Reek's heart overflow with joy and hope, the sad conditions of his attempt at fatherhood still weighed the man down. Deep down, he knew there were some wounds that even God couldn't heal. But hope was a powerful thing. Somehow, it kept his heart beating and it drove him further south with the urgency. He took a breath and wondered, did she know? Could she? His unborn children had been a sensitive subject during their last encounter -- and in a way it still was, yet Reek was less guarded than he had been in the past. The walls he kept had tumbled down; each barrier stripped away by heartache and exhaustion.

"I'm a dad," he murmered. A bittersweet feeling took hold, seeping into the cracks of his weathered form. The Lord had protected them -- kept them safe from the wrath of Sleeping Dragon -- but how much time had Reek lost with them? There were so many milestones he had surely missed; his daughter's first words, his son's first clumsy steps. He had never marvled at how small they were, nor had he looked upon them with love until his heart felt as if it would explode with wild emotion. 

"They were gone," he continued. "Stripped from me before I even had the chance to know them." This, he knew she would understand. Her own son, Kevlyn, the Cardinal knew how much she loved him -- how much it had left her gutted when he had died. He had been her heart, and with his loss, Reek knew that something was missing inside of her. There was a hole, a hole he felt as well.

But his children, they were not Kevlyn. "They're out there, somewhere." There was an urgency within the tremble of his voice; a broken, but hopeful shake. "I have to find them." And if he didn't, he knew he would die a bitter, lonely man.