Mount Everfall God loves his children

Immediatly, the child spoke -- asking for confirmation. Resolutely, Hiram nodded his head. She deserved the truth. She deserved her true father. Not long after, Laika found her voice and began to fill in the gaps that the man had missed since the maplewolves had departed their beloved wood. She regarded him not with disdain, but with kindness that he found suprising. Laika was, and had always been, Hiram's friend.

While her tone had been refreshing, the news she brought was deeply unsettling. Saena was gone -- she had flown the coup, leaving her children to be orphans. Hiram felt anger rise in his brest for his ex-wife for abandoning their children, especially after the way she had barred him from ever seeing them. Second, there was the meantion of Milo that casued Hiram's anger to quickly shift into grief. "My boy," he murmered, feeling his heart break for the boy he would never know.

His name had been the one he suggested -- the name of his great-grandfather before him; Milo Bramble. The boy would never know his namesake, nor would his father ever see his smiling face. "I was too late," he choked out, feeling the weight of guilt crushing him even further. 

His expression was one of desperation as the others spoke. First the stranger; though it gave Hiram great comfort to know that his surviving daughters had been under loving care. They deserved their real family -- their real parents. Not this lie that they had been living. 

And then Spring -- Spring, who's hatred burned for him in a way Hiarm did not truly understand -- weighed in. He did not expect the wolves of the creek to hand the children over. No, he intended to take them quietly. He still did, but his excitement had drawn him too close. "No," he answered. "But I'm here to be the father they deserve." 

He straightened his posture, feeling a righteous power rising within him. "It doesn't matter what Saena wanted -- she abandoned them by choice. I was forced to leave. I am not a perfect man and I don't pretend to be one, but she deserves to know that she has a father who loves her. She deserves to know that I've spent every waking moment trying to find her." 

He shook his head. "I may not deserve it -- but she does." After all, even though she was still just toddler, it was her right to decide for herself.