Golden Glade Come one, Come all

I'd just like to note that though this isn't mandatory, its a good way to get noticed in both good and bad ways: if they don't show, Alder will notice and won't be happy, and vise versa if they do :D

Alder wasn't a bad parent, per say, he wasn't as active and social with them as he should be -- not as much as Aspen was, for example -- but he kept them in the den, babysat when their mother needed time outside, brought food for said mother every night. It was exactly the same for his bastard children, and none of it was out of any personal malice -- okay, maybe towards Rowan -- but he did what he needed to for his kids. They knew him, he loved them, and he cared for them -- that was that. Watching them grow was a bittersweet reminder of his sweet little Lily, but the King didn't allow those to ruin fatherhood for him. Lily had been and always would be his firstborn and eldest child, but unfortunatley death was not becoming on a Queen, even if Aspen would allow a pup not her own take over the Court one day. 

That night, he'd been dreaming of her, of the day she died: he remembered laying in the sand beside his then-mate, Melodie, joking together and allowing the warm Summer day to take their attention off of the 8 month old girl frolicking before them. Emory had been somewhere behind them, in the den sleeping. Lily -- who had looked so much like Melodie it now made Alder sick to think about, with her coffee pelt and dark chocolate freckles --  had just frolicked away from her parents' gaze, and Alder was lavishing kisses over his mates ears.... 
Then came the squeal. 
The heart-stopping, blood freezing, cry of confusion and terror from little Lily had brought both Charley and Melodie rushing to their paws and over, but the coyotes were already ripping into her limbs, blood splattering the tawny sand beneath. There had been so many -- even if he'd have roused his twin, three yearling wolves could not have saved her -- and in a cold moment of dread, he'd cut off Melodie's path. He remembered the fight, her sinking fangs into his shoulder, the tussle that had led to him pinning her.... She'd never forgiven him for not allowing her to go, despite the fact she knew it would likely have meant her own death too, and she'd left that very day: out of six children, they hadn't raised a single one, and it was too much on the young couple. 

It hurt now, sometimes, to look at his current children and be reminded of those six --  it made him no less loving of them, even if he was scared to get overly attached again -- but each day he lived to feed them and keep these ones safe. 

Aspen's nudge couldn't have come at a more welcome time as the King watched the blood drain from his daughter -- his good eye snapped open, white around the edges, and snapped at first to the children. After and only after he'd assured himself all four were there and blood-filled -- ignoring the fact that, as their weakest link, Alder merely skimmed the tiny frame of Rowan -- he grumbled sleepily and turned to his wife. Breathing light and licking his lips in concealed anxiety, Alder tried to make sense of what the white woman was talking about.

                         "Time? For?"