Sawtooth Spire i’m looking down the barrel of a string-bean

the adoption of astraeus into the fold had been surprisingly difficult for the gargoyle. not that he disliked the boy or did not welcome him, simply that mahler had been given two, adjusted to two, and now there was an unexpected third.
he tried awfully to give the child no less attention than the first pair, though this proved hard to do when phaedra and thade demanded food and attention at every turn, and he could not very well nurse the tiny one.
he found himself left with all three of them, long before he was confident in it. but that was the way of things. wylla would hunt. she had tirelessly fed his brood until he could help, and she had earned her respite.
he had just nodded off next to the sleeping infant when phaedra's sonic boom of terror reverberated off his ears. mahler came alive immediately, even taking two steps outside the den before his tired mind clicked back on. how could he go to his daughter and leave the infant? should he wake the boy? oh why had anyone left him in charge? she was close, just in the distance, so mahler cleared his throat and charged off to find his spawn quaking at the rotund slimy body of an amphibian. 
was that all? that was cruel, of course it would be scary. "phaedra, schatz, it is a fat cousin of a frog. look how plump. he eats the snails and sings loudly to find his vife. and now ve must go back before your mother returns and finds the little vone alone." he would never be allowed to watch them again. "now vhere is your brother," mahler mumbled, moving back to where he could spy the den, beginning the daunting game of child-pick-up along the way.