Ocean's Breath Plateau Perpetuum mobile

dutch was gone. each day he did not return added an extra weight to aditya's shoulders. had something happened to his son; was he in trouble, somewhere?

or, perhaps worse yet—had he passed his proclivity for abandonment onto the young man?

either way, as much as adi wanted to look for arjun, his duties lie here. he'd promised minnow that he'd take a paternal role in the raising of her children—and when simbelmyne signaled she was going to moontide with her own brood, he quickly made up his mind to follow.

chalo; let's go, he said now, herding the trio of @Mzururaji, @Asani and @Usiku just a short distance behind his son's mate. almost there.

it had been a struggle for two adults to wrangle more than double that in children. even now, he feared for his wits dulled with age, wondering whether he had miscounted and lost one along the way.

up front, simbelmyne's eldest, kitimat, marched right up to rodyn—aditya smiled to see him—and looked up, little face a grave mixture of wariness and curiosity.

and then he noticed that simbelmyne had fallen.

PPing Kiti, making assumptions about Minnow's kids - feel free to correct me if needed!