Sunbeam Lair i am cold in your heart and you're branded into mine

Still, Ukko finds himself unhappy. His duties have shifted, to a degree, and his time with Asterr is limited and often involves the girls in some way. And they are growing so fast, just before his eyes, and he worries they are doing wrong by them. He knows he can’t force his time with Asterr after everything but, in time, thinks might smooth out and they can at least be friendly toward one another. Instead, they feel like strangers. And they aren’t connected on a level enough to run the pack as a single unit when they can barely spend a few minutes together without it being awkward.
 
The girls didn’t need a strict watch at all times now as they had the protection of them and the pack, secured within the cavern, but he often felt the need to be around them. Seeming them grow up before his very eyes hasn’t been the experience he expected, finding some kind of disconnect, as if he is watching from a television screen, but he can’t seem to find the source enough to tackle. The male from the day of their birth has lodged himself too far into his brain to ever believe that the children he loves with everything aren’t even his.
 
He finds something from a cache and shakes it lose, picking at it until the bones are nearly clean, and eventually settles near the water to try and clear his mind.