It felt so easy, the honesty between these two friends. Their friendship had been founded during trying times for both of them, though Sleekwing had never discovered what had chased her from her den that morning. As he shook the water from his pelt and then proceeded to grab his bit of fish and make his way over to her, a slight breeze rose. It sent a delicious chill down his spine. Settling in beside her, he fussed at the fish for a moment before speaking of his children. It wasn’t a subject that hurt him emotionally, but it was tender nevertheless. His relationship with Malina was so much different than that he had assumed imprinting would be like. With an example like MoonGlow and Alcide as imprinted parents, one could hardly blame him for growing up with the idealistic impression that the other half of his soul would also complete his heart. It had been a harsh reality to deal with when he’d discovered she loved another.

Natu’s reaction to that information was much the same as Daenerys’s had been when he’d told his sister. But to him it was not a cause for confusion or dismay. Sure, for some time he had ached for Malina’s affection. It was the day that she’d asked him to father a litter for them that had quelled such feelings. She was happy with Rogue, so happy that she wanted to create a family with her. And how could he deny her that? How could he interject himself as a worthy candidate for her mate and ruin such a love, even if it was a love he could not understand? The night his children had been born Rogue had been there, guarding Malina and the pups, and he’d known from that point that they would be raised right. He just hadn’t known if he would ever be a part of it.

He smiled at her words, grateful for her reassurance. “I’ve always wanted to be a father, I just never imagined not being part of their raising,” he said, looking down at his paws once more before lifting them and asking about Sven. Natu held his gaze, silence lingering between them for only a moment before she spoke. His eyes never left her face as she told the tale of her blackouts, of how Sven had come into her life, of how she had wronged him and stolen his puphood. His gaze lacked judgment, and he simply listened. The pain that all of this had caused her was self evident in her eyes, and for half a heartbeat he wishes he could go back to when they’d first met. So that he could have been there for her more often, helped her through all of this. But the past was the past.

For a moment he remains silent; though he is not entirely nonplused, it was still a lot of information to take in. But then he reached a paw forward and placed it on top of hers, looking into those stark blue eyes of hers with the deep blue of his own. “The ifs and the whys may never be answered for you, Natu. Perhaps she mourned a son she thought lost to this world. Maybe she didn’t have the strength to discover the worst had happened to him. That strength was given to you, to raise the boy that you wronged.” There it was again, that honesty that came so easily between them. Where others might have tried to justify her actions, told her Everchime was a terrible mother and Sven was better off with her, he gave her only frank sincerity. That was all he could offer her, for it was all that he knew.