Nathaniel wasn’t exactly sure how to feel about his children.

There was, of course, some form of paternal instinct that had awoken when he stumbled across them. It was what allowed them to curl into him at night when they were chilled or frightened, what made sure they ate regularly, and what made him find a safer, bigger den shortly after their arrival. He kept them clean as best he could - the salt water left them with hard fur and reeking of the ocean - and tried to be fatherly, but there was no real love between the trio.

The darker boy, Oblivion, was fairly independent, so Nathaniel let him be. However, the lighter boy gave him cause for concern.

Nathaniel knew little when it came to pups, but even he could see that where Oblivion was well fed and growing into his yearling body, Ansel was quite thin. He’d taken measures to care for the boy, giving him the affection that his darker brother didn’t seem to want, but the harshness of his breathing and the fragileness of his body was something that Nathaniel didn’t know how to fix. After watching the Ansel struggle to eat, he’d taken to regurgitating food for the child in an effort to put weight onto his thin body, but even then, the boy seemed reluctant and shy to feed in front of him or Oblivion.

There might have been a feeling of pride in those paternal feelings - both boys had (some) manners and neither of them were hideous, but more than that there was a feeling of ‘what do I do now?’ Nathaniel had never wanted a family, had been perfectly content to stay a loner for all of his life. Now, here he was - mostly in a pack with a pair of sons. My, how fate had changed his course.

The man was sitting on the beach, fire eyes focused on the crashing of the waves in front of him. The wind that came off the water was bitterly cold and he found himself thankful for the thickness of his coat. The boys were, or should still be, sleeping in the den - the sky was only just fading into the lightness of dawn. He’d awoken early and disentangled himself from the sleeping duo and made his way to the shore.

When he’d first arrived to Glorall, the beach had been a mystery to him - never had he seen such a vastness of open water. Through the year, however, he’d found peace in the place. It’s sheer size made him feel small in a pleasing way and helped him work through the muddle of thoughts, as he was doing now. He knew that he should speak to Eden, not just about officially becoming part of the pack but also about the boys, and that he should probably find a healer to look at Ansel. Problem was - Nathaniel did not know a healer, or where Eden could be found. In truth, Nathaniel didn’t know anyone.