There she is, he thinks, the shy Gaia that he had known once before and it sparks warmth in his eye. He can feel the way her belly settles beneath the warm blood of the fox as she begins to gnaw into it and he finds pleasure in providing for her. It was the duty of a male to help females, to protect them. It was a trait he hoped to pass along to his own sons and to find the mates of his own daughters, although that thought makes him frown. They were entirely too young to even think about mates and he would not allow it! Back on to the situation at hand, however. "I can find you one and make sure it is safe unless you'd like to come back to Taviora for the night? I know of a few empty dens nearby," he says, hesitating just a moment as he imagines coming back into the Taviora with his imprint in tow. Lord knows Astrid would likely have a fit, despite living in Taviora with his own cousin who was her imprint. What a mess of things that was!

She stands and he stands to attention, watching her in case she needed something else. Zaph cannot stop the grin that adorns his handsome maw the moment she speaks, her voice firm. "I don't think she will like it much either way but you are my imprint the same as her own imprint would take care of her, I'm sure." Which brings back his scowl, his dislike for Solaris intense merely because he had dare lay claim to what was his even if it was unintentional. "Besides, I won't be able to sleep if I don't know you are okay and settled in somewhere warm. You could easily die from the cold on a night like this." And it is true. He does worry, worry that she will send him away to suffer some more.

Then he has to be the one to cause her suffering, watching as she suddenly realizes what he says, his eye sad and his body wilted beneath the burden of such a task. When she begins to throw up he leaps up. "Gaia!" He exclaims, not in horror at the nasty sight on the snow, but at her own pain that causes her so much physical suffering. He moves to her then as she collapses into her grief, sobbing and screaming, and her pain is felt tenfold in his chest. He presses against her then, his side flush with her own and licks her chin in a calming manner, feeling a whine in his throat at the way she crumbles. This... this is something he cannot fix. Not with a den or with a fox or with pleasantries.

"I am here," he rumbles, still pressed to her side as she comes out of the haze of grief, his own chest tight and full and equally pained. A tear escaped his eye but it is fast hid from her in the frosty, snowy world. "I am so very sorry Gaia." And that is all he can say because what did one say to such grief that is so immeasurable, not even the stars can come close?