caspian was in a strange place - cold summers was his everything. the towering trees, bearing the scars of his father, his mother, his sisters and nephews, were as a part of him as the bones that made up his physique. the water that ran through cold summers were as important as the tears he shed for pandora or sophie, the foliage as necessary as his coat. even when he was dead and gone, a wolf of his bloodline on the throne or not, his mark had been made here; in the forest that he had been born and raised, where his first true love and their children had been born and where they had died, and where he found life once again in the form of the dainty woman and children at his side. he felt shame for being dethroned, that was a given. and yet, he remained in his home, unwilling to leave despite all that had happened. cincinnatus gave no opposition to his residence, and he gave the alpha no fight over his claim to the land.

in truth, caspian was weary and wished nothing more than to simply be. he wanted nothing to do with the malicious clans outside of the haven, nor with the throne. caspian wanted to raise a litter, perhaps two if they wanted, with his mate. he wanted his children to live and to flourish, to see them start families of their own, and to die on the land he was born on. to be buried where pandora and sophie and pheonix and mavis and onyx were buried. he wanted to see his darling katia finally be happy and safe. he had done so wrong to sophie’s last daughter, and the guilt chewed at his insides. maybe, if he was lucky, maybe they would finally be able to have something resembling a normal relationship. caspian wanted peace and quiet and happiness - even if that seemed like an impossible list of things to have in his life.

it was shae’s body moving away from his that woke caspian from sleep, his head immediately snapping up to see if something was wrong. ”Are you coming, my love?” he assumed that nothing was wrong - cincinnatus had called a meeting, that was all. emerald portals meet mocha brown for a long moment and then he rose slowly, giving his coat a shake as he leaned forward to push his muzzle against her’s. ”the oceans follow the moon, don’t they?” he replied, pushing his nose into malina’s lightening fur and puffing out a breath of air. the pup squealed with laughter, batting at his nose and he retorted by rasping his tongue across her forehead. ”you’re my moon,” he told shae, tone light for all the love in his words. ”wherever you go, i will follow.”

he followed her without a word, making silly faces at the children whenever they caught his eye - their giggles were music to his ears. it was a wondrous thing, if he dwelled on it, that the sound could evoke such love and joy in him. his face went stony when they entered the clearing, moving to stand at her side - he followed the shift of her eyes to the other kalak, slightly curious as to who the stranger was, but swiftly moving away. he dipped his head respectfully to cincinnatus as shae introduced their children, sharp green eyes watching for any sign of aggression towards his progeny.

his attention was drawn to apollonia as she came to shae’s side, rubbing against his mate affectionately as she passed. he watched her silent greeting to cincinnatus, shifting slightly as she began to clean tiresias. he made no move nor comment - the ginger woman had as much right to their children as he did; after all, apollonia had been shae’s rock when he wasn’t. for that, he would be forever grateful. there was bad blood between them, even after all this time, there was no mistaking that he had not been the alpha apollonia needed after her attack. for her to support his family when she could not, truly proved that she was a very special kind of wolf, one he would appreciate to the end of his days. his gaze shifted back to the remaining children at his feet but he made no move to return malina’s playful gestures. after all, you could take the title from a king, but you could not take the mannerisms from him.