He is stressed for her for she seems hardly willing to do so. Though, it was to be expected. He never once saw Caligula stress herself over being with child and he doubts Aithne ever found herself in such a position either - of course, he had fast learnt to not ask Aster's mother such a question. Once, she had come to him regarding the very child Tesseract now sought out and she had been frustrated...but never stressed. And so, he did it for Aster. He was slower now but it didn't stop him from checking the borders, concealing whatever Halcyon had failed to do so; he buried several harees and a groundhog he was able to scavange, food for when Aster and her mate could not hunt. Halcyon was sick again, after all, and it only compounded the old man's concerns. With Diveen having been challenged for, he worried that eyes might turn to the pack with a new mother as its head.
In any case, his worry had lead him astray and only her howl had informed him of their arrival. The strain and pain in her voice startled him - he had not heard such a sound in so many years and after a moment of being completely stopped in his tracks, he began to lope (albeit, slower than he might have hoped) towards the centre of the pack. His chest was practically heaving by the time he arrived, a strange woman cloystered about her, nudging at the children. Instinctively, his tail arches to his rank, his eyes hard upon her as she moves towards Aster with a low bark to announce his arrival. Though he is drawn to move nearer, he keeps a small distance - enough, he is sure, to move to the stranger if she so much as breathes wrong - but far enough away to give Aster the space he knew she would desire. Caligula was a good teacher in that regard, a thought he shakes from his head before he calls out to Aster, his eyes remaining on the stranger.