His paws felt a little more sure today, the familiar trail through Spirane and up to Moonstone's den had become a bit easier since his first time attempting it. Admittedly, he resented the fact that it was a trail he did not traverse more often. From a certain spot in his home in Taviora, if he found a break through the tree canopy, he could look upwards towards the mountainside where his imprint and children lived. Alistair had always been happy in the forest, and he was still unsure of his role as a father and as an imprint, but he wondered just how much he was missing by being away from them for days, sometimes weeks, at a time. It was not his fear of responsibility that led to infrequent visits, but quite oppositely his commitment to too much... Zelda needed him, perhaps now more than ever, and his only regret was that it kept him away from the children he sired and the woman he cared for.

Today, though, he had made it a point to shuffle his duties off onto others and prepare for an overnight trip. Perhaps it was all in his head, but he felt as though he disappointed her every time he uttered the words 'I cannot make it.' Alistair was resolved to make this evening something important, special. He supposed it was unconventional, but they were a family, and he refused to let his children know him only as an absent father. He crossed a creek running down the mountainside just as Moonstone's call filled the air, and he quickened his pace, short legs aching from the unfamiliar usage. The male paused and let out a howl of his own, toneless and a bit grating, though short-- simply to let her and the children know that he was coming.

Alistair shouldered his way through the foliage surrounding Moonstone's den, a slight smile upon his maw as he approached, greeting each of his pups with a nuzzle on the head or ear or whatever body part he could reach as they wiggled and squirmed around the tall legs of their mother. There was warmth in his piercing white gaze as he looked towards Moonstone, afraid to step any closer lest he... trip over the excited, little forms of the pups. "Hello, all of you." He greeted with a few waves of his tail. "Salem, Hawthorne, Thistle, I hope you all have not been giving your mother too much trouble." He eyed them, raising an eyebrow. Hopefully the trek would tucker them out for a few days and give his imprint some rest... the male was not entirely sure how she managed.

"I suppose we should get going, Moonstone." His gaze moved to her then, the corners of his lips twitching in a smirk. She had always managed to bring that out in him.