I don't really like myself without you
With everything going on he had almost forgotten the talk he needed to have with his eldest daughters. It was hard to think just how much his life has changed. From a newborn colt just learning the world, to becoming responsible for his first mare as a yearling. Becoming a love-struck colt that same year with the Queen he should have hated for creating a tare in his family. He was beginning to believe life was just one big epic tale that never ended until you took your last breath. Bad things would keep happening along with the good. Some he may win, some he may lose, but what would it all be for? The faces of his young lighting up when they saw him and seeing him in a way, he never saw himself. Ironclad wasn’t that great (so he now thought), but there was a time as a yearling he felt on top of the world. His ambitions were large, but one course of action took all that away from him. Since then, the hits kept coming. It was getting harder to see the purpose.
His thoughts become even darker as he comes upon two of his brightest stars. Pike, Lakota, and Wrocław were the only children he was able to completely parent. Though Pike chose to stay away from the Inlet (which hurt more than he liked to admit) and Lakota has been rejecting everyone’s help, Ironclad still believes his daughters to be his joy. Wrocław was his pride and future that he hopes to one day instill his stories and his experiences to keep their lineage going. Father had also taught him the sons were to be taught to fight and how to survive while the girls were used to strengthen friendships and alliances. Was that really something he wanted to do? At this point his other daughter was living without him with a mother who saw their romance as only a fling. The assumed child he had with Skylla was completely unknown to him even as he searched for them. Lakota and Pike were all he had.
He wanted to say something smart to the comments of his spunky palomino child, but he refrains. It was time to tell them the fate their father has planned for them like it or not. Ironically, he wasn’t sure he would exactly be happy with these decisions, but at the time he thought he was doing the best thing for his herd. Pike would be happy to go live in the Cove where she always dreams of being. He could keep Lakota close under the watch of Zharko whom he trusts very much. His hoof stomps to catch their attention among their chattering. ”Girls we have some grown up things to discuss. It is about your futures.” He speaks in a serious tone with dark blue eyes staring to each daughter.