It was two of his children who answered the call. Full siblings Lohan, the older, and Dolores, the younger. Dolores came running with a hop in her step, flicking out her tail and already giggling as she ducked near Lohan and then darted away from him. Lohan was at a more reasonable pace, trotting up to his father but still giving in and pursuing his sister here and there. Zevulun was smiling as the pair came quickly into his space, Dolores gently bouncing off his chest and swinging her nose near his cheek and eye as if to kiss him on the cheek. He snorted and pulled his head up, ducking out of her way not to avoid the loving, familial gesture, but to make sure he could give her the kiss on her cheek before she got him. It was a game they’d played since she was little.

“Hey dad!” Lohan said with a smile as he came to a more reasonable halt out toward the left of Zevulun, more respectful of his boundaries. Zevulun nickered and reached out to lightly tap Lohan’s neck, ruffling his brown hair before he tucked his chin back.

“You two up for a little run through the flowers?” He asked, immediately seeing Dolores’ eyes light up and a grin split wide across her face.

He noticedLohan glance briefly toward his permanently damaged hind, but Zevulun had gotten very good at pretending not to see when his loved ones doubted his capabilities because of the injury.

“C’mon then, slowpoke,” Zevulun teased, snapping his blue eyes toward his daughter before he reached out to bump her, then turned himself as tightly as he could manage and gathered his haunches under him, counting on his sudden take-off as startling them so it’d take them a moment to recover and catch back up to him.

Zevulun ran, laughing through the flowers, his children on his heels.