show me beautiful
i'll show you wonderful
as we share love

Emotion warred within him like a titanous waterfall, ever-crashing against the pools settled below, the irrevocable truth of Rue's continued existence in the world. It was all he could have asked, his dreams solidified and accounted for the moment her little eyes fell upon him. Nevertheless his feelings raged on, a tangled mixture he could not discern nor hope to ever find the end to. It seemed Rue would not judge nor grieve him for his emotions, though she wilted appropriately beneath his anger. It did little to mollify him, so worried he had been and further angered by the fact that it had been she who had brought that worry upon them all.

Every fiber of being and physical composition was strung on the tightest frequency, tight on a wide frame. But he was strong enough to bear the tension, and he welcomed the further weight of Rue's frame crashing like a wave against his own. He bore her as he would forever, taking all her physical weight and emotional sorrows upon his own flesh and mind. Kaj had let her down once, had lived an endless nightmare in her absence. Never again. She and her burdens were his to ease, the only job he would eternally treasure. Was this what it was to love? To be a father? It was a dream so unattainable, so fissured the beating muscle in his chest, the curse that fated it to ever be so. Yet with her tiny frame tucked safely beneath his wing, so close to his heart, he yearned for it.

But with fatherhood - no, Kaj, that is not what you are to her, spare yourself the heartache - came the responsibility of leading her down the path of obedience until she was old enough to protect herself while she wandered down one she paved on her own. So he let his anger come to bite and nip at her, a hennish mother herding her errant child to safety with necessary violence. "That was not your decision to make, Rue! You will not disobey me again, especially when I am not near to keep you safe!" He would let her earn her leeway back. The one she truly had to fear was Resplendence.

Speaking of...

Kaj summoned himself to his hooves as she rocked onto spindly ones of her own. She was panting with the effort, and Kaj managed a fond sigh before he ducked and stepped into her, forcefully pushing her upon his withers just before his wings. No matter what she may have weighed, Kaj would have carried her home regardless. Even if he'd have had to crawl, he would do so to keep her safe and rested. His shoulders were broad to carry her light frame, to soften the points of his bones as he bore her home free from exertion she could not spare. Perhaps this is my purpose, he breathed, stunned into stillness by the revelation. You granted me this body, these shoulders...so that I may carry. So I may protect, lift up those I love, those in need. Bear their burdens and lighten their loads. Glancing to the skies, he tried not to feel suddenly overwhelmed, emotional. Thank you.

Onward he began, the Falls and Resplendence awaiting he and the little passenger slung across his shoulders.