The children of the desert were kept safe from the darkness of the land sometimes purely by the sheer amount of sharp, protective eyes that wandered across the borders and arching dunes. Sometimes it was simply luck. However particular circumstances came about, it seemed it was time for Cera to be the one to shield and shadow, his heart a convoluted mess of emotion inside his chest. The young foals slipping out of the borders on small, graceless wings had not escaped his attention, and while Cera could have rushed off to find their parents, it was far more dangerous. Helovia - and the Throat, correspondingly - was huge. He would not have known even remotely where the children would have ended up by the time he had tracked down his best friend and her mate. 

So instead, the Golden had followed them. He did not intrude upon their wanderings and playful adventures, aware of the importance of the illusion of independence at that age. He had been swept up in it himself, when he was as young as they were. But he had not been naive for so long, he thought bitterly, eyes helplessly glancing down at the old scar cracked across his breast. Cera gritted his teeth momentarily as he trailed down into the caverns behind the curious beasties. His innocence had been taken from him far too soon. He would not allow the same to happen to them, not while he still held breath in his lungs and life in his veins. 

Their enthusiasm - or rather, Asavvi's, he noted with amusement - was a joy to behold. Cera's heart panged with an odd, unknown desire. It was laced with the loneliness he had never outgrown, the desire for family, for love. For a child of the sand, he never could seem to clasp his hands tight enough around the trickling grains. It always escaped him, leaving him bereft with the taste of what could have been. A 'once upon a time' that had never been given a happy ending. And maybe he was slow to grow up, maybe he didn't even consider the fact that he might desire children when he looked longingly upon the foals bickering and playing, but he knew that he wanted whatever he was seeing before him. In some manner or another. 

Instead of lingering upon the dark and saddened thoughts rolling around inside his brain, the Prince stepped forward, finally intruding upon their bonding time with a warm smile and gentle eyes that crinkled happily at the corners. "Careful though, the caverns are easy to get lost in," he warned gently at first, though he doubted they would be mesmerized by the shifting hues of the glowing crystals with him there to watch over them now. But he did wander over to where Asavvi was happily pointing out her little pile of colorful stones and gems. His eyes flickered up to her, feeling the stirring of magic in his veins, the metal deposits in the earth abundant so far down below. "Would you like me to make you something out of them? They are very pretty." The Golden smiled, hoping she would respond positively to the idea. Hoping they even remembered him, even if only as their mother's friend. Cera didn't want to scare them in any way.