As if there had been any other answer to Sohalia's quiet, pleading question. Could she stay? Permanently? There was no keeping Kaj from the child in her belly, the golden angel he loved so deeply already. He knew with a sinking awareness that the babe would be born in the same fate as Kaj, into the elements and the snow, a child of winter with skin of the sun. He couldn't presume to know what awaited the child. His own life seemed to have followed the chill of the weather, encasing his bones and his fate with the pervasive cold of loneliness and loss. He prayed, his love for the unknown soul growing with every day he awaited their birth. 

His little ray of sunshine. 

---

Heart pounded in the cavernous chest of the beast, breath coming in huge, huffing pants. Massive wings stirred and churned the air around him, forcing himself violently through the treetops. Astraeus was a guiding figure before him, the worry and anxiousness palpable as he brought Kaj down through the branches into the thick snow where Sohalia lay waiting. She was almost impossible to discern, hiding in plain sight, the pale of her coat blending into the untouched virgin snow. But his eyes couldn't help but fall, sliding off her exhausted, pained face to the still, unmoving bundle tucked against the swell of her side. 

The stallion fell to his knees, casting his wing across the beautiful girl and Sohalia both, sheltering them from the harsh elements. Inquisitive, trembling lips dipped down towards the pale newborn, fear and agony clutching at his heart. Please. Please don't take this from me before I even get to enjoy it. Don't be so cruel as to steal this from me now. His heart is shattering in his chest, tears collecting on his lashes. "Come on baby," he whispers helplessly, afraid to touch. Afraid to find out the truth. He was never a lucky man. Didn't he deserve to have a single break?

And there, against his lips, the soft puff of breathing. And Kaj wept quietly, shuffling on his knees over to Sohalia, pressing his lips to the soft expanse of her cheek. "She's so beautiful," he whispered, overcome by his own intense emotions. "I love her. We're going to love her so much, Sohalia," he vowed, smiling so wide his face hurt, trying to share his body heat beneath the crest of his wings, trying to spare them both from the cruelties of the world. 

He glanced over at the beautiful pegasus child in the snow, beneath the shadow of his wing. "Ik hou van jou, mijn dochter," he murmured softly, pressing his lips delicately to the very tips of her ears as if to imprint the words forever into her mind. 

MONTH LATE TO THE BIRTH OF HIS OWN DAUGHTER. FATHER OF THE YEAR AWARD.