I am sorry

Ulric's heart broke as he watched Jane struggle to maintain a smile as she tried to keep it together as he embraced her, but within just moments she crumbled and pressed into him, saying over and over how everything was fine and everything was alright, apologizing for worrying him. "My sweet girl..." he said softly as he squeezed her tighter, dipping his head to nuzzle her. "You're never a burden. And you never need to apologize... It's okay to feel whatever you're feeling, that doesn't make you a burden." He kissed the top of her head, keeping her held tight to his chest as he hugged her. "It doesn't matter what I'm doing or what I'm going through... You and your siblings are the most important thing to me. You always will be."

He shifted to hold her a little more comfortably, gently scratching between her shoulders to comfort her as he gave her a gentle smile. Sometimes he hated that he had the responsibility of the pack to think of. He hated that his attention was torn in so many directions. If he did nothing else but be their father for the rest of his days he could die happy, but this responsibility had fallen on him far more quickly than he had anticipated and now he just tried to do his best to balance it all. Keeping Eska in his life was helping him balance now that he had someone else he felt like he could rely on, but it was still difficult and it felt like his children were getting the short end of the deal at times. "Why don't you tell me what's on your mind, my little cloud? Tell me what's bothering you."

Ulric Adravendi