to summarise

Time had passed and though no one had openly said anything, Hattori saw it prudent to address the rumours. Kiriko had never made much of an effort to be truly present, but she was the mother of his children, the very children she had left behind, scarcely made an effort to know them, let alone nurture as she should have. They were yearlings now, perhaps she'd simply waited till she deemed them old enough- though he supposed there was no use in theorising why she had left. Her reasoning mattered little at this point, he knew she had left of her own free volition, she hadn't been forced or abducted-this was a situation of her own making. Wherever she went, she would not be welcomed back, not by Hattori at least.

Standing within the communal space, the light filtering through the canopy, he knew what he ought to do but took a moment longer to follow through. Perhaps a man like him shouldn't bother with relationships, he felt...jaded, a bitterness he did not appreciate had settled and reared its head whenever he thought of the past. No matter, what was done was done, he simply had to keep striving forward.

He tipped his head back, calling out for his children, and whoever else who wished to attend.