His children are safe. With every familiar face he comes across, he feels more and more confident in the fact that Maribel is indeed safe, and alive. He reminds himself that she has made plenty of trips outside of the Tundra alone while pregnant – although not this pregnant, surely. She is ready to drop any day now. He does not want to miss her birthing, mostly. But there’s also the fact that she is a lot more vulnerable now, that if anything happens, she won’t be able to run away, or defend herself properly.

He can only hope that she turns up soon. With every day that passes he can feel himself only getting more and more worried. He had expected this time to be a happy one – he was due a promotion, his babies were being born. He thought he had everything. It was like it was all a happy dream. Reality is a harsh mistress.

He has left the children with his former kingdom-mates. It was only a brief stop in to check that everything was alright, and then he had left again. Everyone was in a state of upheaval and chaos, and it would not be fair to drag the children through that, better they play together and not worry about what might’ve happened to their mother. He thinks again of what happened to Vanquish, when the magic just went wrong and hopes and hopes that the same thing had not happened to his wife.

Despite everything – the Meadow is still a pleasant place to be. It would be more pleasant if he wasn’t so lonely, though.