He had missed this - had missed her - and it brings a wave of relief across him to finally touch her cool, metallic body again. Their muzzles briefly brush as he feels the softness of true skin before tracing down her neck where he draws in the scent that he has lacked for seemingly eternity. Tiphon blinks slowly, thoughtfully, before he finds Ramiel and takes a moment to enjoy the new sense of family. This is far stronger than what it has been in the past; he savors these long moments as best he can but realizes how quickly Ramiel is maturing.
"Power as an heir, my dear son," he cannot allow this opportunity to slip, to lose contact with another child and never see him prosper. This time Tiphon promised himself to play an appropriate father figure to his children. That can't slip through his fingers so easily, especially with a young son that has the blood of the Dale coursing through his veins. "All of this could very well be yours with some teaching and some instruction," family members before him have been thrust onto a throne without introduction - some still being children - but Tiphon will primp the boy and chisel away his rough edges.
A smile plays across his face as he turns back to Talulah in adoration. The jest in her voice always lightens their conversations and bubbles with her personality that he has found himself always lusting after. Leaning forward Tiphon presses his forehead against the flat plane of her shoulder. One heartbeat, then another, passes until he withdraws again and meets her eyes. "Well, for one thing, Tiberios was kidnapped." For months he had concerned himself with his son's whereabouts but it was only when an issue was challenged that Tiphon determined his location. "A winning battle delivered him back to the Dale, back to me." His jaw tenses at the memory. "Magicians know they cannot harm me and so they used him to get to me, but they failed in the end."
He can only hope that they are gone for good, but even that would be too good to be true.
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