He was very, very nervous.

For days he'd stayed close to home, straying from Kite long enough to hunt and fulfill his duties before slipping back to the den he'd been constructing for her and the children. It was nestled in the thick of the northernmost portion of forest at the base of a wide, old tree whose trunk was speckled with moss, its unearthed roots tangled in creeping, verdant ivy. In the morning, the sunlight danced upon the dirt and grass that led to its east-facing entrance, and in the afternoon it shone for a time just within the shadowed, spacious hollow inside. It was situated so that the winds could not blow within and that the rains would drain away, creating a space that was sheltered and dry. Just to the west and within sight of their home was a quaint clearing that welcomed the bloom of summer flowers when the rains fell just enough and the days were warm and long. A quiet brook, deep enough to submerge only his paws, snaked past both the den and the clearing. Its gentle babbling could be heard from the interior of the home, which he'd fashioned with the dried skin of a fawn ─ soft and inviting. Secluded from the world in a peaceful one of their own, Mirren took pride in his weeks of hard work and knowing that his would enjoy all the luxury he could afford them.

His enjoyment of their new homestead did little to quell the anxiety that accompanied the anticipation of the arrival of the children. Inside the den, he could hear Kite's whines and the way her breaths were long and deep. Just outside he stood watch over her, watching the sunlight as it moved across the sky slowly and for hours, casting slanted shadows across the forest floor and illuminating the blades of grass that swayed in the clearing, just off in the distance. The tuft of his plume rose and fell patiently against the dirt beneath him as his mind, at times, took him far away from he and Kite's haven. They would be proud of him, he just knew it. And although his family was not present to share this special moment, they lived on to see it deep within his beating heart. They always would.

After a time he'd poked his head inside to lay his eyes on his mate, exhausted as she lay curled with her back against the cool, dirt walls of the den. At her request, Mirren kissed his Kite goodbye and set out to hunt down a suitable meal. He didn't know that it might well have been the last time he'd ever see her again. Hours passed and eventually the Tainn returned, hopeful that his children would be waiting for him, nestled into the warmth of their mother's body. With a plump, feathered meal in his jaws, he crossed the flowered clearing with his eyes set on the darkened den mouth. His heart skipped a beat as the sound of a tiny whimper met his ears from a short distance ─ they had finally arrived!. But...as he approached the den something seemed out of place...It was then that he realized that the single cry sounded strange and...distressed? His brows furrowed together with concern. "Kite?" Dropping the fowl just outside and stepping cautiously inside, what the king did find took his breath away. She was gone. Kite was gone, and ─ alone ─ on the cold, dirty, bloody den floor was a single child.

The ringing in his ears was thundering and shrill. The way his heart was pounding and the chill that was icing over every inch of him was frightening. Eyes wide with dismay, his gaze was locked on the tiny cub. How long had she been alive? How long had she been alone? Had she even been fed? Every instinct he had warned him just how close to death the child was, with no mother to keep her safe and no love to welcome her into the world. Furious did not come close to describing the way he felt at that moment as he stood breathless in the face of such an unforgivable betrayal. This couldn't be happening to him, but it already had.

After taking a moment to grieve, love, hate, implode, die, and come back to life, and as an ocean of tears swelled in his eyes and rolled down his cheeks, Mirren took a single step toward his first and only child as he was overcome with sorrow. He laid down before her tiny form, inching closer and closer until the creamy tuft of fur on his chest blanketed her and finally he reached to rove her cold, wet back with his nose as his tears bathed over her. His voice was hoarse and not but a broken whisper. "Shhhh...Come now, quit 'yer whining. It's- Y-You're..." His heart was breaking with every breath. "W-We're gonna be okay, little princess." His golden eyes took in every inch of his daughter and boy was she beautiful. She was perfect in every way and...and now she was all he had. "Daddy's here, and you...You're going to be my...my..." Gods, she looked just like her mother. "...Lyanna."

Mirren would never forget this moment, these minutes, for as long as he lived, and as each second passed his love for Lyanna grew deeper. Whatever had become of Kite ─ whatever had taken her away or caused her to abandon their daughter and to abandon him ─ would haunt him, and there would be no undoing of the damage she had wrought. The regal Tainn was dead inside, except for the heart that beat only for the tiny life he clung to now. A low howl echoed eerily throughout the trees as darkness fell upon Secret Woodlands ─ he needed @Nina more than ever.

Down, down, down he went, spiraling into the deepest, darkest crypt of despair he would ever know. His body quivered, his heart quivered, and he grew colder and weaker by the second. Alone in the hell that was the den he'd made for his perfect family, the sight of his dying, only child was made blurry through the tears that continued to well and fall from his face. Nothing made sense as his guts churned and he couldn't quite catch his breath. Saliva began to pool in the corners of his dark lips, contorted into a grimace of sadness. Kite's scent was slowly fading as the wind came and went in the space he shared with the tiny cub and the remnants of it burned his nose and stung his heart. Kite's blood was soaking into the creamy fur of his legs and underbelly as he nudged Lyanna's body just as her whimpers began to fade, replaced with a frightening silence he feared was death. Over and over she would quiet, and over and over he would will her to life with what felt like the last traces of his own livelihood.

Nina's arrival played out somewhere in his mind, but looking at her form was like looking through a shadowed tunnel. Echoing hollowly in his head, her words were like a foreign language that he couldn't quite make out even if their meaning was understood. A ragged breath filled but part of his lungs as he cried out. Lifting his head, his golden eyes were filled with all the sorrow the boy could behold as he searched for Nina's face. "...Kite...My Kite is gone...I...I..." His voice cracked, hoarse. I don't understand. "Please..." he begged. "...Please." In this moment, he was not the King. He was not a king. He was not a man, but a boy, one who was falling apart at the seams with each second that passed. For the first time in his life, Mirren's heart was breaking apart, and it was a pain he'd never known, and it was a pain he knew he would relive over and over and over again.

His legs shook beneath him as he maneuvered away from the child, relinquishing her to @Nina so that, perhaps, she could save all that was left of Kite. Collapsing into the puddled blood, he simply wept.