He should not be here for this.  Tamlin watched in amazement and no small amount of dismay as Ranuk, the great demon, the formidable enemy his brother had spoken of and the mighty soldier of the demon queen, began to weep.  The elf stepped back quietly to retreat from this fragile moment, to let Ranuk alone and give him time-- the circumstance was deeply uncomfortable, there was no way around that.  Ranuk's father had died by himself, with no comfort of family or friends, and Tamlin's grandfather had dealt the killing blow.  The descendant of his murderer was mere feet away, and would be married to his son, who had only now been able to mourn him properly after centuries.<br/><br/>Ranuk's voice rumbled through the air, pitched with grief that even Tam could understand, if not the words themselves.  It hurt to watch, to see the sadness and loss overwhelming the other, but the prince felt frozen.  What could he do?  What could he say, could offer?  Nothing.  He was in way over his head, and while Tamlin had known that, he had not fully acknowledged his naivete and ignorance until now.<br/><br/>He stepped back from the tree and from Ranuk, reaching the bottom of the small hill, and sat down in the tall grass; it nearly obscured him, let him blend in, but that was what he wanted.  To be out of the way, to be unobtrusive, to let Ranuk have as much privacy and consolement as he could in this situation...  Tamlin regretted following along down the tunnel, regretted even coming after the Ryvolans in the first place.  If there had been no hunting, then none of this would have happened...<br/><br/>But that was not a fair wish, because if there had been no hunting, no Ryvolans, no tunnel, Ranuk would not have been reunited.  Even if his father was only bones and dust now, he was still there, and it was cruel to keep the living and the beloved dead so parted from each other.  Tamlin held the kitten, let it mew in his arms and ignored its petulant scratching, and remained a quiet little shadow, dark eyes in a dark face and gold hair catching in the gentle breeze from the open ceiling of the cave.  He would stay put until... Well, until.