I'm not blind, Azure. [ Of course he saw it in everything Azure dd back then. ] Maybe I shouldn't have been so territorial over him, but he was all I had. All I'd ever had.

[ Was that fair, possibly not. But Macaque doesn't think he can be blamed for not wanting his mate and the only one he'd ever loved to be closer to someone who was jealous of him to the point where he'd been actively rejected. ]

I think I am happy. Not only because of him, or the kids. There are others. My younger self would have called this an embarrassment of riches.