The Warlord made his way from Aure, deeper into the Armada. He hadn’t expected how difficult it would be. To look at this place where he and Zee had explored together. He found himself glancing up at their shared den, a part of him expecting to see her standing there. Looking down at him. The emptiness hurt, and he lowered his eyes, scanning the field before him before he looped to Aris’ den. He stuck his head through her door. His appearance would likely come as a surprise, since no one knew yet that he was planning on coming home. “Aris!” He bellowed. “Aris, come out here!’ How dare anyone hide grandbabies from him! "Speech"

The sudden bellowing voice woke Aris from a dead sleep, and she jerked up halfway to her feet with a vicious snarl before her brain caught up and she recognized it. Too late, though, the pups would have woken from Sirius' shout even if she hadn't knocked them off her. Well, now they were just up, apparently, and way too interested in escape. Grouchy, grumbling groggily, she shoved them back in the furs. Not that they'd stay - Atreus was already determinedly waddling in the same direction. Ugh, fuck it. Shaking a sleepy, clingy pup from her ankle, she stalked to the door. "What?" she growled grumpily, blinking bleerily. Ugh she was so tired she couldn't stop fucking alliterating. She barely modulated her tone to something somewhat less rude before the word came out - she was single-parenting with little support since half her family was gone and she was, frankly, really frazzled at this point, but it was her dad and it wasn't his fault she had been stuck in a den with a bunch of puppies for weeks. He had interrupted nap time, that short, blessed time when the pups were actually quiet and still, though, so she couldn't quite keep the annoyance out. Her gaze automatically went to his side, where her mother should have been, but she jerked her eyes away with a pained scowl. She carefully ignored the hitch in her breath and the sting in her throat. The pups had kept her pretty distracted, but Sirius' appearance - alone - was a harsh reminder that Zee was gone.

It wasn’t long before his daughter came to the door. He took her in, bloodshot eyes, grumpy voice and all. He opened his mouth to speak, and caught her eyes, drifting to the side and jerking away. He flinched, taking in a breath. He knew where her thoughts had gone. He had intended to be more demanding, exuberant. But he spoke softly instead. “Aris.” He said gently. ‘I’ve come to meet my grandchildren. May I come in?” He took in her appearance again, and intended to have a word with her about help with the kids. He was about to take a lot onto his plate, but he would put aside hours in the day to watch the kids, if she allowed it. "Speech"

Aris shook her head, but in a sharp motion to clear her cobwebby brain rather than in a no. "Yeah they're going to be up now anyway, might as well come in and meet them." She didn't quite smother a yawn as she turned to trudge back into her sleeping quarters. She uncovered the banked coals of the fire and built it up into a respectable flame to light up the room, and the four pups there. She casually shoved a pile of puppy chew toys off her extra furs and gestured for her father to make himself comfortable there as she flopped back down. "Dad, these are Zeejay, Ansem, Tethys, and Atreus. Kids, this is your Grampa Sirius."

Zeejay was surprised awake in time to be rolled away as her mother leaped to her paws unexpectedly. She didn't know what had woken her initially, but that certainly finished the job, and the purple-marked pup squeaked as she went sprawling across the sleeping furs with her siblings, and squeaked again in affronted protest when her mother bundled them back over to the furs. It wasn't like she was trying to escape, not like her brother who was already toddling around like he was going to follow her to the door or something. The tiny child stayed on the furs, peeping over her siblings, until her mother was suddenly back again with a very large stranger. Zeejay peeked up at him with very wide eyes as Aris introduced him as their grandfather. She gave him a nervous, trembling smile and bobbed her head with a shy "Hi".

He enjoyed the warmth of the furs and the warmth of his mother's side. That is until he suddenly rolled away and was then re-rolled back into furs. A little "eep" escaped him as he tried to scramble out of them, looking for a way out until he finally found it. He could hear voices, and he could feel other bodies shifting around him. Whatever was going on, he wanted to be a part of it! Untangling himself from the furs, he tripped as he made his way out from beneath them and stumbled back to his paws, little legs racing to the den entrance right behind Zeejay. He looked up at the big wolf in front of the den as his mom introduced them, wide eyes blinking as his mouth hung open. "You're so big!" He exclaimed, tail wagging a mile a minute.

Atreus was jarred from a light sleep by a loud, unfamiliar voice calling for his mom. Literally jarred, as well, as his mother leaped to her feet. She tried to tumble them back into the first to keep them in place, but Atreus wanted to see who was there,and then bite them probably. His spiny hackles raised, he waddled for the door, but his mom beat him there and past him again as she slumped back inside to bed. Atreus braced all four chubby puppy legs wide apart and raised his had to stare defiantly at the intruder with a puppyish growl, ready to throw himself into battle with the giant beast if need be.

Tethys, like the rest of her siblings, woke abruptly from a relatively deep slumber by being jolted away from her mother's warm embrace. Oh, and she supposed there was a shout that helped wake her up too - and a snarl, but that sounded like it belonged to mom. Struggling to all fours, she was quickly knocked back over onto a pile of furs, but she was clearly not deterred. Moments later she was rising again and wobbling toward the door of the den, but she paused when a stranger made his way inside. Not just any stranger, but a big one, and one who was apparently their grandpa Sirius. Neat. She gave a little tilt of her head as she studied him for awhile, standing beside Atreus and swaying slightly on sleepy limbs before flopping down backwards. "Hi," she echoed her siblings' greetings carefully.

He followed the yawning girl back into the den, keeping close behind her, and casting the occasional glance her way. They were all dealing with grief, and while he wished to know more about her pregnancy and the father, he kept his peace. He settled down on the extra furs she indicated, only to startle in astonishment at the name ‘Zeejay’ His eyes shot up to meet Aris, and he swallowed before turning his attention back to the children again. The little Zee was the first to greet him. And he looked over her faint purple fuzz before reaching over and scooping the tiny bean closer. “Hello, little one” he said gently. The next was the one introduced as Ansem, and he seemed wide eyed and astonished as he took in Seer. the Warlord gave a soft chuckle. “Eat what your mother tells you to, and you might grow up just as big” He teased. Altreus growled and he bared his teeth at the pup. “Fierce wolf! Put those fangs away unless you plan to use them” He said, but his eyes were twinkling. The last was Tethys, who sleepily flops backwards. The Warlord shot out a paw to catch the sleepy flop. “Hello” He said, his voice an approving rumble. “Four beautiful children” He said, looking back to Aris. "Speech"

Aris grunted acknowledgement of his compliment towards the children. "They'll do," was all she said about it, though, watching the brats through slitted eyes. If she didn't always have an eye on them, they were bound and determined to get themselves into things, particularly the two boys. Tethys was a bit easier, if stubborn, and Zeejay was downright timid, which was a puzzle to Aris who had always been anything but. She reminded Aris of what her own mother had been like after they'd gotten her back from her ordeal when they'd thought she was dead, and that memory alone made it a little difficult to bond with the smallest, most fragile of her children. Easier to bond with the three big, scrappy kids who shared her own physicality, even if they did frustrate her to no end. She shook her head and turned her attention to her father, eyes focused intently on him. "I didn't know if you'd be coming back," she said, keeping her voice casual with an effort of will. She hadn't known, hadn't really expected that he would since the last time her mother had 'died' he'd chosen his adopted family in the Hallows over her and her siblings, but she was too tired to be confrontational about it. Physically, emotionally. Just drained. "Did you bring the kids back with you? These guys are getting old enough they could do with some sparring partners their own age." Except Zeejay - anyone just had to look at her to know she wouldn't be needing a sparring partner, because she wasn't ever going to be any kind of fighter.

Zeejay squeaked a tiny squeak as the giant swooped in to scoop her gently closer. Her heart fluttered fearfully, but she swallowed down that fear, especially since her siblings all took his appearance more or less in stride, and she didn't want to be the only one who was afraid. She knew about her Grandpa Sirius of course, since her mama had told them all about their family, even the ones that they'd never met (which seemed to be a large percentage of them, since they all lived ever so far away and they couldn't walk that far yet), so she knew intellectually who he was, and that he wasn't really strange... just scary. Reminding herself of that, she crept over to press herself against his foreleg, hugging her tiny forearms around it, but being polite and not saying anything while the adults continued to talk.

The first time Zee had 'died' he had attempted to join her. Twice. At his daughter's words, he winced. Had she expected him to take that path again? "I made some promises to her." He said, voice whisper-soft. Aris would understand who 'her' was, but the kids would likely not. He knew he needed to be better. He nodded his head at her question. “Yes, all the rascals came back, and that sounds like a great idea. They could use the distraction.” He agreed. They had left for the Hallows with a mother, and returned without one. They were so young, and he knew it would take a long time for them to adjust. As the tiny Zeejay pressed against him, he leaned down and pressed a kiss to her forehead. Closing his eyes so none of the kids or their mother would see the emotion in them. Her name… it hurt, and the pain was still so fresh. "Speech"

Huh, so if he ate a lot, then he'd get to grow as big as his grandpa? That was gonna be a lotta food, wasn't it? He thought about it for a moment as the adults talked, though he wasn't really paying attention to the words between them, and was even more unaware of the emotions and daggers that filled the air. He turned to look at Tethys who was still pretty sleepy, and then back towards their grandpa who now had a clinging Zeejay. "Oh!" He bounded forward, a play growl rumbling his little form as he aimed a headbutt straight at grandpa's leg. "Imma show you just how strong I am! Imma kick all the butts!" He shouted before he potentially made contact.