Cadenza was relieved to have reached Orion alongside Sprig and their three kids. It had been a long trek by foot to get to here from Leo, but it was necessary. No doubt, though, the children were tired. The group had taken short rests and made certain to eat, but it was hardly enough to keep up the energy of newly hatched children. "We are almost there," Cadenza reassured the children and Sprig.

Their anxiety that they had been doing so well to suppress in the presence of the children up to this point reared its head, however. Cadenza worried that their deer-dad would mind them imposing without warning. But he had said he would be glad to have children around, if they recalled correctly. They only hoped he would understand that necessity of them staying somewhere other than Leo for now.

They had brought the group towards the garden, though they were not quite there yet, since it was an area where Pride seemed to frequent. "Dad?" They called out, projecting their voice so it would be louder. "Are you here?"

@Pride @Sprig @Kaizer @Gaheris @Alek

Pride was pretty sure he had a fleasnake infestation. That, or that awful fungus had gotten into his fur, somehow--though he felt nothing of a stir to Order, so that was a relief. Still, it had left him constantly scratching. Even now he'd stopped dead, one hind leg raised, head twisted back with his hoof prodding and swiping at one ear as he winced.

It meant that he didn't exactly make for an elegant picture when first the family arrived--though he hastily set his foot down as he turned toward Cadenza's voice. Dad. The word brought a thread of warmth with it, and he called back at once, starting off in their direction. "Of course--here! This way."

Half a second later he was stopped again, hissing as he scratched at his neck with a back hoof once more.

red deer img credit - dan seagrave

Gaheris was not the biggest fan of walking. Her fins dragged on the cavern floor and her wings ached from the brief periods where they had struggled to hold her aloft. She wanted water and gentle currents, not dry and craggy cave rock. She decided to take out her poor mood on Cadenza's exposed ankle, gnawing gently at the delicate limb.

Dad. There was that word again. He huddled close to Cadenza's body, not quite sure what to make of this place. It was dark, he liked that. It was dry, which he did not. He paused his assault to sniff at his parent, looking up to them impatiently expectantly.

Although Sprig wanted to walk alongside Cadenza for the long journey, he decided to stay at the back of the group to ensure no kid got left behind on accident. It also allowed him to constantly check behind them for any potential dangers that might be following. He admired the children's endurance. It wasn't an easy trek to make, especially when they had hatched the very recently.

And they had made it. The first thing he noticed about Pride was the resemblance he bore to Cadenza. The antlers, the gemstone, the coloring. Yes, he know for sure that Pride was their father. He hesitated, not sure if he should allow the deer to meet his grandchildren first or if he should introduce himself. Was he supposed to have brought a gift!? Oh god, he didn't have anything prepared. Was it normal to be this nervous about meeting someone? It was just that Pride was his- Cadenza's dad. He felt the need to make a good first impression.

But it seemed his nervousness prevented his magic from working properly. Deep breaths now. "H- hello. It's nice to meet you. I'm Sprig." And now he was replaying what he said over and over in his head. Was his tone correct? He stuttered! Surely that was a bad thing. But there was no undoing it now. Sprig had a very 'oh shoot I messed up but hopefully it's alright' expression on his face at the moment. He was unsure of his real relation to the children so he just. Left out that part.

On the walk to Orion, Kaizer had been a flailing mess of hooves and claws, as it figured out its many legs. It was a fair bit more graceful now than when they had started, but even so the sound of its hooves on stone was an uneven rhythm.

It looked up to Pride with its four eyes, curious. A dad of its dad, Cadenza had implied, even if Kaizer was unsure exactly what being a dad entailed. "Kooru?" he asked, staggering a little closer to Pride.

Alek perked up from exhaustion at the mention of almost being there. Surely, now was when the adventure would get interesting, finally meeting their parent's dad?

Except, the deer did not seem as impressive to Alek as his own parents, especially not itching like that. The deer didn't even glow! The fish-child made a grumbly noise from where he was near Sprig. Adventures were dumb, Alek decided.

So, not wanting to move any more for this overrated adventure, the little dragon flopped over and pretended to sleep to indicate his lack of desire to move. It might have been more convincing if his eyes weren't still blinking one pair at a time.

@Cadenza

There was a child gnawing at one of their ankles and now a child flopped dramatically on the ground. But, at least the group had gotten to Cadenza's deer-dad, they supposed. Their kooru-child was even actually showing an interest in Cadenza's dad, unlike the other two.

"I am sorry for our abrupt arrival, Leo is not the safest at the moment, I believe. There is, well..." They trailed off, wincing. "In any case, I was hoping you would not mind if the children, Sprig, and I stayed here for a time," Cadenza stated. "We made our way here after the children hatched."

They paused and gently nuzzled the pale fish-child as the little one sniffed them.

"Sprig is my-" Cadenza paused with uncertainty and reworded their statement when they could not find a word. "...Sprig is very important to me, to us."

@Pride

A crowd!

Pride dipped his head in greeting, eyes flicking over those arriving. They certainly did look like the fish-dragons Cadenza had seemingly intended--all but the Kooru, who was precisely a gigantic Kooru with antlers. Pride regarded this one with gentle amusement. And Sprig-... The name sounded distinctly familiar. And Cadenza's uncertainty as to their relationship, well. Pride suppressed a stag's semblance of a smile. "Lions tend to have that effect, I've found," he answered, a playfully gentle reminder of Mercurius and he. "Though you are not merely a lion--your name sounds familiar. Sprig. We--ahh, I remember seeing you at the gift exchange, yes?" Was that where I heard it-? "It's a pleasure to meet you, in any case. I'm Pride." Undoubtedly Cadenza had told Sprig as much, but politeness, and all of that. His demeanor and tone both were warm and welcoming. If there were any notice of Sprig's brief stammer, Pride showed nothing of it: he exuded only polite grace, for the moment, bar when scratching at fleasnakes.

"I'd heard about Leo," he added, with a brief, somewhat sorrowful flash of a glance at the two. He said nothing more of it, instead turning to the children. "You are all of course welcome to stay for as long as you like. We have a garden nearer the Throne, though it would need tending. The only problem is that Orion has not got much in the way of water. It may be best for those who require it to go to--hmm, Pisces is not that far?" he suggested, glancing back at Cadenza. Maybe they could all go, together; he didn't mind. But it had the added bonus of Tenzin's presence, which was always a reassurance for their safety.

"In any case! I am Pride, Cadenza's lifegiver, which makes me your grandfather," he said, warmly, now addressing the children again. His words came slow and patient. "Do you have names-? Can you speak, yet?" he asked.

He cast his magic tentatively to the Kooru-child, in particular--he'd always found that linking his mind to a hatchling's, briefly, helped to impart the meaning of words, making it easier to pick up language. And "Kooru"--that oh-so-familiar refrain of the Lessers--hadn't been a reassuring start. Hello, he greeted, turning silver gaze on Kaizer, pressing his mind delicately for theirs. It is me--Pride. With each word came meaning--his intentions, as well as simple 'sounds.' We are family. You are welcome here.

red deer img credit - dan seagrave

@Gaheris

Cadenza's nose met her's unexpectedly - and what little flesh she had on her face scrunched up, as if it had been a freshly cut lemon in front of her and not the face of her parent. She retracted a bit, just a touch - and then snapped at their nostrils lightly. Given previous occurences, it could be assumed this gesture was affectionate rather than purely aggressive.

At the appearance of the white deer, Gaheris ducked behind Cadenza, glaring at Pride with immediate suspicion. His bug-eyes squinted, as the others did as they pleased - Alek flopped to the ground, Kaizer toddled to the newcomer. All he contributed was a long, low hiss.

Her expression softened into interest at the deer's query - directed generally but with herself included. "Gaheris." She piped up with bob of the head, peeking from behind her parent's back leg.

@Sprig

He was glad that Gaheris and Kaizer seemed to be taking some sort of interest in Pride. Alek on the other hand didn't seem to be impressed, pretending to sleep upon meeting the deer. Sprig suppressed a laugh at this, quite amused by the child. "Come on, say hello." he said gently, though not a demand in any way. It was just a gentle nudge for Alek to at least give Pride a chance.

The lion nodded at Cadenza's words, and felt his heart skip a beat at the last sentence. He didn't seem to notice that the dragon seemed to be dancing around the subject as much as he was.

Sprig was surprised that Pride had remembered him from something that long ago. He didn't even recall the deer until it was brought up, and now he remembered that he did in fact see the deer at the gathering. "Yes, I believe I remember seeing you there." There was still a nervous edge to his words from meeting someone like Pride, but it was slowly fading away at the deer's kind tone. He couldn't believe that he had forgotten! He was way too caught up in finding out the recipe for the foods that were there. And he had received a sled too. There had been so much going on that the lion really hadn't paid much attention to any of the other gembounds there after his first look around.

He immediately perked up at the mention of a garden, weariness from the journey seeming to fade away in an instant. "Is it the garden your friend made?" Sprig realized it seemed sorta weird to mention something like that when it wasn't Pride who had told him himself, "Cadenza told me about it. I'd be glad to help!" It was something that had been lingering around in his mind since he had heard of the existence of the garden. He was interested in learning more about gardening from someone much more experienced than himself. And the opportunity to help tend to the garden itself? That would be amazing!

Sprig tried to sense if there was much plant life in this room, but the spell failed much like his previous one. It was alright though. Even just looking around he could see that it was rather barren.

@Kaizer