Welcome to Gaia! ::

Grimm shook his head. "I've been there several times." Smiling, he informed her, "The first time I saw you, you were kicking a stallion named Reth from your blanket. Then I saw you again several times while I was in the south..." While he was visiting his adopted son, Myth. He'd seen her training hard, but he'd also seen the demons looming around her...

"No on both accounts. I saw you at a distance; that's why you never saw me." Grimm hadn't been stalking her, after all; he'd simply passed by several times and seen the familiar patterning. "Today was the first day I saw you as a fully-grown mare. I noticed when I was last in the south that you were no longer running around on Ruin's lands. So when I ended up north again on business, I thought to stop by and see if you had simply returned home." His gaze went to the foals. "Then I saw you with your children and connected the dots."

"... I don't know much about Ruin besides hearsay, but I wish I had known to warn you about Demoni. I am sorry." He looked up at the stars that were coming out of their hiding places. "The demon that stole the queen..."

Grimm smiled wryly. "Although it wasn't her firstborn, I did end up with a child of the miller's daughter. Her heart had been stolen and she had an affair with a dashing smooth-talker. And so, in exchange for covering up the affair, she gave me the product of her affair: her illegitimate son. He was... half-neglected when I collected him." His eyes narrowed slightly at the thought. He shook his head to force the thoughts away. "Regardless, the one who stole the queen's heart... was Demoni."

Remus squawked when he was woken up and nudged towards a stranger. He frantically tried to scramble back over to his siblings, but he ended up flipped over. A quiet chuckle came from the stranger and a brown muzzle gently nudged him right-side up again.

Grimm smiled at the little foal, then lifted his gaze to Lacey. "I will do everything in my power," he replied, sincerity in his olive green eyes. He would protect these children. They would be able to live without fear.

Grimm chuckled again, stretching his neck over and giving Roman a gentle nudge as well. "Aren't you a little firecracker?" he murmured in amusement. At Lacey's gratitude, he could only smile. Warmth filled him a warmth he'd feared he would never feel again. But this mare, these foals... He wanted to protect them even before Iota requested it of him. He wanted to see them grow up happily and create families of their own...

Grimm watched the foal in amusement, then smiled at the names. "Remus, Regulus, and Roman," he repeated. They were good, strong names. They suited the three boys well. The stallion blinked in surprise when Remus's head shot up and hit his chin, drawing another chuckle after he recovered from the slight sting of the collision. "Let's not crash into everything, shall we?" he told the colt, amused again.

Remus wiggled happily at the light scolding. He liked the laugh. He liked Mama's voice more, but he liked this one's happy voice too. He bumped his head against the stranger that was slowly becoming familiar. A stallion with a deeper voice and smelled like straw and... something Remus couldn't figure out.

Grimm watched the children quietly, his thoughts drifting a bit. He wished he and his beloved had had children of their own before her untimely demise. Maybe then he wouldn't be so desperate to impose his selfish need to care for them on others... and yet he enjoyed the life he lived. Giving children better lives than they could have with their real parents...