did he regret? regret leaving moladion with his imprint when she said she wished to see the home that he had become a war hero within? regretted not taking taliesin to a world that would have him stripped of doe’s mothering as a yearling in preference to the art of war anyway?

did he regret? letting his son live a life with a true family that would bring him no reason to weep over lost freedom? the grandson of ‘bear’s bane’ would have been a commodity and nothing short of a target for death or mating - a lifebond made with someone you did not truly care for. even the brothers he ran with were too old to defy nanruan law and survive.

did he regret? not looking on a son he would never be allowed to know? not intruding on his imprints birthing when he could not promise that he would be willing to relinquish parenthood over? did he regret that, now, he knew that before his second year - doe would have perished messily and without honor at the hands of an old foe of bahamuts bloodline?

no.

but did he expect a father’s welcome? did he expect understanding that had not been given by those who otherwise had been given guardianship and parental possession of him since birth? did he expect cheerful faces or to even be treated as a known entity? did he expect that there would be things still to teach him or for him to learn from his son? did he expect him to be glad that doe was not at his side?

no.

he expected almost nothing of this visit - he had only called for the queen. that taliesin might be with her had only been a passing thought. he had intended to do nothing but give her the promise that if she called in natu’s name, or if natu herself bid him help - he would. it had been a natural inclination to his mind, the desire to be of use to one who mattered… but it does not seem that this would be a private sort of meeting.

from the very start, there is another who comes upon the meetingplace.

white and black and smattered with flecks, the wolf that approaches takes only part of his attention away - “Yoa've almost the same eyes as heem.” she says, and at first he makes to ask to whom she was referring - only to at last be in the presence of the one he had intended to call. “You are Fenrir?” the female asks, eyes narrowed and there being a tone of ‘don’t bother answering’ to the question… so he doesn’t. he stands silently, as silent now as he had been in his son’s life, watching the body language for no other reason than awareness of the pieces on the board of this particularly (and not terribly strangely, since he was at least aware of taliesins closeness to the monarchy and well aware that if a wanderer recognized the signs of familiar traits in him then one so close to his son would be as well) strained meeting.

then, the world seems to tilt just a little harder on it’s axis, tumbling taliesin into the meeting.

and nothing changes. not fenrir’s silence during daenerys’s introduction distinctly towards the female before looking between himself and her (her, who he can tell has his son’s undivided attention, unsurprisingly) and not his intentions for coming. the shattering of doe and he, the imprint that bound them, it had done away with much of his weakness toward hurt and even more against his need for approval amongst those who would look down or harshly upon him. that he was alive - proof of doe’s life and their imprinting and love - it was enough.

“Greetings. I am Fenrir Dragonborn, of the old blood of Scotavia, once allies of Solevion, Once King and now wanderer and ally to King Iblis of Asteraia.” every formal greeting deserved a return of the same, though his posture does not right itself from that shoulder-level height of head that spoke to casualness instead of submission or respect. He had been king once, had been a prince since birth, had been a general since he could act in wartime, but he is more than aware of his lost station and the uselessness of pomp and circumstance at least in what attention was paid to him.

“I did not intend to disturb more than yourself, so that i have, i will keep this brief.” does it occur to him that taliesin might not realize his mother is deceased? and for numerous years? yes, but it was not as though he was entirely sure what should be done about it other than to let whatever comes of his intent here be what it may. “i have found a fondness in your Spider, natu, and came to make myself known to you so that if she were to need me or if you, as her liege lady were to need me for her sake, that you would know in her name i am yours to be used.”

pale green eyes do not avert from the one to whom he speaks now, he does not disrupt the intent stare of his not-son to the woman who had commented on his eyes. he would make the meeting as painless as could be expected and return from whence he came.