#poor regis just got bowled over by an 8 year old

[ertrunkenerwassergeist]

Under what circumstances would Regis have met his grandchildren before he met his son again?

That...

Is a good question.

I could see Solaris finding some strange tunnels somewhere that lead into the archives below the Citadel. A secret pathway used way back when to connect the archive with the old palace.

(The palace that was in use while Insomnia did not have layers like an onion. It burned down a good 1500 years ago, and the new palace was build where the Citadel now is. The tunnels remained and were forgotten.)

So Solaris finds the tunnels and instead of finding a responsible adult - or Ardyn - she decides to be a brave 8 year old and go exploring. She lands in the royal archives.

She is fascinated by all the old books and scrols and other things she finds there. It's so different from where her dad stores his books. Her fascination is so great that she does not notice the man standing in front of a shelf with old history texts. (History texts Noctis had read shortly before he had vanished.)

Of course Solaris walks straight into the man, who nearly falls over. He is old, with white hair and many wrinkles, and he has a cane, which makes Solaris doubly sorry for walking into him.

She does what any responsible 8 year old would do: scream and hide behind a shelf. Only then does she realise that the man has a very stark resemblance to her dad.