Time was growing short. With every day that passed came the knowledge that more and more of Resin would be slipping away from her down in her self-imposed prison. Each strand of her consciousness that left her was like another grain of sand sliding away in the hourglass, whittling away the time the Carpathius family had with her. Seeing her as herself when they received their birthday gifts had been a blessing, but it had also been eye opening. Artorias hadn't seen Resin since the day she locked herself up, when he had snapped at her, treated her like a villain, then vowed to complete an impossible task to save her. Seeing his mother wither away to skin and bones had broken his heart, but it had also driven the point home in his mind: Resin was dying, and he was losing his last chances to be with her because of his stubbornness.

So much had changed in the world above ground that Resin hadn't been a part of. The transitioning of the pack to Ulric, Artorias' promotion to the rank of Baron and his being named heir apparent, how he had almost murdered Sirius Fatalis, the impending arrival of summer and the end of the ice age to name a few. And through it all, Artorias had never lost focus of his mission to find a way to save Resin, even if it meant neglecting his opportunities to spend time with her while she was still here. Now, after reaching the inevitable failure of his quest, Artorias knew he had only one last thing to do. He had to see his mother and apologize.

He had asked Lúta to prepare the sedatives for her. Not a lot, just enough to grant them maybe an hour without the risk of losing her. He didn't know how much longer the herbs would be effective at staving off her madness. One day, she would never come back to them, no matter how many plants they stuffed down her throat. On that day, Resin Carpathius would be dead. The boy just prayed that day wasn't today. After giving the medicine some time to kick in, Artorias stood at the top of the dungeon stairs, staring down into the darkness below. It somehow felt like such an impossible task venturing down there, both knowing and not knowing what would be waiting for him at the bottom. He dreaded the idea of finding his mother as some feral monster pacing her cage, no longer the wolf he knew her to be. But if he didn't take this chance now, he might never get it again.

Paws carried the yearling wolf slowly down the stairs, past the first level penitentiary and down to the solitary cell that held Resin. He emerged from the shadows clad in his armor, his sword strapped across his back, in full regalia for his mother's appraisal. She had promised to train him to become a knight like she was, and he wanted her to see the results of her efforts before she couldn't any more. Fiery amber eyes peered through the dark to the cell, resolute but also shameful and guilty. He shouldn't have put this off for so long; he shouldn't have been so headstrong to ignore his mother. Artorias Carpathius crossed the floor with slow, measured steps, coming to sit near the bars, straining his eyes and his ears to find his mother and see if she was still herself.

"Knight Artorias, reporting in, Aegis," he spoke, voice low and troubled to keep the emotional quiver out of it. He knew his mother was no longer the Aegis, nor was he just a Knight, but for just a little while he wanted to pretend like everything wasn't coming apart at the seams. Now he waited—waited to either hear his mother's gruff voice reach out to him from the shadows or the snarls of a wild animal telling him to keep away...

"Artorias" | Corbin

One big happy family

Artorias has two ravens named Corbin and Eira and a fox named Argent. Assume they are within calling distance at all times.
As his mate, Briar may enter Artorias' threads unless marked Private.
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There were no good days anymore. It was a miracle if Resin could remember who and where she was for more than an hour these days. With her confusion came terror and with that terror came the wailing. Despite Luta's best efforts, Resin wasn't sleeping much at all these days. When she did sleep, the night terrors were so vivid, so intense, that she woke screaming. And sometimes when she woke screaming, the terrors didn't go away. They followed her all over the cell, nipping at her, biting at her. There were no good days. The only even times came when she was giving the concoction that would render her docile and her mind clouded. She welcomed those times. They didn't come often enough, but she had been told that, if she took the drink too often,  she would become ill. Like she cared about that. She was sick and dying already. Wouldn't they just let her go out in peace? Today, the drink had been delivered to her, thankfully and she'd consumed it eagerly. The emaciated woman grimaced at the taste even after all this time. The lock to her cell had been twisted open and Resin shambled out into the room to settle down on the furs beside the fire. The drink meant that she would receive company, so she waited for them. An armored boy came down the stairs. A boy, because he was not yet a man, though he was trying very hard. He called her Aegis and she didn't quite know what that was, but she didn't say anything about that, but he did call himself a knight and say that he was reporting to her. Reporting for what? "And who might you be?" Her tones were dry and raspy, the damaged cords and the general unhealthiness making her voice sound as though it was metal scraped over gravel. There was a tinge of insanity in her words and she smiled at the boy, flashing serrated teeth that now seemed too big for her maw. "Resin"

Resin's detached words cut through his heart like a knife. His stomach dropped, ears folding back and shoulders slumping. He was too late. Resin didn't even recognize him anymore. The wood snapped in the fireplace, a fitting sound to the boy's heart breaking. His mother looked so thin, so emaciated, like a hollow shell of the wolf she had once been. She flashed him those serrated daggers she called teeth in a smile that he couldn't quite tell if it was inviting or threatening, but she didn't seem to be overtly hostile, so he took his chance. He had to take as many as he could if this was the last time he'd ever speak with her—whether she recognized him or not. She didn't need to know she was his mother; Art knew it and that was what mattered.

Artorias swallowed back the lump in his throat and got back to his paws, slowly approaching the fireplace and furs Resin was lying on. He came closer to his fading mother, coming to sit on the opposite edge of the furs so the firelight could better illuminate them both to one another. Maybe if she saw him clearer, something would spark in her memory. He had to hope; he had to try. "My name is Artorias Carpathius. I'm a knight of a pack called the Hallows," he explained to her as if she hadn't been the wolf to create it, and right now perhaps she wasn't. "I came here to see you. You trained me, taught me everything I know. Even if you don't remember, I..." A pause for the boy to work up the courage to say what he had to. "I wanted you to see that all your efforts had gone towards something. I'm just... I'm sorry it took me so long."

Artorias looked around the room for something for Resin to drink. Her voice had been irreparably damaged by now, but he didn't want her to be uncomfortable with their conversation. Spotting a water skin hanging by the cell door, Artorias got back to his paws and moved to pick up the half full skin and a nearby bowl, bringing both back to the fire and filling the bowl before sliding it carefully towards her. "You really don't remember me, do you...?" he asked, a husky whisper of dread barely audible over the crackling of the fire.

"Artorias" | Corbin

One big happy family

Artorias has two ravens named Corbin and Eira and a fox named Argent. Assume they are within calling distance at all times.
As his mate, Briar may enter Artorias' threads unless marked Private.
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"Artorias Carpathius," she repeated his name aloud, one dark brow arching. "Are you one of Iolaire's children? She did always want to be a mother, that one." How old was Iolaire now? Six or seven? Old enough to finally have pups of her own. Where was his mother though? Resin felt as though she hadn't seen her daughter in a long time. A bowl of water was offered to her and the grey woman took a few laps, wetting her parched throat. "Such a good boy," she praised him, smiling again after she'd drank her fill. The part about her training him had gone in one ear and out the other, so when he asked if she remembered him, the thin fae laughed. "How could I remember someone that I've just met. Tell your mother that she really should come see me. She was the only one that lived." It seemed that she would ramble today, for she continued to speak. "Iolaire was the smallest of the bunch. Oxx, Valkyrie, Artemis, Noe... All dead. Cedar, Eska, Salix, all dead." Io was the only one that lived. "I see you have a sharp stick," she noted the shiny, pointy thing attached to the boy. She'd never seen a silver stick before as far as she could remember. Honestly, it wasn't very far at all. "Why do you have the stick? Are you finally here to kill me?" The lone, golden eye widened, the pupil pinning as she struggled to stand. It was clear that things were quickly becoming unsafe. "Another one here to kill me. Another one." She repeated herself a few times as she moved off of the pile of furs and towards the dark cell where she began to pace back and forth behind the bars. "Resin"

Resin said his name. Artorias' heart swelled when he heard her voice say his name, hopeful that maybe she was beginning to show some clarity, that maybe he would get to have one last conversation with his mother. His mother, not this stranger she had become. That hope was swiftly dashed when she asked if he was one of Iolaire's children. His ears fell to his skull and his heart collapsed in on itself. He hadn't seen the older healer since the pack had moved to Auster, but if Resin's memory was reaching that far back, there was nothing left of him, of his family, of any of their life in her mind. He didn't respond, instead staying silent and swallowing past the knot in his throat while Resin drank to soothe her throat and praised him for his kindness. She joked that she couldn't remember someone she just met, and he simply nodded his head in understanding. "No, I suppose you can't..." he murmured under his breath, trying his damnedest to not allow the heartbreak to seep into his steady voice.

Artorias listened quietly while Resin rambled on about all of her dead children. She listed them off by name, each one meaning nothing to the young Carpathius boy—until he heard the name Oxx. His ears pricked up, eyes alight with recognition. That had been the name his mother had called him when she'd caught him with Briar. So Oxx was one of her deceased children? That was who she had mistaken him for? At least that mystery was solved. She mentioned his sword then, and Artorias glanced over his shoulder at the hilt of his new blade, given to him by Resin herself only a couple days prior, but already she didn't remember him. Her illness was progressing fast—way too fast. She asked if he was here to kill her and he gave her a shocked look. He could never picture having to kill his own mother.

"No, Mo-" He cut his own words off short, flinching as he remembered that she didn't remember she was his mother. "No, Resin. I'm not here to kill you." But by this point Resin had already begun to devolve back into the madness that was deteriorating her mind. "I'm not here to kill you. I'm here to talk to you. I wanted to see you." He got back to his paws while Resin slipped back into her cell, beginning to pace back and forth behind the bars, despite the open door. "I carry the stick to protect wolves, like you. I'm a knight, not an assassin. Can you please... take a deep breath and come talk to me?" Before it's too late... The words passed through his mind, but he didn't dare speak them out loud. She was already spiraling, she didn't need to be freaked out with the revelation of her encroaching death. He wasn't ready to leave her yet though. He didn't want his last conversation with his mother to end this way.

"Artorias" | Corbin

One big happy family

Artorias has two ravens named Corbin and Eira and a fox named Argent. Assume they are within calling distance at all times.
As his mate, Briar may enter Artorias' threads unless marked Private.
____________________

The armed boy assured her that he wasn't there to harm her, but she couldn't trust him. He continued to try to placate her, urging her to take a deep breath and the woman growled low, still stalking behind the bars. He moved just a little too quickly and the mindless fae slammed herself against the bars, her skull knocking hard enough into the steel that she staggered backwards, her vision shaking. Spots swam before her eyes and when she looked up again, she seemed to see. Black and blue slowly formed before her eye and Resin growled, "Artorias..." The knock to her head seemed to have cleared the cobwebs away. Her brow was sliced and blood trickled down the scars on her face. "You shouldn't be down here," she warned him. She knew him, but in that clarity, she also knew that her control was weak. She was a danger. The swirling emotions on the child's face brought her ears back against her skull. She understood that he needed and wanted to be here and she fought to calm herself enough so that she might hold on until he'd said his piece. "Bar the door at least." If he wished to speak to her, she would have to be separated from him by the bars that would keep him safe. Armed or no, if insanity took hold and she lost herself, Artorias would be easy to kill. "Resin"

His attempts to calm his mother down only seemed to aggravate her further, drawing threatening growls from the unstable fae. When Artorias took a step closer, Resin lunged for him, seeming to forget the wall of iron bars keeping them separated. The clang of her skull hitting the metal made the boy cringe back, but in the next moment, once the ringing of metal had finished echoing around the prison, he heard a familiar sound. His name. His name on his mother's voice. Artorias glanced back at Resin, seeing the haze of amnesia lifted from her singular gold optic as she stared at him and told him he shouldn't be here. She was back. Resin was back! Artorias didn't know what to say, his mouth opening and closing while he stumbled to find the words.

Resin filled the silence by telling him to bar the door. The stunned boy didn't react for a beat, but once understanding settled in, he glanced rapidly around the room to find the metal bar resting against the cell door and ran over. He pushed the cell door shut, picking up the metal bar—and then freezing, staring at the metal that would be the lock to his mother's cage. He didn't want to do it. But he had to. It was his responsibility as Baron now to help safeguard his pack, and as much as he hated it, his mother was a potential threat. Shutting his eyes so he wouldn't have to watch himself do it, Artorias slid the metal bar into the latch, sealing the cell door with a slam of metal, the sound like a slam of a gavel on Resin's life. He released a held breath, not even realizing he had stopped breathing, then opened amber eyes to find his mother's face again, whining quietly while he sat just beyond the bars. He wanted so desperately to reach through the bars and touch her, to give her one last hug, but it wasn't meant to be.

"Mom, I... I just wanted to see you one more time," he said, paws carrying him to rest on his laurels opposite his mother, struggling to hold himself together while he saw what she had been reduced to. "I wanted you to see all of your hard work paid off. Ulric made me Baron of the Hallows. I'm going to be the heir to the pack, and I..." The words he wanted to say suddenly felt so much harder to knowing he only had a few precious moments left with his mother. He looked away, screwing his eyes shut to force back the emotions, centering himself with a deep breath before raising his eyes back to his mother. "I wanted you to see what you made and to be proud of yourself. You made me a knight, like you said you would. So, thank you, Mom. I'll do my best to bring honor to the Hallows, to the Carpathius family... and to you."

He was quiet after a moment, letting his words hang in the air. He didn't know how long Resin would stay herself for, but he needed to make every moment count. Then he could at least say he had done all that he could. He might not have been able to save his mother, but he could carry on her name, her legacy, her life and her memory in every day that would come.

"Artorias" | "Corbin"

One big happy family

Artorias has two ravens named Corbin and Eira and a fox named Argent. Assume they are within calling distance at all times.
As his mate, Briar may enter Artorias' threads unless marked Private.
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