One of the wolves that she had in her list of needing to connect with them once she got settled in The Hallows was Bowen, but until now she was struggling to figure out a reason why. Even though they had made a slight connection while she was here during one of her visits before it still felt difficult to approach the smaller woman that she was still deviding Artorias' time with. She finally managed to bring it up to Artorias while they were talking one night and he mentioned to her his sister's desire to learn how to fight and that felt like the opening she needed to at least start a conversation with the other woman. She enjoyed teaching, especially when it was about fighting, so maybe if nothing else she could help Bowen out in that regard and go from there.

She walked through the castle after her usual morning routine, Marigold following just behind her. She decided to leave her armor behind. It felt like over kill for just a beginning lesson, but her companions usually followed her around anyway unless she had some kind of task for them. Walking out into the castle grounds she went looking for Bowen and gave the caramel and white girl a smile when she finally spotted her and approached her with a nod. "Hi, Bowen. It's good to see you again." She gave a little nod in the direction of the training fields, saying, "Art mentioned you might be interested in learning some things about fighting... I was thinking we might run though some lessons and drills if you want?" Bowen still felt so hard to read so she didn't know if she would even be receptive to this bit of an olive branch she was trying to give her, but she left it open either way.

"Briar Fatalis"

Bowen had been a little grumpy lately and more than a little disconnected. The itch had come back. The compulsion to be pinned beneath someone. She had been fighting it and the result was one irritable young woman. She had Haiku and she had Artorias sometimes, but when the mood was upon her, it wasn't always enough. That well and truly bothered her. She was trying her damndest to be faithful to the two wolves that meant the world to her but it was getting harder and harder. She understood that they couldn't always be with her and besides that, she didn't want to be a burden. Bowen felt like a burden often. Another reason to be irritated.

The caramel and cream fae lay sprawled out in the grass, soaking up some sun on one of the rare, non-rainy days. Her tail had grown in long and lay snaked out behind her in the warm grass. As she heard the swish of paws on grass, Bowen noted that she wasn't the only one with a strange new fur style. Must have been something in the water...

Briar greeted her and Bowen lifted her head from the grass, shifting to a laying curl instead of full prone. "Hello," was her simple reply. Bowen still wasn't entirely sure how she felt about the antlered fae. It would be easier if the woman was out of the picture, but that would never be the case. If she wanted any sort of relationship with Artorias, she would have to get used to Briar. There were parts of the woman that she liked. Briar was nice and had a fairly easy going attitude. However... Bowen felt jealousy towards her. Without Briar, Artorias very well may have been all hers. It was pointless to dwell on the 'what ifs' but Bowen couldn't help herself and thought about it anyway.

One russet-marked brow raised as Briar offered to teach her a bit about fighting. A lesson just for her? With a shrug and a nod, Bowen rose gracefully to sable dipped paws. She was sleek and lithe and had no doubt that she would take well to fighting. Well... to the evading part, anyway. Landing blows is the part that would take practice.

"Bowen"

Bowen was quiet and didn't say much, but that just fell in line with the difficulty she had kind of expected with trying to communicate with the other woman. She wasn't sure how to make any kind of breakthrough with her, but she wanted to try for Artorias. A nod and a shrug was as good a response as any she supposed to her offer of training so she smiled slightly and turned to lead the way to the training rings once Bowen had gotten to her paws. She tried not to think too much about Bowen's tail that was now also equally as long and flowing as her own and how Artorias had reacted to her tail when he saw it for the first time the night she arrived. She tried not to think about how he might have reacted the same way to Bowen's surprising chance, but it was hard. All the things he told her about how amazing it was and how beautiful she was, thinking that he could have had the same moment with Bowen... It was difficult to keep the jealousy she had temped down from coming back, especially when stuff like this happened.

She took a breath and did her best to brush it off as she reached the training area, turning to face Bowen and giving the other girl a moment to get in place. "Alright! So... Fighting," she began with a sigh, bringing another smile onto her lips. "I guess we can just start with the basics, huh? If there's anything I start going over that you already know you can just stop me and we'll move on, okay?" She started getting into a defensive stance as an example as she explained what she was doing as well. "For you since you're going to be smaller and lighter than a lot of your opponents you can really focus on dodging and wearing them that way. So keeping a hard, sturdy stance probably won't benefit you as much as it would someone else. Instead, just focus on keeping yourself a small, fast target. Keep your knees bent a little bit, focus on keeping your paws steady under you and then just tuck as much stuff out of the way to keep it from a target like your ears, narrow your eyes, bunch up your scruff. All of the usual things."

"Briar Fatalis"

The pair of women made their way around the edge of the castle and to the training area. Bowen had never used it, but she knew where it was. As she walked, she cast a side eye at the larger fae. What was her appeal? She was nice, but did Artorias think that Briar was prettier than Bowen? She was huge. Not dainty at all. Artorias could pick Bowen up, throw her around. She could ride on his back if she wanted to. He wouldn't be able to do that with Briar. Not with ease, anyway. And nothing like getting stabbed in the eye with antlers while you were rough housing in the bedroom, right? It had to be her personality.

Inwardly, Bowen sighed. She didn't want to be petty and nasty, but she couldn't help it. Artorias was her brother. He had been hers first. She had been stolen away and had found her way back to him. That had to count for something, right? There was a deep helplessness within the caramel cream fae. She craved certainty. The certainty that she was enough. Even beside Briar, she needed to know that she was enough. That they were enough. Now that Artorias had the idea that he could have two women... what would stop him from taking three? Four? Fifty? And being friends with that polyamorous brute from Fenmyre...

A low growl pulled from the usually docile woman as her viridian pools flashed red. She heard the instruction that was given and her attention was pulled back to the antlered fae. Bowen mimicked the stance that Briar took, but she didn't want words. She didn't want to speak. She wanted to act. "Just fight me," she demanded. Though she was no fighter, she wasn't totally helpless. She'd had to learn to protect herself to stay alive. Bowen was small and fast while Briar was hefty and slow. From their interaction, she would learn. Words were just going to go in one ear and out the other. Right now, Bowen needed to feel something. She needed to release the anger and insecurity that ate her alive inside. If Briar wanted to make herself the target, so be it.

"Bowen"

Briar watched Bowen as she was explaining things and going over some basics of fighting just to try and see if she was explaining well enough for Bowen to get the concepts, but she couldn't really tell if the other woman was really paying attention or hearing what she was saying. She had an odd, almost angry look on her face which made Briar's ear flick with frustration. She was doing everything she could to build some kind of bridge between them and was trying her best to put aside her own issues with their current arrangement to do so, but she still couldn't tell if Bowen was willing to do the same. It made her wonder if she should even try or if she should just give it up and leave it as it was with them mostly just avoiding one another. It was difficult and uncomfortable to do that living in the same castle and in the same pack and she didn't want to have some kind of issues down the line with her trying to act as Bowen's queen in the long run, but it was hard to tell if she was going to have much of a choice in the matter.

Bowen did at least follow her lead and get into a similar stance, but before she could explain anything else Bowen suddenly demanded that she fight her. Briar gave a little frown in response, her brows pulling together with a mix of confusion and annoyance. She responded with a small shake of her head while she tried to keep herself calm and collected. "No, we can spar after we finish the lesson if you'd like, but you should at least have some good foundations in place first." She had rushed into her fair share of fights as a pup and while she knew Bowen wasn't a pup she was still a novice at fighting so her skill level would be much the same. Besides, she didn't want to fight Bowen, especially when she could tell the smaller woman was heated for one reason or another. It was just going to end up with one or both of them getting hurt.

"Briar Fatalis"

Irritated was an understatement. Incensed? Livid? Bowen was overwhelmed with emotion. Briar denied her, insisting on finished the lesson, then they could spar. Spar? Bowen didn't want to spar. She wanted to fight. She wanted to unleash all of these horrible emotions that were making her feel disgusting and hateful. It was like the lust that she felt. There needed to be release or she was going to end up in tears.

Bowen took a step towards Briar, a growl on her pretty pink lips."I'm not a child and I don't want to spar. I want to feel something." There was an almost pleading look in the woman's jungle green gaze as she focused on the larger fae. This was Briars chance to show that she was more than just her brother's woman. This was her chance to show that she was a wolf. That she could understand when another was in need. That she was something more than just a 'princess' from across the land. "Please," she growled out. That was the end of it. Bowen wouldn't ask again.

"Bowen"

As Bowen stepped toward her with a growl Briar's ears flicked back with a slight snarl on her own lips, but that faltered at Bowen's words. Confusion touched her turquoise gaze while she searched the emerald eyes of the smaller woman. There wasn't exactly the hatred she was expecting to see. Instead it was almost like she was begging for Briar to fight her, that she needed this for one reason or another. Briar couldn't comprehend why or what it was supposed to accomplish, but it at least made her hesitate before she denied her again. What was supposed to just be a simple lesson and a chance for them to actually see each other as more than just the other woman had turned into something entirely different and she couldn't yet tell if it had backfired on her completely.

The growled plea finally broke her and she let out a slow sigh through gritted teeth as she shifted into a fighting position once more. She still didn't like it, but maybe its what they needed. At this point she was willing to try literally anything to get through to Artorias' sister. If this didn't work then it was probably going to be a lost cause. With her limbs coiled under her and a snarl pulling her lips back, Briar leapt toward Bowen's right side, quickly pivoting to reach for the smaller woman's scruff, trying to grab a hold of her to pull her off of her feet and knock her to the ground. If she wanted a fight Briar would give her a fight, but she did at least try to avoid hurting Bowen any more than some light bruising or maybe a small bite.

"Briar Fatalis"

The look on Briar's face shifted and Bowen thought that she would once again be denied. She was on the cusp of either attacking the woman herself or bursting into tears and running off like the child that she had been adamant that she was not. In the end, Briar's body shifted and she took on the fighting stance that she'd held prior. Bowen's stance was a perfect replica. See? She'd learned something. The lesson wasn't a total bust. Briar rushed her and Bowen sent a silent thanks to the gods. It was on.

As the larger fae rushed her, Bowen shifted into instinct. What did you do when someone was coming at you? You dodged. The small, agile woman delicately sidestepped her counterpart like a dancer, avoiding the bite completely. Her long tail snaked across the ground as she moved and she thought that she could hear Briar's do the same. It almost brought a grin to the russet fae's face, but she held it back. Now was the time to focus.

Briar had attacked first, so Bowen would attack second. She circled the woman slowly, running through what attacks she might be able to make. In the end, Bowen did much the same as Briar had, rushing in from the right with her mouth open to bite, but at the last moment she dropped low and pushed up with her hind paws, jaws open wide to try and grab the larger woman's throat. She wasn't trying to do lasting damage, but a fight still needed to be a fight. They'd both come out a little battered, she hoped.

"Bowen"

Briar's teeth snapped closed on thin air as Bowen danced to the side and evaded her attack. Quickly, she readjusted back into her fighting position with her head low and even with her back, hackles bristled and lips pulled back over her teeth. She slowly circled and faced off with Bowen, waiting for the caramel and white woman to make the next move, making sure she remained facing her the whole time. Bowen started out with a move similar to the one she just attempted, jumping to her right, and Briar preemptively turned when she saw Bowen dart in to lunge up at her, putting her shoulder in the way of the woman's open jaws to block her from getting to her throat. Briar growled and winced as Bowen's teeth bit into the front curve of her shoulder, breaking the skin and drawing the first blood of the fight.

She wasn't sure why, but something about that bite tipped over that jealousy, irritation, and resentment she had been making herself work through and bury down for the sake of this family she was trying to acclimate herself into. It was enough to make her snap for at least a moment and with an aggravated growl she brought her right paw up to kick out at where Bowen's chest and shoulder met with her claws extended, attempting to shove her away and make her let go while getting some scratches in at the same time. Whether she got Bowen to release her shoulder or not, she still turned her head to try and bite at the back of Bowen's neck as well, all thoughts of going easy on the other woman abandoned.

"Briar Fatalis"

Bowen was more than a little surprised when her bite landed. It didn't land where she had intended, but it landed. The moment that she tasted blood though, she released and pulled back. Really, she hadn't even bitten that hard. The iron taste in her mouth sobered the woman a bit, but it seemed to have the opposite effect on Briar. With a growl, the larger fae lashed out with one paw. Bowen's position had shifted and the blow caught her square in the mouth. A little yelp of surprise pulled from the russet and snow fae and her eyes went wide.

Stepping back, still slightly in shock, the woman lifted one dark foreleg, turning her paw upward to touch her lip. The pink pads came away in a wash of crimson. Her lower lip had split wide open and blood was dripping from it and onto the ground beneath her. Eyes still wide, Bowen looked back towards Briar. She could see the blood on the antlered woman's shoulder. She'd landed a blow and there was the proof. Briars proof was still dribbling down her chin.

Suddenly, the pretty little fae's split lip pulled. A grin was forming on her face. Gradually, that grin turned into a laugh. Just a little giggle at first, but soon Bowen was emitting joyous laughter. She dropped onto her side on the ground, enjoying the rush of adrenaline and the expulsion of the negativity that she'd felt before. Eventually the laughter died, but the smile remained. Shifting her gaze to look at Briar, Bowen gave a nod. "I really needed that," she admitted. The animosity that she'd felt towards the other woman only moments ago had dissipated. She still had misgivings, but things almost seemed hopeful now.

"You know... I didn't want to like you." Bowen placed her cheek back upon the ground and her long tail lashed languidly back and forth. "I just got Artorias back, and you took him from me. So I've had negative feelings about that." Bowen sighed and stretched, her voice a little strained as she began to speak again through the stretching. "That's not your fault though. He loves you and I should be happy that he found someone that loves him like I love him." With the stretch ended, the woman shrugged, viridian eyes closing. "It's just hard, you know?"

"Bowen"

When her paw missed its intended target and instead hit Bowen in the mouth as the smaller woman released her shoulder and stepped back, Briar stopped in the middle of her second attack and stumbled back, breathing hard for a moment as she grit her teeth and wrestled with this mix of guilt and satisfaction. So much of her life was spent walking on eggshells, always trying to be perfect, always trying to make the right moves at the right time, and there was something so satisfying about finally getting to have a moment of catharsis and actually lash out at a source of that frustration. Even still, as she looked at Bowen and saw the blood dripping from her lip, there was still a hard hit of guilt for letting herself get out of control like that enough to actually hurt the other woman. It wasn't a major wound by any means, probably not much worse than the bite on her shoulder, but it still was a reminder of what she had done. This wasn't how she had wanted this to go at all. Just as she was about to apologize, she saw Bowen's shocked expression start to shift.

Briar watched with confusion as Bowen's lips started to pull into a grin, her own expression loosing the snarl that had lingered on her lips and her hackles smoothing as she watched Bowen dissolve into giggles and laughter. Briar blinked with disbelief and confusion as she slowly eased back onto her haunches while Bowen flopped onto the ground in a fit of laughter, trying to make sense of everything that had just happened. She didn't know why Bowen had wanted to fight her so badly and she didn't understand why punching her in the mouth had apparently relieved whatever it was she had been feeling, but she supposed she should just be glad the fight was over. "Apparently so," she said with a soft chuckle, a small smile twitching at her lips as Bowens laughter died down and the Carpathius woman told her how much she had needed that.

Briar listened while Bowen spoke, keeping quiet while she talked about how she hadn't wanted to like her and how she had taken Artorias from her which had caused the negative feelings toward her. Briar wanted to defend herself, but she bit back her words, letting Bowen continue as she admitted it wasn't her fault. She was beginning to realize that she had underestimated how much Bowen actually played a part in Artorias' want for her. When he had originally come to her to admit his desires for her she had known he cared for Bowen deeply, but thought it had mostly been a thing built out of a sibling centric love and a lust. Maybe that was how it was for him, she wasn't sure, but that obviously wasn't the case for Bowen. It made her wonder if agreeing to let him be with both of them and still stay with her was a good decision for Bowen or not, but it was too late now. Now she had to just try her best to make this work for all of them.

"Yeah... it is hard," she agreed with a sigh. She hesitated for a moment, trying to find the right words. A small, petty part of her wanted to point out how she had Artorias before Bowen came back into the picture, but she let it go. She was trying to smooth things over, not pick another fight. Nothing really felt like it would do any good. It felt like there was a bridge she was trying to build without any materials and she was at a loss of how to get them to the other side. "I want to make this work," she replied honestly. "It's exhausting trying to not be jealous every time he's with you. I can't imagine doing that for the rest of our lives. But I love Artorias too much to let him go and I also love him too much to ask him to give you up either. I want him to have everything he wants and find a way for us to not hate each other in the process." Her ears flicked with a little frown pulling at her lips as she looked at Bowen questioningly. "Do you think we could manage that? Or should I just keep avoiding you forever?"

"Briar Fatalis"

Bowen's tongue flicked over her busted lip and she winced, making a little sound of pain, but not in a whining sort of way. A she fiddled with her slip lip, she listened to what Briar had to say. It was good to know that the larger fae also felt jealousy. At least it was common ground to work off of. Just like Briar, Bowen had wanted to build some sort of relationship with her brother's woman, but it was difficult. She hadn't known where to start, so she simply hadn't started anywhere. Now that Briar had taken the first step, things seemed... easier.

As Briar mentioned them not hating each other, Bowen lifted her head off of the ground, staring at the antlered fae. "You think I hate you?" One russet marked brow arched and she gave a little huffing chuckle. "I don't hate you at all, Briar." Her tail thumped on the ground once, twice. "I hate the feelings that I sometimes associate with you, but I don't hate you." Bowen hated the jealousy, but mostly she hated the loneliness. There were times when she craved nothing more than to be wrapped up in the arms of Artorias, but she couldn't because Briar was there. And it wasn't Briar's fault, honestly. It was just so very hard to disconnect those feelings from the woman.

When Briar asked if she should keep avoiding her, Bowen scoffed. "It hasn't fixed anything so far, has it?" They'd been avoiding each other and it just bred more jealousy and negative feelings. "I think we need to do the opposite. Spend more time getting to know one another. Maybe spend some time with Artorias together, the three of us. I don't know..." She was just throwing out ideas. Maybe seeing each other with the man that they loved would help to ease some of the feelings within them. Or maybe it would make them worse. Who knew?

"Bowen"

Confusion painted her features again when Bowen questioned her thinking that she hated her and Briar just gave an exasperated chuckle with a little shake of her head. "Well... What am I supposed to think when you avoid me all the time and then only want to fight me when I do come try to do something with you?" She shrugged and added, "But I can agree with hating the feelings I associate with you too." That much at least she could understand and sympathize with. She didn't want to feel this way about Bowen, but for the longest time she thought that Bowen just hated her for being with Artorias so it was just a lost cause to try to feel any differently. Now that she knew that wasn't the case... maybe they could work on getting to the root of this jealousy and frustration and try weeding it out so they could move on to other things.

She was a bit surprised when Bowen suggested that they do stuff together or maybe even with Artorias as well instead of avoiding one another, but she had been surprised about everything in this whole interaction so maybe she should have been expecting Bowen to give her a curve ball. She couldn't imagine what it would be like to spend time with Bowen and Artorias together or how she might feel seeing Artorias being affectionate with her, but it was something that would be beneficial to all three of them if she could figure out how to do it. Then at least that would open up the possibility of going places together or spending time together where the other wouldn't be left out and left to simmer in their emotions. "Yeah... Yeah, I'd like that," she agreed with a little smile, her tail brushing against he ground gently. She wanted to figure this out not just for Artorias, but for both of them too. It wasn't doing any of them any favors to feel this resentment and jealousy.

Briar looked to Bowen's lip again where it was still dripping a little blood and her ear flicked with guilt again. She sighed softly and got up, padding closer so she could take a better look. "Come on, we should get something on your lip," she told her with a little smile. She nodded toward the castle and waited for Bowen to get up before starting to walk into the castle with her. "I might have flunked out of being a healer, but I do remember a few basics for combat purposes." She gave her a glance with a little smirk, adding, "Even if the combat is a busted lip from your lovers girlfriend." She chuckled a little as they walked into the infirmary, walking over to where the herbs were kept to pull out a jar of yarrow poultice and horsetail. "Might want to get Gwyn to do a better job of it later, but at least for now we can get it to stop bleeding and hopefully not bother you so much."

With her supplies gathered she sat down in front of Bowen, scooping a bit of the yarrow paste out with her claw. With her other paw she gently held Bowen's jaw to tilt her head up so that she could better see her lip. She leaned in a bit so she could very carefully paint on the yarrow with the back of her claw, beginning to mend what she had caused with the same tools. "Just gotta let that sit for a moment before we put the horsetail on," she said as she leaned back, smiling as she lowered her paws. "What do you think we could do together with Artorias?" she asked as she looked down at the herbs in front of her, starting to cut apart a piece of the horsetail to get to the sticky goo in the middle.

"Briar Fatalis"

It seemed as though they were making a bit of headway. Briar agreed that the three of them should go do something together. Bowen imagined it would help simply because they could see how Artorias acted with both of them and they wouldn't have to imagine the worst. That was what was breeding jealousy in the first place. Bowen's mind ran rampant when she thought about Briar and Artorias together. She didn't hate Briar at all, but she hated those thoughts a great deal. The women's next task together would be convincing Artorias that taking a trio day trip would be beneficial. He knew how jealous Bowen could get.

Briar motioned for the smaller fae to follow and she did so without question. A pop to the lip had drained all of the negative emotion that had built up within her. In Bowen's mind, that little spat needed to happen. Amusement in her tones, the caramel fae grinned and bumped shoulders with the antlered woman. "Do you feel better after punching me in the face?" She was joking, of course, but she hoped that their little battle had been some sort of outlet for Briar too. She had been getting into it for a minute there. Bo had seen the look of rage on Briar's face. They seemed to be getting along well enough with one another now.

Briar worked on her lip and mentioned getting a second opinion from Gwynn. Bowen laughed softly and shook her head. "I was a slave on a ship. You think this is my first busted lip?" The young woman sat still as her lovers lover gently held her chin and worked on the bloody split in her lip. Once Briar stopped and waited for the concoction on her lip to dry, Bowen gave a little shrug and dipped her own claws into the jars, having watched what Briar had done. She slathered the ingredients upon the bite on Briar's shoulder. Turnabout was fair play and she felt that she owed it to the other woman.

The topic of what they could do with Artorias was brought up and a thoughtful expression crossed Bowen's features. "He likes to explore and he likes food, so why don't we surprise him with a picnic?" A mischievous grin crossed the fae's maw, pulling her lip open once more. "We could keep it a secret. I could go ahead and set everything up and you could bring him." Emerald eyes met turquoise and she waited to see what the other woman thought about the plan.

"Bowen"