It had been difficult keeping her composure after the all too brief moment after she had taken Gwynevere to speak with her father. It felt like it had all happened in a flash—Gwyn coming to her with her concerns over Zee, Briar forcing her sister-in-law to come with her to speak to Sirius so that her father could hear it from Gwyn directly, and then they each went their separate ways. She had to go back to playing host to the rest of their family and taking care of her children all while holding onto the knowledge that something was incredibly wrong even if she didn't yet fully believe the extent of it. It was something that she forced to stay at the far corners of her mind as she made herself smile as if nothing was wrong around her pups until she was finally able to put them to bed, making sure they were tucked in and snoozing before she slipped out of their room quietly. She paused just long enough to fill in Artorias, wanting him to at least know what she knew—even if that wasn't much—before she went in search of her mother.

She wasn't even sure what she wanted or why she felt so compelled to go see Zee right now, but part of her worried that if she didn't go now she might not get the chance. She had already lived through her mother suddenly slipping away from her once and she didn't want that to happen again. It was early in the evening, the sun just really starting to set, when she went to the infirmary to see if she could find her mother there. Gwyn had made it pretty clear when they spoke that Zee had been very staunchly in denial when she was given her diagnosis, but she deeply hoped that maybe her father had been able to convince her to let her sister-in-law help. Whether he did or not she did at least find her mother there, seemingly walking in just as Gwyn finished giving her another dose of medicine. That at least eased her worries the smallest bit and she gave Gwyn a small nod, silently asking her in a way to give them some privacy, and passing the healer as she walked over to where Zee was.

"Mom..." she said quietly, suddenly at a loss for words—not that she thought there was anything that she could say that would really sum up how she was feeling or that would help the situation, but she had hoped that maybe once she saw her she would know what to say. Instead, she just settled beside her mother, deciding that just being with her was better than nothing. She wanted to ask how she was feeling, but she was also kind of afraid of the answer. "I'm... I'm sorry," she finally managed after a moment of silence between them. "I feel like I held so much resentment for so long and now that we're finally getting close... this..." Briar trailed off, her ears flicking back uncertainly.

"Briar Carpathius"

Zee had been pushing herself hard, bouncing between conversation to conversation, making what plans she could and seeing them to fruition where possible. When she was not resting, she was with one family member or the other. Comforting the few grown children who had come to see her, entertaining the youngest group with cuddles and stories, and seeking out her grandchildren so they might know her in at least some way before the end. Seer had been a constant presence at her side, leaving only when she would request it or when he needed to find something specific from the castle for her comfort. He had led her down the stairway toward the infirmary, allowing her to lean her weight against his strong side to keep up what appearances she could. Once she'd made it back to the hospital wing and dismissed him with a kiss, she was able to collapse in a bed and let Gwyn do what healers did best - dull her pain, ease her fever, and coach her on what she might expect next. Briar's appearance was an unexpected one and Zee lifted her head wearily from the pillow to greet her, straining off of her side and upright where she lay. "Oh, Briar." She murmured as the girl apologized, her ears falling flat against her skull. "It's not you who should be sorry, it's me. Who knows what is in store for any of us at the end? It might be wonderful." A hope of hers, that the 'afterlife' was not just an eternity of silent darkness, alone. "But you all... no, I'm sorry. For what you are going through and will go through. I'm only glad you have a steady shoulder in Artorias, and that I was here to see your grandchildren...  at least for a little while." "Speech"

As they exchanged their apologies, Briar wanted to deny Zee's just as her mother denied hers. There was nothing any of them could have done to foresee this or prepare for this sudden illness, but it didn't make her regret the past any less. She wished she could turn back time, to find a way to change how things had been, to tell herself not to hold such bitterness and resentment for so long. Looking back on things now, she could see the pettiness in it and which she was sure that every pup growing up without their parents felt some sort of anger or void that couldn't be filled, she still wished that things had been different. She gave a small nod of agreement and smiled when Zee mentioned having Artorias to lean on and getting to have her here to meet her children for at least a brief time, swallowing past the lump in her throat as she desperately tried to hold back her tears. Artorias had been there for her the first time she thought that she had lost her mother and now he would be there for her again and again for the rest of their lives. No matter how many decisions she had made that she regretted, he was the one choice that she had no reason to doubt.

Lifting her paw to the edge of the bed, she went to take her mother's similarly tawny paw and squeeze it gently. "I just... I just wish there was more time," she said softly. More time to get to know the mother she had spent so little time with before she moved away, more time to see her children playing with their grandmother, more time to see her parents together. A thought crossed her mind and a laugh bubbled up as a smile tugged at her lips, the most ridiculous of her regrets crossing her mind. "You never got to try the wines!" she exclaimed between tear-laced laughter, remembering how she had attempted to share them with her mother during one of their trips to the Armada before she found out about her youngest siblings, grinning and grateful for the moment of silliness in the heavy darkness that hung around them like a heavy fog.

"Briar Carpathius"