With the revival of spring - perhaps if it really was spring, given the strange flourishing of autumnal weather had fallen upon the castle and its surrounding lands - the grounds were due for a cleaning. Perhaps even more so, to clear the fallen leaves and oust any clutter that had accumulated over the winter as well. The older woman wasn’t very nimble - at least, not quite as flexible as she was when she was younger, able to climb into small spaces and hop onto elevated surfaces with ease. Those days were over for her, and she had to try and make do with cleaning on even ground. With Mel’s help, they’d fished out a broom with a shorter handle from a closet on the main floor of the castle, something the woman could easily grasp in her maw and it wouldn’t strain her neck terribly. Mel busies himself with wiping some of the shelves in the castle, some of the ledges and window frames that were lower and easiyl accessible for the badger with a wooden footstool he tugged along with him as Laeta swept the broad stone floor in easy but firm strokes, sweeping the dust, shed fur from everyones’ winter coats, and whatever leaves from the outside into neat piles. She made good use of her work, a smile lifting the corners of her lips as she peacefully worked. But it was a large floor, and there was still much to cover. Perhaps someone would help her? ”Speech” ’Thought’

Ash had kept herself confined to the castle since her return for more obvious reasons only if she would open up about it. It was easy to assume, at least for her mother and Artorias but she had stayed quiet about it. She wanted to move on. And while she felt like it was working, holding it back was hurting her more than she could admit.

She had noticed as a number of wolves had starting getting their rooms and common areas together, even outside of the walls while she was accompanied by someone. So when she came down the main stairwell into the quiet courtyards and noticed the woman and her badger companion tidying up around here, she went to carefully approach the woman, "Did you want some help?" She spoke in a gentle smile. She was friendly and she was coming out of her shell a little, but she was still struggling to be entirely social outside of her family or even more so, Bowen. "My name's Asheila."

"Asheila Carpathius"

Laeta had begun sweeping across the center of the great hallway, gently turning her neck to rhythmically brush aside the dust and debris in neat piles that she planned to sweep up later. That way, she could see where she'd already cleaned up and move on to the next spot on the hallway, and continue upwards until she'd reached its end. Her ruby eyes glanced down its long corridor, a twinge of worry hitting her as she realized she didn't have the strength to keep up her vigorous sweeping all the way. However, her silent prayer would be answered as an unfamiliar, but clearly a Hallows wolf, approached her and Mel. The badger paused his window dusting to clamber down to the floor and offer the woman a bow in greeting as she introduced herself. "A pleasure to meet you, lady Asheila. I am Mel." Lae smiled as her companion then returned to his own job, and the older woman offered the girl a smile as she inquired if they needed help. "Some asisstance would be most welcome, thank you Asheila," Lae said gently. She searched her vicinity - she could've sworn they'd found another broom in that closet, and finally grabbed the spare broom they'd found, offering it to the charcoal-cloaked girl if she wished to help sweep. "I'm Laeta, by the way. Are you new here?" She inquired, having never met the girl, so she wondered if she was a recent arrival. No doubt she received a warm welcome - Lae herself would always remember how she was taken in to the Hallows with open arms. She never forgot that display of generosity, ever. ”Speech” ’Thought’

Asheila smiled to the small badger as he introduced himself, and reflected the same to the woman as she seemed to be kind. She expected no less from any resident of The Hallows, even if she hadn't known them personally.

She took the broom that was offered, using it to sweep off some ledges of the stone walls and in turn moving the dust and dirt towards the middle where Laeta had been collecting it. The quiet suited her well, and she was comfortable as they worked together without a word but that didn't mean she was flightly as Laeta questioned her. "Oh, uh, kind of." She paused from her cleaning as she answered, somewhere in the more open areas of the dusted room. "I'm one of Artorias' sisters, so I spent a portion of my young life here. I just recently came back." It may have been just a smidge obvious the way she avoided those more finer details as to why she hadn't been here her whole life, but she tried not to make a big deal of it. She moved forward to keep sweeping into the center, "I don't know many of the residents now a days but I'm happy to meet another friendly face at least." She smiled again but was focused down on her work. The casual chit chat may have been helping her open up a little, not that they were entirely getting to know each other right now.

"Asheila Carpathius"

Lae listened as she heard Asheila mention her relations to Artorias - a sister, in fact, recently coming back to the Hallows to revisit her family. It piqued her interest to hear such information, the older woman’s slender ears perked as she continued sweeping a particularly grungy pile of dust and clumps of shedded fur into a neat pile by the corridor wall. Art’s family was quite large and extended, it seemed - many Hallows wolves were related to the Carpathius family in one way or another, and the relations spread to many packs, too. She smiled as her body focused on repeating the same sweeping motion, something she wouldn’t need to consciously think of so she could better listen to the younger girl. ”Welcome back, then, Asheila,” Lae said kindly, pausing briefly to speak. She knew the girl was focused on her own tidying up so she wouldn’t bother her too much. She did enjoy getting to know new residents, though, just as Asheila wanted to get to know others all the same. She smiled softly at her comment of having a friendly face to see. ”Well, I am glad you’re settling into your home again. I’m sure Artorias is happy to see you as well!” She didn’t know if Asheila had been in ankther pack, pr perhaps had been a loner for some time. But she did hope she was glad to be back with family again - and a new set of nieces and nephews to enjoy! Lae continued sweeping the clumpy piles together, then joining the smaller piles into a greater one so that they could easily be swept up by a brushpan and thrown out outside. Besides, the birds could use the fur for their nests and so did other woodland creatures - even something like dust had a purpose for nature. ”Speech” ’Thought’

Asheila would help as she and Laeta finished up the main areas of the courtyard and gardens here, a nice quiet and relaxing day through the castle it seemed. Asheila looked up at Laeta as she spoke again, another happy and content grin on her maw. Being back in the castle and around others was a hard transition from what she came from, but The Hallows made it easy it seemed. She wouldn't expect any different.  "It's nice being with family again." She responded, not sure if the woman could at least relate to that feeling. Ash had grown up in that tight knit family and even now. She knew not everyone had a life like that, or had come to a point in their own lives where it wasn't.

"It was nice meeting you Laeta, I hope we will find time to see each other again soon." She looked to the woman's badger with that same gentle smile, she'd go her separate ways but not so quickly. She was in no real hurry to run off somewhere so if Laeta was looking for more company afterwards that was fine with her as well.

"Asheila Carpathius"