How long had it been since his family had walked these paths between the trees of these woods? How many years had passed since the Carpathians had heard the rushing of the cascading falls that had once been all he and his siblings could hear from the shelter of their family's den at the peak? Had his mother ever come back here since they had left just before that cataclysmic ice age—since before Resin died? These questions swam in a sea of nostalgia and wistful melancholy as Artorias led the way north through the woods towards the sounds of the falls, his mother close beside him.

They had to cross into Valta lands to revisit their first home and his birth home, but thankfully Kotori and he were close, and the Hallows and Valta shared an alliance. He still gave a short call to announce his presence so no one mistook them as trespassers when they crossed over the border. Giant paws crunching soft powdery snow underfoot, Art was glad to see there was little more than an inch or two of snow on the ground. The winter seemed mild by Boreas' standards; it would pose little difficulty for his aging mother.

Artorias glanced over to Tamsyn as the thought crossed his mind, smiling as bright amber eyes met his mother's form. She had wanted to take a special trip with him back to their first home—one last time. Although Art had been concerned over Tam's ability to travel in her advanced age, his mother continued to astound him with the strength of her indomitable spirit. She powered on through their journey like the true guru adventurer she was, and though there were more breaks and rests in between, Artorias didn't mind giving Tamsyn a breather whenever she needed it. She was an impressive wolf and a hero in his eyes for making this journey almost entirely on her own strength.

A loving smile touched Art's lips, the dire wolf mama's boy leaning over to gently nudge her side with his own, just a gentle brush and nothing to risk knocking her over. "How's it feel to be back?" he asked, his breath hanging in wispy clouds of humidity at the end of his snout. If he was feeling this wistful, he could only imagine how his mother must be feeling right now...

"Talk" | "Carpathian"

It had been so very long since she had come back to the falls that had been their family's first home and as she began to make a short list of things she wanted to do and places she wanted to go before her body no longer allowed her to do those things revisiting their former home was certainly high on the list. The trip she and Kane had made for her to visit Sirius had been a bit of an undertaking for her so she had to rest up for a while, but eventually she revisited her bucket list. While she knew Kane would go with her without question, she felt like this was the perfect opportunity to pull her very busy son away from his work. If there was any of her children that were just as sentimental as she was it was Artorias so this felt like the perfect trip to take together. The going had been slow, tiring out more easily than she would have liked, but her darling son let her take all the time she needed and then some so she was able to make it to the familiar falls without too much fuss. 

As they neared the falls, the sound of the rushing, flowing water immediately began to bring back so many memories. She crunched through the light layer of snow as they slowly followed along the river, her mint gaze slowly sweeping over everything wistfully. It was obvious that time had passed and the landscape had changed some from the picture she remembered in her mind, but it all still struck such a chord that she couldn't help but just take it all in quietly through waves of emotion. She was so happy to be back, but it was also a little melancholic to know that the last time she was here it was with Resin. She blinked as Art gently nudged her, pulling her out of her thoughts and memories and she retuned his smile as she looked up to meet his gaze. Tam chuckled a little at his question, looking back out to the falls in front of them as she leaned into his side. "It's... good. There's so many happy memories here and I'm so glad I get to see it again, but it also feels a little strange to be here without Resin." 

She tried to shake off the odd melancholy and kept going, following the familiar path as if she had been here just yesterday–though far slower and more carefully than she would have done back then. Her body might be failing her, but her mind was just as sharp and bright as ever. Maybe that's what made growing old so hard. In mind and in spirit she was still the young mother that was chasing trouble making pups up and down the slopes, but in body her age was very much making itself known. She made it to the top of the falls before she finally let herself settle back onto her haunches with a heavy sigh, looking out over the picturesque landscape with a wistful smile. 

"Talk" | "Carpathian"

Artorias met his mother's wistful smile with one of his own. "Yeah, I know... I think she'd be happy for how things turned out though." He understood how it felt to be back here, though maybe not as intimately as she did. This had been his first ever home, the place he had been born, but this had been so much more to Tamsyn. This was where the Hallows had been formed with her and Resin, the place where she had carried and birthed him and his siblings, the place she had planned to live forever with her mate. Life had a way of changing plans, however, and while their paths may not have been exactly what they'd hoped for or planned, Artorias liked to think they'd all done well in the end.

Leading Tamsyn up the sloping path along the side of the cliff to the top of the falls, the pair of wolves eventually reached the summit where their old family den sat by the water. Up here, the views of Boreas stretched on for miles. The sight transported Artorias back in time, back to when he was a small pup looking out over this massive world and planning to see it all. A little smile played on the edges of Art's lips, and he offered his side to Tamsyn while they sat together looking out over their world and their former home. For a while, Artorias didn't say anything. He just sat there, drinking in the scenic landscapes of Boreas in winter, letting the memories come back to him like leaves flowing down a gentle stream. Then he glanced over to his mother at his side.

Tamsyn still looked exactly the way he'd always known her. Sure, maybe she had more silver and gray in amongst her black fur, but she was still very much his mother. Nothing about the older wolf's personality had changed or shifted. She'd retained her mind, her spirit, her memory. But time was beginning to take its toll on her body. Her energy waned day to day, she moved slower and more deliberate, and she no longer ran patrols or took adventures anywhere. At some point, she had hit her lasts of all the things she once did effortlessly. It was the curse of time and age, and although Art knew this was the natural cycle of things, that didn't make it any easier for him to watch. His mother was his hero, and seeing your heroes show their mortality was a hard thing to process.

After a few moments, Art gently leaned his side against his mother's, pressing against her the way he used to do when he was much littler. He tried to ignore the melancholy thoughts lingering at the back of his mind to prevent them from ruining their trip together. "Mom," he finally said to break the quiet, looking down to her with a gentle smile and loving amber eyes. "Thank you..."

"Talk" | "Carpathian"

Tamsyn glanced up at Artorias as he came to sit beside her at the top of the falls and she gave him a smile before she looked back out over the wide, expansive view, leaning gently into her son's side. They were quiet for a while, just enjoying the view and taking in this moment, but her mind was so far away. She thought about coming here with Resin for the first time as her mate shared her dream for what The Hallows would become. She thought about the first time the pups left the den in the "fence" of rocks that Resin had constructed, when Artorias picked up his first sword stick and Gwynevere brought them a "weaf". There was countless memories here even though in the grand scheme of their lives together they had only lived here for a comparatively short time. Still, it was where a lot of it had truly begun and it was bitter sweet to be sitting here now with her son that was now a grown man with a family of his own.

She hadn't noticed Artorias looking at her until he spoke, pulling her attention back to the present as she blinked her mint eyes back into focus and lifted her head to meet his gaze. Tam gave him a little tilt of her head with a silent question for what was on his mind, but instead he simply thanked her. She smiled and chuckled as she lifted a paw to place it over his, giving his much larger paw a pat and a squeeze. "What are you thanking me for, silly boy?" she questioned. "You're the one that made it so I could come all this way again. I should be thanking you!"

"Talk" | "Carpathian"

In true and typical Tamsyn fashion, his mother seemed perplexed as to why he was thanking her, insisting that she should be the one thanking him for bringing her back to their old home. Artorias simply gave a soft chuckle under his breath at her humility and shook his head. "Thank you for everything you've done for us, for our family," he clarified, already beginning to feel the start of emotions tightening in his chest. "Thank you for loving us and caring for us, keeping us safe and sharing experiences with us. Thank you for always believing in us and supporting us no matter what. Thank you for giving us the best lives we could ask for and never giving up no matter how hard things were." The more he spoke, the more his words began to get choked up with emotion as he reflected back on all the years between them. Years of joy, of sorrow, of laughter, of pain, of love and loss. Through his triumphs and his failures, at his zenith and his nadir, his mother's love and support had never wavered, even if he lost faith in himself.

And now, here he was, staring at the face of his mother, aged by time and speckled with silver fur. Nothing devastated or terrified Artorias more than loss, and he was forced to face the mortality of one of the most important wolves in his life. Death was an inevitability, but it was the one aspect of life that never failed to break down the usually stalwart wolf. "I guess what I'm really trying to say is..." Artorias swallowed back the lump in his throat, blinking back some faintly glowing misting that had welled up in his fire-toned eyes. "Thank you for being our mother—for being my mother." His litter's circumstances were far from traditional, and there were many hardships they'd all had to face in their early lives. But Tamsyn was by far the best wolf they could have hoped for to be their mother, and if he had to do it all over again, Artorias wouldn't have changed a thing.

"Talk" | "Carpathian"

Artorias clarified that he was thanking her for everything she had done for their family and she quickly realized she wasn't the only one going down memory lane here and being tugged by the emotions it brought. She smiled as she listened to her son talk about the love, protection, and support she had given them as their mother, his kind words bringing tears to the corners of her eyes as emotion sat heavy on her chest. She had never put any thought into giving her children all of these things–giving them all of herself. It had just been a natural response to love and care for them with everything she had and to do her very best to give them the family and the life she didn't have growing up. She knew from her own experience that it wasn't an automatic or natural response from all parents, but for her there had been no other option.

Still, as Artorias thanked her for being their mother–for being his mother–she couldn't help the tears that rolled down her cheeks and the wide smile that pulled at her lips. Being a parent sometimes felt like a thankless job and sometimes she wondered if she ever did it correctly, but little moments like this reminded her that she did her best and maybe that was more than enough. She reached a black paw up to his cheek, wiping away some of his unique, glistening tears before she gently pulled his head down a bit so she could reach to give his cheek a kiss. "Oh my little blueberry... Being a mother to you and all of your siblings has been my greatest honor and joy," she replied, her voice strained and struggling through her tears. "I love all of you so much."

She had to reach up to wrap her forelegs around his neck and still ended up having to pull him down to her a bit in order to tuck his head under her chin the way she used to when he was little. She laughed a bit through her tears, blinking them away from her eyes as she nuzzled the top of his head. "How do I shrink you back to blueberry sized?" She still remembered them all being so small like it was yesterday and even though he had been this tall for years now it was still so hard to wrap her head around the fact that he wasn't her little boy any more.

"Talk" | "Carpathian"

Artorias knew that his mother would likely try to dismiss his thanks for her being the greatest parent to him and his siblings—it was just her nature as Tamsyn to do so—but he refused to let the appreciation and love they all felt for her go unspoken. Tamsyn didn't rebuke him this time though, instead reaching a paw up to stroke his cheek and brush away some of his glowing tears in the way she had done since he'd been a little puppy and she'd done the same then. At her gentle insistence, Art lowered his head to her level so she could grace his cheek with a motherly kiss, bringing an affectionate smile to the dire wolf's muzzle. As family oriented as he was, Tamsyn held a high place of prestige and honor in his heart, and she always would.

Tam called him by her nickname for him, bringing a soft chuckle from the big bad Lord of Cinder, a fresh wave of tears coming when she called being his mother her greatest honor and joy. Artorias leaned his head forward to gently bump his forehead against hers in an affectionate nuzzle, his tail giving a slow wag behind him in the snow. "I love you too, Mom. So, so much. More than I could ever say." As much as he hoped to deny it, deep down in his soul Artorias knew Tamsyn was reaching the last of her years. Everybody died eventually—even his mother, as much as he wished it wasn't so. He dreaded the thought, refused to entertain it, but refusing it didn't change reality. He knew one day he wouldn't have her around anymore. So he was going to savor all the time he was able to keep her for.

Art felt Tamsyn's paws lift to wrap around his neck, pulling his gently down so she could tuck his large head underneath her own like she had done time and time again when she'd comforted him growing up. It was so comical to the giant dire wolf with their size difference, but she was his mother and he'd never turn down mom snuggles. Laughing softly amidst the tears along with her, Art nuzzled into Tam's chest and gently leaned his body back into hers, letting himself get swept up in his mother's embrace. She jokingly asked how she could shrink him back to blueberry size and Artorias gave a barking laugh, grinning cheekily from ear to ear. "So you can watch me ride tortoises around all day again?" he remarked in jest, tipping his snout up to nuzzle at his mother's jaw. "I'll always be your little blueberry, Mom. Even if I get ridiculously big. I'm just a big blueberry on the outside now."

"Talk" | "Carpathian"