What is real, what is fake

Artorias had been quiet all through her emotional ramblings up until she began to question if this had been her fault, if she had done something wrong to drive her mother away. She listened to his advice and his assurances that this wasn't because of her. As harsh as his words sounded, it almost felt like the words that she was too afraid to say or even think. There were vague memories of her mother in the earliest days of her childhood, but they were all indistinct and distant. For most of that first year of her life her mother was like a floating figure, around and yet not. She had so many memories of times she had spent with her father and the things she had done with him, but try as she might she couldn't think of any of those with her mother. It was hard for her to say if her mother had actually spent more time with any of her siblings than her or not, but that was the only justification she could think of for why Aris and Gossamer would behave as they had. She knew if the roles were reversed, if it had been their father that had been thought to be dead and then suddenly reappeared to prove that fact false then she would have been running back to tell Artorias the news and dragging him off to reintroduce them. But now...

Eventually he questioned what she wanted to do, asking if she wanted another chance with Zee, and for a little bit she really didn't know how to answer. She was quiet, her claws lightly scratching absently at Artorias' back. As much as she wanted to lean into Art's words and put the blame on her mother for their lack of a relationship and just say that the chance at that had passed, she just didn't have it in her. She thought about what her father had told her at the reunion she had just left and she let a slow breath out through her nose. What he said didn't exactly sit well in her mind and it made her wonder who was viewing the past wrong - her or her father - but either way she felt like she was supposed to give her mother the benefit of the doubt. She was supposed to be happy and grasping at the chance to make up for lost time, but right now she just felt tired. It was an emotional whiplash that she didn't really know how to keep up with. At the same time, she knew her father wouldn't just let her ignore her mother forever. He'd make sure she was at least trying so she wasn't really sure if she had a choice in the matter.

"I have to try," she finally answered, her voice not even really sounding certain in her own ears. "I don't really know where to even start, but... I guess I have to." She lifted her head from his shoulder, letting her gaze find his again. She smiled softly when she found his amber gaze. She wasn't completely at ease about the situation and she didn't really have a solution, but he was her voice of reason as always, the calm in her storm. "I'm really glad you're here. I don't know what I would have done if you weren't here and I don't think running away to The Hallows right after she got back would have helped things." She chuckled softly and leaned in to leave a soft kiss on his lips.

"Briar Fatalis"