Behind the curtain

Unfortunately, Artorias had been looking away when he'd spoken in the Carpathian tongue, so he missed seeing Lia's shocked reaction to hearing it. It hadn't even crossed his mind that she hadn't heard it before now, since it was only something he'd acquired from lessons with Iolaire after he'd returned home and donned the mantle of Aegis. He did, however, notice her dainty paw coming up to rest on his azure cheek, just below one of his ash gray stripes on his muzzle. Amber eyes blinked a few times while he turned to look at Lia again with soft warmth in his gaze. "I know you are, Lia. You show that to me every day in your actions and your behaviors. It doesn't go unnoticed," he reassured her. "I hope that in time I can help make the Hallows feel less daunting for you, and more like a home."

Lia offered to rub his shoulders then to help him relax as he explained what had kept him up at night. At first, Artorias felt his stomach clench with nervousness. He recalled what Lia had said to him in her drunken haze back in the Armada, her offer to service him whenever he wanted, concerned she might be falling back into her old habits. But the look on her face that told him she needed to comfort him to feel like she was doing a good job helped assuage some of that fear. "I think that sounds lovely. I'd like that a lot, thank you, Lia." Shifting a bit to lay out his massive body on the grass, Artorias stretched his forelegs out and rested his head down on them, lying flat to allow Lia easier access to get over him and do whatever work she needed to do. His right shoulder in particular had an ache from favoring that leg after being stabbed. Though he was healing well now, it still felt like he was carrying some strain from his weeks of limping.

"Artorias Carpathius" | "Carpathian" | "Corbin" | "Argent"