Family time

A part of her wondered how the perception that others had of her and her life could be so drastically different from how she remembered and experienced it. She hadn't had any directions or lessons growing up, not until the one time Mortis decided to help her and not until she demanded help with knowledge of diplomacy from their father, but even then it felt like she was still mostly left to figure it out just like the rest of them. Maybe she was just that much better at faking it than the others. She kept herself from responding to that though, knowing in the end it would just become a case of splitting hairs and that's not what she was here to do. There was no going back or doing anything differently for either of them and now she just had to make the best of what was here now and try to mend what little relationship they had.

Briar gave a shy flick of her ears and a small shrug when Gossamer insisted over what a big deal it was that she was going to be an alphess and about how she knew what she wanted to do, how good she was at her interests, and about having a loving boyfriend. For the most part she struggled with the fact that it felt like everything had more or less been given to her. She wanted to work for and earn what she had and sometimes it felt like she was only being given this important position because she happened to fall in love with the heir of a pack and she just so happened to be personable enough to make diplomacy work for her. Yes, she had worked hard on her skills in fighting, but that was about it. She hadn't had to work her way up the ranks and there was a bit of impostor syndrome when it came to that.

"Far down the road is still good too," she insisted when Gossamer mentioned her desires might be somewhere in the distant future, looking down at the ground in front of them. "It will be more satisfying that way... to earn it with hard work and dedication." It was something she had always admired about Artoiras too. Even though he had pretty clearly the best choice of his siblings to take over The Hallows after his mother passed away he had still worked so hard to prepare himself for it and hadn't taken any of it for granted. She just wondered if she had done enough to make herself worthy of standing beside him as the Queen. She didn't feel like she had earned it yet, but maybe one day she would.

She looked back up at Gossamer after a few moments of thoughtful silence to add, "If you ever need anything please let me know, okay? I... I don't even know what help to offer, but... Even if you just want to get out for a while and come visit Auster my door will always be open. Sometimes just a breath of fresh air does wonders."

Briar Fatalis