Always there when you call

It was not an easy thing for Artorias to do, giving his mother permission to leave home. In fact, it was possibly the hardest thing he'd ever had to consider. For all his life, he'd grown up thinking their family would all stay together in the Hallows, the way Resin had imagined they would. He thought his mother would always be around, there for him to turn to whenever he needed her, there to support him in whatever challenges he faced. He thought she'd be waiting outside the doors when his first children were born—her first grandchildren. He imagined her here forever while they grew up to watch the family she'd created grow and flourish. And now... now she was leaving them. Everything inside him screamed to stop it, to deny her, to not let her leave the family. But a caged bird was still caged, no matter how much it sang. Deep down, Artorias knew this was what Tamsyn needed to be happy. Even if it killed him to do this, it would kill his mother even more to refuse her.

Part of him had hoped that this conversation would have just ended there and then. Tamsyn could take her permission to leave, thank him, and be on her way. He hoped this because he didn't want his mother to see him cry. As it happened, Tam instead came over to embrace him, her forelegs wrapping around his neck while she hugged him tightly and kissed his cheek. That undid everything holding Artorias' stoic facade together, and the faint glow of teal tears began to well up in his amber eyes. He leaned his head down to rest over hers while she nuzzled into his neck and promised she would always be there if he needed her. "I will never remove you from the Hallows, Mama," he vowed. How could he? Even if he reigned, this was her pack and her family here. She would always belong to the Hallows and she would always be welcomed home. "You can always come home if you ever need anything from us."

When Tam leaned back, Artorias was full on crying now, those glowing tears cutting down his face while he gazed at her, already dreading that these would be the last days he ever saw her. He knew how dangerous the world was, knew what sort of evils lurked out there, and it made him afraid. Afraid that he'd never see his mother again once she stepped out of Hallowed lands. He knew his mother would be careful and protect herself and her family, but he couldn't shake the fear. After watching Resin die right before him, Artorias had been forced to face the mortality of himself and his own family far too young. Now he dreaded not being able to protect them, to save them, or at the very least to be there at the end. His greatest fear was never seeing his mother again, that she would die somewhere out in the wild, and he'd never know, never get to say goodbye or give her the funeral she deserved. That thought terrified him more than anything else.

Artorias leaned forward when Tamsyn put her paw on his cheek to rest his forehead against hers, closing his eyes in a vain attempt to try and stem the flow of tears that fell from his eyes. When his mother called him "her blueberry boy" his body shook with a gentle sob. "I'll always love you too, Mama," he said while struggling to keep his voice level and not quaking with his breaking heart. "Just... Just promise you'll visit often? I want to know my half-siblings, and... and promise me you'll come back home whenever you decide to stop traveling. I don't want to lose you forever." "I want to be here for you at the end," was what he was truly saying, but he couldn't even attempt to form those words. No matter where Tamsyn went or what adventures she had, in her twilight years, she deserved to spend all of her days surrounded by the family that loved her. Artorias had already lost one parent without a proper goodbye. He would not lose his second the same way.

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