Undiscovered Beauty

Briar followed Artorias as he led the way on another adventure through the mountains after hearing about some paths that had recently opened up while they were visiting her family. As soon as they mentioned it to Artorias she knew her adventure loving husband would want to go investigate so she was far from surprised when he asked her to come with him. Luckily the mountain passes and caves that they were working their way through weren't too difficult to navigate and weren't too cramped so exploring them was moderately easy. Briar's eyes widened in surprise when Artorias mentioned that this was where they had gotten Lia as they passed by one of the larger caves, replying, "Really?" as she looked in and tried to imagine the market that she had been told about before. She had still never seen such a thing, but it was probably for the best. She doubted that she could go to such a thing and not try to leave with all of the captured wolves to set them free.

Bringing her attention back to the path in front of them, they reached a crack in the stone that was clearly a more recent development than some of the older, more weathered stone around them. She nodded as he motioned her to follow and after Art had slipped through she did the same—though with a little more ease than he did with her significantly smaller frame and build. The passage that they stepped into was more spacious than the one they just left, but they weren't in it for long as they made their way through into a large open chamber. An equal amount of shock and surprise colored her expression as she stopped next to artorias, taking in the lush, hidden paradise that was tucked away in the mountains. In here it felt like they were no longer in the bitter winter of the north, but instead in a temperate spring that was a welcome reprieve from the cold they had been in for a bit now.

She gave a small shake of her head at his awed question, replying, "No... Nothing like this." She followed him into the lush vegetation as he stepped down into the plush grass and draping willow trees, her turquoise gaze taking all of it in with awe. It was beautiful and so unexpected after walking through the frigid northern landscape. When they reached the pool that took up the center of the sheltered get away, she looked down at the water and gasped softly, her mouth hanging open with shock. "Art! Look!" she gasped, pointing out the splashes of color from paintings that lined the bottom of the pool. There were shapes of all sorts of animals and figures, flowers and trees, the moon and stars. The water was so perfectly clear and still that seeing them all was easy.

"Artorias & Briar Carpathius"