Housewarming

Briar giggled softly as their avian son squished himself between the two of them, clearly seeking out the available warmth, and she reached up to kiss Zeph's cheek affectionately. "I don't like the cold either," she confided quietly with a little grin. "We'll find somewhere warm to be as soon as grandpa and grandma get here." And soon they did, her father and mother appearing from the inner part of the Col quickly to greet them. Her father arrived first and she grinned happily as he approached her, her braided tail brushing against the ground as she returned his embrace. She chuckled at his compliments and replied with a slight, shy awkwardness, "Thank you." She still wasn't the best at taking compliments, but she appreciated his confidence in the fact that she fit this role she had found herself in well.

Right behind him was her mother and as he moved off to greet Artorias her gaze turned to her mother and she was immediately taken by how much more life she seemed to have in her now. The hustle and bustle of the wedding had prevented her from really spending much individual time with her so perhaps she had already begun to improve by then, but she wasn't sure. Still, regardless, it tugged at Briar's heart to see her doing well. When Zee came to nuzzle her, Briar returned the affection and slipped a foreleg around her to give her a gentle embrace, doing her best not to get too emotional about the whole thing when they had only just arrived. She laughed lightly as Zee corrected her father, saying how it was the relationship she had with Artorias that was causing her to flourish, not the Queen title she now carried. Her tail continued to wag as she watched her parents poke fun at each other back and forth and it felt like a glimpse of what had once been and it made it hard for her to speak at all. She caught Artorias' glance and she gave him a knowing grin, giving him a little wink as she shook off the emotions that tried to creep up on her.

Then for a little bit all the attention was on their adoptive son with her father greeting him with a signature bear hug and her mother making a comment about his shadow scaring her father gray. A little snort of laughter escaped her at that and she grinned, knowing there just had to be a fantastic story to go along with that warning. She couldn't help but laugh lightly as well as Artorias confirmed that Zephyrus had indeed been eating anything and everything. He had grown so rapidly in recent months that it was getting hard to find enough food to keep the growing raptor satisfied, but luckily he was getting big enough now to do his own hunting so perhaps that would make things a bit easier. She didn't mind though, she would do anything and everything for their unexpected and unusual family member to keep him happy and healthy. Her attention then turned to the Col in question as her mother invited them inside and she got to her paws to follow her parents in, keeping to Zephyrus' side as they went.

Art mentioned the gifts that they had brought as they walked into the caves, the alpaca following behind them with the cart in question. At the mention of her wines she grinned proudly and nodded with enthusiasm. "I've been working on a few new blends from the big berry harvest we did recently! Artorias is too kind in his opinions of them—or perhaps too much of a light weight to remember if they're actually good or not when he's done with them," she mentioned, casting a teasing grin toward her husband before turning her gaze back to her parents again. "So hopefully you'll be able to give me your opinions on them before we leave!"

"Briar Carpathius"