Just when we were getting to the good part

It had been difficult keeping her composure after the all too brief moment after she had taken Gwynevere to speak with her father. It felt like it had all happened in a flash—Gwyn coming to her with her concerns over Zee, Briar forcing her sister-in-law to come with her to speak to Sirius so that her father could hear it from Gwyn directly, and then they each went their separate ways. She had to go back to playing host to the rest of their family and taking care of her children all while holding onto the knowledge that something was incredibly wrong even if she didn't yet fully believe the extent of it. It was something that she forced to stay at the far corners of her mind as she made herself smile as if nothing was wrong around her pups until she was finally able to put them to bed, making sure they were tucked in and snoozing before she slipped out of their room quietly. She paused just long enough to fill in Artorias, wanting him to at least know what she knew—even if that wasn't much—before she went in search of her mother.

She wasn't even sure what she wanted or why she felt so compelled to go see Zee right now, but part of her worried that if she didn't go now she might not get the chance. She had already lived through her mother suddenly slipping away from her once and she didn't want that to happen again. It was early in the evening, the sun just really starting to set, when she went to the infirmary to see if she could find her mother there. Gwyn had made it pretty clear when they spoke that Zee had been very staunchly in denial when she was given her diagnosis, but she deeply hoped that maybe her father had been able to convince her to let her sister-in-law help. Whether he did or not she did at least find her mother there, seemingly walking in just as Gwyn finished giving her another dose of medicine. That at least eased her worries the smallest bit and she gave Gwyn a small nod, silently asking her in a way to give them some privacy, and passing the healer as she walked over to where Zee was.

"Mom..." she said quietly, suddenly at a loss for words—not that she thought there was anything that she could say that would really sum up how she was feeling or that would help the situation, but she had hoped that maybe once she saw her she would know what to say. Instead, she just settled beside her mother, deciding that just being with her was better than nothing. She wanted to ask how she was feeling, but she was also kind of afraid of the answer. "I'm... I'm sorry," she finally managed after a moment of silence between them. "I feel like I held so much resentment for so long and now that we're finally getting close... this..." Briar trailed off, her ears flicking back uncertainly.

"Briar Carpathius"