Hold on. Let me overthink this. [Briar]

With the departure of her father and younger siblings, their life in The Hallows had fallen back into some state of normalcy. There for a while she was beginning to wonder if she would know what normal felt like when it came, but she supposed this was it. With half as many pups to keep track of she suddenly felt like her day was so much more open and she realized that this was how it had felt before everything with her mother took place. She loved her family deeply and she was always more than happy to help when she could–and grateful that she had the resources to do so–but she would be lying if she said she wasn't glad that she could focus all of her time on her children and Hallows family once more. A small part of her felt guilty over that fact, but she tried not to think about that too much and instead be grateful that she could get back to the projects she had put on hold and return to teaching and loving their pups.

As she was working on a few things in their lengthy preparations for the annual Bonfire Festival, she moved around the pantry and kitchens within the castle, taking inventory of what they had and what they still needed to gather. Her work was interrupted by a howl from the pack's border, causing her to pause for a moment to listen. With how distracted her thoughts were, she almost didn't recognize the voice and was about to let one of the warriors or Artorias answer the call, but with a start she realized who had come calling. Briar quickly abandoned her work and moved swiftly from the castle, finding her way down the familiar corridors and down the courtyard path till she could trot out across the plains that surrounded the castle walls. The figure of her sister was easy to spot and she grinned as her turquoise gaze landed on Gossamer, her thickly braided tail swaying behind her with happy surprise.

As she moved toward her sister, she remembered a promise that she had made Gossamer take the last time they spoke and suddenly the visit became all the more exciting and had her moving even more quickly to join up with her sister. At the very least, if that wasn't what this visit was about, she sincerely hoped she didn't bring more bad news. Briar wasn't entirely sure her heart could take it. She looked to Gossamer hopefully with an eager grin as she stopped in front of her, asking, "Did you get Lieutenant? You did, didn't you?"

"Briar Carpathius"