Our Stories

Upon her approach to the quickly growing group of her siblings, Ember was greeted by her slightly smaller sister. She met Clove's nudge with a gentle bump of her head aimed for her sister's shoulder in return. "Hiya, Clovie!" she chirped gleefully in reply. With them being the only two girls in the litter, Ember had always felt a bit closer to Clove than she did to her brothers. Call it sororal bonds or what have you. Their two brothers Vendrick and Nelu came over to join them, and together the four pups were regaled by a tale from their mother about the founding of the Hallows and how their home had come to be.

Ember tucked herself into her mother's paws, swirling blue irises fixated on their mother's face as she listened with rapt attention to the histories of their kingdom. It all sounded so fantastical and so long ago, like a legend from ancient times and not just the abridged biography of their parents. Ember's mind was abuzz with wonderful imaginings of all these places Briar named for them. The Armada. Sunset Falls. The castle they had discovered before it became their home. Ember had always just assumed that their family had always lived here, or that it had been built by their family. To hear that they had discovered it abandoned felt like it had always been meant to be theirs. So many questions swam in the young pup's mind as she drank in Briar's story like a sponge soaked up water. She felt like she was getting a glimpse through time and learning about who they were and where they all came from. What an exciting day this was becoming!

As Briar's story began to wind down to its conclusion, Ember began to pick up on some things in her mother's phrasing. She was a sharp pup, astute even for her young age. Grinning from ear to ear and giggling when Briar ruffled the top of her head and mussing up her fluffy puppy fur, Ember swatted at their mother's paw playfully while the story came to an end and Clove chimed in about wanting to play with their grandparents from the Armada. "Yeah! I wanna meet our grandparents too!" Ember voiced her support for Clove's request, then added her own observation in. "Mama, if Grandpa Sirius and Grandma Zee are living in the Armada, then where are Grandma Resin and Granny Tam? How come they don't live with us here? And how come we only have one grandpa from you and not one from Dad?" A curious tilt cocked the girl's head as she peered up at Briar, expectant eyes awaiting her answer. She had noticed how during the story, their mother had used words like "was" and "wanted" instead of "is" like she did with Granny Tam. Where were their grandparents from their sire's side? And where was their second grandpa?

"Ember Carpathius"