home at last

Briar glanced up from brushing out her fur in the mirror when Artorias entered the room, giving him a little grin before she went back to her usual routine. She enjoyed her nightly ritual of bathing and brushing out her fur so that it was pristine and ready to go in the morning even if Artorias always seemed dead set on undoing her work whenever he had the chance. She hummed happily as he greeted her, replying, "Good evening, handsome." It was almost odd having the room be so quiet after being so accustomed to having the chatter and activity of their pups all around them, but it was a nice change and a bit of a reminder of what it would be like once they were old enough to move into their own rooms. As if reading her mind, she noticed Art stepping up behind her in the mirror and she couldn't help but grin as his forelegs slipped around her in an all too familiar way. Before he could even make the suggestion she could already see where his mind was going. Before she could respond though, a tap at the door interrupted them and she glanced curiously over to the door. Their pups were rarely allowed out this late so she was shocked that any of them would hurry back this quickly so it made her even more curious about who it could be.

She hadn't gotten up from her spot in front of the mirror as Artorias went to open the door since she had rightfully assumed it would be one of their children or perhaps one of the other pack members coming to report something to him, but instead there was an unexpected pause before her husband exclaimed the name of their first child. That got her attention in an instant and her head snapped over toward the door with disbelief. Zeph had been away for far too long and she, just like Artorias, had begun to fear that their massive, avian son had taken off for good. Dropping her brush, she scrambled to her paws and hurried over to the bedroom door to see him for herself and sure enough there he was, filling their doorway with black, gray, and blue feathers. She gasped excitedly with a huge grin pulling across her features as she hopped up onto her hind legs to make her best attempt at embracing their boy as well. He had gotten so unbelievably big and it was almost impossible to imagine that this was the same boy Art had found as a little, waddling chick. "Zeph! You're home!" she exclaimed, squeezing him tight for a long moment before she finally allowed herself to take a step back and look him over, making sure he looked well and heathy. She was just as interested to hear where he had been as Art was so as he questioned their son she looked up to him expectantly as well, but no matter what the answer was she was just overjoyed that he was home.

"Carpathius Family"