Moms make everything better

Ember followed Briar over to where she had bushels of fresh fruits all gathered to begin making the next batch of wines, the sweet sugary scent of ripened summer berries and grapes hitting her nose full force. She watched while her mother began to divide out the fruits into different combinations; the different flavors and varieties of wines the Hallows made. Then the two Carpathian ladies began the methodical process of removing the grapes from their stems, Ember taking the bunch that Briar handed over to her and following her mother's lead with fascinated eyes. While they worked, Briar explained how it was hard for her to pinpoint the exact moment she had fallen in love with Artorias, rationalizing that because they had known each other their whole lives it was difficult to pick one specific instance. She did tell a story about grandma Resin, how when she passed and it was believed that grandma Zee had passed too, the pair leaned on each other for support in their darkest times. It was a heartwarming story that had Ember smiling up at her mother, a little shine in her eyes. Em was a hopeless romantic like her mother was too.

Briar concluded by mentioning how the bits in wedding vows about being together in the best and worst of times was true, and how they each brought out the best in one another. Ember couldn't help the little giggle that escaped her. "So how did you make Dad the best version of himself then? And how did you and Dad... y'know, start being a couple? Did you just, like, have a chat and say 'Oh yeah, we're together now'?" she innocently probed a little deeper, wanting to know some of the intricacies of her parents' relationship so she could model her own after them. Her parents always seemed happy together, so why wouldn't she want to strive for the same kind of love they had? It also made her think about Erik; how the pair of them had known each other since they were puppies, how he'd snuck into the castle to see her, how she was trying to cure his illness, how seeing him made her feel. She also thought about how much it stung that he had been gone for seasons at a time, not even turning up to let her know he was okay. Was that the same kind of thing her parents had once upon a time?

"Ember" | "Carpathian"