Ever since finding a small library in the wing that she shared with her siblings she had spent much of her time in there, sorting through all the odds and ends that were stacked on the shelves around the walls. She started moving some of the stuff so that she could fix up the shelves and make them into storage for all of the plants and herbs she had gathered so far along with a few other little healing supplies, bandages, and the like. Having all this space to store everything now made her realize just how much space she had to store even more stuff and it made her want to go out scavenging again and again. If it wasn't for Eilwen reminding her that she needed to spend time with her pack mates she would probably be out gathering herbs or arranging her room constantly.

She finally decided to move in to the library permanently and make it her room. It didn't seem like the traditional room like her other siblings had picked since it didn't have a bed in it, but there was a bench under the window that looked out over the courtyard and after piling a couple furs on top of it then that was plenty comfy enough for her. There was a ladder that leaned against the bookshelf closet to her makeshift bed and that had quickly turned into Eilwen's roost - the white Raven climbing around on it while Gwynevere worked on her room and her studies. They liked to chat back and forth and occasionally Eilwen would have some kind of knowledge to share about whichever plant she was studying.

Gwyn was sitting on her fur covered bench, looking out the window early in the morning, frowning to herself. There was little flurries of snowflakes falling outside the window and she was not pleased with the development in the slightest. She knew that spring should be here by now, but for some reason the cold was still sticking around. At this rate she was never going to get to find all the herbs she wanted. Maybe if she went looking really far south she'd have more luck, but she didn't think her mothers would like her going that far from the pack lands, at least not by herself. Maybe if she got someone to go with her... but who would want to travel that far for herbs but her?

"Gwynevere" | "Eilwen"

The young wolf grunted with every labored step he took towards the castle from the snow-covered plains, drops of crimson red trailing behind him in his wake. As he neared the high gray stone walls, Artorias gazed up at the bastion that was his home, a feeling of pride at having successfully defended his pack and his family growing in his chest despite the stinging cuts across his face and the puncture wounds in his hind leg. He was also never more grateful to be back home as he was after the fight with the supreme dire wolf out in the plains. He could feel how matted his fur had gotten with his blood, the stench still thick in his nose. As he passed through the gates, Artorias slumped against the cold stone wall, panting hard as he tried to keep himself standing upright. His ears were ringing and his head was throbbing like something were beating against the inside of his skull. Every muscle in his body ached and he just felt fatigued and sore all over. Was this what the aftermath of combat felt like? Did he really win if this was his reward?

Trudging through the snow in the courtyard, Artorias stumbled and almost face planted into the snow, grunting against the pain racking his body. Teeth grit and ground while he chided himself in his head over and over. Get up... C'mon, get up... He rose, albeit slowly and on shaking legs, and made it only a few more steps before collapsing to the snow again, feeling powdery cold surround him and clump in his fur. He snorted and bit his lip to keep from whining; there would be no show of weakness from him, no giving in on his first real fight. He had to be better than this. But as the cold seeped through his coat and into his bones, Art began to realize he was in rougher shape than he thought he was.

Get back up... Find a healer... he thought to himself while pushing himself back to his feet, clenching his jaw so hard to resist the aches and pain that his teeth began to hurt. He only hoped that someone would be inside the castle close by to help him. He didn't think he'd have the strength to start going on a search through the halls.

"Speech" | Thoughts | ”Corbin"

One big happy family

Artorias has two ravens named Corbin and Eira and a fox named Argent. Assume they are within calling distance at all times.
As his mate, Briar may enter Artorias' threads unless marked Private.
____________________

"Gwyn! Miss Gwyn! Wake up!" She groggily lifted her head at Eilwen's insistence, blinking as she looked up at the pale raven with confusion. At some point during her relaxing and musing on the window bench, she had dozed off into a nap. She wasn't sure how long she had been sleeping, but probably not that long if the fact that it was still very much morning outside. "Look in the Courtyard! Isn't that Artorias?" Gwynevere looked down from her window, her mint and lavender eyes soon going wide when she spotted her brother limping and stumbling across the open expanse of snow covered ground. There was an obvious, bright red trail along with his foot prints showing where he had been and her worried anxiety quickly got her rushing to her paws and running out the door - Eilwen taking to the air and following shortly behind.

She scrambled to get out of the castle and into the courtyard, making a beeline for her brother's side. "Artorias!" she whined worriedly, her ears back against her skull as she came up beside him and leaned into him to help keep him on his feet. Leading him into the castle, she tried to hurry him back to her room where she could have access to her supplies while not moving faster than he could handle. It was hard to tell how bad the wounds actually were with all the blood that was clumped into his fur, but she could at least tell that he had lost a good amount of blood if nothing else. That alone was enough to make the already overly concerned healer worry. Once they got to her room, she brought him over to one of the two beds she had set up in the middle of the room, motioning for him to lay down. "What happened?!" she questioned while she started going around the room, collecting herbs and supplies from her stash. She kept a ear turned toward him so that she could listen as she scurried around the room. Meanwhile Eilwen perched on her usual ladder, watching the young wolves and waiting to chime in with advice if needed.

"Gwynevere" | "Eilwen"

He had limped halfway across the courtyard when Artorias heard someone calling his name. It took the young wolf a moment to realize someone was calling for him though, the voice coming in distant and fuzzy between the ringing and the foggy haze his brain was in. He glanced up, movements slow and groggy to spot his sister rushing towards him. "Gwyn..." he murmured almost incoherently while he tried to keep his legs from buckling underneath him. The sudden support of Gwyn's weight against his side helped alleviate some of the pain in his leg, and he was happy to take her help limping his way into the warmth and shelter of the castle. It felt so good to be out of the cold wind and dense snow, though the wintery powder still clung to his fur in clumps of snow and ice, the icy crystals stained red around his wounds. Every step he took felt like he was wading through mud, his actions unfocused, his vision blurry around the edges, and a pounding in his head making him feel sick. He was panting as he trudged through the corridors, barely aware of where they were going.

It was only once he smelled old paper and leather mixed with the floral and herbal fragrances of plants did he realize where she had led him. At Gwyn's urging, Artorias managed to climb up onto one of the beds and all but collapsed atop the worn mattress, his body crying out in agony. Every muscle in his body felt sore or fatigued from the cold, and the stinging in his cheek had all but gone numb with the chill. The room was spinning and the damned ringing wouldn't let up in his head. Artorias blinked rapidly in succession to try and refocus his vision, but it only helped for a few seconds. "Big wolf... Very big wolf..." he muttered in response to her question. To be honest, he hadn't even realized how much he'd been beaten up during his fight when adrenaline had been fueling him. It was only once the numbing agent had faded from his bloodstream did the realization of his injuries become clear. "It's gone now..." he added after a few exhausted breaths. He didn't want her worrying that there was still some massive predator stalking their home lands. He'd seen to it that the monsters were all chased away, like a good big brother should.

"Speech" | Thoughts | ”Corbin"

One big happy family

Artorias has two ravens named Corbin and Eira and a fox named Argent. Assume they are within calling distance at all times.
As his mate, Briar may enter Artorias' threads unless marked Private.
____________________

Gwynevere gave him a worried glance when he mentioned the giant wolf he had fought, frowning as she fought back any scolding she might have done for fighting an opponent like that on his own. She knew that he'd probably hear enough of that from momma when she found out. It did make her feel a little relieved when he informed her that the big wolf was gone and as much as she was angry with him for ending up in this shape in the first place and running into such a dangerous fight, she had to be at least a little bit impressed. They were getting older, certainly, but they weren't fully grown yet and there was still lots for all of them to learn. The fact that he even got back to the castle in one piece was a feat.

Putting all of that to the back of her mind for now, she brought the last of her supplies over to the mattress he had laid on and started examining his wounds while Eilwen fluttered down beside her with a bowl grasped in her talons, taking off again a moment later to retrieve a water skin that was laying on a nearby shelf. Gwyn gently lifted Art's muzzle with her paw and turned his head so she could get a better look at the cuts on his cheek. With a hum she turned away after a moment and picked out a small piece of meadowsweet from the pile of herbs beside her, placing it in front of him. "Eat this," she instructed before turning her attention to the bowl and water Eilwen had gathered.

She filled the bowl with water before dipping a piece of cloth in and soaking it. "Lay on your side with her cheek facing up, please," she requested, though there wasn't much "request" in her tone and much more direction. She didn't often feel confident in herself or her knowledge, but in this sort of situation she wasn't really given an opportunity to doubt herself which was probably for the best. Once he had done as she asked, she wrapped the wet cloth around her paw and then began gently wiping over the wound and over the fur around it, carefully cleaning the whole area so that the blood dried around it wouldn't interfere with her treatments.

Occasionally she would swirl her paw around in the water to rinse off some of what was being soaked up by the cloth, soon turning the vessel the same dark red color. Once she was satisfied she picked up the bowl and walked over to his back leg, wrapping a fresh cloth around her paw and beginning the process all over again. She didn't talk while she worked, too focused on what she was doing to think of anything to say. Her brow was furrowed slightly with focus and her mint and lavender eyes were studying the wounds with unwavering attention. She wasn't quite to the point where all of this came super easily and she didn't want to accidentally hurt him somewhere along the way.

"Gwynevere" | "Eilwen"

Artorias had been expecting some sort of disbelieving remark or perhaps some chide of reprimand from his prim-and-proper sister, so it came as a surprise when the girl said nothing at all. He stared at the windows, watching grayish light filtering in through dirty panes of glass from outside. Every so often his vision would jerk out of focus again and his stomach would churn with the nausea it brought with it. It felt like his brain was scrambling his insides around inside his own body; it was terribly uncomfortable and he wished it would just stop already. He only tore his gaze away from the windows when the dark blur that was Gwyn returned to him, instructing him to eat the herbs she presented him with. Without any sign of resistance or questioning he ate the herbs, chewing on the plants for a few seconds before his face scrunched up at the taste. "Do any of these ever taste good...?" he asked in a gruff mumble, forcing himself to swallow down the paste of plant in his mouth.

While Gwyn set about her work cleaning and tending to his injuries, Artorias just followed her directions silently. He lay on his side with his injured cheek presented up to her, staring into space while the ringing in his head ebbed between a background nuisance to overwhelmingly painful. He could feel his heartbeat pounding in his head and everything seemed so hazy and distorted. The supreme dire wolf's voice echoed in his mind, the experience haunting him. He had come so close to being completely overwhelmed and beaten. If he had been, would that wolf have still shown mercy? Would he have allowed him to live? If Artorias hadn't gotten that lucky swing with his broken sword, would he be alive right now, or would he be a snow-covered corpse disappearing in the sea of white somewhere out in the plains? "I had to protect our home..." he murmured after a few minutes of silence, offering an unsolicited answer to the reason why he'd fought that wolf. Maybe it was him trying to explain away his state—or maybe he was trying to justify it to himself.

Artorias gave little reaction while Gwyn cleaned the slashes on his face other than the occasional wince whenever she'd rub a little too hard on the tender, rent flesh. He didn't say anything though; she was still new to practicing medicine on a live subject, and he was grateful for her assistance. He trusted her to do her best. That all changed when she reached his hind leg, however. Where the slashes on his face had mostly been superficial, the bites and tears at his hind leg had been much more violent, and the dire wolf's fangs far deadlier than its claws. The bites had torn through the skin and muscle, but thankfully had avoided bone and joints. While painful, it wouldn't be crippling. The moment Gwyn began to clean the wounds though, Art hissed out a silent snarl against the flare of pain, gritting his teeth and raking his claws against the bed out of reflex. He did his best to keep his leg still however, not wanting to be a bad patient for his sister's first time playing doctor. He grunted and squeezed his eyes shut, mentally willing the pain in his leg and head to subside.

"Sorry... I'm sorry..." he apologized to his sister in a low, rough voice. "Keep going... Do whatever you need to... I can bear it..."

"Speech" | Thoughts | ”Corbin"

Despite the very painful and tattered state her brother was in, he somehow still managed to get in a quip about how bad the herbs tasted and she couldn't help but roll her eyes at him. Well, no matter how bad of a shape he looked like he was in, that at least told her he was going to be alright. She quietly focused on her work, her ear flicking in his direction when he made a comment about having to protect their home. She didn't know if it made it any better hearing a reasoning for letting himself get into this state and she tried to resign herself to the fact that she didn't really get to decide why the wolves she treated got into the trouble they did. She just had to be ready and knowledgeable on how to treat them whenever the situation called for it. "Well... I'm glad you're okay," she commented quietly after a few moments, genuinely relieved that he had managed to make it out of that situation and find his way back to the castle. She was also grateful that Eilwen had woken her up so she could get to him right away. There were plenty of excellent healers in The Hallows that could have helped and she knew she was probably one of the least qualified among them, but at least she had been able to start getting him patched up as soon as possible rather than him having to hunt around the castle for one of the others.

When he reacted so strongly to her cleaning the wound on his leg she quickly pulled back, looking up toward his face with her ears folded back. Getting the right amount of pressure to effectively clean the wound while not pressing too hard was difficult to judge and she hated that her trial and error needed to be done on her brother. She frowned when he insisted that she keep going, that he could bear it and she gave a little shake of her head. "No, no, lets... Lets work on dressing your cheek while the meadowsweet kicks in to help with the pain," she replied, slipping the wet cloth off of her paw and abandoning that project for now. She knew it still wouldn't be super pleasant even after the pain killer fully took effect, but it would at least be slightly better.

She returned to sitting near his head and started pulling the supplies she needed for the cuts closer. She picked up small pieces of marshmallow, marigold, and dandelion root with her mouth and started chewing the leaves into a paste before returning it to the bowl she had carried the herbs over here in. "This might sting for a minute, but it'll feel a lot better once it settles in," she warned him before she got to work. Gwyn leaned down over him and started carefully and gently spreading the paste into the freshly cleaned cuts, being very careful to not directly rub her paw pad against the raw skin directly - instead just hovering slightly over the wound so that the paste could spread across the skin on its own. She only used just enough to cover the cuts since she knew she was going to need a good amount of the paste to treat the larger wound on his leg once she finally got around to that and herbs were very hard to come by these days.

Once the herbs were in place she cleaned the remnants off of her paw and set that bowl aside before reaching for the horsetail she had brought over as well. She quickly crushed the tubular plant down into a sticky goo and started smearing it across the cuts to seal them and keep them clean while they began to heal - and to keep the medication on the open skin long enough for it to really be effective. "We'll have to reapply all this stuff in a couple days until the cuts start to heal up on their own," she informed him while she worked, already thinking ahead to future treatments for the wounds. Maybe she'd have to figure out a way of getting larger amounts of that medicated paste ready ahead of time and storing it some how... The healers had worked on an ointment the last time they met so maybe she could make something like that.

"Gwynevere" | "Eilwen"

Despite his protests, Gwyn left his hind leg alone for now, bringing a slight frown to the young wolf's lips. He didn't want to make her job any harder than it had to be, he just wanted all this to be over and done with. The sooner he could get patched up and back to his room, the sooner he could rest. That was all he really wanted to do now. Go to bed and forget about today. He had been reckless and stupid to take on the dire wolf on his own, and while he didn't regret engaging it so it didn't venture closer to their home, he was mentally chastising himself while he reflected back on the fight. There was so much he should have done differently, or not done at all, but he had been brash and careless. Now he was paying the price for that arrogance. The more he thought about it, the luckier he felt to still be alive right now.

"My head is killing me..." he muttered while Gwyn worked wordlessly to disinfect and seal the cuts on his face. Although the throbbing was starting to ebb away as the painkillers kicked in, he still found it difficult to focus with his vision blurring and spinning, clearly concussed from the dire wolf slamming his head into the ground repeatedly. While Gwyn worked, he lay nearly perfectly still, the meadowsweet doing its job and keeping the stinging she warned him about at bay to the point where he only felt her rubbing the mushy paste on his cheek. He could still feel the aching pain in his injured leg, though it was dulling more with every passing minute. He gave a short, gruff grunt of acknowledgement to his sister's instructions of needing to get his wounds tended to every few days. He didn't care what had to be done, so long as he healed—and fast. The lasting winter posed a greater danger to the Hallows with each passing day, and he couldn't be out of the fight if he needed to protect their home at a moment's notice. Artorias was just glad his sister had been so prepared to help him when he needed it the most.

"You can start on my leg again... The pain's mostly gone by now..." he said. It was only a slight lie, as he could still definitely feel the stinging, but it was only a fraction of what it had been. "Gwyn...?" The boy lifted his head an inch off the mattress to find his sister's eyes with fiery amber. "Thank you..."

"Speech" | Thoughts | "Corbin"

Gwynevere glanced away from her work for a moment to look at her brother with a small, concerned frown when he mentioned how much his head hurt before looking back at the cuts to finish up her treatments. She didn't know a whole lot about injuries and illnesses beyond superficial ones like cuts and bites, but the observant white raven that was lingering in the background knew plenty. Her companion had turned into a fantastic teacher since apparently the wolf she used to hang around before they died had been a healer as well. Eilwen taught her a good portion of what she knew now since Gwyn didn't like going to bother the other healers to ask questions. Eilwen had mentioned something to her about concussions when she was teaching her about head wounds and things along those lines so it at least registered as something to look at before she let her brother go.

Once she was satisfied with how everything was applied to his cheek, she gave his leg another glance just as he assured her she could go back to his more serious injury. "Okay, if you're sure," she replied as she got to her paws, picking up her supplies to carry them down to the end of the bed. Before she could go, she heard him say her name and she looked back at him with her ears perked curiously, pausing for a moment until he thanked her. Her expression softened a bit and she smiled around the bowl and bandages she was carrying, her tail wagging gently behind her as she went down to his leg. She didn't really expect any thanks - it felt like an obligation or duty to take care of him and she would have done it either way. She was a healer after all, that's what she was supposed to do. But she still enjoyed his thanks regardless and it did make her feel appreciated. As she settled down by his back leg and started to wrap her paw in the cloth she was using to clean off the blood around his wound, she paused and looked up at him again as she replied, "Thank you too... for protecting us." Even though she hated that he had ended up in this condition and thought that perhaps he could have been smarter about getting into this fight, she knew he meant well and appreciated what he did.

She focused in on cleaning off the wound now, trying to be as gentle as possible even though he did have the pain killer helping his discomfort now. She knew it still wouldn't feel great either way and she didn't want to hurt him unnecessarily. It took her longer than it had when she was cleaning off his cheek since it was a bigger wound, but eventually she was done and she unwrapped her paw, dropping the cloth into the bloody water before she pushed it off to the side. She pulled her herbs and bandages closer, but not before gently pressing along his leg and bending it at the joint a bit just to make sure nothing was broken. It was a pretty bad bite so she just wanted to be sure. She had no idea what that giant wolf he described was capable of. With her inspection done, she went about the same sort of process she had with his cheek with applying the various herbs that would help with the pain and inflammation as well as fight off any infection while it healed. She used some of the horsetail on some of the smaller punctures, but for the largest and deepest parts of the wound she used just enough to make sure the herbs were adhered well to the skin and then pulled out long strips of cloth that she proceeded to wrap around his leg to bandage it. Eilwen climbed down the ladder she was perched on and made her way over then to help Gwyn tuck the ends of the bandage under itself so it wouldn't come unraveled and fall off.

With her task done she gave a pleased nod and then went back over to her shelf of supplies, getting another fresh bowl and bringing it over to him. She poured the remaining water from her water skin into the bowl and nudged it toward him. "Here, drink some water." She sat on her haunches on the mattress beside the one he was laying on, her mind going back to the comment about his head. "Did you hit your head hard during the fight?" she questioned with a little tip of her head.

"Gwynevere" | "Eilwen"

Gwynevere's soft-spoken thanks to him for protecting the pack brought a trace of a smile to Art's face. He knew being a warrior and a protector of his home was a thankless task when he first told Resin he wanted to be a knight like her and Tamsyn, but it still felt nice to know that his efforts and struggles were being noticed and worth the while. Then she began to tend to his wounds again, and Artorias returned to gritting his teeth while he mentally willed the pain away. The meadowsweet she had given him helped to take the edge off the hurt, but it was still greatly uncomfortable. She had to complete her work though, so he just kept quiet and bore it, making only the occasional huffs or grunts whenever she'd find a particularly tender spot. He wasn't sure how long it took, but once Gwyn administered the final doses of herbs to his injury and wrapped his leg in clean bandages he released a heavy sigh knowing it would all be worth the pain in the end.

Artorias blinked his eyes a few times to refocus his vision and stared outside the windows at the snow flurries dancing in the air. The aching in his leg began to dull a little enough to the point where it became a background thought rather than an alarming concern. Gwyn brought him a bowl of water, and Art obediently sat up, albeit a touch wobbly, and drank gratefully, slurping down the contents of the bowl rapidly. The cool water felt good and he realized just how dry his throat had been. He didn't stop until he'd emptied the bowl of its contently, sucking in hard gasps of breath once he'd finished. Gwyn's question received a nod from the young wolf, a hesitant paw moving up to touch the tender spot on the back of his head. "Yeah... a couple of times, actually..." he responded while visions of the dire wolf throwing him about the plains and slamming his massive paw into his head played in his hazy mind. "It's fine, just... some headaches, is all..."

"Speech" | Thoughts | ”Corbin"

One big happy family

Artorias has two ravens named Corbin and Eira and a fox named Argent. Assume they are within calling distance at all times.
As his mate, Briar may enter Artorias' threads unless marked Private.
____________________

Once he confirmed her suspicions about him receiving an injury to his head during his battle with the massive dire wolf, she hummed and frowned a little as she glanced up at Eilwen with a questioning look. She knew vaguely of concussions, but she didn't know how to treat them or what she should do. The pale raven took off from her perch and came to land on Gwynevere's back, perching on her shoulders and shuffling her stance to look at Artorias with her keen, pale blue gaze.

"Looks like you're going to be staying here tonight, young man," she informed him with a firm nod. There was no room for questioning or denying in her stern, nurse like demeanor. Turning her attention down to Gwynevere she continued, "You'll just need to make sure he has enough pain reliving medicines to stay comfortable and make sure he doesn't sleep too deeply. Just light naps if anything." She looked off toward the shelves where the herbs were stored with a very avian tip of her head, shuffling her wings a bit to settle her feathers against her sides. "Do we still have some white willow bark?"

Once her companion mentioned the willow bark she had a momentary "ah, right!" kind of expression as she remembered the lessons about that herb in particular - especially the part about it helping with headaches. Gwyn hummed thoughtfully and replied, "I think so. I don't think we've used it since we moved at least so we should..." She got up, Eilwen remaining on her back as she moved over to the shelves to look. After a bit of searching and shuffling, she was victorious in her search and turned back toward Artorias holding the small piece of willow bark. It wasn't much, but it would at least help get him through the night. It made her wonder if there was anywhere near by that willow trees grew. Even if other plants weren't growing right now, she'd still be able to collect bark from already standing trees.

She sat down in front of him and placed the new herb between his paws. "No, it doesn't taste good. Most of them don't," she told him, grinning softly as she thought about his comment about the herb she had given him earlier. "But it'll help your head not hurt as much so that's worth it, right?" She looked at him a little more apologetically and added, "But no sleeping yet. You basically shook your brain around too hard and it's bad if you sleep really deeply while it's healing. So if you want to take a nap you can and I'll wake you up in a little bit."

"Gwynevere" | "Eilwen"

The prognosis came back as a concussion, and Artorias just heaved a sigh and flopped his head back down to the bed. That was just his luck, getting beaten up worse than he thought in his first real solo fight. But he did get that other dire wolf just as good, he had to admit. His wounds at least would heal in time; that other wolf was blind for life. He was only vaguely aware in his distant thoughts and foggy mind of Gwyn scurrying around her medical ward of a room looking for more medicines for him. He was too busy brooding over whether or not he had done the right thing in picking a fight with that epically-sized dire wolf. On the one hand, he had no way of knowing whether it was a real threat or not. On the other, it was flagrantly trespassing on their lands and looking to pick a fight. What if it had found one of the healers or the other pups before he had? No, surely he made the right call... right?

Gwynevere returned with something else for him, he didn't quite get the name and didn't ask her to explain, and began to chew on the bark. The acrid, bitter flavor hit his tastebuds at the same moment that his sister told him it wouldn't taste good. The boy made a face, scrunched up in displeasure at the taste, and gave her a sarcastic look that said everything his mouth didn't. "I don't want to sleep anyway..." he said and lay back his head back down on the bed, squinting through the light that appeared brighter than normal to his eyes and pierced his brain like a needle. All he wanted was the pain to go away now. He had been hurt before, but nothing beyond the sprain of a paw or a scrape from a fall. This was his first time being injured—really injured—and it made him feel vulnerable and weak. Artorias hated those feelings. "Did I do good...?" he mumbled after a moment, watching the snow dancing in the air outside. "Are Mom and Mama gonna be mad at me...?"

"Speech" | Thoughts | ”Corbin"

One big happy family

Artorias has two ravens named Corbin and Eira and a fox named Argent. Assume they are within calling distance at all times.
As his mate, Briar may enter Artorias' threads unless marked Private.
____________________

Once Artorias had crewed up the bark she had given him and had confirmed she understood her direction by telling her he didn't want to sleep anyway, she allowed herself to settle again, laying near him and watching as he squinted out at the window. It was a pretty cloudy day by most accounts, only a pale light coming through the window from the snowy day outside, but that just spoke to how much the light was hurting him. At least it would be night pretty soon so there wouldn't be too much light to fuss over for much longer. Part of her still wondered if maybe she should go get Lúta just to triple check her work, but as she looked over the treatments she had put on his face and leg, she was proud of the work she had done. Was it the cleanest and neatest bandage wrapping or wound sealing ever? No, probably not. But it would do the job and she supposed that was all that really mattered.

She lifted her marbled gaze back up to his face when he spoke, listening as he questioned if he had done well or not and asking about their mothers being mad at him. She smiled softly and scooted closer so that she could lean over and gently bump her nose against his muzzle. "You fought a huge dire wolf by yourself and made it back here in mostly one piece. I'd say you did good." She had her own opinions on violence and fighting in general, but she could put all that aside for a moment to encourage her brother and make him feel better. She new logically that there would always be a need for someone like him to protect them - no matter how much she hated seeing him get hurt. It just gave her even more reason to hone her skills so that she could be here to patch him up afterwards. As for their mothers...

"I don't think Mom will be mad. If anything I think she'll be proud," she commented with a chuckle. "Momma though... I don't think she'll be mad, just... worried. And maybe just mad that you didn't call for help. But still kinda proud too." After all, both of their mothers were excellent fighters and she knew how much both of them had wanted their children to be fighters too. Neither of them had ever discouraged her passions for healing, but she always got the sense that Momma at least was worried over her not wanting to fight. "I don't think either of them can stay mad at you for long though. You're the favorite," she joked, though she also knew there was a bit of truth to that as well.

"Gwynevere" | "Eilwen"

The bed shifted as Gwynevere climbed up to scoot next to him and boop him with her damp nose to try and cheer him up. Admittedly it did bring a small smile to the hurting wolf's face; he had always been close with his siblings, but his relationship with Gwyn and Bowen was different than it was with Rudy and Daphne. They were his sweet, gentle little sisters, the ones who kept the pack happy and healthy, and he had to protect them from the darkness in the world. He didn't mind, of course—every wolf had a part to play in the pack, and theirs was as important as his. A warrior would always need a healer to keep them on their feet, just as a civilian always needed a warrior to keep them safe. It was a relationship of mutual importance and respect. Gwyn had made no effort to hide her disdain for violence, and while Art couldn't agree with that mindset or get behind learning things about plants, he would always support his sister's passion and fight to the death to defend her beliefs and rights.

He was quiet while he listened to Gwynevere reassure him that yes, he had done good. The smile on his face grew a little, then twinged into a soft laugh when she mentioned Tamsyn being more worried than mad and Resin just being proud. That was the truth of it. Tamsyn had always been the more motherly and protective of their parents, so it would be no surprise she'd be the most worried about her "little baby boy" getting beaten up. But then Gwyn said something and Artorias' smile melted from his face like snow in front of a fire. He lifted his head slightly to fix Gwyn with a frown and a sad look in his amber optics. "Don't say that... Mom and Mama love us all the same. They don't pick favorites," he remarked. "I wouldn't want to be the favorite even if they did... Too much expectation..." He ended his statement with a low chuckle and a touch of humor, but he was deeply serious. He didn't like the idea of being preferred over his siblings by his parents, even in a hypothetical scenario. He didn't consider himself better than any of them, and he sincerely hoped they didn't think he was better than them either.

"Speech" | Thoughts | ”Corbin"

One big happy family

Artorias has two ravens named Corbin and Eira and a fox named Argent. Assume they are within calling distance at all times.
As his mate, Briar may enter Artorias' threads unless marked Private.
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She was glad that she could make her brother smile with her comments and even managed to get a little laugh from him. But that smile faded after she commented on his status as the favorite sibling. She held his slightly sad, stern gaze as he insisted that they were all loved the same and that their mothers didn't pick favorites, listening as he insisted that he wouldn't want that responsibility even if they did. She returned the soft chuckle and shrugged slightly as she glanced down toward her paws. She wasn't sure if any of her siblings had really considered the fact that one day they would need to fill their mothers' places, but she had. She knew that even if her family was plenty accepting and encouraging of her passion to be a healer, she could never do what they do. She could never protect the pack and lead it. She couldn't imagine Bowen in that position either as the other healer of the bunch. Rudyard was usually a mess and while Daphne wasn't entirely out of the running in her mind, she wasn't sure her sister was even keeled enough for such a task.

No, at least in her eyes, Artorias was the one that would eventually take the reins. Whether he wanted that responsibility or not, he was the star pupil and the one they all looked up to. This fact didn't necessarily bother her since she had no real desire to be in the spotlight, but she was also self aware enough to know that Artorias would always hold a special place because of that natural ability and affinity for fighting and protecting. "Hey, I don't mind you being the favorite. At least I know I'll always be somewhere in the middle since Rudy will constantly be in trouble," she joked, bringing her eyes back to his and giving him a little grin. She wasn't sure why she always looked so far ahead into the future the way she did, but she had always felt very mature for her age and thinking about what their lives would be like once they were old enough to fully live them was a pretty frequent topic in the musing she did when she was sitting alone in her room.

"Gwynevere" | "Eilwen"

Artorias' frown deepened when Gwyn spoke. It wasn't the matter of whether she was okay with him being the "favorite child" or not, it was the fact that she felt any of them were favored by their parents over the other that bothered him. Their parents loved them all equally... right? Why would Gwyn feel that wasn't the case? It didn't sit right with the black and blue boy. Her comment about Rudy always being in trouble keeping her in good graces with their parents drew a barking laugh from Art, a toothy grin replacing the frown on his face. Ah, Rudy... The boy was so much trouble for himself and everyone else, but he loved his brother dearly. He wouldn't have traded any of his siblings for anyone else in the world.

There was quiet between the two of them for a moment while Art tried to build coherent thoughts and musing through the ringing in his head, but to no avail. He would have to have this argument with Gwynevere later once he could keep his mind focused. Instead, the larger boy sat up and went to wrap a paw around his sister's shoulders and pull her closer into a loving embrace. He would go to place an appreciative lick to her forehead, thanking her for her help, for being open and honest with him, and simply for being... He loved Gwyn just the way she was, and it hurt his heart to hear that she didn't think others found her talents as important or special as his. She was wrong. Someday, somehow, he would show her just how wrong she was. "You're always gonna be at the top of my list..." he spoke in a low voice. "I wish you wouldn't sell yourself short, Gwyn... You're worth more than that..."

It was sappy, yes, but Artorias knew what his family was capable of—who they were and were meant to be. All of them had the abilities to change the world for the better and be amazing. He could easily see Gwynevere managing a team of healers, running a full functioning hospital, saving the world one wolf at a time. Someday, they would all realize their potential, and wherever life took them, he knew they would all bring honor and respect to the Carpathius family legacy.

"Speech" | Thoughts | ”Corbin"

One big happy family

Artorias has two ravens named Corbin and Eira and a fox named Argent. Assume they are within calling distance at all times.
As his mate, Briar may enter Artorias' threads unless marked Private.
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