For as long as she could remember, Resin had had trouble sleeping. She could drift off, but it was difficult to attain that deep, restful sleep that all bodies needed. As such, she felt older than what she truly was.  It was rare for her to feel rested, and yet she didn't let it deter her from carrying out her every day duties. Life waited for no one, even the tired. Lately, however, things had been different. Not only hadn't she been sleeping well, but she'd been subjected to bizarre night terrors. Demons chasing her. Fighting off undead wolves. Being surrounded and crushed into the ground beneath the paws of wolves that she didn't know. In each of these nightmares, she was powerless. No longer was she the might Aegis of the Hallows. She was a weakling. Her strength meant nothing. Her skill meant nothing. She was helpless. Tamsyn must have been asleep for hours by the time the scarred woman made her way into their shared chamber. Careful not to disturb her mate, Resin settled down upon the furs. Her body was cold as ice. She'd been pacing back and forth on top of the snow covered castle, trying to make herself tired. Careful not to touch the smaller woman lest she wake her by the cold alone, Resin curled into a ball and closed her eye. It took her quite a while, but eventually she slept. She ran. Haunches low and ears pulled back, the woman ran for her life. Within her chest, her heart hammered like the thundering falls around her. Bubbling pools of blood and body parts lined either side of the clearly visible path. Bodies hung from trees and the trees themselves seemed to shudder and moan. Terror struck. Fear unlike anything that Resin had ever known slammed into her like a stake through the heart. Her footing faltered and pain flared through her body. The stumbling woman landed face first on the ground, the rocks cutting into her nose and lips. She could feel the flowing blood and the searing pain as she fought to regain her footing. They were gaining on her. She could feel the heavy thunder of their paws through the rocky ground. The injured fae turned to look over her shoulder even though she knew that she shouldn't. They were there. An army of wolves. They rotted right before her eyes, their bodies melting and their bones splintering. They crumbled into dust just as more wolves took their place. There were too many to count. She didn't know who they were or where they came from. All she knew was that she had to run. Faster and faster she ran, but she never gained any headway. The undead wolves were always right on her tail. She could feel their claws raking through the fur of her tail as she ran. Still her heart hammered and both eyes began to water. Both eyes? Was this a dream? As she ran, Resin willed herself to wake. The wolves began to spread out on either side of her, their hollow eyes staring lifelessly at the fleeing fae. They judged silently, though Resin didn't know why. She didn't know any of them and yet she felt as though they were condemning her with their empty sockets. Gradually, some of them began to grin. Flesh dripped from their faces, leaving curved teeth exposed in wide, unnatural smiles. If there was some feeling beyond terror, the fleeing woman had surely achieved it. A clawed paw swept her hind legs out from beneath her and Resin yelped as the momentum sent her rolling roughly across the ground yet again. Front paws raked the ground, trying to get up, but jaws were wrapped around her hind legs. She could feel each individual tooth pop through her flesh in burning, red heat. Using her bulk and weight, Resin fought to spin, jaws open wide to snap into the clinging creatures. She could feel flesh between her teeth, but almost retched as the acrid taste and scent of rotting corpse engulfed her senses. "Speech"

Ever since her own concerns for her mate had been mentioned from wolves other than herself, it felt like it was beginning to get harder and harder to write them off or explain them away, no matter how much she might want to. She loved Resin so deeply and was so afraid for anything to be wrong that she didn't want to accept it. But things were only getting worse and the night terrors that her mate had been experiencing were only another sign of that. She didn't know if Resin knew that she had noticed yet or not, but occasionally her shifting and twitching in her sleep would wake her and she would lay awake watching her, feeling helpless and uncertain of what to do. She kept trying to find a good time to bring it up, but it never felt like any time was right.

Tamsyn didn't like to go to sleep before Resin at least came to bed, but this night the night continued to stretch on and eventually she dozed off without meaning to, curled up into the furs to stay warm. She didn't know how much time had passed, but at some point in the night she heard the soft click of the door latch opening and closing and felt the bed shift as Resin came to join her, her mate's presence waking her just enough to make her aware that she was there before she slipped back into the darkness of sleep. Her sleep was mostly dreamless these days, but she remembered the nights between when she escaped her family and when she began to spend more and more time with Resin with she would struggle with nightmares constantly. She felt sympathetic for her mate, though she knew Resin wouldn't want the extra attention and concern.

Sometime in the night she had rolled and shifted closer to Resin's side, but was still deeply asleep when she suddenly pulled awake by Resin twitching and jerking in her sleep. Tamsyn blinked open her eyes sleepily and turned her attention to her mate with a frown, her ears flicking back against her head. She leaned closer as her paw came to rest on Resin's shoulder, gently shaking her to try and pull her out of the dream. "Resin... Resin, wake up..." she said softly while nosing at Resin's cheek. Then, in the span of a heart, beat everything disappeared into a haze of blinding pain. Resin moved too quickly for her to react and the last thing she saw was her sharp, deadly teeth reaching for her. Her jaws clamped down around the right side of her face, ripping through the skin around the top of her head, across her right eye, and down into her cheek. She immediately jerked away and scrambled off of the bed, probably causing more damage for herself against Resin's serrated teeth, but her instincts immediately kicked in and all she could think about was getting away. Get away. Get away.

She stumbled to the floor, panting hard as she scrambled back, tripping over her own paws as she pressed her back to the wall near the fireplace, her heart pounding and adrenaline hitting her system hard. "R-Resin?!" she gasped, trying to get her mate to finally shake free of this night terror, the sudden blood loss making her sway till she had to sit hard onto her haunches. She could see Resin's silhouette on the bed from the light of the fire, but that was about it. She couldn't open her right eye, she had to rely on her left eye alone. The shock was too much for her to think though and for a moment she was just frozen, unsure of what to do or where to go.

"Tamsyn" | "Blue" | think

The maned woman's eye shot open, wildly scanning her surroundings. The scenery had changed. She was in a castle. Was it the keep in the Sinking Swamp? No. She couldn't feel the light slant of the floor as the swamp reclaimed the structure. Where was she? A lightning flash of pain struck and the woman winced. Her vision sputtered like a dying candle and her legs wobbled weakly. She wouldn't fall though. She couldn't. They were too close. All around the room, hiding in the shadows, she could see them. As the fire in the hearth dwindled and the shadows crept closer, so too did the undead beasts intent on devouring her. One rotten beast in particular didn't seem to need the shadows to manifest. It stood right there in the center of the room, though it seemed to be backing away from her. If it was intimidated, Resin wouldn't miss the chance to take advantage. The ashen woman's thick pelt stood on end and she stalked towards the creature, lips peeling back to bare rows of killing teeth. If one ran, maybe they would all run. A low growl ripped upwards from the fae's throat as she continued to close in on the creature. Was it the one that she'd bitten? Was that why it was backing away? Engulfed in visions of fantasy, there was no recognition in the piercing yellow orb of the approaching giant. She did not see Tamsyn, she only saw the bleeding, cowering form of the enemy. An enemy that she was fast approaching. "Speech"

She had never felt this kind of panic. Not when her father or brother would attack her, not the night that her father had tried to put her within an inch of her life before sending her way, not when she had crossed paths with her brother again before she ran back to Armada for help. This was an all encompassing, heart wrenching, muscle seizing panic. It wasn't just the imminent threat of the injury Resin had given her or how Resin got up and continued to lumber toward her with vicious intention written across her expression and held in the snarl on her lips. It was the lack of recognition in her eye, it was how her mate was unresponsive as she tried to call out to her again. It was the gripping fear that something was wrong and she didn't know what to do or where to go. For the first time in a long time she felt completely helpless and she was terrified. She felt trapped as she felt the wall against her back, breathing hard as she stared down the woman that had at least at one point been the woman she loved.

"Resin! Resin, please!" she cried again, a sob catching in her throat as panic gave way to desperation. It was no use though. She saw Resin moving toward her with increasing speed and finally her own instinctual need for self preservation got her back on her feet and forced her to move. She scrambled back to her paws and managed to dodge and leap to the side just in time to escape Resin's attack, her paws slipping on the stone floor and sending her crashing to the ground again as soon as she landed. This time she didn't stop though, she struggled back to her feet and made a mad dash for the door. Every step felt like it took every ounce of energy she had and her body trembled uncontrollably against the deep rooted fear that she did her best to push past long enough to get to safety.

She fumbled with the door for a moment, but managed to get it open and she darted out of the room before turning just as quickly to slam the door shut behind her. As soon as she was out in the sharp, cold air of the space where there wasn't a fire to keep the space warm, it helped to clear her mind long enough for her to realize that their children's rooms were all around her. She couldn't let Resin get to them, not till she was sure this - whatever this was - had passed. Her mint gaze darted frantically around the space for a moment before she spotted one of the wooden swords that Artorias trained with leaned against a near by wall. Scrambling for it, she grabbed the wooden weapon and slid it through the door handle, the guard of the sword catching on the handle and keeping it from slipping all the way through and the blade of the weapon keeping the door from being able to be pulled open from the inside.

Tamsyn stood there staring at the blocked door now that she was able to blink the blood away from her right eye and managed to open it. The pain was beginning to creep back in from the wound that tore at the skin all around the right side of her face now that some of the adrenaline and shock was beginning to fade away, but she didn't really notice it. She crept closer to the door and sank to the floor beside it, leaning her shoulder into the wall beside the door frame, her distant, blank gaze still looking at the door handle she had just blocked to keep her mate locked inside. Without really realizing it, tears began to fall, and eventually her eyes closed as sobs shook her shoulders and she leaned her head against the wall as well as sorrow and loss wormed their way into her emotions. She still didn't know what to do and still didn't know how to react. Everything was too overwhelming for her to even begin to process.

"Tamsyn" | "Blue" | think

Artorias' nights were usually peaceful, the stillness of the late hours silencing the world save for the gentle washing of the ocean waves on the shore near the castle. The young wolf was sound asleep in his bed, lost in a dreamless slumber while the dying fire crackled the burnt wood with its final embers in the hearth. Corbin sat perched on one of the posters of the canopy, snoozing quietly also. For the most part, the night was the same as any other... until a sudden clamor from another part of the castle shattered the tranquility like a hammer to a mirror. Voices shouting, snarling, the sound of heavy weights slamming into objects—the sounds of fighting. Not arguing—fighting. The calamity disturbed Artorias from his sleep with a start, the boy's head bursting from the blanket nest he had made while peering around the room in a groggy haze, waiting for his mind and eyes to catch up to the rest of him. Corbin awoke with a ruffle of feathers and a confused croak, also looking around to try and gather his bearings.

The sound of something slamming hard into wood caught Art's attention, and all at once the dark-furred boy leapt down from his bed and was rushing for the door while Corbin sailed down to land on his back. Pulling open the door and stepping out into the cold corridor, Artorias glanced right, then left down the dark hall lit only by the faint starlight from outside. The sound was coming from where his parents' chambers were. Brow narrowed and nerves on high alert, Artorias set off down the hall, approaching the noises with a panicked gait. Were his mothers all right? What was going on?

Coming upon his parents' bedchambers, Artorias was greeted with a horrific sight that chilled his blood to ice. Tamsyn lay slumped against the wall, her face soaked in blood from the fresh wounds around her face, and were it not for her body quivering with quiet sobs he would have feared she had been killed. The door to their bedroom was what was being slammed as the evidently crazed Resin tried to break out from within. It didn't take him more than a second to put two and two together. "Mom!" Artorias cried out in dread even as he rushed up to comfort her. He leaned his body into hers, taking some of her weight off the wall to help support her upright. This close it was obvious her wounds had been inflicted by Resin. The skin around the bites was shredded and ragged, a sign of serrated cuts. Resin had bit Tamsyn bad.

"Mom, are you okay? What the hell happened?!" he asked, using a paw to very carefully move her head to better inspect her injuries. She was losing blood at an alarming rate and he didn't have anything to stop it. "Oh gods... Okay, we gotta get you some help." He glanced up at the door that contained his frenzied mother behind it, his heart sinking into his stomach while he kept a wary eye on the old wooden sword that was sealing it shut, fearing a possibility of his stronger mother breaking out. He knew exactly how strong those swords were—which was why he did not feel safe near the door at all. "We gotta go, Mom. C'mon, lean on me, we're going to see Gwyn."

Artorias would move to push his body up into Tamsyn's so she could lean on his shoulder if she needed to. He didn't see any injuries to her legs that would handicap her, but the way she was keeping her right eye held shut was concerning. For a brief moment Art considered howling for Gwyn, but decided he didn't want his little sister anywhere near that door right now, nor did he want the entire castle to know what was happening. He had to get his mother to safety first and have her wounds tended to, then he could worry about making sure his berserk mother stayed contained. He would lead Tamsyn down the corridor away from the snarling of Resin down through the dark to Gwyn's bedroom door, throwing it open without knocking and escorting Tam inside.

"Gwyn! I'm sorry, but you need to wake up!" he called into her room, careful to monitor the volume of his voice so as not to disturb any of his other siblings nearby. "Mom's hurt, we need you now!"


"Artorias" | 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.
____________________

Another growl roared upwards from the grey dame's belly as the creature attempted to escape. She lunged, jaws wide, ready to shred the bastard but it was fast. Claws skittered against the stone floor as she scrambled to give chase. The beast was lucky. Just as Resin regained her footing and momentum, the door slammed right in her face. It had escaped. Rising up, she slammed hard against the door, shoulder and chest creating loud, meaty thumps. The door was barred from the outside. She was trapped in here. Resin began looking about frantically. She'd forgotten that the others were still inside with her. Perhaps she could find another way out. With one final slam and snarl at the door, the now enraged fae began pacing back and forth in the room. The only other exit was the balcony door but the jump from that balcony to the next was impossible unless she had wings. How did she know that if she'd never been here before? Resin furrowed her brow, giving her head a shake. She had been here before. Her nose worked, pulling in scents. The panicked,  cloudy veil over her mind began to slip and confusion took its place as slowly as the sun on a snowy winters day. ...What had she done? The panting, salivating beast that had once stood in her place stilled, dusty blue tongue pulling back into her maw. As it did so, she tasted the blood on her lips. Tamsyn's blood. A shard of ice slammed deep into the pit of Resin's stomach and she staggered towards the door. One large paw pushed against it only to find it locked tight. In control of her mental faculties once more, the ashen fae pressed her ear against the door and listened. On the other side she could hear shallow breathing and... was someone crying? "Tamsyn?" she asked softly. "Tamsyn, open the door." Claws scraped against the wood just in case she didn't get the wolf's attention with her words. When she didn't receive an answer, she scratched the wood a little harder. Just when she was placing her ear back against the door, she heard voices outside. Her gaze narrowed and a strange surge of unnecessary anger struck her. One paw slammed against the wooden door and she growled low, "Let me out of here." The edges of her vision began to fray and go black once more but the woman fought to retain her sense of self. She reminded herself to breathe, though the anger at being caged like some worthless animal still lingered just beneath the surface. "Speech"

Each time Resin would shove at the door and try to force it open, Tamsyn would flinch, but she couldn't bring herself to get up to leave or get help. No matter how much pain she was in, no matter how terrified she was, she still couldn't bring herself to completely leave Resin here. Tears ran down her cheeks and began to wash away a bit of the blood on the right side of her face, though the saltiness of them only stung the open wounds around her eye more. Even if it was just a short span of time between when she barred the door closed to when things went silent within the room, it still felt as if each second took an hour. Resin's faint voice from the other side of the door, calling her name, made her jump and her eyes flew open, though her right eye ended up flickering closed again moments later to keep the still freely flowing blood from dripping into it. "Resin..." she said uncertainly at the plea for her to open the door, her ears folding back against her skull as indecision and terror continued to tear at her. She wanted to see her mate, she wanted to believe that now was all well, but she couldn't. She couldn't do it. She couldn't do it.

Before she could be tempted into wrestling free of her own fear, Artorias appeared at her side, but she couldn't look at him. Her mint gaze remained on the door that held Resin trapped behind it, her body trembling under the weight of her own emotions as she drew a shaky breath into her lungs. She barely heard anything her son was saying. Somewhere she pieced together his concern from bits and pieces and heard something about taking her to Gwyn to get help before she noticed how he was lifting her away from the wall that was currently keeping her from falling straight to the floor. It really wasn't until she attempted to stand on her paws that she realized just how bad off she was. Standing sent her head spinning and she had to lean heavily into Artorias' side just to keep from having her legs buckle under her. "But... But Resin..." she breathed, her ears flicking back as she tried to lean away from him and stop him from taking her anywhere, but it was hopeless. If she even tried such a thing she was just going to go crashing to the floor and then she'd be even harder for her son to move.

At some point she noticed Blue running up to her from down the hall, his blue gaze wide with horror and concern. If even her lemur was looking at her this way then how must she look? She couldn't imagine it. "Blue... Blue, go get Ulric..." she whispered hoarsely before they reached Gwynevere's room and the primate immediately took off into the darkness - for once not giving her any sass about following orders. Someone had to see to Resin and she couldn't do it. She had failed her mate, she had failed. Failed to help her, failed to keep to keep her safe from herself. Her mind went even more foggy by the time they actually walked into her daughter's room, barely able to hold up her head as blood loss and exhaustion firmly dug their claws into her. She stumbled over to the bed of furs in the middle of the room and fell down onto it, her one open eye staring out the open door while commotion and chaos continued around her. It felt like she was sitting still but the rest of the world was spinning around her.

She knew Gwyn was doing something to the wound on her face, but she couldn't really tell what and didn't respond to anything that was being said or told to her. All she could think about was the look Resin gave her as she stared her down, that hard, cold glare, that look as if she had no idea who she was... At some point Ulric appeared in the doorway, the same concern painting his expression that she saw on the faces of her children and companion. What did she look like? "Resin... Go... Go to... Resin..." she managed to the Adravendi man, watching as he disappeared into the darkness again. With someone set on taking care of her mate, Tamsyn was able to relax a bit, but that only allowed more tears to begin to flow, her eyes closing again as she blocked out the world and allowed the sobs to rack her body once again.


"Tamsyn" | "Blue"

Gwynevere heard a distant slam somewhere in the castle that shook her awake and as she sat up right on the window bench bed and the fur that was draped over her slipped off of her shoulders she began to wonder if it had just been in her dream or if that sound was actually real. She glanced up at Eilwen where she was perched on the ladder leaning against the bookcase beside her bed and saw the raven staring at the door with her feathers ruffled. "Did you hear...?" "Yes." After a few moments there was more commotion and slamming from somewhere down the hall and her heart pounded nervously, startled and uncertain of what she should do. The sounds seemed to die down after a bit, but then she heard paws shuffling outside her door moments before it swung open.

She looked at Artorias first as he called out to her, confusion creasing her brow. Mom? Hurt? A heart beat later their mother came into view and she gasped, her two-toned eyes going wide as she focused on the massive wound that covered a large portion of the right side of Tamsyn's face. Immediately without her asking, Eilwen began to fly around the room, collecting tools and herbs and materials she was going to need. For a second Gwyn was frozen in place, her ears folded back against her head. Artorias' wounds had been pretty bad, but not nearly like this. Really, the most concerning part about Artorias' wounds from his fight with the dire wolf had been the concussion and all that had taken was time and something to help dull the pain. This... She didn't feel confident in her ability to treat this at all.

"Gwynevere! Move!" her companion called out to her as she collected the last bits and pieces of herbs and treatments and continued to drop them near the bed where Tamsyn was now laying. Eilwen's voice broke her free of her own thoughts and she shook her head as she hopped down and ran over to their mother's side. Worry creased her expression as she started examining the wound, settling on her haunches near Tamsyn's head so she could begin gently turning her mother's head to get a better view of how far the torn skin stretched. Her paw carefully moved around the wound, ever so gently moving pieces of ripped and torn skin back into place as she grit her teeth. "What happened?" she breathed and right about then, Ulric appeared in the door and she heard her mother tell him to go to Resin. Resin? Mom did this? Wide, worried, fearful eyes lifted to look at Artorias for a moment before sighing and forcing herself to begin actually treating her mother's wound.

"Artorias, there's a water skin over on the shelf by the fireplace. Go get it and fill up this bowl," she instructed him, pointing toward the bowl beside her. While he went to fetch the water skin, she quickly picked up some dandelion root and lavender that Eilwen had collected for her and dropped it into the bowl, crushing them enough to make them release their oils and beneficial properties and then left the bowl there for Art to fill. She picked up some of the cloth beside her and began to dab away the excess blood from around Tamsyn's wound, quickly trenching one rag and having to pick up another. "Momma...? Can you open your eye...?" she asked after a few moments, once the majority of the blood had been at least cleared away from her eye.

Gwynevere | Eilwen

Ulric was somewhere drifting between wakefulness and sleep, struggling as he usually did to fully rest. Some nights were better than others, but tonight was on the worse end of the spectrum. Unknowingly, that was for the best because it allowed him to wake up when a strange pattering started hitting against his door with a voice he didn't recognize calling his name. He blinked his eyes open and gave his head a shake to wake himself up as he hopped down from the bed and hurried to open the door. When he did, he was confronted with Tamsyn's lemur, leaping in place, practically screeching at him to hurry and go to her. He didn't wait for the primate to explain himself or question what was going on, he immediately darted away form his room and down the hall to race to the other part of the castle, confusion and worry weighing on him as he ran. He didn't know what to expect, he only knew it had to be bad for Tamsyn to send her companion to fetch him like this.

He reached the wing where the Carpathius family resided and he ran up the stairs to the floor where most of their rooms were located and almost instantly he was confronted with the sharp, metallic scent of blood. His heart dropped into his stomach as he hurried forward, following the sent until he found his way to one of the bedrooms where he found Artorias and Gwynevere standing over Tamsyn who was laying on her side across one of the infirmary beds, her face bloody and torn. Ulric gapped at the sight, his mind racing through a hundred different possibilities of what could have happened. Did some creature get into the castle? Was anyone else hurt? Where was Resin? As if to answer his question, Tamsyn's soft voice reached him, sending him away to go to Resin. He glanced at her with confusion and concern, but did as she wished and turned to trot down the hall, following her scent and the trail of blood that led to the door of the bedroom that Tamsyn and Resin shared.

He saw a puddle of blood pooled beside the door and saw the wooden sword keeping the door closed and slowly began to paint a picture of what happened. He grit his teeth, and walked closer to the door, leaning in to press his ear to the door for a moment to listen for movement inside. "Resin?" he called, already beginning to brace himself to have to fight her off or worse if he had to. He didn't know exactly what had taken place, but right now he didn't have to. Something had hurt Tamsyn badly - presumably Resin if he was reading the situation correctly - and he had to keep them safe. "I'm going to open the door," he quickly added, pausing for a moment before grabbing the grip of the sword and pulling it free of the door handle, dropping it to the ground before carefully pushing the door open, peering into the room to find his mentor and figure out what was going on.

Walk | "Talk" | think

All at once, Gwyn's room was engulfed in pandemonium. His little sister and her companion rushed around the medical ward collecting the necessary tools, although it took some prodding from Eileen to get her moving. Artorias didn't stop ushering Tamsyn through the room until he had her over to the patient bed while Gwyn directed him to grab a water skin for her. His body moved as if on autopilot, rushing over to the fireplace where a dying fire crackled and grabbed the skin in his jaws, all the while his mind racing while he tried to figure out why Resin had attacked Tamsyn. What the hell had happened in that room?! Tamsyn looked like she was in shock, and she probably was, so getting any answers out of her was going to be impossible. All he could do now was be helpful in any way he could. A part of him—a very angry part of him—wanted to go back and yell at Resin through the door, to demand she explain herself, but that wouldn't solve anything and would only infuriate his older mother. Interrogations would have to come later.

At Gwyn's instructions, Artorias brought the skin of water over to the bowl with crushed herbs in it and poured the contents in to swirl and mix with the medicinal plants. He then stepped back to watch Gwyn go about cleaning up their mother's injuries. Subconsciously, Art had his body turned to face the door, ever alert and protective of his family. Once he get his senses back about him, he stepped over to the door and pushed it closed to give them some privacy. Nobody needed to see his mother like this. Tam had sent for Ulric to deal with Resin and he would have to trust the older man to do his duty. For now, he only had to focus on protecting his family and doing whatever Gwynevere asked of him.

It was going to be a long night...


"Artorias" | 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.
____________________

The voice from the other side wasn't Tamsyn at all as she had expected, but Ulric's deep tones instead. Irritation gnawed at the back of Resin's skull but she tamped it down. He clearly said that he was going to open the door, so she waited for him to do so. The room was dark, the fire having burned down to naught but glowing embers. In the center of the room stood the scarred fae, her singular eye reflecting that minimal light. The door swung open and she wasted no time in moving forward. Resin had done her best to lick the blood, Tamsyn's blood, from her lips, but she wasn't sure if she had gotten it all. Passing Ulric, she made towards the stairs, only stopping to glance over her shoulder. "I'll be in the lowest level of the castle. I'm not safe. Find me there." They had much to discuss. She had seen the trail of blood. She knew what she had done. "Speech"

Tamsyn could feel the sting of her daughter tugging at and cleaning the wounds around her eye, she could hear the chaos going around her, but it all felt like a distant buzz. Everything was foggy and indistinct as she finally let herself give in to the indescribable sorrow and fear. Her head spun with blood loss and she could feel herself trembling as if she was cold, but she couldn't tell if she was actually cold, if it was the sobs that she couldn't shake, or something else entirely. She barely heard Gwynevere ask if she could open her eye and she did manage to blink her eyes open to glance up at her daughter, though it was fairly painful to do so. She saw the fear and worry on her daughter's face and her ears folded back against her head as she closed her eyes again. What were they going to do? What was she going to do?

She heard the door click closed, blocking out anything that might be happening beyond this room. She was slightly grateful for that as she tried to pick up the shattered pieces of herself, but now there was no hope of hearing what was happening between Ulric and Resin unless another violent fight broke out. She was quiet for a few moments, listening and ultimately hearing nothing of note. She hoped that meant that he was able to get in to Resin without incident. Minutes passed and the door never opened and her heart twisted. She wanted to see Resin. She needed to. She tried to lift her head as she opened her eyes just enough to see again, unaware of what Gwynevere was doing as she tried to sit up and failed.

She hear what her children were saying, she only felt Gwynevere nudging her head back down to the bed and a choked sob killed any attempts she might have made at speaking. With a heavy, trembling sigh she laid her head down once more, staring at the closed door with a soft whine.




"Tamsyn" | "Blue"

Gwynevere gave a relieved sigh when her mother opened her eye enough for her to see the uninjured mint orb, quickly checking to make sure there was no obvious cloudiness or scratches. The skin around the front corner of her eye was torn fairly badly so opening it was obviously difficult right now, but at least the eye itself was intact and that eased a lot of her fears. She gave her brother a greatful glance as he filled up the bowl beside her and she swirled the water gently with her paw for several moments before picking up another clean cloth and beginning to soak it in the herb infused water. She would have liked to let the herbs sit in the liquid longer, but considering the severity of the wounds she wanted to get something anti-inflammatory on it right away.

Leaving the cloth to soak for a moment, she turned to pick up a piece of yarrow only to have her mother try to get up. "No no no, Momma, stop," she insisted, gently nudging her mother's head back down onto the fur she was laying on, glancing up at Artorias with a worried flick of her ears. She felt moderately confident about treating the physical wound, but knowing that Mom did this and how that might hurt Tamsyn in other ways... That part she didn't know how to help with. Looking up at her brother, she said softly, "Art, can you lay with her please? Help keep her still?" She didn't know what was running through her mother's head to make her want to get up to leave, but she knew that if she tried she was only going to end up falling with how much blood loss she had gone through and then she'd just hurt herself more.

She sighed softly and then turned her attention back to the treatments, picking up the piece of dried yarrow and beginning to crush it into a powder in the mortar and pestle she kept near the treatment beds. She then sprinkled it carefully around the more raw, open parts of the wound, patting it gently into the flesh with her paw when she was done. Hopefully that would at least help get it to stop bleeding. She then picked up the soaking cloths, squeezing out some of the extra water and then laying them gently across the whole right side of her face. "I'm just going to leave that on there for a little while to help calm everything down," she mentioned, mostly to Art since she wasn't sure if her mother was actually paying attention to either of them right now. The cloth was very fragrant with lavender so she hoped that it would help calm not only the irritated skin but also lend a bit of its soothing properties to her mother's mental state as well.

"Gwynevere" | "Eilwen"

Even without Gwynevere telling him to do so, Artorias was already making his way over to their mother's side when he saw the look of utter panic and worry on her face. Watching Tamsyn struggle to try and get up and looking longingly at the door twisted up his insides, but she was just making it worse on herself and harder for Gwyn to treat her. He looked to his sister when she said his name and nodded once, moving over to settle into the bedding beside her, sitting back on his haunches while he gingerly stroked her back. Seeing her wide-eyed terror and hearing her whine was not something he would have ever expected to see from his normally strong, confident mother.

"It's okay, Mama, it's okay," he said in as soft a voice as he could, though it was incredibly hard for him to keep the tremor of dread out of his own words. "Ulric's gonna go take care of Mom. We gotta let Gwyn patch you up first, okay?" Artorias watched Gwyn work in silence, only making the occasional hushes and whispers to his flighty mother to try and keep her calm while Gwynevere did her work. The scent of fresh lavender filled his nose when Gwyn began to apply the bandages to Tamsyn's wounds, almost enough to make the boy sneeze it was so fragrant. It smelled more like a perfume than a medicine, but he trusted Gwyn's knowledge. She was very good at what she did.

He internally cringed while watching Gwynevere slowly obscure the seeping wounds with each strip of cloth. Tamsyn would no doubt he horrifically scarred for life from this attack, of this there would be no doubt. He just hoped that once they healed they wouldn't be as bad as they seemed now. His mother had always been beautiful by any standard of a wolf—to see her rendered so low by her own mate... It infuriated Artorias, and he wanted answers as to why this happened. That could wait until tomorrow morning though. For tonight, his mother and sister needed him here and they needed him to be strong. He would do whatever they needed of him.


"Artorias" | 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.
____________________

It didn't register with her how she must look to her poor children - at least not yet. All she could think about was Resin, the image of her teeth swallowing up her vision burned into her memory, her worry over what would come next absolutely overwhelming her. She wanted to make sure Resin was okay, she wanted to go assure her mate that everything would be alright. It wouldn't be, but it was a lie she wanted to believe. She vaguely felt Artorias rubbing her back and barely heard his reassurances as her children kept her from trying to get up while Gwynevere continued to work away at her wound.

The cloths soaked in infused water stung the open flesh for a moment, but eventually the smell of lavender was able to overwhelm the metallic scent of blood, breathing it in deeply as the panic continued to work at her lungs. A combination of the pure exhaustion, blood loss, and the soothing smell of the herbs Gwyn was using eventually lulled her body into sleep, though she wasn't entirely aware of it until she was swallowed up in blackness. Her body forced her brain to turn off just long enough for her to rest and calm down, shutting herself down out of self preservation.




















"Tamsyn" | "Blue"

Gwynevere gave Artorias a grateful glance when he settled next to their mother and began soothing and calming her and once the cloths were placed over the wounds she got up to go get a few other things she'd need to start sealing up the wounds - or at least attempt to. At this point she was mostly just hoping that she'd be able to keep it from bleeding any more and allow the skin to start growing back. It was just so ripped and tattered... By the time she got back with the last pieces of horsetail she had and some lambs ear she noticed that the rise and fall of Tamsyn's chest had calmed and steadied a bit and peeked at her face to see that she had worn herself out into sleep. Good, at least she'd get a bit of rest, even if it was purely out of her body's need to heal. She looked to Artorias with worry creasing her brow. She knew she wasn't necessarily out of the woods just yet even though she was more stable now, but... What was going to happen to all of them? To Resin? What had caused all of this? She was too tired and concerned over the patient in front of her to really think about any of those things as she began to slowly peel back each piece of cloth and start piecing together her skin the best she could with the sticky horsetail, but they swirled in the back of her mind while she worked under Eilwen's watchful gaze. She was fearful about the future and concerned that she wasn't ready to meet the challenge of it.

Gwynevere | Eilwen