He didn't expect the bird. The white plumes shone like a beacon against the light of sun as she descended down into Armada lands. The message was simple, but efficient. Tamsyn was hurt, and Resin was locked up. He didn’t wait for an explanation on how or why Resin would hurt her beloved mate. He had known that something was going on with Resin, but not what. He howled to Zee and Asla, leaving the two of them in charge, and shot off like a rocket. He swallowed the distance between their two packs, cursing the fates that led to the decision to move the Hallows further away. The run left him plenty of time to think. Too much so. He played it out in his mind, Resin, attacking Tamsyn. Tammy injured, his mother locked up. His heart felt painfully tight in his chest. By the time he arrived, he didn’t know if his short heavy breaths were from excursion or stress. He howled at the border, even as he ignored it and blew straight on through. Where were the dungeons? Where was Tamsyn? He howled again as he paws clattered on the entrance of the castle, hoping someone would find him soon and lead the way. "Speech"

She needed help. Gwynevere had done well with treating her physical needs and her children as a whole were doing the best they could to comfort her, but she still needed help. Her immediate thought fell on Sirius. She needed her friend. No one else would understand Resin the way she did besides him. She had employed Gwynevere's raven companion to fetch him, putting her trust in the bird to deliver the message and send him to her. She knew without a doubt that he would come, but it felt like every minute that passed since Eilwen left was an eternity. She was just barely holding on to the thread that was holding her together as she sat on the padded bench in front of the picture window, watching the gap that was left open for Eilwen to leave and enter from the room, willing her to return.

Eventually she would, obviously tired from the flight to and from the Armada's lands, but reporting that she had alerted Sirius and that he was on his way. Tamsyn breathed a shaky sigh and nodded, casting her gaze back over the land toward the border that faced the Armada, anxiously waiting for Sirius to appear. Just as Eilwen had, he eventually appeared, seeing the dark form of him darting across the border with a howl, not pausing for even a moment. Yes, Eilwen had indeed successfully delivered the message loud and clear. She carefully stood and lowered herself to the ground and began to walk across the room, but by the time she reached the door she was already beginning to sway.

The attack had taken a lot out of her - mentally and physically. She had lost a lot of blood and she was still very much feeling the effects of that now. Most of the right side of her face was torn and tattered, pieces of remaining skin held in place with sticky horsetail and pieces of lambs ear. All of the exposed flesh where the skin had been torn away was coated with a thick layer of herbal medicines. Gwyn had wrapped her head in bandages the first day, but she couldn't stand not using her right eye so she had eventually insisted on taking it off, only tolerating it when she was sleeping. Her right eye was at least in tact, but she couldn't open it all the way without irritating the injury.

She began to slowly make her way down the corridor toward the stairs that would lead her to the main entrance, but she didn't even make it that far before she heard Sirius howl from within the castle. She paused and howled for him in return, calling to him and letting him know how to get to her. She continued on her way, but stopped when she reached the wide entryway that led into the Carpathius wing of the castle, stopping there and falling back to her haunches as she leaned into the doorframe to wait on him.

"Tamsyn" | "Blue"

Dammit! But this place was a maze. He wished he had taken more time getting to know the corridors in this strange stone place. But he had never liked to be inside, with stone all around him. He had met those he loved in the plains for the most part. Picnicking with them under the starry skies in those brief moments he had to spare to visit them. He wished now he had spared more time for such ventures. Tam’s howl echoed about the confines of the castle, calling him. He used it to guide him, his claws scrabbling against stone, and his shoulder occasionally hitting walls with the speed of his turns. Then, suddenly, she was there. He collided with her as gently as he was able to, folding himself around her and drawing her close. He could feel the thumping of his heart against her fur, then he drew back, and looked at her face. A growl slipped through him. This was his Tammy. The wolf he had trained and who had befriended him. The cuts down her eyes were no small things. “Talk to me, Tamsyn.” He could not understand. There was no way Resin could have done this thing. "Speech"

She listened as the echos of his claws scraping against the stone floors got nearer and nearer, feeling as if she was holding her breath while she was waiting for his figure to appear at the top of the stairs. Then, all at once, he was there. Without hesitation he pulled her into him and that was all it took to untie those frail strings that she had been able to keep loosely tied for the sake of those around her. She crumpled into his embrace and tears immediately pooled in her eyes yet again even though she thought that for sure she had cried all of the tears it was physically possible for her to cry. For just a moment she hid herself in his larger form, letting herself just feel safe there - even if it was for just a second. Sirius had always made things right. He had protected her and taught her and saved her from herself. Just as Resin had also done, until now.

When he pulled back to look at her face she suddenly wished that she had put the damn bandages on like Gwyn had begged her to do. Sirius didn't deserve to see her like this. She didn't want him to see her beaten and broken, but she didn't know where else to turn. "She was having a nightmare," she explained softly when he told her to speak. Despite the tremble in her voice and the painful way her throat squeezed with emotion, she felt like she was reciting off facts of a situation much as she would have done as his General. "I tried to wake her up, but she... she lashed out. Did this. I got away, but... She looked at me like..." That's what scared her most. Not the memory of her teeth swallowing her vision, but the complete lack of recognition in Resin's gaze terrified her. "She looked at me like she had no idea who I was. She tried to attack me again. I got out of our room, barred the door. She came to, but I... I couldn't let her out. Artorias found me, took me to Gwynevere. Ulric had to let her out and she put herself in the dungeon. Locked herself down there."

Her ears folded back against her head as her gaze slipped from his, pain and sorrow clear on her voice. "She won't let me come see her. She instructed Ulric to ban anyone from going down there. I just... I just want to see her." She swallowed hard around the lump in her throat and let out a shaky sigh as she looked back up at him again. "Ulric will lead the pack. I can't... I just... I just can't." The pack was the least of her worries. She couldn't see past Resin and her children right now. They were all she could bring herself to care about.

"Tamsyn" | "Blue"

It shocked him to his core when tears started to dampen his coat. Tamsyn, cry? The last time one had cried on the other it was him on her when Malalia had vanished. Now it was his turn to be there for her. He gritted his teeth when he looked at the ripped flesh around her eye, raising his paw as though to touch it, then letting it fall heavily to the stone floor once more. The stamp of his pad and claws clicking heavily against the surface. Frustration shown in his eyes. She was hurt, and he hadn’t been there to stop it. Resin had hurt her. Frightened her. He struggled to connect the image of the woman he had adopted as mother, hurting the wolf they both loved as friend for one and mate for the other. Hurt her so thoroughly she hadn’t had the strength to open the door and let her out. He remembered Tammys past, and he understood why it had shaken her. Of course, it would shake anyone to see the one they loved vanish beneath a haze and lash out. He wondered for the first time in a long time how Zee had felt, when he had had a nightmare and lashed out at the wolf who would become his Wife. He closed his eyes briefly, thinking of Io. she was the one who had helped him to heal. Resin’s daughter. He gritted his teeth, and pulled Tammy close again, kissing her behind the ear, and looking out into the distance for a moment as he thought. “I understand why. There aren’t many that can take Resin on. But I can. I don’t know what's happening to her, but i’m going to go and see her.” It would probably be best if Tamsyn stayed here. “No matter what Tamsyn, i’m not going anywhere for a while. Zee and Asla can take care of the Armada, i’m with you.” Wherever this lead. "Speech"

Tamsyn willingly leaned into Sirius again when he pulled her to him and had a strange feeling come over her that her job had been done. There was still so much for her to process and this was really only the beginning, but she understood that this was so far beyond what she was capable of handling on her own. She hated that fact, loathed it, but it was the truth. Physically and mentally she was broken. Eventually she supposed she would have to heal. She had done it once, she could do it again, but the light at the end of this dark, dark tunnel felt so far away and was barely a pin point of light that continued to flicker in and out. She had gotten Sirius here and she hoped that it would be enough.

She listened as he spoke of facing Resin himself and her stomach twisted. She wanted to see Resin. She wanted to see her mate so badly. She just wanted to know that Resin still knew who she was, that the one wolf she cared about more than her own life wasn't completely lost to her. She had a feeling that she would never get that chance and that hurt more than anything else. She closed her eyes and leaned into him heavily as he told her that he wasn't going to leave, that Zee and Asla would look after the Armada, one of her forelegs lifting to wrap around him and hold tightly to her friend as if she might fall apart if she didn't. She felt guilty that she had pulled him away from his family and pack to be here, but was indescribably grateful that he had done so without her asking. He knew she would never ask such a thing of him, but it made her feel better to know he was here.

"Thank you," she said quietly after a moment, hiding her face as she tried to piece herself back together enough that she could let him go. "Sirius... Can you... Will you give Resin a message for me?" If she couldn't go and see her, then perhaps this would be the next best thing. She lifted her gaze to look at him, blinking away some of the tears still clinging to her mint eyes. "Please tell her... Tell her I still love her. Tell her that I don't blame her. That I... That if I can't see her again, if we can't fix this before..." Her voice trailed off, unable to complete the sentence. Before she was completely lost, before she passed away. "Tell her I'll see her again. Someday."

"Tamsyn" | "Blue"

He felt her bury her face in his coat, and her voice was muffled in her fur when she spoke. He didn’t move, just supported their weight there on the stone floor as she processed what she needed to. He swallowed past a painful lump in his throat as she asked of him a favour. Not one that he could refuse, but acknowledging it was painful. It was like Tamsyn thought this was goodbye. He almost wasn’t ready when she pulled back enough to look at him. His eyes felt red and swollen, and he blinked quickly, pushing back the worst of it. He would be what Tamsyn needed him to be. He saw the pain in her own eyes. One on unleashed skin, the other behind weepy sores. He kissed her nose, hating this feeling of helplessness so much. He wanted to hit something. He might have, anyway, if he hadn’t known down to his bones that it would add to Tamsyns fear and hurts. He clenched his paw, claws scraping against stone. “Of course I will Tamsyn. Of course. But she already knows. Well - “ He broke off, not wanting to make her any promises. He didn’t know how to fix Resin, he didn’t even know what state he would find her in. He gently broke away from his friend. ‘I’ll be back” he said, sticking with the promises he could make. "Speech"