Ulric insisted that Tamsyn would be okay with Eska staying in The Hallows, but she wanted to make sure herself. Besides, she should want to meet her late mother's lover, right? The situation already felt awkward in her mind, but she barreled through anyway. It needed to happen. They couldn't avoid one another forever. Mid morning, the brindled woman took her leave of Ulric and went to seek out Tamsyn. Remembering where the Carpathius wing was from the tour that she'd been given, Eska made her way towards it. Her nose sought out the various scents. She could smell Artorias and Rudyard, but the other scents were foreign to her. Coming to the end of the hall, the brindled fae stopped before a wide, wooden door. She gently rapped upon it and called out tentatively in her smooth yet husky tones, "Tamsyn?" Hopefully the woman was home. If not... she'd have to find her elsewhere. "Eska"

In the days that followed after Resin's death she had found herself going back to their room for the first time since the attack. It felt like her life was segmented off into different lifetimes. Now she was living in the aftermath of that night of madness and the fallout that came with it. Now that Resin was gone - actually gone, not just locked away out of their daily lives - she felt hollow. The hole that had been created in her heart by being hurt by her mate had been filled by loss and pain and confusion and now all of that had faded away to nothing. Just emptiness. She kept expecting to go down to the dungeon and see Resin there or hear her maddened screams from the top of the stairs, but she didn't. It was silent and she hated that silence.

She had forced herself to clean up the remnants of the attack while she was still living in this numb fog of mourning. She tossed out the furs that had been on the bed that were still stained and crusted with her blood from all those months ago, she scrubbed away the trail of blood between the bed, the wall where she had cowered away from Resin, all the way to the door that she had barred closed to keep Resin inside. The blood in the hall had been cleaned away long, long ago. Much longer than she could bare to think about. But she hadn't come in her room. Hadn't allowed anyone to touch it. She wanted to do it herself, needed to. She needed to face this. She just hadn't been strong enough to do it. She still wasn't, but at least it didn't seem to hurt as much now.

A knock at her door surprised her and she lifted her head to look at the door. She had just finished laying out a new fur across the bed. She didn't know if she would actually ever sleep in here again, but it felt right to do. Put everything back to how it had once been. A voice she didn't recognize called out to her by name and that pulled her curiosity enough to walk over to the door, pulling it open. She had put a small smile on her lips to greet whoever it was, but the moment that her mint eyes found the familiar yellow gaze it felt like her heart stopped and her breath caught in her chest, her smile falling away. Confusion pulled at her expression as she looked at the woman in front of her, her mind taking several moments to catch up with her. She had Resin's eyes, the familiar ebony mask marking her face, gray hues covering the rest of her body. But this wasn't Resin. There were two eyes, not one, and there were no scars. The scars that had drawn her into Resin from the beginning.

"O-Oh, I'm... I'm so sorry," she finally breathed as she found her way back to the present, refocusing on the woman in front of her that wasn't Resin. Certainly, definitely not Resin. She gave the stranger an apologetic look, bringing that smile back to her lips. "You just... You look like..." Resin. Her Resin. She swallowed hard around a lump forming in her throat, but she refused to cry. She had shed enough tears and she didn't want any more. "I'm sorry, it seems that you know my name, but I don't know yours... Who are you?"

Tamsyn Carpathius

When the door finally opened, Tamsyn had the reaction that Eska had anticipated. She could hear the woman's breath catch. The minty eyes in her scarred face widened for a moment and her jaw dropped. Eska's dark ears tucked back against her crown for a moment and she lowered her gaze, letting the obsidian woman work through whatever she needed to get through. In time, she had regained control, questioning Eska though her speech halted a few times. "My name is Eska Datura Timber." She couldn't quite meet the fae's minted eyes knowing the pain that she was bringing to her. "I'm Resin's daughter." How uncomfortable. She continued after a moment. "I came looking for her, but I wasn't fast enough." That was a light way of putting it. "Ulric has invited me to stay in The Hallows but it doesn't feel right accepting his offer without speaking to you first." In case you can't stand the sight of me, was what she left unsaid. Eska cleared her throat. She wasn't usually so awkward and at a loss for words, but this was a delicate situation. "I've met two of your sons. Good boys. I can see my mother in them. The stories that I've heard of her, anyway." Still just stringing out her words, Eska finally cut to the chase. "Tamsyn, I would very much like to stay and hopefully grow strong bonds with my mother's family, but I would like your blessing. If I'm too much of a reminder, too painful to look at..." She let her words trail off, giving her brindled skull a slight shake. Only then did she raise her mother's eyes to meet Tamsyn's mint colored gaze. "Eska"

She was quiet as Eska introduced herself, admitting to be Resin's daughter. Of course she was. It was written all over her face in her familiar golden eyes and dark mask and monochrome coloring. She was so much like Resin, but different as well. Unique in the brindled patterning of her fur. She was lovely and beautiful. Most certainly a chip off of Resin's block. Her chest squeezed with sympathy when she heard that she had come looking for her late mate, but time clearly hadn't been on her side. She let Eska continue, telling her how Ulric had invited her to stay, how she had met two of her boys - her wonderful, sweet boys. It saddened her to hear Eska imply that all she had know of Resin was stories and she desperately wished she could rewind time and take her back to be able to spend time with the once powerful warrior. She was genuinely a bit surprised when she was asked for her blessing to stay and she was sure that showed in her gaze as the emotion mixed with the sympathy and sorrow.

Too painful to look at? At first, perhaps. But the longer she sat here with her mate embodied in this younger woman the more it tugged at her heart and to hear that she wanted to have a bond with what remained of Resin's family... Tamsyn's expression softened as a small smile pulled at her lips, a mothering love filling her mint eyes. She lifted a paw to rest on Eska's cheek, not really considering the idea of personal space or boundaries. "Gods, you really are her daughter, aren't you?" she breathed, looking at her features and seeing so much of the woman she had loved in her. She reached forward and wrapped her forelegs around Eska's shoulders, pulling the larger woman into an embrace. "Of course you're welcome here, Eska. I wouldn't want you to be anywhere else. You're family. I would never turn you away."

She leaned back a bit though she didn't let go entirely, her paws resting on Eska's shoulders as her gaze found hers again. She gave her a sad smile, her ears flicking back. "I'm sorry you didn't get a chance to be with her... If there's anything at all you ever want to know, I'm an open book for you. Please don't feel like I don't want you here. Yes, you remind me of her, but... Not in a painful way. In a good way." She finally let her paws fall away, giving a soft sigh. "I just... I just finished cleaning up in here. This was the room I shared with Resin and I never cleaned up the blood from..." Her voice trailed off, unable to utter the words. She settled for just waving her paw toward her face, toward the obvious scar that surrounded her eye. "Maybe we could go outside? I'd love to know more about you."

Tamsyn Carpathius