With the joyous news of the wedding, Serenity was eager to help though still as quiet and secluded as ever. She spent the last week or so carving out arches in a couple chopped tree trunks. She'd have to connect them in the middle at the top, but she was waiting to get them in perfect shape before she glued them together and then sanded down all the edges.

The work she did just on this little arbor was tiring and took many hours of her days, hours she had to herself of course. She didn't complain, and having the finished base and wicker even while no where near being done, it was quite satisfying. She was proud of herself to say the least, she just hoped the bride and groom would enjoy it too.

In one of the more main and open areas of the castle near the training grounds she laid out a number of paints to mix to prepare for painting. But first, she had sand down all the edges of the trimmed and carved wood half arches. She made sure the glue was dry and the pieces held together before she got started.

"Serenity"

Once she and Artorias agreed on a tentative date for their wedding it felt like all of the preparations ramped up exponentially. She didn't necessarily want a huge, over the top affair, but she knew that it was naturally going to be a big event with a marriage between two members of large families that also happened to be the leaders of a pack—one originally from a different large pack. Having it be a large event was kind of inevitable at this point so Briar decided to just go with it and let herself enjoy the process. If nothing else she was certainly enjoying thinking of all the ways to decorate the castle for the affair and planning out the feast that was going to go along for the reception.

The unexpected thing in all of this had been how the pack had seemed to come together just to help with crafting decor, hunting meats for the feast, and all sorts of other things to help with preparations. She hadn't mentioned it to anyone so she had to assume Artorias had let word get around and had recruited the pack's help in all of this and she was both grateful and overwhelmed by it all. She was walking through the castle grounds when she spotted Serenity working on a beautiful wooden arch and she was blown away by how much effort must have gone into it. She smiled and walked over to where the dappled woman was working, her long, braided tail swaying behind her. "Could I lend you a paw?" she asked, looking to see if there was anywhere she could jump in to help.

"Briar Fatalis"

Emile felt like he didn't really know what to do with himself. He knew he should be helping out with the wedding preparations but in all honesty he wasn't really sure how or even what should be expected of him. Emile was hardly a social wolf, and he barely knew Artorias only barely having shared any space with the man through their many years as members of the pack since childhood and he knew even less about his bride to be. Maybe it was a sign, maybe he ought to try to get to know his alpha but the fear of fucking up, of being a burden kept him from venturing too far.

Finally though the anxiety of being considered a burden for not helping chased him from his seclusion, but what would even remain to be done at this point? He spotted his older sister from one of the upper floors, she appeared to be working on some sort of wooden arches? Emile swallowed the lump in his throat and put his head down to navigate his way towards her, feeling his anxiety flare up when he got there and realized she was no longer alone. One of the guests of honor had come to offer her help. Welp, might as well kill two birds with one stone right? Besides maybe he'd finally be able to make something of a relationship with his half-sister with this too?

Emile approached cautiously, his head tilted so as to hide his scared eye and simply nodded at the paints as Serenity's paws, not wishing to vocalize his question but indicating he had the same one that Briar did.


Speech

As Serenity worked sanding down the edges, Briar joined beside her which she may not have officially met but she knew everything inside the castle walls or at least what she could see from on top of them. Before she could respond though, Emile joined them too which Serenity gave him a welcoming nod and smile. She understood the social anxieties, she was just able to cope and handle them differently than Emile.

Placing her paw on the connected wooden arches, she suggested to the soon to be bride, "I was thinking of painting it a light birch?" She asked wanting the approval of Briar. She looked over to Emile knowing he had some interest in plants and herbs. "I bet Emile here could gather up fresh flowers closer to the day to intertwine around the woven top, what colors do you think?" With a tap of her claw onto the side of the arch she also mentioned, "I was also thinking some of those darker wooden vines we can hang around and give it a more foresty-natural look. Maybe some willow vines too." With another look over the arch and the paints, she asked, "If each of you want to start on a side I can start painting on the top. We'll let it dry before flipping it."

"Serenity"

Before Serenity could respond, Briar noticed the other woman's gaze shift off to the side of her to give a nod of greeting and Briar looked as well, seeing Emile approaching to join in as well. She gave the quiet man a warm smile and nodded her head as well. She hadn't seen the tan and white man much since she moved into the castle, but she was grateful that he was willing to lend a paw as well. Turning her attention back to Serenity, she listened as the dappled woman explained her plans for how she wanted to paint the arch and Briar smiled with a nod of agreement. Briar had always loved the look of birch trees ever since she grew up next door to the Ashen forests. "That sounds great." The suggestion came then that Emile could look for flowers to decorate the arch with closer to the day of the wedding and she turned a happy grin toward the man beside her. "That would be wonderful! I was thinking of keeping it pretty simple... Maybe just white flowers and greenery and maybe a few clusters of the flowers from the wisteria trees in the garden." In her head at least the simple color palate with the pops of light purple from the wisteria sounded lovely and she thought the flowers hanging from the arch would be beautiful.

She looked back to the arch again as the plan for the vines to give the arch a bit more of a natural, rustic look and she nodded again, getting even more excited as the vision started to come together in her head. "That sounds great, Serenity, thank you for doing all of this." It was still overwhelming to her that everyone was so willing to do things like this, but she was quickly coming to realize how much all of the wolves in The Hallows seemed to care about one another. "Absolutely, I'd be happy to," she replied as she moved to follow Serenity's instructions and start painting one side of the arch, brushing on the paint carefully so she hopefully wouldn't manage to get it all over herself.

"Briar Fatalis"

Emile listened intently as his half-sister spoke, his gaze following her paws as she gestured and taking a moment to take in the full scope of the arch. Serenity indicated that he could help by gathering flowers to wind around them closer to the date to help preserve them and he nodded, a small smile even tugging at his lips. Yes, he could do that. Briar suggested some colors and Emile nodded slowly, tilting his head to the side. "Ttttthere's Meadowsweet near-near-nearby, butttttt ttttthey're delicate annnnnd their scent changes ifffffff damaged so we'd h-h-h-ave to be careful." He glanced at Briar, Meadowsweet's flowers were small and white, delicate, perfect for a wedding theme but they came with their own challenges, they would need to range further than their own lands if they wanted to find something else, but it was her day and he would happily gather up anything he knew how to find.

The conversation continued on and Serenity suggested each of them start painting at one end of the arch and Emile nodded, taking up position opposite of Briar.  Painting was a different beast altogether from gardening. Emile was no stranger to using tools, he was proficient enough at digging or potting but not painting. He couldn't seem to get the motions right. While Briar was moving carefully Emile's focus was more on being thorough, getting good coverage, and before too long his chest and paws were splattered with slowly drying paint.



Speech

Serenity smiled lightly as Briar thanked them. Looking over to Emile with gentle eyes she hummed in a quiet chuckle. "I think I speak for both of us when I say we aren't the most social of The Hallows." She wasn't trying to make her brother feel bad, just to know that he didn't have to feel alone. She knew how anxious he could be. "I think we are both happy to see the pack flourish in each of the hands it has been given. I am at least." The Hallows could only get better from here or so Serenity believed. She couldn't see Artorias as any harsh leader, and while Serenity may not have known the roots of the pack she was certain Artorias would lead them through what the pack was intended for.

She moved to paint the top of the arch, taking time to cover the criss-cross pattern of the wood and certainly wouldn't have denied either wolf if they rose up to her level and helped her finish painting. She'd do the same for either of them.

Once they were done, they just had to wait for the more fresh areas to be dry since painting the arch was a whole task in itself. But once it was done, Sereinty picked it up from the top before asking for help to drop it down on the other side so they could paint that side as well. She glanced to Emile with a smile as she worked, excited to see her brother help in the ways he loved. She was sure he would be great at arranging the floral designs for the arch or anywhere else for the ceremony.

"Serenity"

Briar nodded to Emile's suggestion of meadow sweet for the white flowers to go on the arch, but hummed slightly when he mentioned that the smell could change if they're damaged. "Well, that is definitely the look I'm going for, but I don't want them to be too much of a bother for you. Any white flowers would be completely fine and if those don't work out then it can just be the wisteria. I promise I'm not picky! I'm just happy any of this is happening at all." At the end of the day, as long as she and Artorias got married that was the important part. Everything else that went on around them was just the icing on the cake to make it even more spectacular than it was already going to be. It would be lovely and beautiful regardless of what flowers they ended up with.

She looked to Serenity as the other woman mentioned how they weren't the most social wolves in the pack and that they, or at least she, was just happy to see the pack flourish in whatever hands it was in. Briar gave her an appreciative smile at that, her tail wagging behind her as she tried and only slightly failed not to get too emotional over the whole thing. She had been slightly nervous to move to The Hallows since the only wolves she knew well here were Artorias and Lia. Not only that, but she moved in and immediately was placed in a position of authority with all of these wolves that she only knew from passing glances during her visits here. Everyone had been so welcoming thus far and all of the effort going into the wedding just warmed her heart till she thought it might burst.

She continued helping the pair with painting the arch and once the one side was done she jumped in to help Serenity with flipping it over even though the other woman seemed to have it handled and didn't ask for help. Briar just didn't want her accidentally getting hurt in the process and was just there to help catch it if need be. Once it was flipped she continued on with the job, happy to quietly work with her pack mates while they made something beautiful together that just made her all the more excited for the upcoming wedding.

"Briar Fatalis"