Their time with her family in Armada was quickly drawing to a close and she knew that they would have to be getting back to their own pack soon enough, but she couldn't allow herself to head back to Auster without spending some one on one time with her mother. She had spent little bits of time here and there with all of her family during their visit and she had taken a good amount of time to explore the northern territories with Artorias, but she had only seen her mother in passing since the first day they were here and she was someone in particular that Briar couldn't go back home without spending some quality time with. So much of her childhood and young adult life had been spent without her and it was really just a cruel twist of fate that Zee just happened to reappear in her life just when she was preparing to depart to make her own life in The Hallows. Now that their relationship was on better terms she felt like she had to take advantage of the little pieces of time they had together.

Since Artorias was out spending time with her father, undoubtedly getting in to some kind of trouble, she picked a couple of her favorite wines from the collection she brought and tucked them into a bag along with a couple of wooden cups before she went in search of her mother. She figured there was no better chance to try and snag some alone time with her and get her opinions on the wine at the same time. It wasn't all that difficult to find Zee around the Col. In the time that they had spent there she had begun to learn her way around the caves pretty well and she took the winding path back to her parent's den, grinning when she found her mother in the common area in the middle of the cluster of smaller caves. "Perfect! I was hoping I wouldn't have to go hunting you down," she joked lightly with a chuckle as she settled in beside Zee and slipped the bag off, pulling out the tinted glass bottles and the bowls to set them between them. "I figured while the husbands were out we might have a little bit of a girls night if that's alright with you. Maybe you can help me decide which of these I should recreate for my next batch!" She was already beginning to pull the corks from the bottles while her tail wagged gently behind her, always happy to be in the company of her family.

"Briar Carpathius"

Before Briar had set off on her path to the Hallows, Zee had been hesitant. Two of her eldest pups had already left her early in their lives and what was worse, they'd never returned. Not for a visit, or to allow her to meet her grandchildren, or to simply update her on their new lives outside Armada's borders. It had put a sour expectation on the whole idea of the young leaving the nest - they were supposed to come back, weren't they? Briar's story however was much different. Not only had the young woman returned multiple times for short visits, but Zee had been to visit her home a few times as well. Slowly, her abandonment worries were beginning to fade. Briar was gone, but she wasn't gone the same way as Indigo and Asla were. She was somewhere Zee could find her always, and if she called for her daughter... well, she was starting to think that she'd actually come. It made the concept of new life much less scary, perhaps it was possible to have a happy family after all, even if they chose not to stay. Seeing her lithe form appear in her doorway always brought a grin to the ageing mother's maw. She glanced up and down her beautiful daughter, taking in her antlers and flowing tail, the cleanliness of her coat and the clear picture of health and happiness that Briar wore. It was good to see her flourish outside their lands, Artorias treated her well and had made no move to part her from her family even when he'd been the reason she'd left the continent to begin with. As good a son-in-law to have as any, Zee decided. "Glad you didn't have to." She agreed gently. Briar settled in beside her and Zee leaned her skull against the larger woman's shoulder briefly, taking in every moment with her daughter before the Hallows Queen set off once more. "A girl's night?" Zee mused with a smile. Any opportunity to spend quality time with her children was a good one, she'd not dare reject the opportunity. "It sounds lovely and I'd love to taste what you've made... but.." Her lips turned inwards, her small teeth coming atop the skin as she paused. "Do you have non-alcoholic options?" "Speech"

Briar smiled as her smaller mother leaned her head into her shoulder, glancing down at her for a moment as her long tail brushed across the ground behind her. She was glad that their relationship had found it's way back to something good in the end. As she was getting older and her own thoughts were beginning to move toward the future, her relationship with Artorias, the life she was building in the Hallows, the family they were hoping to have themselves... the more she wanted her family close and the more she wanted her mother's experience and expertise with her. She wished she had a way to move their packs closer together again, but she was willing to make the trip whenever they wanted to see each other and it seemed like her family was willing to do the same so they could certainly make it work.

She was just shy of popping off one of the corks that was keeping the bottle sealed when her mother made her hesitate when she paused and asked if she had anything that wasn't alcoholic. Briar blinked with surprise and paused with her paws around the neck of the wine bottle as she turned her gaze over to her mother at her side while she tried to figure out why she would make such a request. She didn't think her parents had any issue with drinking alcohol normally, but then again she couldn't exactly remember a time she ever saw her mother drink either. Still, the way Zee worded it made her feel like this wasn't a choice she would have made usually, so if that was the case then why make the exception now? What would cause her to not want to drink alcohol? Unless there was a reason why she couldn't...

The realization slowly crossed her features as she began to put two and two together on her own. She probably wouldn't have even thought of it if she wasn't so close to preparing and planning for her own family in the coming season and all of the things she had learned so far about pregnancy and what she would need to do and avoid. That was one of the rules Gwynevere had told her about specifically since she was constantly testing new wines so that popped into her mind and her eyes widened with the realization, a grin tugging at her lips. "Are you...?" she whispered, to her mother like they were sharing a secret, her tail brushing against the ground behind her as she began to process the possible information.

"Briar Carpathius"