Meeting her newest litter of grandchildren had certainly put a shot of strength into Zee, enabling her to push through the discomfort associated with recovering from childbirth long enough to make the trip to her daughter's new home in the neighbouring continent. Once they had arrived and settled in their guest room, the Fatalis matriarch absorbed every moment with family that she could muster up, avoiding rest until her body ached and exhaustion forced her to bed. Over the hours, the pain began to return. A familiar sort of pain deep in her pelvis that Zee attempted to pass off as too much strenuous activity, until it had grown into an agony unavoidable. She flagged over the closest Hallows knight, curling inward to try and relieve the pain as she was led down the hall and into another section of the castle, toward the infirmary. Left alone to her devices as her escort went off in search of Gwyn, Zee found herself a place on the cool stone floor and curled herself into a tight ball, tail tucked with her forehead pressed against the stone to absorb from it the chill. Subduing the pain as best she could and quelling the nausea she could already begin to taste on her tongue. "Speech"

With Briar's family visiting and the castle abuzz with activity, Gwynevere had retired to her library to work on a few small things in the quiet space, Ysmir keeping her company while she mixed a few herbs and experimented with a few concoctions. It was how she generally passed her time within the infirmary so it was easy enough to move a few supplies upstairs for her to work on here. She was in the middle of signing a few things back and forth with Ysmir, planning an outing he wished to take in the next few days, when one of the knights appeared at the door, requesting her immediate attention in the infirmary. Gwyn was immediately alert, hurrying out of the room and down the flights of stairs, trotting to the double doors that would lead into the infirmary. The knight hadn't elaborated on who it was that needed her help, but she also hadn't asked. It never mattered to her who needed her, she always came to their aid regardless.

When she walked into the infirmary, she didn't immediately see anyone there. The cots and paneled dividers that lined the room blocked her view and she didn't see anyone standing in the space. It wasn't until she came around the corner of the closest cot and spotted the curled up form of the woman who was unmistakably Briar's mother. She had never actually spoken to the Fatalis woman, but she recognized her from the very similar colorations to Briar and the distinctive horns that curled from her head. "Zee?" she questioned as she hurried to her side, calm and focused as she went to begin examining her and trying to figure out what was going on from her initial observations. There was no obvious wounds, but she very much seemed to be in pain and the way she had immediately gravitated toward the cold floor told her that she must have a fever at the very least. Gwyn gently reached for Zee's paw, feeling the heat radiating from her paw pads and feeling her pulse for a moment. "What's going on? What are you feeling?" she asked quietly, starting to figure out what treatments she might need.

"Gwynevere Carpathius"

Zee was so intently focused on bearing the pain and discomfort that the initial approach of paws passed by her notice entirely. It wasn't until a stranger's voice called her name that she partially uncurled from her ball, lifting her forehead from the floor just long enough to see who it may be. This must be the healer she'd been expecting; one Zee hoped was experienced and skilled. She suddenly realized how much she missed Iolaire, though years had passed since she'd been a patient of Sirius' adopted sibling. "Gwyn?" She questioned weakly, feeling a little silly for even asking. Who else would have coincidentally shown their face in the infirmary and approached her offering help? To the question she gave a small floor-bound shrug, grimacing slightly as the pain throbbed deeper in her abdomen. "I'm not sure, really. I think I've... -" She seethed. "- overexerted myself lately. The last time I felt pain like this was after my first litter.. I'd failed to rest well then, as well." But in the end she had been fine, medicated with herbs and sent to her bed to rest. Zee had thought she was well past that phase now, weeks having passed since her last litter's birth. "Speech"

As Zee talked about where this intense pain she was feeling came from, Gwyn's brows knitted together with worry. She knew vaguely when Zee and Sirius had their pups just from when Artorias and Briar had gone to visit in order to meet the young Fatalis litter so she knew this was far too long after the birth to simply be experiencing any lingering pains just from that alone. She didn't say anything in that regard right away, instead going to get a couple of pillows from the nearby bed and gently slipping them under Zee's head. Moving her to the bed right now would probably just hurt her more than it was worth so she tried to just help her be comfortable where she was for now. "Stay here, I'm going to get a few medicines."

She trotted over to a grouping of shelves and cabinets that sat on one side of the room and started pulling out a few vials and jars, sniffling a couple to make sure she was pulling the right ingredients and combining a couple to get what she wanted. There was boneset for the fever, ginseng root for her immune system and energy, wintergreen for the pain, and—after a bit of thought—some juniper to start fighting against whatever infection she had a feeling might have set in after her birth. Everything was in some form of extract or paste and as she combined the doses she added in some water, making a chilled drink of sorts in a small bowl. There was a sinking dread in her stomach that it was even worse than that, but this would at least be enough to help with the symptoms and help her be comfortable.

It was just a couple of minutes before she returned with the edge of the bowl carried carefully in her teeth and she settled down on the floor beside Zee, bringing the bowl to the other woman's lips. "Drink this, it should help. Sorry if it's a bit tart or bitter—I don't have any honey on hand at the moment," she said apologetically. Usually she liked her medicines to be more palatable or even in the form of a tea if she had the time to warm the water, but this would have to do for now. Once Zee took the medicine, Gwyn sat the bowl to the side and moved to sit at her side and started to feel over her torso and abdomen with careful, gentle paws as she examined her. "Tell me more about your birth. How many pups did you have?" she asked, keeping an eye on Zee's face as she felt over her torso for any kind of immediate reactions or pains that might present themselves.

"Gwynevere Carpathius"

Zee kept her eyes fixed upon the healer, worry bringing her brows to knit as the woman remained unreadable, just as most of her profession often were. Her head lifted to accept the offering of cool pillows, her forelegs tucking further against her chest so her paw pads could toe at the fabric too. Zee did everything she could to keep herself in control and contained and to prevent her past anxieties from rearing their heads once more, growing silent as Gwyn moved to collect the medicines and returned with them, her expression still giving nothing away. "Thank you." Zee murmured, lifting her head from the pillow just enough that she could reach the contents of the bowl with her tongue, finishing the offered mixture hurriedly and dropping her head back down with a groan. It did taste bitter, but more pressing was how the sudden liquid within her stomach sent her nausea higher. She shut her eyes tight against the feeling, leaving them closed until the wave of nausea and dizziness had subsided. Gwyn was examining her now and she knew her only job was to answer questions and be still. She blew out a slow and stressed exhale as the paws gently palpated her abdomen, one side of her muzzle wrinkling in pain. "Seven." Zee replied, strained. "Most painful experience of my life. I blame their father." Her lip twitched in a sort of playful smile, but the expression could not last long. Sure the pups were many and massive, but it wasn't the first time or even the second that she'd birthed direwolves. It was however the first time she'd birthed three touched by deformity. "Although.. two of my daughters and a son, they are... different then the others. You may have seen the girls around the castle. Their eyes are encased in crystal. As is my son's ankle." She didn't want to ask the question aloud on whether or not her children did this to her, but Zee sought the kind healer's eyes regardless, her worried gaze fixed upon Gwyn's own in a silent question. "Speech"

Gwynevere's face was carefully neutral and calm as she worked, falling into her usual state of focus and professionalism, but even that was broken when Zee informed her that there had been seven pups in total in her litter. She had seen some of the pups around the castle, but with her typical reclusive ways she hadn't seen them all. She knew her own litter had been large, of course, and Briar's had been as well, but five was still the most she had seen at one time. Seven pups—and fairly large ones at that from what she could tell from the children she had seen so far—would have definitely taken some kind of toil on her body, especially with her smaller frame. Gwyn blinked with surprise at that news, her brows lifting a bit. At least the surprise that crossed her face helped hide the concern she felt as she felt across Zee's abdomen, noticing the spike in her pain as she gently pressed on certain areas, and what she felt there. She wished she had some magic that would let her simply see into her patients so she could really tell what was going on, but alas she lacked such powers and could only make her most educated of guesses. The information she was given about her children and their disabilities that manifested in the form of crystal encasing parts of their bodies made her head tilt slightly with thought, theories and worries worsening as she went.

With her exam finished she glanced over and her marbled gaze caught Zee's, some of her more genuine concern peeking through her bedside manner. Even though she didn't know Zee all that well, this was still her brother's mother in law. This was still Briar's mother. She knew that her own mother had been close with her at least at one point in their lives. Even if Zee wasn't an important figure in her own life, she was still a very important figure in the lives of wolves she cared about and this made it even more difficult than it would have been otherwise. "Zee..." she began, trailing off a bit as she glanced down at her paws, trying to decide how much she should say or how she wanted to address what she thought was going on. "There is certainly an infection of some kind, of that I have no doubt," she told her after a moment, managing to bring her gaze to Zee's again. "There's... There's a strong possibility that the litter being so large did more damage than perhaps even presented itself right after their brith and it's likely just worsened more and more in the weeks since. With the crystal formations you mentioned... I... I do worry that maybe there was something wrong from the start, but it's really hard to say." That much was just speculation so she didn't want to dwell on that too much.

"There's treatments we can do and of course I'll give you medications for the pain," she added, her ears flicking uncertainly. "I just... I can't make false promises or swear you'll be fine. The last time I did that..." Her voice trailed off again as she thought of Resin fading away, trying and failing to come up with anything to even try to help her mother that their lead healer at the time hadn't already tried. She had been too young to fully comprehend what was happening then or how to process the fact that sometimes healers didn't always succeed. She had a better grasp on that now, but that didn't make it any easier. "I can't lie to you, Zee. It feels really bad. With as severe as your symptoms are and the fact that this isn't the first time it's happened... We will try everything we can to make this right, but I want you to know that it might not work."

"Gwynevere Carpathius"

Zee remained still and quiet as the healer worked to finish her exam, gritting her teeth and bearing the small spikes in pain with as much grace as she could manage from her pillow on the floor. Occasionally her gaze would wander, breaking from Gwyn's own to focus upon a single stone brick set into the wall or upon a vial or bowl high upon a countertop. She may not be a Queen any longer, but still the ageing women knew there were shards of that strength left within her. Strength to fight through this and come out the other side. Gwyn's concern filtered through her carefully guarded demeanor and with that shift, Zee's ears gave an uncertain flicker of their own. Even just the way she spoke Zee's name led her to be weary, having spent seven long years listening to healers as they tenderly maneuvered their way through difficult conversations. Gwyn continued, confirming Zee's worry that the size of the litter as well as the pups and their unique attributes might have contributed to her pain and might hint toward a deeper issue. While it was the very consideration Zee had made herself moments ago, hearing the words from the kind healer's maw only brought her denial and anger. "That can't be it." She insisted, fighting to pull her head from the pillow and painstakingly shifting herself off of her side. "Infections can be cured. I've seen it done." The Armada was a fighting pack and their wolves gained wound upon wound, half of them becoming infected at some point in the healing process. Never had a medic failed to flush out the infection and cure the wolf in question. Never had one died. She lay there dumbfounded as Gwyn continued, promising her comfort and treatment and everything else aside from life. The Queen Mother's lips pulled up in the briefest and most exhausted of snarls, the breath catching in her chest. A few deep breaths returned to her focus, and as she spoke once more she worked herself to her paws. "I need Iolaire." Zee stated firmly, wrought with denial. "Io will know what to do. Please, tell Sirius to find me his sister. If anyone can, it's him." While the nausea and dizziness returned with force while on her feet, the medicines had begun to dull the pain in her abdomen. Zee could not stay here, wasting away on the floor or in a bed beneath the roof of an unfamiliar castle that she could not call home. She had suffered a depression so deep it ate away at her bit by bit until she'd lost nearly everything she held dear. Laying in her den sulking had done nothing to cure it, it was not until she forced herself up and moving around the northern mountain that she saw any improvement or regained any lost weight. It would be willpower that kept her going - she would not lay down and die. Closing her eyes tight, Zee drew what focus she could manage to look Gwyn in the eye and not feel like falling. "I will fight this, you'll see. But I won't do it here, in this room." She needed to get out from beneath the claustrophobic roof and away from the scent of sterility. To walk beneath the autumn trees and contemplate what the next step was to take. She could stand strong through this at least until her Iolaire was found, and then her treatment could begin. Their relationship had had their ups and their downs, but Io would not let some sickness take her, of that Zee was certain. "Speech"