When Fenmyre had disbanded and the Klein family moving on to new lands, Artorias had received word from Chimera of his intent to depart Auster. The Aegis hadn't been able to come see his friend off before they left, however, and by the time he'd made it to the pebbly shore of the Hermit's Cove, the scent markers that had once made up the Klein king's domain had faded into stale nothingness. He had been too late. He had been forced to return home, unsatisfied and without closure. He prayed that Chimera and his family were well, and that one day they would return to their home. Already Auster felt far more empty than it had been, and Artorias had lost someone he considered a friend.

That day had been half a season ago. Distracted by the importance of his new family and caring for his children, Artorias' focus was entirely on his pups. Every day he spent with them, teaching them things they wished to learn and things they needed to know, exploring around Hallowed lands as they got their feet wet in the shallow end of the gargantuan pool of life. Each of them was rapidly developing their own unique personalities, traits, and interests, and Artorias was a proud and excited father getting to learn each of his children's unique characters. So when his little soot ball Dusk had begun to show a keenness for exploring and adventuring, who was he to deny his darling daughter the chance to get out and see the world?

Artorias led the way through the dense aspen forest that had once smelled so richly of scents of his friends, now long-gone and lost to time and the wind. It struck his heart a little bit how quiet everything was without a pack on these lands. Every so often, Art would glance down to make sure his daughter was still at his side and hadn't tried to run off yet. He was giving her a lot of trust taking her out this far from Hallows lands, but so far, he hadn't had any reason to distrust any of his children. He wanted them to see the world, to learn from it and grow in their own journeys, just like he and his siblings did—though maybe in some safer journeys than a couple of them... "Are you excited to be outside pack lands, sweetheart?" Artorias asked, leaning down to nudge and nuzzle Dusk's crown with his nose while they wandered through the woods, heading towards the easternmost shore of Auster.

"Artorias Carpathius"

Just as she had hoped, her father had agreed to take her on an adventure. Dusk had explored every inch of the castle, or at least every inch that wasn't behind most of the locked doors. Some she'd been able to open. Others were much harder and she didn't really want to break anything, so she gave up. Some day though... she'd see what was behind those doors. She was determined!

When she grew older, Dusk would have long, graceful legs. For now, she had a short, squat puppy body, still chunky and round. Her dads legs were much longer and, even though he kept his pace slow for her, she had to hoof it to keep up. It was all fine and dandy with the little soot sprite though. Dusk loved a workout. Ever step made her stronger and she was determined to be the strongest.

They moved into a land that was rich with new sighs and scents. The girl's obsidian nose sniffed this and that. The faint smell of wolves clung to the pathway that they walked upon. Artorias leaned down and nuzzled the top of her head, prompting a furious wagging of the child's long tail. He questioned her and the girl nodded, raising her fire opal eyes to meet her fathers. "Yes, Dadda. Let's adventure all the time!" With the energy of a pup, she began hopping around his forelegs, weaving her little body back and forth through them almost like a cat. Just as suddenly as she started, she stopped, looking out through the aspens with a seriousness that was rather uncharacteristic for her. "There used to be wolves here," she informed him as though he didn't know. Sitting down, she leaned back against one of her father's strong legs and looked up at him. "What happened to them? Do wolves just disappear?" Raising one paw, she absently swiped at the healing wounds on her cheek and lip from the caiman that she'd killed. It was a little itchy. Dusk continued to look at her father upside down, waiting for him to explain.

"Dusk Carpathius"

The boundless energy and enthusiasm little Dusk possessed never failed to bring a beaming smile to her father’s face. He loved watching the way she ran and bounded across the land, exploring every nook and cranny she could get her tiny nose into. While it was often the culprit of many anxious moments for him, it did also remind him of himself when he had been a pup with an insatiable wanderlust. That was why he had taken her beyond pack lands first. His little soot sprite of a daughter made him simultaneously feel so young and so old. Dusk addressed him by the name only she used and it made his smile widen with a chuckle. "Would you like to go on more adventures, little shadow?" asked the proud father. "Well, we might have to have daddy-daughter adventures all the time then!" The alpha was reminded of his own puppyhood adventures with his mother, the two of them roaming to distant lands just for the hell of it. Tamsyn had been the big driving force behind his love of adventuring. He hoped that maybe he could be the same to Dusk.

Once they were in the now unclaimed lands of the once-kingdom of Fenmyre, Dusk declared that there had once been wolves here. A rueful smile touched Artorias’ lips and he nodded solemnly while they wandered through the aspen woods, his smallest daughter darting and weaving between his forelegs like a cat. "That’s right, Dusk. This place was once the kingdom of Fenmyre." Art stood still so Dusk could lean back into his leg, gazing about the empty lands where his friend’s family once lived. Dusk’s innocent question prompted the dire man to look down at her, fiery amber eyes meeting the matching citrine jewels of his daughter. "No, little one, wolves do not disappear into thin air," he explained with a calm solemness in his voice.

Art sank back on his haunches and gingerly looped a forepaw around his small pup. "The wolves that used to live here were good friends of ours. Their alpha, a wolf named Chimera, fell ill some time ago. He took his family and left Auster to find a place where he can recover. Perhaps someday they will come home again." He glanced down to see Dusk rubbing the scabbed wounds on her cheek, and his stern fatherly look crossed his features for a brief moment, though the upset he’d felt when he first found out about his daughter’s unsupervised fight with a crocodilian was mostly fizzled out. "What did we learn from our little misadventure with the caiman?"

"Artorias Carpathius"

The moment that her father said they should have adventures all the time, it was as though a little exclamation point went off above the girl's head. Fiery eyes went wide and Dusks jaw dropped as she gasped in wonder. Adventures all the time?! Little tremors of excitement shot through the pup and soon she couldn't hide her joy. Behind her, Dusks tail began whipping back and forth faster than light and, being so small, her little rump didn't have a choice but to follow. Nothing in the whole world sounded better than exploring the world with her father.

As the conversation shifted into the wolves that once lived here, Dusk listened to her father speak. There had once been wolves here and they had apparently been friends. At being told that the alpha fell ill and had to leave, the obsidian pups lips pressed together in a hard line. Her father was alpha. Surely he would never get sick and leave. Nothing could beat her dad, she was sure of it. The thought scared her, however and she leaned against him even more, thankful when he pulled her closer. Every child liked to believe that their parents were invincible and Dusk was no different. She possessed the blind faith that her father could conquer anyone and anything.

Dusks thoughts were interrupted as Artorias asked what she'd learned from her fight with the caiman. The formerly serious expression vanished in an instant and the girl's maw split in a shit-eating grin. What had she learned? "They're faster than they look," she began, taking his question literally. "The underside is softer than the top. Me and Andy are a good team." The pups little nose wrinkled as she continued to look up at her dad. "Did you know that we killed it?" Shouldn't he be proud that she made her first kill? "It tried to eat us and I had to keep Andy safe." Dusk tilted her little head in question. Hadn't she done the right thing?

"Dusk"

Of all his children, Dusk was the most entertaining to watch when she got excited. His little soot sprite practically vibrated with boundless amounts of excited energy at his paws, her whip-like tail swishing back and forth in a blur of motion with her entire backend shimmying to and fro like it was motorized. Her sire couldn't resist the laugh that bubbled up in his chest, grinning bright to see her so enthusiastic to explore her world and go on adventures with him. This was exactly the relationship Artorias had hoped to foster with his children—a sharing of mutual interests and an encouragement to discover things for themselves. He wanted to inspire the next generation of Carpathians to be as dauntless and indomitable as their namesake was. He hoped his mother would be proud of the wolves he was raising them to be, though it still saddened him that she would never get to meet her grandchildren.

When Artorias had asked her what lesson she had learned from picking a fight with a dangerous predator over three times her size, Dusk's answer was... less than reassuring. He had hoped, perhaps somewhat naively, that she would say something along the lines of picking her battles more carefully or not recklessly endangering herself or others. Instead, Dusk grinned a wicked smile and proudly declared that caimans were faster than they looked, their underbellies were soft and vulnerable, and that she and Andromeda made a good team. The blank look Artorias fixed his child with felt like it took all of his effort to maintain as bewilderment shifted to exasperation. Her giant sire sighed, the heavy exhale passing from his lips while one sapphire paw raised to rub the bridge of his snout. This was decidedly not the response he had expected, but he supposed it was the most Dusk answer he could have gotten.

Dusk pointed out that they had killed the caiman and that it had tried to eat them, so she had to protect Andy. "I know, Dusk. I'm very glad the both of you were mostly unharmed." A glance to the healing cut on his daughter's nose reminded him of how close that "mostly" could have gone the other way. "I hope you also learned the importance of knowing when to pick a fight and when to call for support. I'm happy neither of you were seriously injured, but I need you to always remember that being brave doesn't mean being reckless. A warrior is only as strong as they are smart in a fight too." Art didn't expect this lesson to sink in to his headstrong daughter right away, but he hoped she understood how risky a fight with a crocodilian was to two pups. If anything had happened to her, if she hadn't won, he could have never seen her again. "You and your siblings are the most important things in the world to me, Dusk. Never forget that. I don't know what I'd do if anything happened to you." The dire brute leaned his head down to nuzzle at his daughter's crown. "Te iubesc foarte mult."

Breathing another sigh, Artorias lifted his eyes to the aspen woods around them once more. "Would you like to continue our walk or are you ready to head home, little shadow?"

"Dusk & Parents" | "Carpathian"

Dusk's head tilted as her father gave her a look of displeasure. She didn't really know what she'd done wrong, so she waited for an explanation. A frown pulled at her maw as Artorias explained why he wasn't happy with her. She'd been reckless, but at the moment, she hadn't really considered that. She just wanted to protect Andy. His words did their work, spoken and tailored perfectly to reach through the girl's stubborn nature. The child's lower lip protruded and she sniffled, but she didn't cry. She just felt bad for disappointing her dad.

Artorias continued to speak, telling her just how important she was to him. The nuzzle to the top of her head soothed the girl. Perhaps he was disappointed in her, but he still loved her. Maybe she could get back in his good graces somehow. Her father spoke in Carpathian and Dusk giggles softly. "I love you too, Dadda." And she did. Thinking that her dad might be unhappy with her made it feel as though her heart would break.

Soon she was asked if she'd like to head back or keep going. Dark ears perked and Dusks fiery eyes scanned the aspens. "Can we explore somewhere new?" The child raised her gaze to meet those of her sire and her long tail swished back and forth in the grass, audibly hissing. If she had her way, Dusk would explore with her dad forever.

"Dusk"

Artorias could see his words slowly performing their work inside Dusk's mind as the small girl pouted at his paws, no doubt mulling over his mild scolding and trying to rationalize how she could get away with it in the future. Of all his children, Dusk was his biggest troublemaker—an impressive feat for a pup her size—and she kept him and Briar on their toes, but her rambunctious, bratty nature was both a blessing and a curse. Though it often frayed his nerves and tried his patience, the Aegis knew that if he ever needed a rule stress tested to see how it held up or find creative ways to get around it, he would simply have to give it to his wily daughter and watch how her brilliant mind worked. In her own sort of way, Dusk was his litmus test for his decisions and laws without even realizing she was.

The way his daughter visibly brightened when he comforted and reassured her of his love for her brought a beaming smile to the father's face, watching the way Dusk's long flowing inky tail whipped about in the grass. She was so very much like her mother in some regards. Those fire-toned eyes that matched his own swept over their surroundings, giving the aspen forest one more look over before meeting his as she asked to explore somewhere else. Without a beat of hesitation, Artorias nodded his head with zeal and lifted himself up to his paws. "Of course, my little shadow! Come along, let's go find somewhere new to plant our paws." With a gentle usher in a southern direction, the dire wolf sire led his daughter off to find somewhere more exciting for the two of them to explore together.

"Dusk & Parents" | "Carpathian"