Briar smiled happily as she lounged in the shade of a large wisteria tree in the castle gardens, watching over her youngest children as they ran around and played among the various plants and paths. It was cool today with the Auster winter still clinging on, but the sun was out in full force and the sky was bright and clear, making it a lovely day to play and enjoy the outdoors while their father tended to some important pack business. When she began to notice a few of them beginning to tire or at least slow down in their wild sprinting and hiding around the bushes she called out, “Darlings! Would anyone like to hear some stories?” She waved any of them that wanted an excuse to come rest with her over, patting the soft grass under the tree beside her. It was never too early to start telling them about the amazing family and history they came from and there was no better stories to tell.

"Briar Carpathius"

While the rest of her brothers and sisters wrestled, picked flowers, or played with the toys their parents provided, Clove was busy with her own project. She was digging a hole with her tiny paws, just at the base of the wisteria tree her mother was lounging beneath. She had seen ground squirrels pop up from the earth, and it piqued her interest. Why did they live in the ground? How far into the ground did they go? Why did they live there instead of in the trees? Did they have to hold their breath when they were down there? How many of them lived in the holes? Her child-like brain swarmed with questions, and her curiosity led her to dig at the ground where she had seen the squirrels pop up. But given how little she still was, her strength quickly ran out after several minutes of digging and she plopped on the ground with a defeated sigh. She considered taking a nap in the sun, to regain some of her strength so she could try and dig again. But her mother’s voice called out to them, tempting her babies with stories that were something Clove loved to indulge in. With a smile and a wag of her tail, she wobbled over to her mom on tired legs, plopping down in front of her on the soft grass. “I do!” She exclaimed, still wagging her tail and looking up at her mother with her mismatched gaze. ”Speech”

Ember’s curious eyes were following the paths of broken cobblestone that ran around the expanse of the castle gardens, tiny paws trotting briskly across the old mossy pathways. Winter had sent most of the garden’s flowers and vegetation into their seasonal hibernation state, the wisterias no longer bearing their vibrant purple flowers and most blooms gone until spring, but it was still green and lush as far as the eye could see. For one so small, the gardens seemed so big, and Hearthstone just seemed massive compared to the bedroom she'd been kept in all her short life up to this point! To think there was even more world to see outside filled her with excitement and a little bit of trepidation too. She wanted to see it all, but there was also so, so much to see! Where did one even begin with all this life stuff?

A call from their mother across the garden perked up Ember's dark ears, and mixing blue eyes widened with excitement at the prospect of hearing more stories from Mom. "Me! Me!" Ember called out while she went sprinting towards her mother, one small paw getting caught between a loose cobblestone in her frenzy and sending her tumbling head over paws into the grass with an oof! Not missing a beat, Ember rolled back to her paws and finished rushing up to Briar, coming right up to nestle herself between her mother's forepaws so they could snuggle while the stories were told. "What stories are we gonna hear today, Mama?" she asked with a curious tilt of her head, tiny tail wagging a mile a minute off the end of her butt.

"Ember Carpathius"

Vendrick has decided that he likes the winter. He likes it very much, actually. Spending time outside when it was cool was precious, every daylight hour was something that he had to make the most of. Learning the castle grounds, every inch of them-- there was so much to explore. No like, so so much. Vendrick was determined to explore everything the castle had to offer, and then beyond it. Beyond it would require begging someone to take him, of course. It seemed like Kea was a decent target for that. Scheming while he explored the gardens, until he heard his mother call from beneath the big wisteria tree. A story. Ven liked stories. He's bright eyed, nodding eagerly as he moves to flop onto the ground beside Clove, opposite Briar and Ember. Watching curiously, but remaining quiet for now. The boy was happy to sit, happy to listen, and happy to spend time with his mother.

A small flocks of ravens were chattering away atop the garden wall and Nelu watched them, noting the interesting vocalizations in the language of ravens that he couldn't understand. Despite not being able to decipher it he could guess at the meanings of some squawks based on the reactions of the other birds. He was pulled from his musings by his mother calling them over for story time. Eager to learn a bit more about their family he obediently toddled over and sat beneath the wisteria.

"Yes, mother. I'd like to hear some stories." His fluffy tail wrapped around his paws as he sat, head tilted attentively to Briar as he waited for the story to begin.

At her invitation to come listen to some stories, she was surprised and delighted by how many of her children came running over to join her, abandoning whatever interesting thing they had found to look at or play with in the garden. Silas and Solaire continued on with their playing, but that was perfectly fine with her. As long as they were having fun that was what really mattered. She grinned as Clove ran over, the smallest of the group very eager to join in for story time. She reached out from where she was laying to scoop Clove up with one paw, pulling the girl closer to nuzzle the top of her head playfully before she released her once more. Ember was next and she looked up just in time to see the midnight blue girl go tumbling forward head over heels. If she had been in their first litter she likely would have jumped up to make sure Ember was okay, but by now she had more than learned just how springy and bouncy pups were and just as she expected Ember jumped right up and kept going, making Briar grin and shake her head in response. Her quiet sons, Vendrick and Nelu, joined the group to round out their story time and she leaned over to give each of them a kiss on the cheek before she answered Ember's question of what they would be getting a story about today.

"Well, I thought you might like to hear about how The Hallows was founded by your grandmothers, Resin and Tamsyn, and how The Hallows came to be what it is today. Does that sound good?" she asked, looking to each of the pups before settling into the grass once more with a smile. "Over four years ago, your grandmother Resin wanted to create a place that was fully dedicated to being a place of healing and refuge. At the time she was a member of the Armada, where me and your Fatalis family are from, but your grandfather, Sirius, gave her his blessing and allowed her mate, Tamsyn, to go with her. They formed this pack, The Hallows, right before your father was born. At first they made a place called Sunset Falls home, but soon Resin decided they needed more space to grow without pressing up against the territory of other packs so she found this place and made the castle their home."

She smiled warmly as she went on, adding, "Your grandmother was a very strong fighter and protector, as is your granny Tam. Over time the pack has grown so much as our families have grown and the goal of the pack has broadened from being solely focused on healing, to being a place of training and practice for knights and protectors as well. Still, your father and I still makes sure that the Hallows is neutral and welcoming to all that come here peacefully, just as your grandmother wanted." Briar grinned and lifted a paw to playfully ruffle the fur on top of Ember's head and glanced around at the pups gathered around her. "And that's only one half of your family! Your grandfather Sirius and grandmother Zee formed the Armada as well. How cool is that?"

"Briar Carpathius"

As she settled down in front of her mother, peering up at her with mismatched eyes filled with child-like wonder, she hardly noticed her other siblings start to make their way over. She was too busy enjoying the warmth of her mother’s embrace, as Briar scooped her up into her arms, giving her a nuzzle before setting her back down. It brought out a spout of laughter from the girl, her tail wagging hard enough to make her rump wiggle too. Settling down once more, Clove cast her gaze towards Ember, who tumbled over her feet upon arrival. “Hi, Ember!” She said with a giggle, and she offered her sister a soft nudge of affection if she allowed it.

Her brothers Vendrick and Nelu came over next. Vendrick plopped down beside her, and Clove reached over to playfully nibble at his ear. “Hi, Vendrick.” She greeted him softly, before turning to Nelu. “Hi, Nelu.” She shot him a smile as well, before turning back to their mother who had already begun to tell the story she had enticed them with. It was the tale of how their kingdom was founded, which was necessary for the young princes and princesses to know. Until now, the Clove hadn’t really thought about how their home was made. Which was primarily due to her young age. But now that her mother mentioned it, she was curious.

As Briar told the story of their home, Clove tracked her mother with a watchful eye, noting the expressions she made and feeling the emotions that were behind the grand creation of their home. She mentioned another place called Armada and the names of wolves who were relatives to them. Sirius and Zee were their grandparents, but they lived in the Armada place she mentioned. She also found it surprising that mother was also from Armada… Clove had just assumed she and Daddy always lived here in the castle. A soft gasp left her mouth, brows furrowing upon her face.

All the new information made Clove’s head spin, but in a good way. It was expanding her mind to the unknown, and helping her gain a better understanding of the world around her… and the politics that came with it.

Sitting up on her haunches, Clove raised one of her front paws to signify that she had a question. “Mama, will our grandparents Sirius and Zee ever come to see us from… um…” It took her a second to remember the name of the other pack. “…Armada? Because I wanna play with them!” She asked, her tail softly wagging behind her. Briar said they were strong fighters and protectors and had helped in the creation of the Hallows. Which made Clove want to meet them even more!  

"Clove Carpathius"

Code by Shelby

Upon her approach to the quickly growing group of her siblings, Ember was greeted by her slightly smaller sister. She met Clove's nudge with a gentle bump of her head aimed for her sister's shoulder in return. "Hiya, Clovie!" she chirped gleefully in reply. With them being the only two girls in the litter, Ember had always felt a bit closer to Clove than she did to her brothers. Call it sororal bonds or what have you. Their two brothers Vendrick and Nelu came over to join them, and together the four pups were regaled by a tale from their mother about the founding of the Hallows and how their home had come to be.

Ember tucked herself into her mother's paws, swirling blue irises fixated on their mother's face as she listened with rapt attention to the histories of their kingdom. It all sounded so fantastical and so long ago, like a legend from ancient times and not just the abridged biography of their parents. Ember's mind was abuzz with wonderful imaginings of all these places Briar named for them. The Armada. Sunset Falls. The castle they had discovered before it became their home. Ember had always just assumed that their family had always lived here, or that it had been built by their family. To hear that they had discovered it abandoned felt like it had always been meant to be theirs. So many questions swam in the young pup's mind as she drank in Briar's story like a sponge soaked up water. She felt like she was getting a glimpse through time and learning about who they were and where they all came from. What an exciting day this was becoming!

As Briar's story began to wind down to its conclusion, Ember began to pick up on some things in her mother's phrasing. She was a sharp pup, astute even for her young age. Grinning from ear to ear and giggling when Briar ruffled the top of her head and mussing up her fluffy puppy fur, Ember swatted at their mother's paw playfully while the story came to an end and Clove chimed in about wanting to play with their grandparents from the Armada. "Yeah! I wanna meet our grandparents too!" Ember voiced her support for Clove's request, then added her own observation in. "Mama, if Grandpa Sirius and Grandma Zee are living in the Armada, then where are Grandma Resin and Granny Tam? How come they don't live with us here? And how come we only have one grandpa from you and not one from Dad?" A curious tilt cocked the girl's head as she peered up at Briar, expectant eyes awaiting her answer. She had noticed how during the story, their mother had used words like "was" and "wanted" instead of "is" like she did with Granny Tam. Where were their grandparents from their sire's side? And where was their second grandpa?

"Ember Carpathius"

Nelu appeared moments later, and it seemed they were all gathered. All ready. Clove's greeting was met only with a quiet smile, a little one as Vendrick settled. Settling carefully on his belly, chin set on his paws, listening as mother launched into a family history. Things about how the Hallows, how the castle, how their home came to be. Their home and their family. Four years sounded like a really long time. Longer than Ven could even really... think about. Where would he be at four years old? Four years from now, what would he be doing? That was so... much. Momma talked about founding the Hallows, about wanting a peaceful pack. A pack that helped people. Vendrick considers for a long moment, and decides that this is a good goal. Like, a very good goal. Something that he wanted to help do, too. Carefully, he watches his mother's face as she speaks, processing every tidbit and doing what he could to commit it to memory. All of the things were... well, they seemed to make sense. "Where are the Sunset Falls? Can we go see them?" Vendrick chimed in thoughtfully, thinking about all of the things momma had to say. His siblings all had their questions too, which he also wanted the answers to. There was so much for them to learn about the world, about the family... but he had plenty of time, right?

Briar greeted each of the pups, dolling out kisses before explaining that the story would involve the origins of the Hallows. She asked if that sounded good and Nelu swiftly nodded. That sounded like something he should very much like to know. He listened politely as she went through the history of the pack founded by Resin and Tamsyn, laying out the focus of the pack. When the story finished there was a flurry of questions. Nelu swiftly nodded in agreement at Embers questions. "Agreed, what happened to Tamsyn and Resin? Are they traveling somewhere and you're waiting for them to get back so we can meet them?" Nelu knew there was a lot of family and it was hard for him some times to remember all the names and faces but he was certain he would've remembered meeting the founders of the pack.

Briar had fully expected a slew of questions from her inquisitive pups after she finished the story of how their family had founded The Hallows and the Armada, but the nature of those questions were a little unexpected–though she should have known better given how bright and intuitive they all were. Clove made her quickly realize where she hadn't quite been clear as she questioned whether Sirius and Zee would come play with them. She struggled for a beat to decide how she wanted to answer that, but Ember spoke up before she could, asking about her other set of grandparents from their father's side and, not only that, but why she had two grandmothers instead of a grandmother and grandfather like she had with Sirius and Zee. Vendrick was the only one that had an entirely easy question to answer since even Nelu asked about Tamsyn and Resin and whether they were just traveling and would be back.

She gave a slightly awkward chuckle as she tried to figure out how she could not only breach the topic of death with her children, but also different sexualities. They weren't exactly topics that she had planned on covering with her children today, but telling them 'I'll tell you when you're older' didn't feel right either. "Well... To answer your question, Vendrick, the Sunset Falls are in Boreas with is the bigger continent north of here. We can absolutely visit the falls when you get a little bigger. Your Uncle Kotori has a pack there and I'm sure he'd love for you all to visit." Now that the easy stuff was out of the way... Letting her gaze shift occasionally from pup to pup, she shared, "Your Grandma Resin and Grandma Zee aren't with us any more. They unfortunately got very sick and passed away. But now they're in Somnium where they aren't sick any more." She was sure that would only scratch the surface of the questions there, but maybe it would be enough for now. "You'll definitely get to play with your Grandpa Sirius and Grandma Tam though! Maybe we'll get to pay Armada a visit soon so you can go see him and your other Fatalis family. Grandma Tam remarried and now she travels with her new husband who is a very kind man named Kane. I think she'll be coming back to live with us again very soon though so you'll get to play with her then. They're both going to be very excited to meet all of you!"

That covered everything–well, all except one thing... Looking to her little Ember, she added, "The reason you don't have two grandpas is well... because Grandma Tam wasn't sure who the father of their pups was. But it never mattered. She and Grandma Resin raised your father and all of his siblings together and were amazing parents. They loved each other very much and that's all that really matters." Feeling as if she might have at least diffused that bomb for the time being, she chuckled again and looked around at her beautiful children that might just be too smart for their own good–or at least too smart for story time with mom. "Any other questions, my darlings?"

"Briar Carpathius"

Like herself, most of her siblings wanted to know more about the wolves their mother spoke about. Ember pointed out something she had initially realized, which was that they had three grandmothers, and only one grandfather. It made Clove cock her head, her mind whirling as she tried to decide why that might be. But, as Vendrick asked his question about Sunset Falls, Clove decided it would be best for her mother to give them an explanation, instead of trying to figure it out herself.

Briar explained where Sunset Falls was, and that it was located on a different continent than here. Clove’s eyes grew wide, a smile curling the corners of her lips as she gazed up at her mother. She knew the world was a big place, but hearing her mention a whole other continent was so exciting! Not to mention they had an uncle with a pack there, who would love for them to come visit. Clove could hardly contain her excitement, as her tail whipped behind her little rump. “Don’t forget about me!” She said, wanting to make sure their mother didn’t forget to take her there too when she was older.

As Briar continued, Clove’s excitement slowly faded away. Her tail fell flat against the earth, ears turning outward as she tried to fully understand what their mother was saying. Grandma Resin and Grandma Zee weren’t with them anymore, because they got sick and passed away… which meant they were dead. Death was still a concept Clove didn’t understand, given her young age. All she knew was sometimes creatures got really tired, and closed their eyes to sleep forever…. and it made her feel sad.

Luckily for the pups, Briar moved away from the topic of death to circle back to the idea of meeting their grandparents in Armada. “I wanna go, I wanna go!” Clove exclaimed, fascinated by the idea of visiting Armada and meeting the rest of their family. Someday soon their Granda Tam would return to The Hallows, which meant she could meet her and her husband Kane too! It was all so exciting for the young girl.

Clove nodded her head in acknowledgment when Briar answered Ember’s question. She wouldn’t have been able to guess that their grandmother didn’t know who fathered her pups… In Clove’s mind, only mommy’s and daddy’s should have babies! Which again, was due to her young age and limited understanding of the world around her.

When their mother asked if they had any other questions, Clove shook her head no before shifting her gaze to her siblings. She wondered if they had any burning questions to ask, and in the meantime, she would try to think of some herself.  

"Clove Carpathius"

Code by Shelby

Briar explained that Zee and Resin had gotten very sick passed away and that they were in Somnium. His brow furrowed as he tried to process this information. He had a vague understanding of what death was. Being a carrion bird it was an aspect of life that Aster was very acquainted with. But what did Somnium mean? If they were somewhere now he didn't understand why they couldn't go visit. "How far away is Somnium? Why can't we go there?"

He liked the idea of visiting their remaining grandparents, particularly of Tamsyn since she was a founder of the Hallows. He hadn't really thought about them only having one grandfather but it wasn't something he was terribly concerned about. He was most interested in knowing about this place called Somnium and if it was a place they could visit. Aster had told him that dead was dead and that was it. Poof. No more. If his grandmothers were dead and yet… alive…. what would that mean?

Ember and all her siblings voiced their questions and curiosities, and poor dear mom looked absolutely overwhelmed by the four of them. Ember wholly did not understand the gravity or maturity of the questions she had asked, as was the naive mind of a child, but still looked expectantly to her mother for answers. Mom knew everything, after all! Sure, their dad was great and everything too, but she knew that Mom was the real brains of their parents. So Ember sat and waited, peering up at Briar with wide, curious blue eyes, eagerly awaiting her answers. They came after a moment of deliberating from their dam, Briar explaining where the Sunset Falls were and how they could visit one day. Ember's tail wagged happily. She always loved any moment she could get to go outside of the Hallows!

The next answers addressed what had happened to their paternal and maternal grandmothers. Resin and Zee had both gotten sick and passed away. The realization that this was a discussion about death finally began to creep into Ember's mind, and without really understanding why she suddenly felt like she shouldn't be so curious about this. "Oh," she replied simply, her tail no longer wagging and her ears drooping a bit as her mood deflated. She was glad to hear that they weren't suffering anymore though. "I'm glad they're not sick anymore. Being sick isn't nice." The possibility of their Grandpa Sirius and Grandma Tam coming back to visit them all brought that life back into Ember's spirit once more, and her tiny tail resumed its ceaseless wagging. "Yay! I wanna play with Grandpa and Grandma!" declared a revitalized Ember practically bouncing in place.

Lastly, Briar addressed the question Ember had posed about the missing grandfather in their lives. She really didn't understand how Grandma Tam couldn't know who the father of her pups were. Though still little, she knew that families were made by mommies and daddies. So how could you not know who the dad was? Didn't she have to pick one? This was all very confusing to little Ember and she felt like she didn't have all the pieces to the puzzle, but she didn't question it any further. She likely wouldn't understand more no matter how much Briar told her. "Yeah! I'm just happy she had Dad," Ember said, truly just happy to be alive right now. The mechanics and details didn't matter; only the fact that she, her parents, and her siblings existed did.

"Ember"