All of their children were so inquisitive and so hungry to learn things–something that she loved about them and that she could actually relate to them with. Even now as an adult she always loved learning new techniques or abilities. It was one of the reasons why she had been so thrilled when her father offered to teach them and the pups a language he had learned in his past. It had been a slow learn on her part over the last couple of seasons in preparation for the pups arrival, but she had heard that pups picked up those kinds of things quickly and that was no lie. It was mostly basic words for now, but they soaked up information like a sponge.

Still, she wanted to share some of her own skills and creative endeavors with them and one of their children that had shown the most interest in her workshop–much to her chagrin–had been Daemon. After making sure that the sharpest tools were throughly out of reach of her largest son, she laid out a roll of leather she had been working with for a few days along with a couple of stamping tools–and pulled up a stool so he would be able to reach over the top of the worktable. "Daemon?" she called from the entrance of her workshop. "I could use an extra set of paws on this project, would you like to help me?"

"Avacyn Mendacium"

Daemon wasn’t a bad child by any means—he just required constant stimulation and activities to keep his mind focused. The thirst for knowledge and the rate at which he picked things up often left the pup bored with most of his usual activities, causing him to seek out his own means of entertaining himself. It just so happened that most of those self-driven activities were acted out just outside the boundaries of his parents’ rules. But hey, it wasn't his fault that the most fun things just so happened to be outlawed too!

Today was different though. As the pups were finishing up breakfast and heading out of the den to go play and explore, Daemon was stopped in his tracks just behind his smaller siblings when his mother's voice called to him from her workshop. And she was... inviting him in to help her?! Gasp! The little pup could barely contain his excitement at the notion of being allowed into the forbidden places of their home! "Coming, Mom!" Tiny tail all a-wag with glee, Daemon turned on his heels and hurried back inside and into the workshop. Inside, he found Avacyn at her workbench and a stool pulled up alongside her, clearly for him to use. Dae trotted up beside his mother, nudging against her side with his head an some kind of a nuzzle, then clambered up onto the stool so he could peek over the table top, tiny ebony paws resting on the edge of the bench while he surveyed all of the tools laid out around him. "Yeah! I can help!" he exclaimed with a wide, toothy grin when his mother asked if he wanted to help her, tail wagging so fast it was practically going in a circle. "What're we making?"

"Daemon Mendacium"

As expected, Daemon excitedly accepted her invitation, bringing a smile to her face as she watched her son bound into the workshop and around the table to her side. She chuckled at his head butt nuzzle of sorts and once he cambered up onto the stool she had pulled up for him she leaned down to nuzzle the top of his head. Seeing their pups happy and excited was one of her favorite things in the world and made her want to find every experience she could to give them that joy. He questioned what they were making and she lifted a paw onto the work surface, pulling a piece of smooth leather closer to the edge where he could more easily reach it. "I've been preparing materials to use in various projects. There's several different ways you can prepare leather to make it better for different uses, but this leather in particular is going to be good for more decorative aspects or as a final layer to finish off a piece of leather. See how it's more thin and pliable and how one side is very smooth?" she explained, lifting up the corner of the sheet of leather so he could see how it was more rough on one side and more smooth and finished on the other but still very bendable.

"This leather is perfectly fine and ready to use as is, but I like to add a little flare sometimes," she added as she reached for one of the metal stamping tools that were lined up along one side of the table. The molded metal shape on one end of the tool was attached to a cylindrical wooden handle and when she turned it upside down for him to see that it was shaped like a rectangle with a raised edge. "These stamps will let us make patterns and shapes on the surface of the leather. This one will make a kind of brick like pattern, but I have all kinds of different shapes over here for you to pick from!" She started lifting up other ones to show him so he could pick his favorite. One that was pointed like an arrow, a couple of different crescent shaped ones of various widths and sizes, a few different circles and squares, even a couple different flower-like shapes. "We could even pick a few different ones if you want to combine shapes or we can make it one continuous pattern all the way across."

"Avacyn Mendacium"

Daemon's question was quickly answered when his mother pulled a piece of tanned leather across the workbench towards them. The pup oooh'd as he inspected the leather, letting his small paws run over the smooth and supple sides. He had no idea how to tell if a piece of leather was quality or not, but he knew his mother would only ever use the best of the best things. She was the Matriarch, after all! "Yeah, it's really floppy!" replied Daemon as Avacyn pointed out the unique qualities of the leather. He gave the sheet of leather a playful shake, watching how it wobbled back and forth in his paws with giggles. Avacyn continued on to explain that while the leather was usable as is, she wanted to add some decorative flair to it. Daemon perked up with interest; that sounded like a fun idea!

With his tiny tail all a-wag with excitement, Daemon watched while Ava demonstrated how to use her metal stamping tools on the leather. "Whoa... That's so cool!" Daemon ran his paw over the embossed stamp on the leather, feeling the dips and bumps in the leather they had made. When Ava offered him to make whatever patterns he wanted, Daemon was instantly up and reaching for the stamps. He already had an idea in mind that he wanted to make on the leather! Grabbing the circle and the crescent stamps, Daemon began to stamp a row of alternating crescents on either sides of a full circle all across the leather. It was a slow process at first while the boy figured out how to hold the stamps and how much force to use with them, but over time his stamping became more sure and more consistent. "This is fun! How's this look, Mom?" Daemon looked up at his mother with a big toothy smile, tail wagging a mile a minute and his marking glowing bright and quick.

"Daemon Mendacium"

There was little that warmed her heart more than watching her children find excitement or interest in something–especially when it was something like this. She knew that adding decorative elements to things wasn't a valuable life skill. It wouldn't protect him or feed him or any of those other things that she should probably be focusing his time on, but creativity and being able to make things like this for herself and others had always been her escape and at least to her was just as valuable as any other skill. She couldn't help but smile as he immediately took to the tools she was showing him, watching as he reached for one of the circles and a crescent shape of similar diameter, clearly already having a vision for what he wanted to do. She used the hammer for him for the first couple passes of this pattern he was creating before eventually handing it over to him so that he could try it out for himself. She knew it was a bit of an unusual motion to make so she wasn't surprised it took a couple of attempts to get the swing down and get the right amount of force to leave an imprint in the leather but not so hard that it would cut through.

Daemon seemed to be a natural though and picked up on what she was teaching him quickly and soon enough she was sitting back and watching as he created a consistent pattern of repeating circles and crescents. When he looked up at her with an infectious smile she gave him a bright smile of her own, lowering her head to nuzzle affectionately at his cheek. "That's beautiful, Daemon! I love the shapes you picked out, they go very well together." She let him practice for a little longer before an idea came to her and she leaned down again to kiss the top of his head. "Wait here, okay? I'll be right back, I just want to go grab something for us to work on." She turned and trotted out of the workshop then, walking across the open space of the cave to where her and Saracyn's bedroom was located. She picked up her scaled armor from where it was being stored along one wall and carried it back to the workshop with her.

She shifted the leather they had been practicing on off to the side so that she could lay out her cuirass across the work surface. Most of the panels of black dyed leather were covered in overlapping scales of dark steel with a slight oil-slick shine to them, but there were exposed straps that buckled together at her sides that were left bare. She turned the armor so that the closest strap was laying flat in front of him and she told him, "Would you do that pattern for me here? That way I can have something you made with me all the time." This armor had been one of her first pieces she had made that she was really proud of and it only felt fitting to have the finishing touches be done by her son as she coaxed him into following in her footsteps.

"Avacyn Medacium"

As he worked, his mother helped him hammer the stencils down to ensure the patterns were embossed clearly and deeply into the leather so they wouldn't spring back and disappear. Avacyn's praise for his work and his excellent choice of coordinating stencils made the boy's tail wag so fast it was practically spinning like a helicopter rotor from the end of his butt. "Thanks, Mom! I thought they might look good together," he replied with a wide puppy grin. After a few minutes more of work, he felt his mother kiss his forehead and tell him to keep going while she got something for them to work on next. "Okay!" Focused entirely on his stenciling, Daemon didn't even realize Avacyn had actually stepped away until she was back and moving the leather piece out of the way. Dae watched with growing curiosity as his mother set something down on the workbench—and his eyes went wide when he realized what it was. It was his mother's armor! He recognized the overlapping steel scales that matched the scales that grew on her shoulders naturally. What were they going to do with her armor?

Daemon wasn't kept waiting for an explanation for long. The boy listened with rapt attention and wide blue eyes while Ava asked him to make his pattern on the exposed leather straps of her armor, and the boy's head practically exploded! She wanted him to decorate her armor! "Yeah, I can do that for you, Mom!" he said with determination in his narrowed eyes, grinning proudly while he began to carefully position the stencils. The importance of this moment was not lost on the boy. His mother's armor was something she wore almost every single day. This had to look absolutely perfect for her, the alphess of Elysium! Each press of the stencil was deliberate, each tap of the hammer final. Daemon took the "measure twice, cut once" method for his approach, making sure everything lined up evenly and consistently with his patterns. It was a slower process than when he had done this on the leather scrap, but in time he had covered the exposed straps in his triple moon pattern.

Pulling back and setting the stencils down so he could examine his work better, Daemon scrutinized his patterns with eagle eyes. He didn't want to disappoint his mother! "What'dya think, Mom?" The boy looked up at his mother, the marking on his eye glowing a little faster as his heart sped up with nervousness. Would she like it? What if he'd done something wrong?

"Daemon Mendacium"

She was proud of Daemon when he accepted her request with fearless determination even though she could tell from the look on his face when she laid out the armor in front of him that he understood what a big ask this was from her. In truth it wouldn't have been all that difficult for her to remove the straps and sew on new ones if there was some kind of mishap, but she kept that little detail to herself as she sat back a bit to let him work with a little grin. She loved watching him place the stamps ever so carefully as he slowly and methodically went about stamping the repeating moon pattern along the straps of her armor. It really was a very nice pattern he had created–unique enough to stand out, but still clean enough to not look too busy. He already had an eye for this kind of thing and she was excited to see what he might come up with in the future.

Avacyn didn't interfere at all as he worked, letting this be his project all on his own, and only leaned forward again to get a closer look once he sat the tools down and asked her what she thought. Being the seasoned, skilled crafter that she was she of course could pick out the small spots where the stamp had pressed deeper into the leather on one side than the other in a couple of places and she could tell where one stamp ended up ever so slightly out of line, but she couldn't care in the slightest. Her son had made it for her and that made it the most beautiful thing she had ever seen. She gave him a wide smile and wrapped a foreleg around him to pull him into a tight hug, kissing the top of his head affectionately. "It's absolutely beautiful! I can't wait to wear it on my patrol tomorrow and show it off to all of the Warriors. Thank you, sweetie."

"Avacyn Mendacium"