Neverwinter Forest in the unknown

Skipping Szabala with permission!

“Cousin! Come play.”

Cypress’ ears shot forward upon his skull, but there was still an air of uncertainty in the way he slunk closer, his spine serpentine and boneless as he edged nearer and fought down a wave of anxiety so great he thought he might drown. “Me, too,” he parroted like an idiot. “I’m — bored.” I mean, he wasn’t — but he didn’t want to be different. If his cousins were bored, he wanted to be just as bored.

“Have you guys done anything fun lately?” Eimear asked, and the eidolon’s thoughts flashed immediately to Alya and her mountain, but he wasn’t about to say anything about that. Mutely he shook his head so that he would not have to speak the lie, pressing his lips together as he looked to Rian for direction. “What’s a hot spring?” he asked, a curl of jealousy twisting in his chest that Kjalarr had taken Rian instead of Cypress. It faded quickly, though — he was more interested in reintegrating himself with his cousins. “Anything you want to do…” he started strong, but trailed off. Was he talking too much? Did he sound stupid? Did they even want their younger cousin tagging along, or was this strictly a sibling thing?

“I can come, too — right?” he asked a little awkwardly.

As it turned out, though, nobody ended up going anywhere. Kaskara sent up a summoning howl for her children, and Cypress returned to his swamp like the curmudgeon he was.