Neverwinter Forest I’m looking for monkey business

He'd gone off hunting again while @Aibreann slept. He hadn't really thought too much about it, all things considered he'd timed things out pretty well before. Maybe it was just because as the week dragged on he was running on less and less energy that caused him to not have too much luck. Eventually he did catch a good sized rabbit they could share, but when he trotted back to his densite he found it empty. 

Maybe she'd just headed of for a drink or something. He sat, waited. He survived maybe a few minutes before he was pacing, and only a few more after before he stashed the rabbit a bit out of sight and started off on her trail. It wandered, and then seemed to traipse towards the border. Okay, that was anxiety-inducing. But maybe she had turned towards a cache or something and hadn't gone and put herself in danger. This was enough to make him start calling, Aibreann? and with each unanswered shout, it marked an increase in his speed as he searched. Aibreann!

The guilt had set in immediately, and Aibreann had taken her time grooming the stranger's scent out of her fur. The stench of the hot springs helps, and by the time she heads back to the forest no trace of his scent remains. Her guilt hasn't faded, though. Hearing Mal's frantic calls only worsens the feeling, but she knows she has to face him. Her prior assumptions about his absence already feel unreasonable, now that her agitation has calmed a little, and she knows wandering off had been a bad move. She moves slowly in his direction, reluctant and delaying the inevitable.

She hadn't called back, so he didn't hear her, but he'd apparently been going the right direction because he spotted her eventually through the trees, correcting his course mid-stride and galloping towards her with a much more relieved, Aibreann! because he was very good at words. But hey, his tail had started wagging at spotting her, so at least he could express that.

He'd had plenty of time to get himself mentally wound up into a pile of concern, so he didn't stop at a nice conversational distance, instead coming close, nose sniffing to make sure she didn't smell like she'd gone off an gotten herself hurt or anything. Mal was practically vibrating from the energy that his anxiety had given him (partially helped from the fact that he was after all an alpha male defending what was his) and it wasn't quick to be doused. But he was happy to see her, reaching out to try to lick her cheek, nuzzle her, which was maybe a little overkill but good luck telling his somewhat sleep-deprived brain (already well-trained to have abandonment issues) that. He stated the obvious, You weren't there when I got back -- I was worried. I'm sorry I was gone, but I did get a rabbit for you. But now she was safe for sure.