Neverwinter Forest 3AM

vagueee

She looked for @Panuk.

She did not know what else to do.

Perhaps she might take White Elk and go on a long walk. They could make hunting trails and trading paths. Then they could settle as newlyweds in whatever land caught their fancy. Taboo, perhaps, but she cherished the idea in her dreams. The thought was enough to give her some shard of hope lodged like shrapnel into the wounds of grief.

Yet it was the boy she wondered after in her waking moments. Did he mean to return home to his father's side now? Or perhaps he meant to live among another (or all) moon villages for a time. If she ever did go for that long walk, she would extend the offer to him as well.

He was so young and she hoped the things in this forest would not warp him forever.

Aunty Ari — His young voice in her mind was nearly enough to cause her to weep, but she refrained. Near stone faced as she sought out the young man.

No matter the sadness that had come from their visit to the lake, from discovering that Ariadne was no longer with them, Pan had not had the mind to stay away.

After his grandparents had discovered the loss, in the days that came after losing someone so close, Panuk had crept to the woods in secret. He sat on the edge of the lake and sang songs for his aunt. Sometimes she would appear and sing with him. Sometimes the white man would arrive and would howl a pleasant tune. The young man could not understand why so much sadness had come from this place.

One thing he had decided on was that he would finish their work. The forest was alive and beautiful. The druid boy would turn it into Moongrove and the spirits of aunty Ari and the white man would be with them always.

Much to his surprise, his other aunt was there. Pan grinned wide, bouncing forward on massive paws until he had closed the distance between them.

Hi aunty, he huffed in a warm voice, trying to catch his breath.

She thought of how he must be so much like his mother and father.

Callyope had always become a hurricane of emotions and outbursts when things were so abysmal as a youth. Yet here he was. Sunshine like their people.

She moved to kiss his cheeks and found she would not tarnish his glow with a somber mood.

You are eating? Sleeping?

She checked him over with an eagle's eye now.

Yes! The forest is full of things to eat. I come and visit-

Pan held his tongue, eyes growing wide. He did not want to remind Callyope of Ariadne and the loss she had suffered as a sister.

Visit the t-trees.

It felt wrong to lie. His cheeks burned hot and he shifted his gaze to his large front paws. The young druid did not want to upset his aunt. He did not want to make her heart hurt further. Even though she did what she could to conceal it, he was not blind to the pain that rose from her in dark colors.

Aunty? Pan pushed his big round head beneath her chin and nudged. Are you eating and sleeping?

What was it she witnessed? A shift like the breeze rustling leaves. His eyes went wide and then he looked away to his own paws. She had no children, no mother's eye, but she had been a girl once. She had surely made that look more than once.

Of course, Her voice was soft. She imagined White Elk would not have her forget these things in grief or that even her mother would watch her wither and become hollowed out.

She would not give up on her own future just because her sister had lost her own.

Is it the trees you are visiting? Or is it the lake, nuak?

She did not want him to feel the need to hide.

Uhm… 

Pan did not like to lie to Callyope. He didn’t enjoy lying to anyone. Her voice was soft and carried no judgement. The young druid finally lifted his gaze to her soft face again. The crease at his brow reflected the worry he felt. 

I- I come to sing songs for aunty Ari. And her friend. Sometimes they sing with me. It’s- It’s nice. 

It meant they were not alone.

Such a fretful look for a boy so young.

A boy who knew death so dearly now — yet he seemed to give comfort to those gone.

There was a kindness in his truthfulness. It would be better for all if they did not lie or hide or avoid the swelling grief. Some nights her chest felt tighter than she could handle. Perhaps it lightened to know that Panuk sung to the spirits.

Do you know Aunty Ari's favorite song?

She begged herself not to cry.

She hated that she did not have a song for the pale hunter too.

She did not seem upset by his honesty. Her eyes glowed with a sad kind of warmth. Panuk’s heart grew heavy, taking in the weight of her spirit and the grief that had nestled inside her. The young wolf stepped to her and nudged beneath her chin. His large, boyish features lifted in an encouraging little smile - thin-lipped and polite, the way his mother used to smile. 

Can you teach it to me? 

The young druid looked eagerly to her. 

I would like to sing it to her. With you…

There are working songs,

Had the boy been taught these things? Perhaps not, but she did not know. Maybe he had sat alongside an aunt or grandmother as a child and heard them work.

Suddenly she wished she had been there when he had been much smaller.

Resentment for time lost was easy to find in the wake of grief.

She had such a lovely voice when she sang them. Part of her worried that singing at the lake might keep them there. Restless and eternal, but Panuk had already done so and the woods did not seem angry for it.

aya, aya, aya!

the handsome boy there, he is staring at your face!

do not look, do not look

i will say the words loud so he will hear them:

'what did your father ask in trade?'

She looked to him for him to repeat these words in the tongue of her mother, his grandmother.

Panuk was respectful. There was a reverence to his features as his aunt sang Ariadne’s favorite song. The words sank into him, flowed through him, and he was lifted up in his spirit. The boy’s eyes closed so that he could embrace this moment. He was certain that Ariadne could hear Callyope’s voice. He was as certain as he had ever been.

It is a beautiful song, he said to Callyope when her voice had stopped.

The boy glanced over his shoulder toward the lake.

We can go sing it together now?

faded this out, just tag me if you reopen <3

Her spirit wanted to say no.

But Panuk held the spirit of two sisters that she had lost too soon. Callyope did not understand why Senda whisked them away or how Panuk had come to hold them.

She should be grateful for this. For him.

Take me there,

She was not strong enough to walk the way as leader, but she was strong enough to follow him there. Strong enough to add her voice when he sang.