Broken Boulder these frozen bones

For the next poster or two, feel free to assume he arrives part way through whatever's happening if he gets noticed.  And similarly, if he isn't called out he's probably skippable if I take too long to reply whenever it's my turn.

Mali could often be found in his own little world.  He'd wander around and keep himself amused quite happily when his sisters weren't willing to put up with his nonsense.  Which was probably becoming more often -- the more he was left to make up goofy stories, the more he wanted to drag others in to his fantasy and his sisters weren't exactly always cooperative pawns.

It was thus unsurprising that he came upon the scene kind of late, but what wasn't maybe expected was the fact that he hung back.  Sure, he wasn't the greatest at being quiet, but as he heard voices, he slowed, his steps became more cautious as he tried to figure out what was going on, eventually slowing to a stop.  This was different.  For all his searching and vociferous statements about how he'd find her, he wasn't running up to greet her, like now that the quest was over, he wasn't sure what to actually do.
 
Instead he stayed on the far side of a bush far apart from the rest, looking at all of them through a leaf-dappled thin spot like he wasn't supposed to be here -- the kid watching through the banister spindles, okay with being unnoticed.  Mali looked across them all, his mother, father, sisters... The only one he couldn't see was Alarian, who was somewhere blocked by foliage.  The important things were framed, so all he had to do was see what happened.