Neverwinter Forest A Short Rest

okeanos has done mostly pretty good with -- not avoiding mal, per se, but certainly keeping himself busy, lest he have to bear the bad news cam brought. ibis and cam's company have helped keep the nagging guilt/urge away thus far. only ibis went to visit their mother, to check on her in the aftermath of cam's news, and okeanos thinks she'll be gone a while. he does not begrudge this -- ibis has always been flighty, has always needed to stretch her wings every so often, so to speak -- but it does mean his options for companionship near his age have been cut in half.

so he makes an effort -- what were his dreams about cultivating a proper friendship again? if only he weren't such a coward -- and lets himself catch mal's scent, idly following it until he runs into the spotty boy. his eyes follow mal's toward the deer herd, his stomach obligingly rumbling. it's been a little while since he had deer, or any animal large enough that more than wolf would need to take it down. is mal thinking the same thing? cautiously he comes closer, and says, "am i interrupting you?" gesturing vaguely toward the herd.