Neverwinter Forest a silence broken by a whispered wind

However the newcomer was received, Ibis was content to lead them through the woods and show them the various beauties within. It had been some time since Ibis had tread many of the paths herself. She needed to see how the forest fared without her; in retrospect, nothing would have changed.

Many of the paths had grown over with lack of use, and it appeared as though there were more dead ends than before - telling Ibis that her brother kept to certain areas, and maybe Mal did too. She wanted to show off the vibrant forest to @Ereshkigal and impress her; it was foolish, childish, to think a place that once seemed so vivid and lively could appeal to someone like her in its current condition, and the further they went the less confident Ibis felt about the excursion.

She was, at least partly, feeling the effects of her own alienation. The forest looked wrong because she had abandoned it for a while; it didn't help that her brother was off on a trip of his own, and being left with only Mal as company wasn't a positive. As the tour came to an abrupt end (somewhere in the northern segment of the woods) Ibis seemed to lose her spark.

She hadn't spoken much since Ereshkigal's introduction and seemed distracted as she picked one of many deer paths to follow, growing frustrated when the route terminated at a small (but steep) hillock yet again.