Nova Peak There's a silence in the woods after it snows

Solely to acknowledge Mahler's howl and set Wylla up for future drama or development potential.

Through the pines, Wylla quietly watched a hare grazing on the frost-laden grass. Her tail switched side-to-side, the muscles along her back and shoulders shuddering with anticipation. No acknowledgement in her mind for her likelihood of failing this hunt; she thought only of how the warm rabbit flesh would taste while she shared it with Thade for breakfast.

Alas, despite a persistent chase through the lower forest, the hare evaded Wylla’s grasp and sped off into the foothills. The Eisen drew to a halt, breathing hard, just in time to hear @Mahler’s clipped call rising from the fields beyond. Little news but that he was leaving and would be gone a number of days.

It wasn’t his leaving that made Wylla’s heart sink and turned her stomach into a gurgling pit of nerves. It was the tone of his howl, which was abrupt and laced with something uncharacteristically cool. It sounded from beyond the borders, well out of reach for a proper conversation. It left her wondering where and why he was going, and why he hadn’t even bothered to speak with her before leaving. That was very unlike him.

She stood there a long while, puzzling over it all and finding no reason for it, then ultimately turned back to the mountain. She’d been short with him before going to the cliffs when he brought up his daughters with Nyx to counter her, but figured that was water under the bridge after she returned from the cliffs sans an eye. And, having not interacted meaningfully with any of them to even know where upon the mountain they made their home, she wouldn't even notice they were gone until well after the fact, and therefore could not make any connection between her distaste for them, their departure, and Mahler's uncharacteristic departure.

As far as she knew, it was completely unrelated to her. In fact, she had no reason to suspect it was, though it piqued her anxiety all the same. It was with a disquieted flick of her tail that she ascended into the crags with the tense weight of uncertainty settling stiffly into the small of her back.