Neverwinter Forest as helpless as a stinger without a bee

Squishes the old man @ people.

The forest had seen better days, but so had the rest of the wilds. Njal trekked as quickly as his tired body could trek, making small observations the likes of which weren't worth mentioning. Most of the pine trees were intact, which made him vaguely happy; the bugs probably could not eat those thick pine needles, so patches of the forest were still healthy and protective. No doubt he'd find one of the expectant mothers among them somewhere, hidden away. The old man wondered about the pack population for a moment, and came to an abrupt halt in the middle of nowhere. There were two pregnant women, one Scimitar, probably one other male who was mated to Scim's sister, and then who else? Njal lifted his head and sniffed, his tongue flicking just shy of his lips as he tasted the air, but he couldn't really tell anything from the soft summer breeze.

Mazi scented the air, catching the scent of someone who smelled fairly new, due to the fact that his scent hadn't fully accustomed to that of the Pack.  Still Mazi was curious as to who this was, so she began to make her way to the wolf, trotting through the now pretty much dead looking forest.  She missed the fourishing amount of green that once stood here... still she supposed it was pretty beautiful in ways still.  Although... it was kinda sad here now for her, with the famine of Locusts wiping out most of the green.  She missed that version of the forest.  She hoped that it would come back.

After a couple minutes of traveling, her eyes spotted an older looking male.  "Hello."  She chuffed, friendly, but also formally.  Then she began to make her way towards the male, without waiting to hear his response - of he gave her any.

As if in tune with his thoughts, there was a shifting in the air and a subtle noise about him. Njal turned in time to see a grayish figure emerge from the forest's depths, and at once his old mind flicked back to Russia; he was struck quite suddenly by images of his siblings. Their platinum furs, grizzled spines, rounded faces — and with a dollop of surprise, Njal realized he had forgottten all of their names. This stranger who came upon him looked intensely like one of his sisters, he had thought. As she approached he tried to remember the name of this sibling, but it never came to him.

Hello, the young girl called out, and the old warrior was made to focus on the present, not the past which had begun to disintegrate. She was very familiar in the way that all gray wolves were familiar; yet she was young, perhaps no older than himself when he came to this side of the world. He grunted softly at first, and after a long moment of silence (at least via his own perception) he murmured, Good day, I suppose, but he glanced around at the forlorn forest in his periphery, and wondered if that was a lie.

She shrugged at the mention of it being a good day.  At least the brown parts of trees still stood standing.  Leaves could always grow back.  Yet they had not, not yet.  Mazi sighed.  "It could be beetter though."  She added in, in monotone.  She wished that Neverwinter Forest would just go back to being that same forest that she had first come to, with all of it's glorious green.  She missed that level of the forest.  A small frown settled upon her features at the thought, before turning her attention before to the older male.

"I'm Mazi."  She said in a quieter tone.  "What's your name?"  The agouti then asked, with a slightly depressed sweep of her eyes over all of the devastation that the Locusts had brought here.  If only the past could be changed.  She would have done anything to stop the locust invasion.  Anything.

Njal nodded, and then paused when she introduced herself. When she asked for his name he almost did not give it, wondering if it really mattered; but the look in her eyes as she surveyed the ruin of her home made him feel... Some kind of connection. Her depression was similar to his own. The ruination of her home was similar to the ruination of his own life, and he felt strangely affected by this comparison. She needed a distraction, which he could provide.

Njal, he murmured as he approached her, dragging his steps. I knew Scimitar long ago. Have you... Been here long? Any attempt at conversation felt forced, and sounded dull to his own ears. But he was trying, which was a different way to exist for him.

Njal's question really made the agouti pause to think, and for once she was grateful for a distraction.  Although even though the question made her think back to her time in Redhawk Caldera, which she was quite embaressed about now, she was able to mostly focus on when she had left and ended up in Neverwinter Forest.  After some thought, Mazi finally had an answer.  "Two months about... I think?"  She responded, a little uncertainly, but was pretty sure that she was at least kinda close to accurate.

Mazi then focused on the other part of what Njal had said and found herself increasingly curious about how Njal knew Scimitar.  "How did you meet Scimitar?"  Mazi asked him curiously, with a slight cock of her head.  Maybe they had been in a pack together?  Met at a time when they both could have been lone wolves?  Mazi kept her ears perked, listening to find how.

Two months wasn't very long. But to stay loyal when times were this tough, he had to commend her for that. The old man nodded as he listened, but then paused and looked a bit more reflective as he contemplated his history with Scimitar. He hadn't recognized the man on the borders when he'd joined up, at least not until he had started talking about the women in the pack. Kaskara reminded him of the Creek more than her brother; briefly he walked down memory lane, and then answered.

We lived in the same pack for a while. It was on the other side of those mountains, they were far off, but he motioned with a lift of his snout towards the horizon to the east. He met Bazi there - his first wife - and, it was where I reunited with Tuwawi, he was going to add, but this young stranger wouldn't know who that was. And we split up when I left to head north.

Mazi found dherself interested with Njal's tale.  Especially with Bazi Scimitar's first mate, that she supposed he had ended up breaking up with, do to the fact of the new pups that came from another Mother.  She didn't ask about that though.  That was Scimitar's personal life, she didn't really want to intrude.  Huh.  Bazi.  Sounds a lot like my name... just replace the M with the B.  Mazi thought quietly to herself.

Mazi also found herself quite interest to here what Njal had found in the North.  "Where did you go in the North?"  She asked the older wolf, with obvious curiousness hinting in her voice.  For a few moments, she felt like a pup again, curiously listening to a tale that she didn't want to end.  Then the feeling was gone, but the agouti female still kept her eyes curious and leaned forward ever so slightly, as she waited, with anticipation for the Njal's tale to contiune.

To the glacier. He stated. His tone was flat, deadend by the memories as they peppered back to him through his mind. The meadow, the lake, the great ice sheet -- everything cast under a soft pink glow as the sun set, igniting the sky around the family as they advanced upon their soon to be palace. A palace of death, he thought grimly. For a minute or two Njal says nothing as he is distracted by his thoughts, reminiscing of a time when things hadn't spoiled yet.

Then, he cleared his throat and continued. Duskfire glacier. My wife and I settled there for a time, but the north is a very difficult place. He did not elucidate on that point as it was too difficult, even now, to admit all of his errors and all of the ruin that had followed them. Instead he focused on Mazi, watching her for a reaction before asking, Where do you hail from?

Njal in answer to her question said that he went to a glaicer, then he was silent for minutes.  Mazi just flicked her eyes around awkwardly, wondering if Njal was just walking down memory lane or had gone braindead.  Just as she was about to ask if he was alright though Njal started back up speaking, naming the glacier: Duskfire glaicer.  She was then surprised that Njal had a mate.  Was his mate here in the Teekon Wilds?  Where was she?  Mazi again did not ask anything too personal.  Yet she could still answer Njal's question on where she was from.

"I'm from a pack in a beautiful place called Yellowstone.  It's in a place called Idaho if you know where that is."  Mazi replied, her eyes getting a little dreamy as she remembered that place, but then she shook herself out of it.  "I left though because it just wasn't for me.  Sure it was nice to have family around... but I guess I just wanted a change or... a new start I suppose?  Do you know what that feels like?"

Many wolves came through this place in search of something new, something more, so it did not surprise him to hear of this girl's tale. When she mentioned wanting a change he felt a connection with her; all wolves desired change, all living things required it. He wondered if joining with Scimitar's group was change enough for himself, or if he would seek something else before the summer was over? But he knew his life was nearing its end; he felt it in his very bones, in the aching hip and heart filled with sorrow. He knew, acutely, that he many not survive so long.

I do, he murmured in response to her question, and cast aside his thoughts temporarily. I have had many new starts myself. Hopefully this will be the last, and though his tone was a bit more tired than anything, he tried to sound pleasant, and likely tapped in to some semblance of who he was before; his thoughts then wandered back to the Glacier, which he had not let himself consider in such a long time, and he wondered if his son's new beginning was working out. If Tuwawi was happy, wherever she was, and if he would ever see his family again.

Mazi was intriguded when Njal said he knew what it was like to want a change, a fresh start.  Her curiousity of this matter intensified when the grey male said that he had had many knew starts.  What did that mean?  How many new starts had the old man had?  The agouti really wanted to ask, but she didn't want to appear rude, so she didn't.

"I hope that this is your last to.  It's really nice here, this Neverwinter Forest."  Mazi remarked with a small smile.  She hoped that this pack would stay around forever, because she wanted to be here till the day she died.  Yet life was unpredictable, so one never knew.