Sawtooth Spire gipfel

@Quellcrist was the sort of individual who was noticeable even when she did not wish to be. therefore, it had not escaped mahler that she had begun to explore. she was the age for it. 
but the day of his children's debut, the girl had not seemed herself. gone the sparkling eyes and playful ways. quellcrist had not been present in mind, and her image lodged in his.
today he set out to look for her, trotting along the bank of windholme, heading upstream with a somber look in his lilac eyes.

She spent quite a while near one of the territory's waterways, trying to glean fish from the gentle rapids. Quell ate most of her catch herself, though she set the largest trout aside and only picked it up when she decided she was done. The yearling didn't eat it, instead carrying it toward @Wylla's den for her daily delivery. Catch of the day! she might've exclaimed before, though Q stayed silent as she gently set the trout beside the den and quickly disembarked, too dark to be a ghost but certainly a shadow of her former self.

Her path crossed with Mahler's and Quell blinked and slowed. Her head dropped and her tail went limp behind her as she rolled to a stop, waiting for the Eisen to approach her. She knew him, of course; there was basic recognition in her own lavender gaze. But there was no real familiarity and Q's body language—deferent, silent, almost soldierly—did all the speaking for her.

the girl paused when she saw him, and mahler too stopped. stoneflower gaze traced over quellcrist. he had no qualms with her stance outside of the fact that this was not — 
"quellcrist," the gargoyle murmured, closing the distance between them with a perfunctory wave of his tail. "thank you for the things you have brought the children," mahler began conversationally. "are you vell?"

He moved closer, the gap between them shrinking to a few feet, and Quell ducked her head even more, largely to deposit the fish on the ground. She did glance up when he offered his thanks, her dark tail giving a single jerk of acknowledgement as she nodded. Q's life was simple and she derived the most basic pleasure in hunting game and sharing it with her leaders and their offspring.

Her head tipped slightly at his question, which took a moment to process. "Are you well?" She blinked and licked her lips before nodding again. Yes, she felt fine. She had no complaints. It took a moment but Quell realized it was proprietary to return the inquiry.

"And you?" Her voice sounded a little rough from disuse, the tone flat and polite.

had quellcrist ever spoken so quietly? mahler's sense of worry was beginning to deepen into a silent objectivity that brought his medicinal brain forefront.
trauma, perhaps, and not always physical. "quellcrist," mahler murmured, watching her closely. "has something happened?" she had always been a capricious, playful sort. and now the girl was all grey, light dimmed and mahler felt protectiveness rise in him.

Mahler didn't reply. Instead, he asked a question Q met with a politely quizzical look. Her brow furrowed gently as she tried to figure out what he might mean. She remembered waking up feeling a little out of sorts about a week ago. She remembered the preceding days, weeks, months. For reasons she couldn't explain to herself, much less to anybody else, Quell didn't even recognize her own paradigm shift. As far as she knew on any meaningful, cerebral level, she had always been the same as she was now: chiefly, a talented young hunter who considered killing small game her life's work.

At length, she shook her head slowly. "No, nothing happened." Quell paused, licked her lips, wondering why he asked. "I'm good. Everything is fine," she stated instead, still looking puzzled even as she shot him a reassuring glance.

the girl responded with truths that mahler had no choice but to accept. outwardly, there was little sign of quellcrist's shift. she was an active member of sagtannet that helped to feed the new generation: an admirable feat for any wolf, but he had been especially proud to see her take up wintersbane's mantle.
"all right," the gargoyle grunted reluctantly. "i vould hope that if you did not feel good, you vould come to me." but it was futile; quellcrist did not appear to understand what he meant.
perhaps he had been mistaken.
features suffused with his usual tepid expression; mahler nodded toward her catch. "maybe when they are older, you vill teach them how to hunt half so vell."

"Of course," came Quell's reply to both statements, offering a wan smile and a little wave of her tail. They demonstrated a certain level of alert- and responsiveness to her situation and surroundings, though she was still a shade of her former persona.

"This is for them," she thought to say, pointing her muzzle toward the fish at her feet. Q paused for a beat, then said, "I'm going to keep hunting." She didn't make a move to depart yet, waiting for the Eisen to formally dismiss her on her errand.

she was so changed. he had not realized the breadth of it until this moment. mahler would have approached, had not quellcrist quickly excused herself.
he had no response but to dismiss her, too caught off-guard to do much more than stare after her despondently.