Neverwinter Forest She knew that soon the day would come,

Mal had been doing a patrol. He'd tried to make sure that the twins were under the watch of himself or Aibreann or someone so nobody got up to trouble, but the fact he couldn't just go out and look for those who were missing was fraying his nerves. He wanted to do something about it... But couldn't. Not yet anyway. Could he risk sending someone out to look or would they disappear too? Would that be a chance worth taking?

He came around a bend and spotted several figures up ahead. Wait -- was that Miriam? She was back?! Good, dammit! Ditching the rest of the patrol for now, he ran over to see, tail wagging and generally feeling that sort of happy-but-frustrated kind of way. And Liliana was already there -- who seemed to be a lot worse about staying with the group, but Mal had tried. You're ok! he said as he got closer, nosing Miriam's shoulder once he was close enough (his turn to ditch personal bubbles or something) and sort of looking her over to make sure she wasn't hurt at all. I was worried -- what happened? Should we call Asmoses or do you want to surprise him or...? He was the only one not here yet, after all -- he was probably off with his younger half-siblings unless he'd gone a-wandering too? As long as he was in the territory, things were ok.

Mal probably hadn't paid much attention to who the strange dude was -- he just kinda way more focused on being relieved that whatever gremlins out there hadn't gone and eaten Miriam. Give him a sec, he'd acknowledge the guy eventually.