Phantom Hollow ausbessern

backdated to like 12/12

the threat of snow had arrived into a tempest. mahler stood blinking dolefully against the rush of it, in the direction of where star held rivenwood. his visit at moonspear had only been a short while; he had pulled himself away, citing the travel home. it bittered him to do so, for surely his image in the eyes of ciri and elke would be diminished.
breath now wreathing in a cloud around his heavy head, the man passed into a place filled with eerie quiet. only the sound of his own paws could be heard, the expanse of his flanks; stoneflower eyes searched and again for any movement, and from time to time mahler glanced along his own shoulder to ensure he missed nothing.

On one particular day, Miriam disappeared from Neverwinter Forest.

With no one truly keeping an eye out for her, and the occasionally company, she would return eventually without anyone noticing her momentum departure. Upon the middle of her slumber did she wake up, and with such a blurred mindset did she find herself paws travelling to familiar lands, but struck with horrible memories of what she could never forget. The plains were the weak daughter was found, and the river where the royalty were to stolen from; all but a twist and turn of the unfortunate life that Miriam tried to play.

And now here she was, her story continuing on, yet she was all but skin and bones. Her ribcage showing so visibly, and her cheeks shallow to the core; she was like a walking corpse, and even her lifeless eyes were but a faded doll in it's place. A sad sight to be, for once upon a time she was a curious traveller under the reigns of the Goddess and Horned God, and her trust to them led so far to the point she was misguided, and the man who she thought was an Apostle of them so, indulged her with the unmarried life of pups.

How she adores the two so; but neither feel the same. One is gone, and other shatters the poor maidens heart.

An eerie silence, and a weakened woman with unknown reasoning to what brought her to the hollows. She grunted slightly, her body slouching down into a ease, and a mindless gaze to a darkened figure in the distance.

the gargoyle's stare at last alighted upon a lick of raincloud against the empty arch of silent elvenwood. he was reminded of the vale in its courtly haunting as the contours of the stranger began to strengthen beneath his adjusting eyes. and the reality of the unknown figure was the angularity of hips and the cage of ribs.
the man came thus to stand nearer, noting emaciation and the dryfall of a pelt hued in delicate heather grey. a wisp of a woman, fading into the ghostly muted nature of the place. skimming her with a practiced healer's eye, mahler chanced a closer step. "frau," came the concerned notion of his voice, "how long have you been travelling alone?"

A mind of fog and a look of haze she thought it was but an illusion, and spoke, 'frau,' did the shadow say. Her moonlit eyes blinking in surprise, a mind coming down from the heavenly plans and giving but a look around realizing how far she truly had went. Though a sad thought flourished through Miriam's mind; no one would look for her, would they? Momentarily did she forget the occasionally company of Caerus and Jackalope.

She looked at him as he asked, and opened her mouth weakly before closing back. A warranted laugh perhaps if she was strong enough to deliver, but remained silent for a few moments more, as Miriam always felt lonely as per' storytelling goes, "I'm from Neverwinter Forest.. I seemed to wander too far."

silent, and then her voice, warm sugared water poured over the frost-sliced roots of a tree. mahler frowned, for in her state she certainly seemed to have been away a good deal of time. neverwinter was not a name he recalled; blame the first stirrings of age in his memory.
but whatever had gone on with the woman, and wherever she had come from, neither mattered. the gargoyle glanced around at their empty settings, and then back to the stranger. "it has been a long vhile since you have eaten," mahler observed, charcoal ears flicking forward. "can you valk?"

She didn't respond, as it was hard to do. There was days where she would think eating, and some would offer, but upon swallowing did it simply gorge back up and refused to go down. Jackalope helped her so by digesting first and spitting it back up, and that alone solved the issue. However, Miriam simply did not feel hungry, for she was just an empty.. Husk.

"I just need.. A moment." Travelling had taken a strain on such a weakened mother- perhaps she didn't even deserve to call herself a 'mother,' when one child disappeared, and the other scorns her so much.

"Who are you?" Though such a mystery who the shadow was, drawled a curiosity.

"certainly." it was the forest, clutching at him. clearing his throat, trudging over all that had gone on in favor of mannerliness and bedside manner, mahler settled nearby. not yet touching, but perhaps the tall breadth of hs body might provide some semblance of warmth to her rawboned frame.
"mahler, of rivenvood," the man answered. his gaze turned away from her, surveying the haunted place with a tight look. and he did not speak again, providing her with silence for the respite she had sought here.

She was greedy, thought to be a selfishness wolf but suck wicked thoughts of desire that plagued her so. Being awfully lonely and neglected, Miriam sought all that was warmth and desired more then all. Only one gave her such luxury, but he didn't provide all the time, and more or less visited her so then the comfort. Upon sitting next to her she simply desired to be like a child again, curl up against something warmth and to fall into a blissful slumber..

Instead she hesitated, knowing far too well it was a stranger and not a pack-mate, and as her mind was slowly growing more aware, it was impolite to act as so. She only looked down with a watery gaze, finding herself more tired in thought.

Miriam with a silver-paw washed away the crystals and sniffed, "I'm.. Miriam Iris Willows." 

"I never heard of Rivenwood."

"it is a new place. perhaps you heard of sagtannet," and saying the name aloud left a tasteless film upon his tongue. "too far to have neighbors, rivenvood." quick, humourlack smile crossing his face as if it were a ghost. star, holding the pack; he must soon return.
but no wise physician would leave the she-wolf in her current state. mahler took inventory of her scent again, tasting the trees of the aforementioned forest, seeking the rot that illness placed into one's bouquet. miriam iris willows. "vere you ever a part of seelie court?" the gargoyle murmured, thinking of the fairies that had come to warn sagtannet.

Miriam shook her head, "I am only aware of a few neighbors, Moonspear, Firefly Glen, Yuelong, and distantly Firebirds." Though the news of them becoming Redhawks was not known, as she was only aware of their existence thanks to Bronco, but now he lived along the fireflies. She wondered if he visited his family, for she desired to visit her own, but sadly they were a long journey that would require more then a few months to venture to, and return. She couldn't afford the trip.

"I was a loner for many moons before coming to Neverwinter, and here is where my daughter is.. And hope my son will return to." The name sounded peaceful, but she was never apart of the group. Instead here she lies within Neverwinter, with a daughter of hatred and scorn and a missing son. The thought itself brought even more crystals to her eyes, but she did not stop them so, and instead buried her head into her sickly arms.

Her dearest star boy..

mahler knew no name save for moonspear. and now neverwinter, he supposed, looking down in a dour way as she sank her diminished limbs into the snow. cold would leech away whatever strength remained in her build, and mahler, not wanting to make demands upon her but knowing he could not allow such to happen, moved closer.
she spoke of a daughter and a lost son. something unnameable and ferocious swelled in mahler; he thought fiercely of thade and of phaedra, and when he blinked, gaze filling with miriam's faded form, his voice crept up from the depths of anguish. "my son vas lost. for a long time," the gargoyle told the neverwinter woman gruffly. "but he came home. and my daughter never left, but —" pensive tightening against the sorrow that reached into his own lilac stare, "sometimes they find vays to depart us all the same."

"My daughter wants to leave, and she tried, but they rejected her." She dare not lift her head as she mentioned so, her voice cracking while speaking to the shadow man. A part of her thought maybe it was but all a dream, something to finally release a part of her so that she had trouble with, for no one was here to speak with her.

There was a sparkle of hope.. That the Goddess granted some sanctuary, but Miriam was quick to throw that away, as once she had been tricked with the same thought, and it was all but an illusion of a lullaby.

Her frame in a moment of exhaustion breathed and momentarily felt the touch of the man. Her body stiffened, but there was a comfort as she was lean on him if he so allowed. Upon lifting her face, crystals falling forth as a broken heart upon her moonlit charms, she cracked a saddening tone, "She only stays for her father, and scorns me so. She calls me by name- I am now a stranger."

His had returned, but Miriam felt she lost both of hers.

tears, falling from miriam's pretty eyes as she rested her delicate weight against him. a spectre of grief stirred in mahler. wylla filled his mind, and for a fierce, selfish, fervent moment, he wished it was she who curled warm against him now.
winterwind, raking teeth through his nape, reminding him of the storms to come and the snows that had already fallen. he pushed himself closer, as much to offer weary miriam warmth as to take from her what was necessary to satisfy his need for contact. starved for touch, he realized in that horrid, fracturing moment.
in some ways the woman's daughter reminded him starkly of phaedra, and then not at all. mahler felt sympathy rise to clutch at him. "only by continuing to live can ve hope to change their perceptions of us," he urged in a low tone, unsure if he truly believed it but wishing to soothe her all the same.

"My son lost, and my daughter telling she wants to leave because of me." How she sat through all the venom Liliana spewed toward her, the coldness that she gave to Miriam; oh she endured it all. However it was only so much, to the point she simply broke in half and swallowed the forbidden fruit, but even then was she denied the sweet release of freedom. Her mind did not settle if she was thankful to be alive, or secretly regrets so.. Her paws touching the ground, so full of life unlike the coldness that she had faced in that moment of darkness.

"I couldn't be there when that.. Man touched her; maybe this is my punishment from the Goddess." Oh how she desired such comfort, and the man providing so Miriam could not help but give her whole body to be pressed against him. Her head touching his warm fur as tears dropped to his stone-fur, but she could not help it. She just wanted.. Someone to finally comfort her. To soothe her wounds that no one else could.

Miriam just wanted to be happy, for once.

"How can I when i'm so lonely and so.. Full of sin?"[

it was as if miriam's heart was a draught overturned. mahler listened, jaw tensing as at last the heatherlight woman gave the reason for the great tension between she and the girl born to her. "i do not think anyvone could know how to be prepared for such a moment," the shadowpriest said softly.
her tears melting warmly through his pelt, and the answering tug of grief in his own chest.
"it is hard not to place all of the blame upon your own heart," mahler went on gruffly, "especially vhen you are lonely." he looked upon her with a wondering gaze, for he was not an individual who proclaimed platitudes. and it was not what she needed in this moment, the man felt; and yet his pragmatism rendered him far too cold to be so available.
"who provides you support, in your pack?" the gargoyle asked softly, for she had not spoken of a father nor of a husband.
they spoke for some time, and mahler chose such moment to accompany her in the direction of neverwinter if she so chose.