Nothingness is bliss

Gradually, Aryn's sickness faded. The paranoia lingered the longest, reappearing at random intervals long after the ooze had stopped dripping from her nose. It was perhaps why she remained out here so long - the paranoia told her that to return home was death, and now that Aryn was healthy again she struggled to remember what thoughts and revelations were sickness-caused and which ones were rooted in logic and fact.

Something had returned her to this forest, the very same one that she'd once met Eyrun and where she had seen her ghost shortly before the world had healed itself. Eyrun had wanted her to return home, to Veigar. The poor boy had few left whom he loved, and while Aryn knew that had she been sound of mind she'd not ever have abandoned him, how was she supposed to convince him of that?

A figure moved through the woods nearby and Aryn quieted her thoughts, ducking further into her hollowed out log. Would it be Kali again? Or worse, Recluse herself? The noises grew closer until a loud crash brought the shy woman to squeak in surprise, her eyes squeezing shut hard. Something had fallen just outside of her log, it was calling her name and -

"Veigar?" One eye opened hesitantly, as if it may be a trick of the wind or perhaps even another visiting ghost. Seeing that the muddy figure before her was truly the boy, Aryn couldn't scamper out of the log fast enough. He was demanding answers from her but Aryn didn't care, she launched herself out from the rotting wood (her budding horns catching and dragging along the bark) and aimed to envelop him in a hug. "You're alive!" She breathed, her voice catching. "I'm so sorry, I never meant to leave you. Please believe me, I was sick." It wasn't the greatest excuse - after all, half of Habari was sick - but Aryn begged his forgiveness with the truth, regardless.