She had left. She didn't know why, or what had driven her to just up and walk out, but the point was she had, and she felt... ashamed. Ashamed for not asking - because she knew he would've let her go, if that's what she'd really wanted - ashamed for leaving her son behind (he had been old enough to take care of himself at that point and didn't seem interested in sticking around his dam, but still - the guilt was there.) And then, after months of being on her own, going Lord only knows where, she'd decided to come back, just as quickly as she had decided to abandon her home. She gallivanted back to the Islands on delicate legs, her body thin and frail from months trying to survive on an inadequate diet. Her once beautiful dappled coat had lost its luster, her skin stretched taut over bones that poked out at sharp angles from her frame.

Yscha, however, is not particularly concerned with appearances - never has been, really. Yes, she looks feeble and in poor health - although really the only thing wrong is a lack of nutrition). While her muscles ache, her lids are heavy with sleep, and her joints cry out in desperation against each step she takes, she still feels a certain vigor within her. Something seeded deep inside her chest that urges her forwards, back to the place she once called home, back to where her only child is, back to the only place she can ever imagine herself being content. The journey through the Islands does not take long - she lived here long enough to know her way around, and she reaches the Forest in a matter of hours, not the usual days it took her once she first came here.

She stops just inside the border, shaking herself out in an attempt to stay awake a little longer. She calls out, quietly: Hello? - her voice is raspy, an indication she hasn't spoken in some time; the single word grates harshly against her larynx, falling from her lips in a feeble whisper. She doubts anyone will hear it, but she's not particularly concerned if they don't. They may not hear her, but they will smell her, and someone will come. It's only just a matter of waiting.