The Wolf's Den

Path 3: Tilli, Chapter 5

        Where the door led, they learned, was a bedchamber with a sobbing woman, and, placing the handle back into her cloak carefully, stepping through and gently closing the door. The woman continued to cry, and even as she sat on the bed beside the woman, the crying got worse. Frowning slightly, she looked to her companion on her shoulder and tilted her head to the right a bit. "What do we do?"

        "I'm not entirely sure, to be honest, this doesn't deal with curses or enchantments, it's just a woman crying. To be fair, this is out of my element. Do you have an idea of what we can do? We ought to help her, as she seems so miserable, but what would we exactly do is indeed the question."

        "Maybe we use a shock blanket?"

        "A shock blanket is? You need to remember that I don't know your modern terms, Miss Tilli."

        "Oh, uh... It's something you give to someone when a great tragedy happened. I think something awful happened to her, but we won't know for sure unless we ask."

        "Then perhaps we should. How do we get her attention?"

        "Touch her shoulder? Tell her it's gonna be okay? Or are those not the right approaches?"

        "I would say we find the source of her sadness first. Let me down and I can find it while you examine the rest of the room."

        "Alright. That should work."

        Holding her hand up, Tilli let him hop into her hand from her shoulders, setting him down on the bed gently. With a hum, the frog began to explore while she stood and, still undetected from the woman sobbing softly, searching the room and finding nothing. As she looked out, she searched through the window on tip toes, finding a grave way below her with a frown. There, that was her problem, was it not? But how could she get there? They couldn't leave the building, and there was no guarantee of getting back to the room they were currently in.

        "Perhaps we need a new tactic for her," the frog said.

        "Like what, Heinrich?"

        "You've found something, something useful by the gaze you gave. What is it? It may help us."

        "Oh, it's a grave, a new one, it would seem. It's got really dark soil."

        "Buried today, or another date?"

        "I can't tell."

        "He's my son," the woman said, having stopped sobbing.

        "Your son? What do you mean?"

        He... He died. It was so sudden."

        "Is there anything we can... Do?"

        "What 'we'? I see just you."

        "No, no, there's my friend, his name's Heinrich."

         Hopping up to the bed, Heinrich grinned much as a frog could. "Madame."

         Staring at the frog, the woman nodded sullenly, starting to sob again.

          "I think, Miss Tilli, this one is beyond our control. It will sort itself out."

          "Are you sure?"

          "Yes. We may have her taken away if we help her, and her story may work itself out."

          Holding out her palm, Tilli nodded uncertainly, watching the woman sobbing quietly on her bed and frowning more. "But I want to help her."

          "We cannot, not this one. We'll need to learn to fight out battles. If we find the exit, we can go somewhere else, yes?"

           "I suppose."

            As they left, the woman's sobs continued, only getting louder as an apparition of a young boy appeared. Then, the door was shut and they were on their own again.