Sun Mote Copse the fortune lady came along and walked beside,

Rather than fling words at her, he slumped to the ground with a single, "Why?" Towhee watched this, ruinous face blank, as she remembered Wraen's words from just moments before: "Ask Arcturus for the firsthand experience..." Maybe she should've but what good would that do, now or ever?

It dimly occurred to her, as he sat there awaiting an answer, that @Phox and @Niamh ought to be fielding these questions with her. Out of the three of them, she'd been the least on-board with the plan by a long shot. She understood why Wraen and Arcturus had come to her first though. Meerkat had always been hers, more than anyone else's.

And that thought had Towhee sinking to the ground across from Arcturus, letting out agonized noises of sheer misery that brought to mind a cat getting its tail caught in a rocking chair.