Heron Lake Plateau If he ever singles you up, if he's ever stupid enough

It was do or die, really. Towhee's confusion made perfect sense, and even Fiadh understood that her sister wouldn't really know what she was talking about. She'd been very vague, after all. She thought it was obvious—obvious enough to be a little upset about, all things considered—but didn't gawk or scoff when the Alpha female expressed confusion. Well, I know that, she signed in response to being called a sister, "but..."

Sucking in a huge breath, the Blackthorn steadied her nerves. Why did she think this was going to go so horribly? Fiadh had never been plagued with doubts before, but she was now. She didn't know why—didn't know that suddenly being self-conscious of everything was just a part of growing up. "I'm lower ranked than everyone else!" she protested. "I'm barely even above those outsiders! Tegan's higher and he completely disobeyed you and ran away!" It was clear from her tone that to her, rank wasn't everything, but it was something. She didn't have high ambitions but she hated scraping the bottom.

Her ears, which had popped up, returned to half-mast. "Am I really that useless to you? To be lower than everyone except those jerkwads that tried to fight us?" There was no accusation or fire in her now. Only sadness, and a little hurt.