Heron Lake Plateau Tyrants and kings both meet the same fate, strung up at your city gate

So, that clarified a little bit as to why she might be so obsessed, but that still seemed like a little much.  Then again, he wasn't the greatest judge of that -- he had, after all, left what family he had without much in the way of a second look or regret.  He very well could be the odd one out, as usual -- that his desire to keep everyone at arm's length put him at a disadvantage in order to figure out everyone else.  Figuratively, Quixote lived in a cage and did his damnedest to keep everyone else out -- to protect himself.  It wasn't going to be an easy habit to break, but Raven herself was probably a crack in that wall and it was more of an issue if it was going to come down or just pass out a key to the gate.

Something about what she said did seem slightly off, but he wasn't quick on picking up why, especially with his brain being pretty well twisted into a knot with the pile of issues that danced in his mind.  Maybe given a few more minutes he'd have figured it out but that was not to be.  He'd opened his mouth to say something, but Towhee ripped off like a bat out of hell towards something that Quixote hadn't seen.  After a moment of confusion, he ran forward to figure out what happened, but Towhee had melted into the blackness well before he got there.  Apparently it was a coyote.  Quixote started to track back where it had come from, but given their location in relation to a path up to the territory proper, it didn't seem likely.  Then came her howl.  Her howls were harder for him to piece together, but sounded like he was probably free to continue on.  That was an unexpected relief -- maybe he wasn't really ready to deal with anyone.  Maybe he should just finish the patrol, try to think it all over, and get some rest.