Heron Lake Plateau Driving through the dark, far as we can go.

Ceara gestured in a clear, "Let's go," and Towhee swiveled, leading the way toward the center of the island. As she walked into the copse of trees, her orange eyes lifted, searching for X. It wasn't hard to spot him, considering he was flapping both wings rather violently, causing the bough he clutched to swing a bit. His beak was opening and closing. Towhee turned to Ceara but didn't even have to ask; she saw the signs and understood that he was raising quite the racket.

The bunch of flowers dropped from her maw as Towhee sprang forward, beelining toward Orca's grave just in time to catch a massive turkey vulture dragging her sister's partially unearthed and decaying body from the ground by one of her hind legs. The Beta unleashed an ungodly screech, which startled the bird into dropping the paw. But apparently the noise—and the sight of the she-wolf rushing forward—wasn't quite enough to deter the scavenger.

It stood up tall and beat its wings as if daring Towhee to complete her attack, a threat which the mercenary heeded and immediately discarded. Although the bird's bare, ugly head ducked to clip at her ear, she didn't stop or even slow. She sank her teeth into its breast and began to shake it, though the bird was surprisingly heavy. It pounded against her with its wings and brought up its talons, which raked dangerously close to her neck, forcing Towhee to let go and spring backward.

Fortunately, the vulture reconsidered its find and rose into the air, quickly disappearing into the sky. Towhee watched it for a moment, chest heaving and torn ear bleeding, then dropped her eyes to Orca's dessicated corpse. It looked and smelled nightmarish. She swallowed thickly, averting her eyes even as she began to dig at the shallow grave to deepen it.

Abruptly, she remembered that she was not alone. The Beta jerked and looked over her shoulder to see what had become of Ceara during the brief battle.