Redhawk Caldera No, I don't have a harp.

Towhee grumbled under her breath as she marched around the borders. What the hell was Lagan thinking, cavorting off into the wilderness so soon after the pups' birth? She wanted to blame Gannet somehow but they were both adults and they were both irresponsible and selfish for taking off when the pack needed them most. The young she-wolf kicked at a rock as she passed, seething quietly.

She finished the patrol and made a beeline toward the Blackthorns' den. Much as she yearned to see the puppies for herself, she didn't even come close. She stopped a good twenty feet from where Elwood, Finley and the newborns were sequestered and stood there for a long beat, peering in the direction of the den's mouth. Her nostrils flared for several seconds as she silently read the room. Nothing smelled amiss, so Towhee swung to face the other direction and flopped down with a loud snort, kicking up a bit of dust that settled around her.

Orange eyes as shrewd and piercing as a hawk's, she scanned the immediate area. Between her natural inclinations and instincts and her irritation with her older brothers, Towhee was fully prepared to tear off the head of anybody who dared approach the Alphas pair's whelping den.

Re-posting for up-to-date time-stamp!

He'd given the den a wide berth up until now. It wasn't that he didn't want to meet Finley's cubs, but he knew full well the fury of a mother. He hadn't forgotten that his own mother hadn't permitted him anywhere near his newborn siblings, and they were blood relatives. For all her relevance to his family and the Caldera, Finley was no blood relative, and he reckoned she would be even less welcoming of him near her cubs. There was also the troubling matter of whether they were even worth his time or whether they were just new versions of Eljay. So he laid low, minding the borders and his own business.

He wound up in the vicinity of the den mostly by chance. While he knew exactly where it was, having visited Finley some weeks prior to her birth, he hadn't been paying attention to where he was going until he wound up in the clearing and spotted Towhee flopped on the ground nearby. The scent of newborns permeated the air even this far from the den and Nightjar felt his nose crinkle, followed by a sneeze and a snort. It wasn't a very pleasant smell. Piss and dung and something sweet. Not a smell that willed him to draw closer in spite of his interest.

His gaze dropped to his sister as he padded forward a few more steps into the clearing, then seated himself to silently wonder why she looked so glum. Then again, even he could sense a predator's fury in those bright eyes of hers.

There was no warning before Nightjar materialized. She couldn't hear his footsteps, nor smell him—he must have been downwind—as he made his unwitting approach. When Towhee saw movement out of the corner of her eye, she immediately leaped to her feet and began snarling savagely, the fur all over her body bristling as she bared her teeth.

When recognition registered, the growling ceased and her lips fell back to sheathe her fangs. Her fur flattened too, though there was a stiff wariness to her posture as she squinted at her older brother. There was absolutely nothing alarming about his body language and behavior. In fact, Nightjar appeared totally unassuming as he took a seat nearby.

"You here to keep guard too?" Towhee queried after a beat.

Her reception was anything but warm, and Nightjar curled his lips and pressed his ears sharply forward with a verbal warning: "watch it." Towhee may have been a mercenary just like him and he respected her for it, but he was her superior in rank and age and he wasn't about to tolerate the disrespect just because she was his sister. Nightjar fully believed he could flatten her if he wanted to, but he didn't overly want to. He remained seated even as she calmed down and bid him a question, and only then did his ears relent their rigidity.

"Didn't mean to come," he said simply, "but no harm keeping watch for a while." He curled his tail around his haunches and cast his gaze in the direction of the den, but he remained wary of Towhee; he hadn't expected that response from her and wasn't sure whether he should be on guard or not. "You think they'll be strong?" he wondered aloud, and a perceptive one might catch the hint of doubt in his voice that stemmed from having known only the Blackthorn wolves' first child.

She felt a ripple of heat shiver down her spine when he gave her a warning. Towhee's teeth clenched together against the riposte that wanted to escape. Neither one of them had done anything wrong. Tensions were simply increased this close to the den; it was an instinctual fact. She was irritated with some of her brothers, thought Nightjar was not one of them.

"Nothing personal. I didn't see you coming," she belatedly explained her initial overreaction, then moved on to his query. "Yes, of course. Why wouldn't they be?" Towhee couldn't pick up on his tone, of course, and so she truly didn't know what to make of his question.

He took a long steadying breath through his nose, then refocused on the yawning den entrance in the distance. From here, he couldn't see or hear anything. He could smell them, though. Newborns had a special smell to which nothing in the world compared. Soft, fresh, and warm. He would almost describe it as pure white, if smells had colours. He wasn't creative enough to come up with the comparison, though, and simply inhaled the clean smell and let his lips turn up in a faint smile.

To Towhee's question, he simply answered, "they usually aren't. Their first kid was a complete wreck, so at least it can't be worse than that." He hadn't had the pleasure of meeting the Blackthorn family's only worthwhile offspring, but he knew of the three "failures". Eljay was more unstable than an avalanche, and as he'd said, was probably the worst of them. Probably dead, too. Lucy had (he thought) died so young that she was of no consequence, and he figured she'd been weak, too. And Liffey lacked loyalty, having pledged herself to some other leader over her own parents, not unlike Wildfire. Dispersing completely normal fact of life, if you didn't have a stick up your ass, like Nightjar sometimes did. He believed a wolf either followed their parents and their successors or led themselves, and severely judged those who chose another leader over their own family. He had chased his own sister out for it and he refused to acknowledge Liffey as a worthwhile wolf for it, too.

"They say third time's the charm," he remarked, having thus far been completely oblivious to the fact that Towhee counted herself among their family and might find his judgment offensive, and he hoped that was the case with the Blackthorn family's third litter.

She stared at him for a beat after he spoke, trying to parse his meaning. It occurred to her that Nightjar must be speaking of Eljay. Although she initially felt defensive—how dare he speak ill of the Alphas' offspring?—Towhee gradually realized that she didn't exactly disagree. Although she wouldn't call the eldest Blackthorn cub a "wreck," she kind of understood what Nightjar meant. Eljay had always seemed rather weak and wishy-washy to her too, though she still found her brother's words blunt.

"Who says that?" she rejoined. "They're going to be strong," she added before giving him any time to answer. "And they're going to be loyal too, if I have anything to do with it," Towhee added, speaking lowly without even realizing it. It was totally possible these puppies would grow up to leave too, like many Redhawks and Blackthorns before them. But right along with teaching them ptero, Towhee intended to impress upon these four youths the importance of fealty and pride in their land and legacy.

"I don't understand why anyone leaves," she continued after a brief pause, squinting at Nightjar. Her orange eyes weren't exactly accusatory, though they demanded an explanation. He had come back and he was lucky the Alpha pair was so forgiving, allowing him back into the fold and swaying Towhee's own opinion of him too. But still: why had he ever left in the first place?

"Dunno," he admitted. "Someone said it once." To her insistence that the newest Blackthorns would grow to be worthwhile wolves, Nightjar offered no comment. He'd already made up his mind about them, and he thought loftily of himself. To be trained by him in instinct and fighting was an honour as far as he was concerned, and he offered it to those who were strong. Towhee would have a mentor in him if she ever sought to, though he knew she was doing perfectly well on her own, having even specialized. The Blackthorns, on the other hand, would have to prove that they were more wolf than their soft-headed eldest brother if they hoped to receive any attention from him. But he needn't make that known to Towhee or anyone else.

Only when she pinned him with her eyes and voiced an opinion did Nightjar look back at his younger sibling. He rolled his shoulders. "There are those who leave to follow another, because they will not follow the one who leads them," he said, "and those who leave to better themselves. You cannot be your full self until you can rely on only yourself to survive." He genuinely thought he was in the latter category, though the truth was he had thrown a temper tantrum when he hadn't been permitted to meet his baby siblings before every other member of the pack. He was ashamed of it, but also stood by it. He had believed in the superiority of their bloodline even then, and that sentiment had only grown.

"I followed no other leader," he shared, "and wouldn't, even if it meant death. The only leaders I would follow were our parents, or my own self." But he was not a leader, and he now followed different leaders, albeit in the same pack. Before Towhee could ask about it, he added, "Finley and Elwood have proven themselves time and again to this pack. Our parents trusted them fully. So I gladly follow them now." But the implicit message was clear enough. If they hadn't been such loyal members of the Caldera before, or if someone less worthy had taken over the pack when Peregrine and Fox died, Nightjar would have sought to remove them from their positions upon his return. That he hadn't was a testament to his belief in the two Blackthorns, or so he would claim.

She listened carefully (read: watched his lips), so curious about what he said that it didn't even occur to her to interrupt. Nightjar said many intriguing things, though the one phrase that would stick with her the most after this encounter was, "You cannot be your full self until you can rely on only yourself to survive." The Xi didn't know what to make of this. She didn't want to agree, as she had no intention of ever striking out on her own. Towhee didn't like to think that it meant she would never reach her full potential. Would she be forced to take a sabbatical at some point?

Before she could dwell too deeply on any of this, Nightjar spoke on the subject of loyalties. Towhee bobbed her head in understanding. She couldn't imagine following anyone else besides the Blackthorns—not even her own parents. Nobody could ever possibly possess the same level of authority over her, since they'd raised her from birth. And her loyalty and respect to them was nearly absolute. Like her elder brother, she could only imagine breaking rank if it meant she herself became an Alpha. And that seemed improbable if not impossible.

"I'm going to train to be a leader one day," Towhee shared somewhat spontaneously, having been reminded of it by their conversation. "A Beta." Her head cocked, wondering what Nightjar would make of that.

With little left to do but hang around and chat some more, Nightjar flopped down onto his side and stretched his legs in the summer grass with a thump of his tail. It was a nice day like many of the days before, and if not for his glum outlook on the new batch of Blackthorn kids and their worth, he would have considered Redhawk Caldera to be beyond blessed. A good summer was enough reason to be pleased, though. The pack looked to be in a good state going into summer's end and he was thankful for it. It meant that whether or not Finley's third attempt at raising decent wolves was successful, the pack would only grow stronger.

Speaking of which, Towhee suddenly announced that she was planning to become a leader. He glanced sidelong at her from his position on the ground. It wasn't surprising and actually made a lot of sense. Redhawk Caldera belonged to the blood of Peregrine and Fox as far as he was concerned. Sure, he respected Finley and Elwood and would contest almost anyone who came against them, but if it was one of his own blood striving for their position, then there was no doubt whatsoever where Nightjar's support would fall, so long as the one gunning for it wasn't himself.

"Why not Alpha?" he had to ask. The answer was probably obvious, but he didn't really look at Towhee and think anything of her disability. She'd proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that she was more than capable in spite of it, and it truly would have been a shame had Fox lived long enough to kill her.

She was tempted to relax too, though Towhee glanced at the den and maintained a rather vigilant posture, ready to drop the conversation with Nightjar at a moment's notice if required to do anything for the pups or their parents. With that said, everything still appeared calm and uneventful, so the guardian returned her attention to her brother.

That was a fair question. There were two major reasons, which Towhee explained. -There are already two perfectly capable Alphas, who will hopefully rule this pack for years to come.- Taking over meant usurping them (and that wasn't going to happen) or stepping up in the event they could no longer maintain their titles, e.g., death. Towhee didn't even want to contemplate that, at least anytime soon.

-And I'm not sure if I'd make a good Alpha. Maybe once I get some practice as a Beta, I can find that out...- she thought "out loud," canting her head and wondering if Nightjar would find her reasoning acceptable. -But refer to exhibit A,- she added, still lacking any desire to think of a future where she wasn't following the Blackthorns' leadership.

"Hm," Nightjar grunted, and turned his gaze expectantly back to the den when Towhee did. But nobody was emerging and nobody else had come by, so he returned to his reclined posture and sighed heavily. Towhee made a number of good points in the next minutes, and Nightjar had to concede that he was more likely to listen to her as a Beta than as an Alpha, even though they shared blood. Her plan was wise from any standpoint, but from his, she was a bit too young to be the big boss anytime soon. "You'd make a good Beta," he said, and left it at that.

As for Finley and Elwood ruling for years, he could make no comment on it. Part of him certainly agreed, but if their latest batch of children turned out how he thought they would, Nightjar was already of a private mind to usurp the position himself. He believed in the two leading Blackthorns without a doubt and followed them loyally for now, but he didn't believe in giving the pack's resources to dud children no matter who they came from, so this litter would be his deciding factor. Should they turn out the same as the others, then Nightjar thought he would ensure that next year's litter would be worth something to the pack by ensuring they were not Blackthorns.

There were a number of reasons he would fail in this potential endeavour, not least of all being Towhee's loyalty to her foster parents or the fact that being a Blackthorn offspring had nothing to do with usefulness, so he didn't say a word about it to her. In fact, all he said as he rolled himself back to his feet was, "I'll go check the borders again," before reaching out to offer Towhee a nudge to her face. Whatever happened in the future, he lived for his blood family's continued survival. Licking his chops, he retreated back into the woods and began to head downhill to where the borders began.

Towhee fought against the smile that wanted to bloom on her face at Nightjar's remark, though it touched her eyes as she gave him a heartfelt, "Thanks." Only after saying the word out loud did she realize she had unthinkingly resorted to signing a moment ago. Had he even understood everything she'd said? She froze, then ultimately decided it didn't make a difference. She could still appreciate his commendation.

When Nightjar made to move away and check the borders, Towhee nodded approvingly. "I'll stay here, keep watch," she said, easing into his touch before responding with a nip to his chin. It would change (day to day, honestly) but right now, Nightjar was her favorite older brother, especially considering how irresponsible his competition was being lately. "See you later," she added to his retreating back.

Her gaze eventually swung away from him and toward the den's mouth again. All was still quiet on that front. She itched to get closer, though she quashed the impulse and stayed where she stood, an ever vigilant guardian.