Heron Lake Plateau The Indie Queens are Waiting

It pleased Towhee when Niamh laughed at her brother's true name, though she carefully controlled her expression. "Yeah," she said, bobbing her head, "didn't you notice the resemblance?" Maybe she'd never seen a titmouse or simply hadn't made the connection. "Most of us are named after birds or other animals. Those of us that came out of Peregrine and Fox anyway. Uncle Elwood and Aunt Finley go the route of impossible-to-pronounce..."

She fell quiet as Niamh described her meet-cute with Screech, though she turned away abruptly, preventing Towhee from catching the story. Her ears pulled back impatiently, though her voice was entirely level when she quite likely interrupted Niamh to say, "Hey, could you look at me when you speak? I need to be able to read your lips." Although it was probably a foregone conclusion, she did added an explanatory, "I'm deaf."