Heron Lake Plateau another five more short graybles

When he readily accepted her impromptu name sign, Towhee's cheek muscles hurt from resisting the urge to grin. Oh, man. She could see it now: Screech approaching someone fluent in ptero and, in an effort to gain acceptance via common ground, signing his name. The thought delighted her, though there wasn't anything hostile about her amusement. In fact, if there was one sign that someone was growing on her, teasing was it.

"Yeah," she said, then began cycling through name signs and saying each name out loud so he could match them. "Uncle Elwood, Aunt Finley, Raven..." Towhee rapidly went through the entire pack, ending with Niamh's custom-tailored name sign. "Not to forget X," she thought to add, the hawk's name one of the simplest (and somehow most bad-ass) of the bunch as she sat up and emphatically crossed her forelegs in midair.