Sun Mote Copse so you found another way

Before winter would fully hit, and before it would be too late - after all, there was no guarantee what spring would bring for him, and he wasn't confident he would be able to travel so far, then - Eljay decided to trek across the mountains one last time, to Wildfire's final resting place. He had told @Maia that he was going, and of course also @Chickadee, since he spent so much time helping out with his grandchildren. The mountains were difficult to traverse, but eventually Eljay had made it across.

It took him longer than it ever had — at least doubly as long as it had last time he moved from Sun Mote Copse to Redhawk Caldera — but eventually he arrived at the Copse. He smiled as it came into view, happy memories of Wildfire flooding his mind, of tiny Weejay and Elfie, but soon they were soured by the memories of Wildfire's untimely death, as well as his parents', and all of the months he wasted just laying around.

His mood was further soured by the sudden scents of wolves at the borders. He blinked, sniffed again to make sure he was right, but it was unmistakable. All this way he had come, many days lost and dangers faced, his body sore and stiff from it all, only to be stopped from visiting his former home by a border. Eljay let out a soft sigh, and he tipped his nose to the sky and called out. Afterwards, he stretched his sore muscles and sat down, waiting for someone to arrive. It didn't hit him until some time after his call that one of the scents was terribly familiar, in a distant sort of way. He couldn't quite figure out why, though; couldn't quite figure out it was the scent of @Towhee that he recongised, as it'd been so many years now.

You look like a doofus, Towhee said to Bushtit as he frolicked around The Taigh.

“Doof,” she swore she saw him say before his head turned, ears flopping as he stumbled around on his comically oversized paws.

Not long after that illuminating exchange, @Towhee Jr returned from a patrol. Towhee asked her daughter to keep an eye on the little Bearn, wondering if he would even notice the swap. If he came looking for milk from Jr, Towhee was sure she’d give him a good bonk, and with that entertaining thought, she stepped into the open air.

It was a little breezy today, the treetops rocking and swaying. It tore dying leaves from their limbs, sending them swirling in the air. Towhee enjoyed the sights and smells, wondering if there were any accompanying sounds. She contributed her own when a crisp leaf struck her right in the eye, prompting a loud string of swear words.

She stopped to rub at her eye, blinking rapidly as it watered. She tipped her head skyward, which was when Towhee noticed Ghost circling. When he saw her looking up at him, he changed course, winging toward the borders. Screwing her eye shut, she trundled in the raptor’s shadow.

Towhee rolled to a halt, mouth gaping a little as she stared at a face she hadn’t seen in quite some time. She probably looked ridiculous, with one eye still squinted, but she didn’t really care. She slowly padded closer, noting how much of his gray fur had turned white over the intervening years.

They’d avoided speaking directly then, though Towhee didn’t hesitate to ask presently, Eljay, what the heck brings you here?

When Towhee came into view, Eljay looked about as startled as she did, as he lifted his head and ears perked forward in her direction. Ah, he breathed, almost as if in pain (which, admittedly, he also was, a little bit, from the swift lifting of his head), and he realised that he couldn't just leave, now. Or, well, he could, but then it would never stop being something weird to hang between them... And while there was a large part of him that wanted to flee, another part of him wanted to make amends.

Towhee, he said, belatedly, as his brain processed things. I didn't know, uh — that it was the Copse you settled at. He didn't remember, honestly, anything of what had been said when Towhee visited the Caldera. Maybe it hadn't even come up. Now he worried about being rude, but it seemed the situation was beyond salvation, anyway.

Being here — or rather, being around Towhee — made Eljay feel like being a little boy again, even though he was older than her. He swallowed and looked up at her when suddenly he noticed that there seemed to be something wrong with her eye. He blinked and said hesitantly, in lack of better phrasing, Is... What happened to your eye? Are you okay?

She brushed off his remark with a wave of her paw. There was no way anyone could’ve kept track of her, particularly this past year. Towhee waved it a second time when he questioned her about her eye, though now that he’d called her attention to it again, she rapidly blinked whilst making some rather peculiar faces.

I’m fine. A certain falling leaf just picked a fight with me. I lost, she quipped, but I’ll live. I think.

She gave it a rest, expression falling back into more speculative lines as she regarded Eljay. He hadn’t answered her question directly, though Towhee could gather a few things from his response. He hadn’t expected to find her here. Perhaps he hadn’t expected to find anybody here.

I know you didn’t come looking for me, so who—or what—did you come looking for? Towhee pressed inquisitively.

Towhee hadn't changed a bit. Or rather... Not very much. At the very least not in personality. She was sassy as always, a thing that others probably loved about her, but that Eljay had always found difficult to navigate. He never knew when she was joking or not... Though she was probably joking when she suggested maybe she would not live from having a leaf blown in her eye. Well, that was good, he supposed. At least she wasn't hurt.

Her directness was another thing Eljay struggled with. He valued honesty, but Towhee had always pressured subjects that she wanted to know about. The same went for this one. She pressed on why he had come here. Eljay shuffled his weight between his front paws, and answered, I thought I would go visit Wiffle— um, Wildfire's grave, and my parents', before — Well — He paused a moment, seconds slowly ticking away. — Winter makes it too hard. He left the real reason — the real fear, of being unable to make the journey after next winter — hanging. It didn't matter. She didn't need to know. There was something about Towhee that brought Eljay back to his insecure youth. He hadn't felt this way in a long time, but seeing this ghost from his past brought him right back there. The weirdest thing was that it wasn't even all bad; a part of him was also grateful that he got to see Towhee again, even if he didn't know how to navigate a conversation with her.

Her question prompted a stammered response, which was quite the throwback. Towhee could’ve sworn no time had passed at all, except that she felt none of the old disdain. Even the sting of betrayal had been soothed away by time. All that was left was a sort of awkward camaraderie. They were both from the same old school, after all.

Oh, she said, eyebrows going up as she digested his surprisingly unsurprising reason for coming. Seeing no reason to deny his request, Towhee said, I’m sure you remember the way but I’ll go with you. I can hang back if you’d rather not have company.

As far back as they went, she couldn’t just let him traipse around the copse on his own. What if someone else spotted him and thought he was a trespasser? Towhee gestured for Eljay to see himself into the territory, stepping to the side to let him take point. Her orange eyes remained riveted on him, waiting for some cue to how much space he wanted.