Sun Mote Copse Grown out of myth.

She wasn't particularly surprised when @Sundance came to find her and tell her he was leaving to search for Dorea and the remnants of Elysium. Towhee didn't argue with him or try to convince him to stay. Immediately resigned, she gave him some tips for the road, thanked him for telling her before leaving and wished him well. At the last second, as she was clutching him to her chest one last time, a thought hit her and she asked him if he would mind stopping by the Firebirds on his way out and leaving a message with Raven et al, letting them know about Sugar.

After he'd gone, Towhee drew in a deep breath and walked to the borders. She intended to patrol, particularly now that she was Regent, but instead she found herself plopping onto her hindquarters and doing something she rarely did. She closed her eyes, turned her head skyward and howled. It was dissonant and haunting, a wordless, lamenting dirge. She hoped that venting some of her grief would help and, selfishly, she wondered if @Phox might hear the song, wherever he was, and come back. She needed him.

Phox did not come, but Wraen was around. She had observed that Towhee had a very specific kind of voice that was hard to miss for another. And recalling the previous day, when she had expected more cheers and hurrahs for the promotions, she decided to keep company for Regent. Talk to her, even if she did not wish to do so, because now - whether her cousin realized or not - the two of them were in a very serious relationship, where honesty and openness was a key.

"Doing any better?" she asked, when she was within Towhee's sight and therefore the girl could read her voice.

Maybe not who Towhee had hoped, but Maia heard it.  She'd been avoiding the Regent (and now Niamh) like the plague, not interested in embarassing herself in front of either warrior.  The added bonus was that she could lazily avoid all training and focus on her true talents; gathering stories, daydreaming, and occasionally hunting.

She couldn't avoid that call, though.  There was too much sad in it, and as uncomfortable as sad made it, Maia had a morbid curiosity too.  I mean, she could help, sure.  But she also really, really wanted to know what would make Towhee call like that.  If the woman was a character, she wasn't the type Maia would pin sadness on.

It probably took her a bit to get there, but when she did, she saw that Wraen was already there.  Feeling like her sister probably had it handled, she slipped around the other way, attempting to leave unnoticed.  She was curious! But not enough to join a conversation already in progress.

edited for shadow post!  Prolly a cameo <3

He did not come. Although she was disappointed, she didn't blame him. He must not have heard her, otherwise she was sure Phox would've returned at once. He was probably far away, taking the time he needed, and Towhee couldn't fault him for that. But a heavy sigh gusted out of her nonetheless and she prepared to flop to the ground, patrol be damned.

Then someone appeared in front of her. Towhee blinked, watching Wraen's lips move to form a question. "No," she answered baldly. She didn't think she had anything else to say, though some executive cog in her mind whirred to life and she found herself reporting, "Sundance took off to look for Dorea. I asked him to stop by Firebirds, give them the news about Sugar."

She didn't notice Maia's approach, nor prompt departure, which all happened somewhere behind her back. After giving the Sovereign a moment to process that news—and perhaps to stave off any discussion of her feelings—the newly appointed Regent asked, "Is there anything else you need done around here? Any specific tasks?"

Wraen had not expected Towhee to give any other answer, but she was of opinion that talking about difficult matters more often helped than did not. In the company of the right (attentive) audience one could collect their thoughts and come to the best possible conclusions. And the Sovereign was one of the very few people in the world, who loved to listen to others just as much as she loved to talk.

"Okay - good job, thanks!" Wraen said, then spotted Maia's quite obvious change in her course, had a quick thought and then hollered for her sister. "OY - @Maia - don't run off, you have a disgusting riddle case to attend to!" she glanced at Towhee and grinned mischievously. "You just wait," she told her and then watched, if her sister was going to respond to her call or not. If not, Wraen would have to use her nasty-alphaness arsenal.

She was on the way out when Wraen summoned her back and she froze, then smiled and sighed.  Yeah, she couldn't really ignore her sister!

She walked back and ducked her head a little in greeting.  Hey!  I was just, Y'know, walkin by, but I... yeah.  I'm Maia.  She said to Towhee, who I can't remember if she'd met yet.  Riddle?  I definitely got a few of those!  She took a beat to think of one as she looked at Towhee for any sign of confirmation.  She wouldn't force her to play, and wasn't sure if she was as into games as Wraen was.

She didn't react to the Sovereign's praise other than to give a brief, noncommittal nod. She blinked when Wraen reacted to something over her shoulder. Turning to look, she saw Maia turn around and head toward them. Her orange eyes followed the Tradesman's movements as she came closer, idly wondering why she seemed to have run off at first. But Towhee didn't care enough to ask. Anyway, it wouldn't even be the first time.

"Towhee," she answered simply. They were aware of one another, though this was their first formal introduction. "Riddles?" she tacked on stupidly, having missed Wraen's mention of them when turning to eyeball Maia. Her orange gaze drifted between the two sisters, at a loss.

"Exactly," Wraen nodded in response to Towhee's confused question. "You asked me, what can you do for me - and I will test your skills of creativity, thinking outside the box a-a-a-a-and..." she shot an inquiring glance over at Maia, "I quite forgot, what the third thing was, but it was just as awesome. Help me out, please!"

"Maia is our resident Riddlemaster," she explained to Towhee, once her sister had provided the necessary input. "Disgusting riddles are a very particular kind - something will be described in the most dreadful way possible and you will have to guess, what it was. And as your tyrannous Sovereign I won't take a "no" for an answer," she gave her Regent a toothy grin, then left the stage for Maia.

Ohhhh she loved a good forced riddle session!! And that was entirely true.  She'd basically strong armed Wraen into one (not really, her sis was an easy mark) and if Towhee was upset and needed distraction, there was no better way!  Okay, no pressure Maia, just gotta pick a good one.

Let's start with..... tree poop.  She said with a small giggle.  Now you gotta guess what 'tree poop' actually is.  She didn't think that this one was particularly hard, but that was probably good for now.  She didn't want Towhee frustrated and didn't know at all how much patience she had for puzzles.

Towhee gaped at the exchange, trying to make sense of the words coming from their mouths. There was nothing for it, though she did note that if they were trying to take her mind off less savory thoughts, they were doing a damn good job already.

They were waiting for some sort of response from her. "Um..." Towhee really didn't know what to say, her brain not really grasping the point of this game just yet. That was a lot less on them than on her, so she made a stupid face as she tried to come up with something to say to tree poop. "Uh. Sap?"

In a matter of two months Wraen had gathered a bit of data on mercenaries. And from three participants that did not even know they had joined the survey, she could draw a conclusion that brawn in no way replaced necessity for brains. Towhee was caught off guard by the silly mind games the two sisters had proposed. The Sovereign had managed to tame firey Niamh, by taking the pauses at the right time and places, while making a verdict. And Arthur - the proud Moonspearan - could not handle women that were not his sisters. At all. 

"A good one, Towhee," she praised the fellow leader, but despite her smiles, she was not feeling very merciful today. She stirred the pot more and winked in Maia's direction as she did this: "But you have to think outside the box."

Maia's smile continued as Towhee guessed.  It was a solid attempt! But not quite what she had in mind.  Wraen answered for her, and Maia wondered if she had guessed what it was or if she was just assuming the first guess wasn't right.  It would have been pretty amazing if Towhee had!  Neither of the sisters managed it much when they played.

Maia remembered in a rare moment of clarity that her packmate was deaf and waited for her eyes to be back on her before continuing.  Guess two comes with a clue!  Trees poop more when it's cold out, she added with a little giggle.  A girl is never too old to appreciate a good poo joke.

Despite the Sovereign's initial praise, Towhee felt a prickle of irritation at her incorrect answer. She wasn't a huge fan of mind games or riddles and she felt a sudden urge to tell the sisters to leave her alone. But then she remembered that they were only trying to help by getting her mind off even worse things. She bit back a sight, jaw clenching visibly as she stewed on both Wraen's and Maia's hints.

"Leaves?" was her next guess, the word leaving her in a bluster of breath. Towhee already intuited that this wrong too, as it wasn't very outside the box like Wraen had urged.

To be honest, Wraen had no idea, what was the answer to Maia's riddle. She was in the game to mess with Towhee and drive her crazy/angry/frustrated/annoyed - any of those firey emotions that were total opposites of the tepid-water-like depressed state. Therefore Maia's poo joke hit the jackpot and rather than helping her Regent out, she burst out laughing and was unable to stop the giggles coming, thus deeming her useless to continue the game.

Wraen's laughter was infectious, so Maia was giggling too when Towhee gave her answer.  One that, thankfully, was right!  She'd have hated for Towhee to lose first time playing, and this meant she was right on par with the sisters!  Ding ding!  Get it? Because they lose them.... she laughed, and somewhere in there a snort made its way in.

After a moment she composed herself though, as best she could.  It's a pretty good game.  Sometimes it's kinda hard to think of things.  Wanna give it a go?  She eyed her hopefully, but wondered a little deviously it maybe Wraen would make her.  Her sister seemed to have a penchant for forcing lighthearted escapes, and it was one that Maia supported wholeheartedly.  It was her specialty, after all!  It made her feel warm, appreciated.

It turned out that she had come up with the right answer. Towhee stared as Maia explained the joke. She didn't think it was that funny, though her pack mate's good-natured enthusiasm made her lips twitch into a smile anyway. It slipped right back off her face when Maia suggested she give it a try. Her brows raised as if to ask, You want me to pull a riddle out of my ass?

Then an idea hit her and she smirked a little as she said, "Knock, knock." Okay, so it wasn't a riddle, but surely these two wouldn't have any issues with a couple dumb jokes. Her orange eyes roved between the sisters' faces, waiting.

Wraen managed to get hold of her hysterics, though only by a whisker and because she reminded herself that rank "Sovereign" came with certain need to keep up her dignity. Therefore she breathed deeply, held her trap shut and pushed out the toilet humour out of her mind. 
 
Towhee's inquiry received a cant of her head and a curious look in her direction, then one such was shot at Maia. What d-ya think? "Woodpeceker on poppy under water," she made a stupid guess on purpose and watched Regent's face to see, if she had got it right. "Flirting with mermaids!!!" was a bouncy addition to it.

Maia was thrown too, but only for a minute.  Rather than turn, though, Wraen threw out guesses that, this time, had Maia cracking up.  Oh man that was so good, she should be using stuff like this also!!! Making it a sound made it so fun, she was totally taking note of that for later.

A bunny..... carrying a rock.... on a mountain...: she managed to get out between laughs.  Oh my gosh, get it? Knock, knock..... and then she couldn't help it, she dissolved into laughter again.

In order to land the joke, Towhee knew she couldn't react to anything they said. This proved difficult as the sisters each took a turn spouting total nonsense. She probably could've upheld her poker face without issue, except that they laughed at their own jokes, which definitely struck the Regent as funny. She bit her lip and turned away slightly to avoid spoiling her own punchline.

When she was sure she could keep a straight face, she looked back at them. Both Wraen and Maia were still giggling and grinning, though Towhee just stared... and stared... and stared... wondering if and when they would catch on.

Wraen caught Towhee's gaze and stared, and stared, and stared back, until she bumped her shoulder against Maia's, leaned up to her ear and murmured: "Do you think we broke Towhee?" A quizzical look was sent in Regent's direction and, had Sovereign been a cat, her tail would be swaying from one side to the other, indicating that something was being plotted.

She leaned up again and whispered, her lips barely moving: "Let's pin her down!" And if Maia got the memo, then Wraen's next move would be a sudden pounce.

Unfortunately for Wraen, Maia did get the memo.  She'd gone along with the game because it had been super funny, but as her laughter died down, she ignored Wraen's suggestion (for now!) to ask a breathless Who's there?

If she could while the regent wasnt looking, she'd wink at Wraen.  Towhee wasn't entirely  safe from their combined attack.... Maia just couldn't let a joke pass without finding out what it was!

It seemed the Sovereign didn't follow, instead joking that Towhee must be broken. Well, in a way... Wraen went on to suggest she and Maia pin her to the ground. The Regent met this declaration with a slow blink. Fortunately, Maia didn't spring at her sibling's cue, instead pushing for the punchline.

"What? I didn't hear anything," she delivered, deadpan, hoping it landed. But she didn't wait to find out. With an indelicate snort, the Regent abruptly bolted, not particularly desiring to be the sisters' punching bag, no matter how playfully meant.

She was grateful to them, however, as she genuinely felt better than she had before. Running helped too, she found as she wove through the copse. She'd only meant to flee the pair of them, though Towhee didn't slow even when she felt the coast was clear. She couldn't run from her problems, nor run after Phox, no matter how much she wanted those things. But she could pour the rest of her negative energy into it, run herself ragged until she could do nothing else but collapse and sleep.

Thank you for the thread!

Towhee's departure after delivering the punchline of her joke was so abrupt that Wraen sat, watching at the quickly disappearing rear end of the Regent in the forest with a dumbfounded expression. Then she turned to Maia to see, if she had any idea, what had happened now. "Was that part of the joke? I did not get it," she told her, getting to her feet and stretching. 

"All this mind-boggling makes me hungry? Want to hunt?" she asked, already thinking about the proper fast-food restaurants that could be found within the Sun Mote Copse quarter.

Last one from me too.

Towhee scrammed out straight away, much to Maia's chagrine!! She was really hoping to get in that jump on her.  She considered chasing, but dismissed it out of hand.  She was way too breathless from laughing, and way too lazy, to try that right now.  Plus, Towhee's answer had her laughing again, something she really didn't have the breath for.

I don't know, she said as she calmed down, but still brokenly giggling throughout.  Maybe she just can't crack in front of us, we are pretty intimidating. 

Whoooo, deep breath! Okay.  She nodded, then beamed and began to run, bumping her shoulder against Wraen's as they went playfully.  Hopefully she'd be okay turning the start of their hunt into a little mini game, because as lazy as she was a second ago, her good mood had her wanting to race!