Sun Mote Copse Gadgetville

@Towhee 

As the spring progressed, Wraen stole more day for herself outside the pack territory. Either together with Maia, making plans for that journey at some point in the future, or toying with various threads of plotlines she had in her mind. Things were peaceful within the pack - at least no one had come crying or complaining to her - and she wished that they would stay that way for a very, very long time. 

Towhee's daughter was growing like a weed and was no longer a little sand-coloured loaf of bread, but reminded more of an awkwardly proportioned, pudgy, little wolf. That could move around, make sounds and show some personality. So, at this point the kid had become interesting to Wraen and she decided to celebrate this milestone with the proud mom. 

Except she came empty-handed, because the old joint injury had flared up and she had not been able to hunt more than it was necessary to feed herself. But with so many active yearlings around Wraen hoped that someone had already taken care of the couple's nutritional needs. "Hey!" she greeted the little family from afar, then reminded herself that Towhee could not hear her (rolled eyes at herself inwardly) and closed the distance and greeted again: "Good day to you two!"

They were playing in the little dooryard beside the log when Meerkat's head turned to the side. Towhee followed her little girl's gaze and saw the Sovereign approaching their little den site off the main rendezvous. She straightened up out of her playful bow, her lips twitching as the puppy hopped up out of her own bow, only to gallop toward Wraen and resume it before her queen.

As the Regent watched this unfold, she realized with a sudden pang that Meerkat had just done something X used to do: alerted her to a presence she hadn't yet sensed for herself. Towhee swallowed the bittersweet lump in her throat at the thought of her old friend. Right then and there, she decided she would one day take Meerkat to the old roost on the plateau and tell her not only about the hawk but her Aunt Orca as well.

Blinking back to the present, Towhee watched as Meerkat greeted the leader with a shouted and signed, -"HI!"- The Regent added her own, -"Hey, Wraen."-

"I see that the apple does not fall far from the tree," Wraen told Towhee, then leaned down to have a good sniff of Mirka, nuzzle her forehead gently, if she let her do it and then walk to, where the girl's mother could have her in sight and thus the conversation would be easy for both of them.

For the kid's sake, the Sovereign lied down and was ready to be very patient and tolerant to any puppy mischief the kid would come up with. "Doing fine, I see?" she asked, stealing a glance at the girl out of corner of her eyes.

Towhee sarcastically arched an eyebrow at Wraen's remark. -"I don't know about that. She's friendly and outgoing. Plus, she can hear,"- she countered, huffing a laugh. Of course, she didn't realize that her daughter only had use of one ear, something which might only become readily apparent as Meerkat grew and developed her language skills. -"But, yes, we're doing all right,"- she concluded.

It didn't take long for Meerkat to seize the opportunity presented to her in the form of the prone Sovereign. She barreled straight into the silver-furred adult, still in an energetic and playful spirit. She tried to bounce up and snatch one of Wraen's ears in her teeth, not bothering with any formal signing or speech as she let her more primal vocalizations speak for her in the form of a low growl.

"How did you find out that?" Wraen chuckled, when Towhee told that Meerkat had a set of functioning ears and hearing systemt, in the meanwhile she let the said kid hit the intended target. Sovereign winced a little, when the tiny, sharp teeth grazed against the skin, but she had endured many worse puppy attacks back in the day. In that sense Meerkat had room to grow.

"You yelled and she responded?" she asked, attempting to prod the puppy with one of her paws, though the angle was not very handy for her to do so.

-"Meerkat,"- Towhee called in response to the Sovereign's words, having caught the pained grimace. At first, the pup ignored her completely, undermining her attempt to demonstrate her child's ability to hear. Hearing was one thing, listening was another. -"Suricate Meerkat Redhawk-Blackthorn!"- the Regent called again, louder and more imperiously.

This time, the pup let go of Wraen's ear and crouched beside her, quivering a moment before bounding over to her mother. She was the picture of giddy subservience, her head and belly slung low as her tail wiggled beseechingly. Meerkat dropped onto one hip and turned her face up toward Towhee, a hilarious, grimacing smile stretching her babyish features.

-"Good girl. Go play. But no biting,"- the mother instructed, nudging the pup back toward the Sovereign, just hoping the tot could understand the simple commands.

Meerkat didn't need to be told twice this time. She sprang to her feet and leaped back toward Wraen, noticing an outstretched paw and batting at it with a high-pitched giggle.

"Geez, Towhee, I heard it the first time," Wraen smiled and tried to bury her face under her forepaws in a pretence that the Regent had spoken too loudly. Meerkat obeyed right away and the older wolf raised her head and stretched her neck. 

The next target was her paw and right after the kid had batted it, Wraen went into a gentle counter-attack, by reaching forward and attempting to mock-grab her. Whether she succeeded or not is left up for Kat and David to decide, but afterwards Wraen asked: "So, no prospective fathers have shown up to claim that the kid is theirs yet?"

Towhee felt herself stiffen at the question. Biting down on the surge of irritation it prompted, she woodenly replied, -"Phox is her father."- She gave the Sovereign a look, pointedly asking her to drop the subject, at least in front of Meerkat. She understood more than either adult probably even realized and this was not something Towhee wanted to discuss, period, much less in front of her impressionable young child.

If the pup had heard the question, she showed no sign of it. She gave a squeal when the leader grabbed at her, toes brushing ticklishly along her pale flank. "NO!" Meerkat shouted, an almost knee-jerk reaction, even as another rash of giggles escaped her. She snapped her little jaws in Wraen's direction, proving Towhee's point: she had heard and heeded the "no biting" command.

Wraen realized her mistake and shot an apologetic look in Towhee's direction. Still - though her earlier inquiry had been born out of her habit of trying to make fun of serious things - the matter was not closed entirely. She played with a girl for a good while after that, giving in to the kid's whims and attempting to boost her confidence, by giving up just right amount of times. 

But, when she thought she had thought through the matter and been able to word it in her mind so that Meerkat would not understand a thing, she paused in the middle of yet another game, looked Towhee in the eyes and asked: "Did you manage to clear stuff with Arcturus? You were hardly pleased by my decision to let him in. There is a possibility that he stays with us. So, if you have any objections against him as a person, I would like to hear them now than later."

The Regent noted the Sovereign's look and twitched her lips, nodding to acknowledge it. If Wraen insisted, they could talk about it some other time, when Meerkat wasn't close at hand. She didn't want to discuss it but she supposed she understood others' interest and she figured Wraen, more than almost anybody else, reserved the right to press for details. Towhee resigned herself to having that conversation at some point.

In the meantime, Towhee watched her daughter engage Wraen in play and couldn't help but grin at their antics. She might not be able to hear those cherubic giggles, though she could see the utter joy on her little one's face, not to mention the look of delight on Wraen's. It was a sight to behold, something so bright, carefree and uplifting in a world that had been so recently darkened by the Blackthorns' passing.

When Wraen looked her dead in the eye and questioned her about Arcturus, it almost caught Towhee off guard, she'd been so caught up enjoying the show. "Uh," she said artlessly, "is he going to stay with us as a Firebird? Pledging his loyalty to us and contributing to the pack's greater good?" If so, then she couldn't say she took much issue. That didn't mean they had to be friends and it certainly didn't make him Meerkat's father. But Towhee had already made all of that pretty clear to the man himself.

"From, what I have gathered..." Wraen began to speak and simultaneously got up to fetch a stick (rather than a carrot) to tease the kid and engage in the game of "get it, if you can". This meant that she cut off "visuals" for Towhee and only, when she returned and settled down with the stick in her paws, did she realized her mistake.

"From, what I have gathered," she said again, looking now at Regent, "that fall-out with Hydra is very serious. Of course, I have heard only one side of the story and therefore I am not going to take sides, but... I don't see them mending stuff and then move on like nothing had happened and live happily ever after." Wraen summed up. To be honest, she had her premonitions about, what Arcturus would do, but she did not want to dwell on it too much. 

"What he does next is for him to decide, but, if it comes to offering him a home, I won't say "no"," she told her. "Besides... you know Ostregas - if they pledge themselves to the cause they give all or nothing. In that aspect Arcturus is no different from Hydra." Ostregas in general were decent people, when on their own and away from their leader. "Whether he decides to stay here for a while or forever, I would not want you or anyone else be hostile to him. The guy's having hard time already and it's not going to get any easier in the future."

While Wraen patiently teased Meerkat with a stick, she managed to simultaneously uphold her end of the adult conversation. Towhee followed her words with a furrowed brow, disliking the ambiguity of it. If Arcturus stayed here, then he at least needed to behave like a member of the pack via contributions. Although Wraen seemed noncommittal about his membership, she pointed out that Arcturus wouldn't be able to help but give 100% to the pack. She also said something about the melodrama with Hydra and the rest of his family, though Towhee largely chose to ignore what wasn't any of her business.

She wouldn't be the only one to resent a freeloader in the ranks, if it came down to that, though Towhee ended up saying nothing other than, -"I trust your judgment on the matter."- It wasn't entirely true but she really wanted to give the Sovereign the agency and benefit of the doubt. She knew Wraen always had the pack's best interests at heart, though the Regent couldn't help but wonder if Arcturus had wormed his way into that very heart in an altogether different way. That, too, was none of her business.

She knew she could press, just like Wraen wanted to know more about Meerkat's sire, but Towhee decided against it for now. Maybe she could make their future conversation about her child's parentage hilariously awkward by asking if Wraen was involved with one of her potential baby daddies. That thought made her chortle under her breath as she reclined, happy to keep watching as Meerkat lost interest in the stick and tried to climb up onto Wraen's sloping silver back.

"Thanks, Towhee! I appreciate that," Wraen smiled at Regent, but their conversation was interrupted again, when Meerkat managed to conquer the mountain that was the older wolf's back and thus had gained the upper-paw (four, to be exact) of the leader. 

"Having a good view?" Wraen asked, looking up and then to the side, careful not to make sudden moves in order not to have the girl lose her balance and fall. Not all were born to be tight-rope dancers. 

"How is everyone taking Elwood's and Finley's passing?" she asked, not because she had not observed it herself, but because she had wished to give time and space for people to mourn on their own. "I still can't believe that they are gone," she told earnestly.

Although she miraculously managed to scale the leader's back, Meerkat attempted to celebrate by wiggling joyfully and immediately tumbled off her other side. The pup flopped to the ground with a soft, "Oof!" She then began to laugh as she righted herself, taking her revenge on the entirely innocent Sovereign by headbutting her in the shoulder.

Above the rambunctious youngster, the Sovereign inquired about the late Blackthorns, a question which made Towhee's face melt into a sorrowful frown. -"I can't either,"- she replied, shaking her head lightly. -"I don't think I've wrapped my head around it just yet. Meerkat's been a great distraction but I sometimes worry that the grief is going to hit me at some point..."- She hoped not, though Towhee was trying to be prepared for the possibility. She didn't want to be incapacitated by it when the knowledge really sank its claws into her.

She took a few breaths and then admitted, -"I was most worried about how @Eljay would take it. I say 'was' because he's upheld surprisingly well. He's been very attentive."- Towhee frowned, wondering if he was like her: unable to process and on the verge of an emotional crash somewhere down the line.

"Life just does not know, when to stop hitting that guy," Wraen remarked and then replied to Meerkat's attack with a quick snap in her direction. I-am-gonna-grab-you-and-not-let-you-go. For a moment there she felt sorry that Towhee's daughter would never meet her famous grandparents or that those two would never see the girl grow up. But then - you did not miss, what you did not know - other people would enter her life. 

"I doubt that he is doing well, Towhee," she looked up, giving Meerkat ample opportunities to rework her strategy. "I have known him for a year now and he takes things very deep. He is just as heartbroken today about Wildfire's passing as he was a year ago. And losing his parents now has probably hit him so hard that he has not come to full terms with what has happened," she sighed. 

"I worry for him and feel sorry too," Wraen said. "And I am angry too, because there is no way I can make it better for him. Can't fix another person's broken heart."

Wraen voiced the very doubts Towhee felt herself. A breakdown of some kind was possibly inevitable, though she also wondered if he'd gone through so much already that he was almost desensitized to any further loss. Surely he felt it somewhere, though maybe deep down where it couldn't actually express itself. Ultimately, though, she was no psychologist and cut her speculation short.

-"There's nothing we can do but support him,"- she agreed, which had been her philosophy all this time. She sighed quietly too, then made a point to focus on Meerkat, who seemed to be losing steam if the fact that she'd now draped herself across Wraen's forelegs was any indication.

-"Think it may be time for a nap,"- Towhee observed, earning a flick of the pup's right ear but no other acknowledgement. She had never been one to fuss much about... well, anything, which both pleased her mother and made Towhee feel deeply fortunate.

Wraen would have loved to continue their conversation, but it came to an abrupt end, when Meerkat decided to take a nap, while sprawled across her forepaws. The Sovereign regarded the tiny beast, curious and amused, then looked up at Towhee, as if asking the mother, what should she do now. Would the Regent pick up her kid and tuck her back in the makeshift den inside the log, or should Wraen prepare for a nap herself and expect numb forepaws, when she woke up.

You can finish in your next post. Thanks!

Towhee made to collect her sprog but when she came to stand over them, she couldn't help but stand there and smile at the sight of her daughter snoozing so contently in the Sovereign's arms. She exchanged a look with Wraen, then retreated a few feet, standing by for whenever Wraen finally grew weary of the youngster's weight trapping her in place. Until then, she was happy to simply watch someone else enjoy her child's cuddly, innocent company.