Heron Lake Plateau i'm not just pieces of meat between pieces of bread.

The sky was grey and clouded, holding the promise of rain. Fin frowned up at it for a moment before continuing along her way. She had left her boys in @Lucca's care for the evening after finally accepting that it was high time they find a suitable rendezvous site for them. The den they had claimed had been cramped when they'd found it, and with Cinder and Tywyll growing like crazy every day, it was either they move out or one of them had to go. Seeing as she was rather fond of them both, moving seemed to be the best option.

But where to go? Finley didn't know this territory well. Since arriving here, she had spent most of her time at the den with her sons. She rarely went further than the mile or so surrounding the site, the occasional trips to the border not withstanding. So when it came to finding a safe, open area within the territory for her pups to continue to grow, she really wasn't sure where even to start. The whole place seemed to be covered in swamp and grossness... Why had they settled here again? She grimaced as her foreleg sunk into the sopping earth and sighed. Maybe they ought to stay put and just not sleep inside anymore...

The boys being cared for by Lucca gave Eljay some time on his own too. It was weird, but he didn't always like being part of such a large family; he'd loved when he actually felt useful, but the next generations were all very capable too and it often left him feeling out of place. It was much the same feeling that had made him leave Redhawk Caldera in the first place -- feeling useless and as if he may as well not be there -- but Eljay wasn't too sure what to do about it. He mentally noted to himself that he should seek out Raven, still, as they hadn't really talked since he had returned. The move hadn't helped, and now she was an Alpha; casting both a boundary of hierarchy between them and making him feel like she was always too busy for him to demand some of her time, anyway.

This territory wasn't Eljay's favourite place. As a matter of fact, he hated it. It pretended to be home but it very clearly wasn't. He just wanted to move back to Redhawk Caldera, for it was their home, not this... place. Eljay was out moping about while searching for suitable places for the pups' rendezvous site when he saw mommy in the distance. "Oh," he murmured under his breath when he saw her leg sink into the grime and Eljay trotted her way with a hasty pace. He just wanted to make sure she wasn't stuck, or anything. Just as he almost reached mommy Eljay felt his legs sink into the same muck he was on his way to save mommy from, and with a sucking sound his legs were slurped pretty tightly into the mud up to his knee joint. Oops.

Fin heard footsteps that drew her barely-focused attention from the terrain to her new company. She brightened when she saw Eljay approaching and paused to give him a chance to catch up. It also served to give her a chance to tug her paw back up out of the muck she had accidentally stepped into. Her mind flashed unexpectedly to Peregrine as she removed her foot from the mud. It was a vision of his face, covered in mud, grinning. Her heart panged with affection and remorse. And she focused on her son - a preventive measure.

"Hey bird," she said as he came near. She attempted to step backwards out of the filth to greet him, but her grin sank into an expression of frustration as she felt her back legs submerge into even more mud and water. Freakin' perfect. She shut her eyes for a moment before looking at Eljay. "And how are you?" she asked, wanting to keep things light in spite of her mounting aggravation.

Mommy seemed to have similar problems as Eljay did — he was still pretty stuck too. As Eljay pulled one of his front legs, a heavy sucking sound followed and then with a plop and a spraying of mud he got loose. A step further he was stuck again. For now he decided to stay like this, since at least he didn't seem to sink alarmingly far into the mud. It'd just take a bit of effort to get loose. "Uhm," he murmured, a guilty look on his face that betrayed his feelings; "I hate this place." Eljay hadn't ever said he 'hated' anything, but he really hated this place. "But I'm trying not to show too much. I don't want everyone to be miserable just 'cause I am." He grimaced as he pulled his leg with a frustrated frown on his face. This was exactly one of the things wrong with this place.

"I heard Raven's pregnant," said Eljay, a bit of hesitance in his voice as he wasn't too sure if mommy liked this news. Her rise to Alphaship -- and mommy and daddy stepping down as Betas -- hadn't gone unnoticed to Eljay and he wasn't too sure how mommy felt about it.