Redhawk Caldera When the summer ends.

The weather cooperated during much of their trip, as Towhee retraced the steps they'd taken earlier that year, @Tegan and @Fire drifting in her wake. They forayed all day and then sought shelter at night before setting off early the next morning—rinse and repeat for most of a week. By the time they spotted the old smokestack in the distance, they were a bit footsore and road-weary. But seeing the caldera definitely put a pep in Towhee's tired step; she raced the final few miles to close the distance.

She wasn't sure how to feel as she stepped across the borders she'd patrolled countless times. She rolled to a stop, simply staring up at the familiar slopes. She remembered thinking, It's just a piece of land, when she'd led her family away to safety. If memory served, she hadn't even looked back. But Towhee couldn't deny the swelling of her heart as her orange eyes drank in the caldera, nor could she resist the urge to climb and begin visiting all the old landmarks.

She had never actually been to the Caldera before.  The last trip she'd taken to see this little bit of Redhawks history had ended in disaster.  She had found out that @Siarut was a Blackfeather wolf, and he had told her of his intent to depart.  She still missed him dearly, and although she had moved on romantically she wondered still if his life was good and what he was up to.

She sighed, stretching her toes a little as they passed the borders.  This, she knew by description and by the way Towhee perked up, had to be the Caldera.  She raced forward a little bit, attempting to get both Towhee and Tegan's attention before she called out, Mind showing me around?

tegan wished towhee didn't look so god damn somber(look at that 10pt vocab word).  like, fr, cheer up bitch. or maybe she was just on edge or something-- towhee was always on edge or something. smh. tegan still, truthfully, didn't understand their move. like, obviously he did he wasn't stupid, but like he was too young at the time to understand the weight of the situation. so the caldera held no ill memories. 

"totally!" he chirped to ceara, nudging towhee's shoulder as he padded up, "it's a pretty dope place, but i low-key like the plateau more." he turned to towhee so she could read his lips, "what do you think, towhee? do you like the caldera or the plateau better?"

She didn't catch Ceara's question, though when Tegan caught her attention, Towhee paused to peer between them, wondering about the context she'd missed. His question then sunk in and she pursed her lips. She cast her eyes upward, picturing in her mind's eye all the old haunts. It was enough to create a nearly overwhelming sense of nostalgia she hadn't actually expected. It welled up in her chest, tightened in her throat.

But life at the plateau was almost idyllic. And she had The Roost there. -It's no contest,- Towhee signed flippantly, as if there was no inner turmoil at all, -the plateau wins hands down because it doesn't have a tribe of murderous psychopaths living next door.- She turned her head and gave the distant woods a significant—and deeply loathing—look.

Facing her comrades again, Towhee shrugged. "Why don't you show Ceara all the old spots? We could start at the lake," she thought aloud, resuming her upward trend.

To be honest, she felt a little weird now that they were here.  She was the only one in the party who hadn't ever been to the Caldera, and while she was excited to be here she didn't know how to react.  Neither Towhee or Tegan seemed super attached to the place — actually, going out of their way to disparage it a little bit — and it helped her feel a little better.. but she wondered if she was as much of a waste of space as she felt.

Wew, that was dark.  Alright.  She gave Tegan a little eyebrow waggle before casually altering her course to slam into his shoulder.  Yeah, Tegan, why don't you show me all the old spots by the lake?

tegan's expression dimmed a bit. "sheesh, tow, lighten up," he said with an expression that could maybe be skewed as concern but most likely was just a poor attempt to cover up annoyance. but, he did move to nudge her shoulder again. 

"hey, motherfucker!" he yelped as fire suddenly beat the fuck outta his shoulder-- he didn't expect it, and accidentally let lose the expletive without meaning to. but, whoop, too late. he shot towhee an apologetic look (not that she could hear him) and then stuck his tongue out at his cousin. "alright, let's go!" he said, a bit more cheerfully, and then took off. someone better fuckin follow him.

Towhee rolled her eyes at Tegan but said nothing as the three continued climbing. Soon they reached the dead volcano's rim and found themselves peering down at the placid lake. Towhee felt the nostalgia well up inside her again. She glanced at her comrades, watching as Tegan presumably began leading Ceara downward to the water's edge. But she didn't follow.

"Keep up the good work, tour guide," she called to Tegan. "I'm gonna head this way. I'll meet you back here in a few." If either of her companions protested Towhee's solo side trip, their refutes fell on deaf ears; she turned even as she spoke, trotting along the volcano's old, familiar lip.

She roamed close to the outer edge, enjoying the sweeping views off to her left. Heron Lake Plateau also afforded the Redhawks some incredible panoramas, so it was difficult to decide which territory won in that arena. Before she could delve too deeply into comparing and contrasting them, something darted past her feet, causing Towhee to instinctively jerk to the side.

She never saw what it was, as her inborn sideways leap caused her to teeter on the ledge. The dirt was dry here, baked for months in the summer heat, and it crumbled loosely. Towhee lost purchase and began tumbling down the slope. It was almost as if history was repeating itself, though there was no ice to make her fall all the more treacherous. And unlike Fox, she didn't even fall that far; a bent and gnarled tree halfway down abruptly halted her descent with a loud thwack!

Tegan was a really good tour guide, for the most part.  He wanted to be a scout and even though his brain was a little, uh, umm... not all there some times, he was kind of worth his salt as far as she could tell.

Towhee left her alone with Tegan, and he showed her around (presumably).  So you guys used to live here, then?  Did you like it?  In the distance there was a loud, very solid thud.  Her ears swiveled atop her head and she made a face, but she wasn't super worried.  If Tegan kept walking, so would she.

"yeah," said tegan casually, "it was pretty dope-- good livin and all'at." his own ears swiveled at the sound as well, pausing and turning to sniff in the general direction of the sound. tegan wasn't concerned, per say, but he did wonder if the thud was benefitting to them.

"you think a hawk just crash-landed into the caldera?" he asked, turning to look back at ceara, "i bet that'd make a good snack."

She didn't hear the sound of impact, of course, nor the loud grunt that accompanied it. There was a wave of pain that rattled through Towhee's body, only to subside quickly. Moving gingerly, she tried to pry herself away from the tree to assess the extent of her injuries, reassured a little. It had felt like a bone-cracking hit, though there was so little pain.

A bolt of fear spread through her when the Beta found herself struggling simply to rearrange her own body. Fighting against mounting panic and a frantically beating heart, Towhee managed to figure out that her left side, near her spine, had taken the brunt of the hit. She could see the tangled fur with bits of bark in it, the shallow scratches and even a few threads of blood. But she couldn't feel it. In fact, her entire left hip and hind leg were tingly and growing number by the second.

Somehow, she managed to get herself seated upright, though her left leg splayed uselessly to the side. Towhee nosed herself—ignoring the wound, although she knew she should clean it—to get an idea of how far the numbness spread. Even as she performed this evaluation, she wished Raven were here. Then it struck her: Ceara dabbled in medicine!

She had practically forgotten her two companions. It took several tries to get past the dry spit in her mouth and the lump in her throat, though eventually Towhee managed to send up a weak, wavering howl that sounded distinctly like a beheaded chicken's death throes.

Well, it's worth lookin' at, right?  She turned towards the sound and headed that way with Tegan in tow (presumably), before she heard Towhee's frantic, wavering howl.  She cast Tegan a panicked look and began a full gallop towards her traveling companion.

When she arrived on scene she was happy to find that there were no strange attackers and at first glance, Towhee didn't even look all that hurt.  She tucked away whatever panic might have lingered on her face and gingerly approached Towhee.  She knew the Redhawk was a bad bitch, and she wouldn't call for help unless she really needed it.  What's up...?  More than anything, she knew that she was no Raven, and she didn't know how much permission she had to check things out.

why'd fire gotta ask dumbass questions? 

tegan had shot his cousin a smirk and then the pair went off after the noise-- of course their course of action altered when they heard towhee's wimp-ass howl. couldn't she put two-and-two together? clearly... it wasn't a hawk that had run into the side of the caldera. 

it was towhee.

"ah shit, tow, it's cool, what'd you hurt?" he asked, mostly repeating what ceara said but clarifying that at least he realized she'd taken an unexpected skydiving lesson.

They came promptly and Towhee offered them a grimace as they came nearer, inquiring about what had happened. "I wrecked," she said, looking directly at Tegan even as she tried to reassure all three of them with a casual humor she didn't feel. Speaking of which, the vague smirk that appeared vanished just as quickly as she added, "I hit this tree pretty hard. I'm not in pain, but..."

Her muzzle pointed at her left hind leg, which was splayed out beside her in an unusual position. She then glanced up at Ceara specifically. "It was tingling a bit but now it's mostly numb." Towhee bent slightly to nose her own hip. "From here," she said, "all the way down." Her orange gaze skirted down to her own toes before raising again, now shifting between her companions' faces.

She let the implications sink in for a moment before declaring, "I'm going to try to stand." See what happens, she added inwardly even as she heaved her weight forward onto her forelegs and lifted her posterior. She had to spread her forelegs wider than usual and brace her right hind leg to avoid teetering, especially on this slope, yet Towhee managed to stay upright. She was tempted to lean on the tree for support but she turned from it with an irritable snort.

And came face to face with her own useless limb, her paw dragging on the ground as if it were dead. Towhee didn't even have to try; she knew that if she attempted to put her weight on the leg, she would immediately crumple. She tried to shake her foot, bend her fetlock, even rotate the damn thing in its socket. Her leg did not respond beyond a feeble muscular twitch near her hip bone.

"Shit," she cursed under her breath, fighting growing panic again.

I'm not in pain, but..

She had to fight the rising panic in her throat.  Towhee's leg wasn't mangled but it was sitting in an unnatural and uncomfortable looking position.  No pain and tingling was even worse.  She wanted to tell Towhee not to move, but what good would it do?  They couldn't get a more experienced healer out here.

I'm...  She didn't know how to help.  Have you ever needed to walk on three legs before?  I'm not confident treating this.  I can look at your back and patch it up so you don't get an infection there, but I'm not sure what I can do about your leg.

She hated to admit it, but them's the digs.

tegan fell silent as towhee began to try to stand, failed, only for fire to start taking over and trying to help. healing or some shit, idk, tegan doesn't know. he pursed his lips, chewing on his cheek as he waited patiently for something else to happen. i mean, lets face it, dudes pretty useless when it comes to everything except for... uh, wandering? 

no, scouting, better connotation.

This was probably the most unsettling feeling Towhee had ever experienced. She couldn't stop staring at her dead leg now, as if the power of her gaze might revive it. But it just dangled there, utterly useless, and no matter how much she willed it, it would not move.

She missed much of what Ceara had to say on the matter, though she caught the last few words when she could finally tear her eyes away from her leg. "Yeah, we should probably clean it," she agreed distractedly, suddenly overly aware of the stinging on her back that proclaimed the presence of broken flesh.

Easing forward onto her belly, Towhee put her fresh wound within the aspiring medic's reach. More to Tegan than to her, she said, "Once this is done, we'll have to head back. I'm sorry I just shat all over the tour. But you guys are probably going to have to help me walk, so it's gonna take us a while to get back."

Oh man, that looked, uh, rough.  She didn't really trust Tegan to pick any herbs for her (sorry, cousin) but she knew it'd need more than a good grooming to prevent infection.  She lowered herself within Towhee's eye-line and said, That's okay.  As long as we all make it back in one piece, it's no skin off my .... back. Shut up, Ceara. I'm going to get some herbs for this.  I don't want it to get infected.

She then turned to Tegan and told him, Stay here and make sure nothing else happens.  I'm gonna get some shit to put on that so it doesn't get nasty.

After some time she would return and begin to apply what she'd gathered to Towhee's wound.  In a while it would dry and perhaps be a little uncomfortable.. but it was better than being exposed to the elements.

Why don't we try to figure out how to help you walk?

"just lean on us, tow," tegan said once ceara had returned with the herb stuff. whatever that stuff was, he didn't know. that would probably be the easiest way to transport her, at least in tegan's mind, but he gave a quick glance to his cousin before helping towhee up to see if she had anything to add.

Wrapping for us!

Ceara's trailing remark brought a grim smile to Towhee's lips. She hoped she remembered that comment for later, when she could laugh about this situation; she had a feeling she would find it a lot more hilarious later. For now, she simply fell into a stony silence as Ceara departed to gather some herbs. She glanced at Tegan but did not make conversation.

When the fiery she-wolf eventually returned, Towhee maintained her silence throughout the application. She stood when cued, nodding at Tegan's remark. "Let's see how well I do on my own first," she said, finally breaking the long, pensive silence. Moving painstakingly slowly, she began to shuffle downhill, shifting her weight to stay balanced on her three good legs.

It wasn't long before she incidentally tried to put weight on her left hind limb, causing her to lose her balance and topple hard onto her left hip. "The good news is," Towhee observed in a very dry voice, "I didn't feel that at all. Or maybe that's the bad news." With a grunt, she climbed back onto all fours threes and tried again.

Eventually, she would have to seek her companions' support if they wanted to get back to the caldera before next spring. But Towhee had a feeling she would need to adapt to this new reality very rapidly, that there was no going back. Speaking of which, Towhee once more did not spare the caldera even a single parting glance as she walked away from it once and for all, even knowing that she would never again lay eyes on it.