Hideaway Strath Is it Easy...?

@Towhee 

After bidding good-bye to his family and with a promise to return after his training would be over Elfie left the copse to walk the road alone. He had not wished for company, in case they saw, how conflicted he felt about the whole deal the further away he was from home. But deep inside he knew that leaving had been inevitable, that sooner or later it would have come to this and if all was not for easier, it was for the better. There would be no ghosts haunting the living, no cousins sticking to stupid traditions. And though he did not want to admit it - there weren't people, who had seen the worst of him. 

With the hope of starting afresh and returning home better and wiser he arrived at the Hideaway strath and called for Towhee.

Nothing could ever fix the ragged hole punched through Towhee's heart at losing @Fennec and, certainly, she could never replace her daughter. But she found some solace in throwing herself into mentoring (and mothering, who's she kidding?) @Figment, @Dorea and now @Sundance. Looking after them and focusing on their needs left her less time to grieve over Fen's absence or dwell too much on all the "what ifs." Between rearing them and staying on top of her leadership duties, she even began to sleep better again, too weary for insomnia or nightmares.

When today's venture to the pass for a watch immediately presented her with yet another youth, Towhee's lips even twitched into the ghost of a smile. -"You're here,"- she said, closing the distance. She drew to a stop a yard or so from him, giving her nephew a careful once-over. -"Your acceptance is a foregone conclusion, based on my agreement with Wraen. All the same, I'd like you to state your name and business, then tell me what skills you bring to the grove."-

Good thing that Towhee spared Elfie the pains of coming up with what to say or how to start a conversation. Talking with people he knew was easy peasy. It was not such a bed of roses, when it came to someone he barely knew and it did not help that she was a sister of his mother and therefore his aunt. Neither did anything that Wraen had arranged be in the game. 

Therefore he was grateful for the tips on, what to say, straightened himself up, smiled nervously and dug his hind-feet in the ground, because they wanted to tremble treacherously. He should not be afraid, Towhee was not going to eat him, was she? "I am Elf... Elwood Jr.Jr. Blackthorn from Firebirds and I wish to join your pack to train to become a mercenary," Wraen would have added to "become a good and tolerable citizen" to the pot, but Elfie had no idea, what did it mean.

"I can hunt on my own and I patrolled borders at home," he stated his resume, which - he realized - sounded neither long, nor impressive. But this was an honest start, because an option to boast did not occur to him.

Towhee sort of struggled not to roll her eyes at his full name. Really, Wifi and Eljay? she thought, though not without some fondness mixed in with the exasperation. She'd liked Wildfire well enough and once more found herself hoping that Elfie here took after his dam and not his sire. She had never had much time or patience for Eljay.

-"That's a great batch of skills there,"- the Kilonova commended. -"What do you think of proving one of them? I'd like you to hunt some small game and bring it to me. Not right this second—we're not done here yet—but as soon as you get the opportunity."- She paused, the considered what else to say before coming up with, -"For now, do you have any questions for me?"-

If Towhee had a mental eye-roll about his full name, she would have burst out laughing, knowing the exact origins of his nickname. And she would get a heart-attack from laughing, when few years down the road this very same youth would have a male heir called Elwood Jr.Jr.Jr. IV. But we are getting ahead of events and there is a whole BWP plot to survive through, before we get there.

"I can do that," Elfie nodded eagerly. He took great pride in the fact that he could hunt half of his meals on his own and, now among set of different people, he wanted to do even better. "Umm... I don't know. What do people ask usually?" he asked, feeling confused and hoping that by this silly question he had not earned the dunce hat for him already.

He seemed stumped by the question. But rather than simply leaving it at "I don't know," he wanted to know which questions were typical. Idly, she wondered if he'd ever helped recruit a new member back at the copse. He'd mentioned patrols. She supposed it was unlikely, though, that anyone would trust that level of inquest to a youngster. (Although hadn't she been interrogating outsiders since she was, like, three days old?)

-"Don't you want to know about who runs this place, who lives here, if there are other kids around? Where the bedrooms and bathrooms are? If we worship the stars and require nightly prayer to Polaris?"- she prompted him, a little bit of a teasing glint in her flame-like eyes.

Some of Towhee's suggestions were rather odd and Elfie looked at her in genuine concern. Was it a pop-quizz? Wraen had not told him there would be any. She had not told him that there would an encounter like this. "Uhm... you and my uncle Phox lead the place?" he began the sentence as a statement and ended it in question, in case this had changed somehow.

"And... you should not take other's den without asking. And relieving oneself in the place they sleep or eat is unhygenic and rude," he listed all the other things. That Polaris question and star-worshipping sounded much like that commemoration of dead. That was, what crazy people did. Yet, he did not have the guts to tell Towhee that Wraen, knowing his dislike for the supernatural and unreal things, would knowingly send him right in the wasp nest. "Do you?" this question sounded more as a hopeful plea that they did not.

Someone had raised this kid well, which actually surprised her because it must've been Eljay. Then she recollected her conversation with Finley a while back. The whole pack was likely responsible for this well-rounded youth. Wildfire would be proud.

She couldn't hear his tone, though she sensed a bit of skepticism and maybe even distaste in his expression. -"No,"- Towhee replied with a smirk. -"But we do have a secret language. Would you like to learn?"- Honestly, it was compulsive, as far as she was concerned. But Towhee had to wonder if Elfie thought anything of her flailing forelimbs or if he'd associate it at all with her invitation.

Relief was evident, when Towhee told that he would not have to worship things that are not real and do something as bad as dancing around a bonfire without drawers during full-moon (Elfie might not know, what undergarments are, but he would know the feeling of doing ridiculous stuff for uncertain results).

"Oh - Wraen told about that too," Elfie had observed his aunt the last time, but he still had hard time imagining that she could not hear at all. He had effectively ignored her odd mannerisms up until it was brought into the spotlight. "That would be cool," he agreed. "Will you show, where I should not sleep? I mean, where no one else has claimed anything?"

He seemed game, which was all Towhee could ask. Next, Elfie wanted to be shown someplace where he could sleep. She tilted her head, considered teasing him about treating his acceptance like a foregone conclusion, but decided that would be silly. It was, he'd been there when she'd made arrangements with Wraen. Instead, she shot him a tiny smirk, then nodded.

-"Sure, I'll show you the rendezvous site,"- Towhee said simply, motioning for Elfie to follow before gliding away through the woods. It was only a short matter of time before they arrived at its center. -"I'll leave you to get settled in wherever you like. Then feel free to have a look around, introduce yourself to the others, all'a that. Just don't forget about that kill,"- the Kilonova reminded him before flicking her tail in farewell and making herself scarce.

Rendezvous site did not sound as tempting, but before the figurative rain-cloud manage to swipe across his expression and speak of disappointment, Towhee added a treat. He could then go, wherever he liked. Which was better.

With that the conversation was suddenly over - Elfie watched his aunt disappear and after a moment of hesitation he took after her. Eager to begin his new life in the grove.