Ocean's Breath Plateau don't dwell on the past

perry tag for reference!

His wandering took him north. @Peregrine wasn't in his immediate sight, but Phox figured he couldn't be too far off. He never was.

They'd come to the coast, but Phox was far more interested in the raised bit of land nearby than the shore itself. The ocean had never agreed with him, but he didn't mind seeing it in the background. It reminded him of Lake Rodney which sometimes seemed as big as the ocean. It was getting dark, and Phox found himself gazing at the night sky as he so often did, wondering if all his lost loved ones were up there. Had Niamh forgiven him before she'd died? Had she forgiven him after she had died? Phox didn't even know if such a thing was possible, and he reminded himself it wasn't healthy to dwell on such questions.

She was pretty quick to leave yet another wolf in the dust and strike out on her own along the shore. She liked the way the water lulled her ears but hated the way the sand felt between her toes. She'd cut inland for a while, but something brought her back to the ocean just in time to run into a familiar face. Perhaps it was fate.

At first she scoffed internally when she saw him, assuming he was just another rando she'd have to duck and avoid in order to not have some other weird encounter and awkward goodbye. But no, as soon as she was close enough she recognized that familiar grey pelt. Shit. Uncle Phox?! F... heyyyyy! She caught it just before it left her teeth. Tierra had picked up a habit but she liked to keep up appearances.

Is this where everyone went?! No way... She looked around, as if expecting her mom to rise out of the ocean or something. If they did she'd stick around long enough to say hey, but no way in hell she was staying. Sand in her fur, day in and day out? Pass.

Hearing his name come from somebody other than Peregrine was a bit of a shock, but Phox recovered fairly quickly. He squinted at the girl for a moment longer, remembering how Maegi had found her and brought her to him. How they'd traveled back to the caldera together. Towhee's daughter.

Tierra! And, uh, I don't think anybody else is here. You don't know where Towhee is either? I went back to the caldera, but nobody was there. Brechliant didn't know where she was either. Peregrine is around here somewhere, but we haven't found anyone else. Until now, of course.

How are you? Phox tried to assess whether she was being well fed or not, but he couldn't tell much with her winter coat.

Oh, so he was it. That was disappointing. She loved her uncle but she'd been hoping to see her mom and sister and brother to finally catch up. Fine. I was with the Frosthawks and stuff. Obviously. She waved a paw, ready to move on from that before he asked any questions about specifics.

It's weird, right!? I never thought mom would move! Dad's there now, I guess they moved there since the forest is kinda f...ood empty. No prey or something. They didn't know where everyone went either. Fucked was the word that started. This whole situation was kind of that though. What, did they just not care if she found them? Cool, fine, okay. (Not that it wasn't her fault, since she hadn't been where she said she would be first.)

Oh? We must have just missed each other down there, he said, though it didn't really matter. Phox had never intended to stay there very long, just long enough so Raven could help him set his head straight. He was a little disappointed to hear that Sequioa no longer lived there, but after hearing gossip of how things had gone with Crow, he wasn't particularly surprised. That guy seemed like a real piece of work.

I spoke to Reyes and Eljay briefly, too. I'm sure it's nothing bad, but it is odd that your mom would up and leave without at least letting me know. She knew where I was. It must have been sudden, whatever her reason for moving on from the plateau. Phox paused for a moment, trying to think of reasons why Towhee would take off in a rush, but nothing really came to mind. At least nothing good, and he didn't really want to think of any bad reasons.

Where all have you looked so far? I check the place where we used to live, another plateau a little further south. We stayed there for a good three weeks, but she never showed and I didn't see any signs of her there. It would help if he could narrow down the places Towhee hadn't been.

If Hydra had still been alive, he would have searched for her at Moonspear, but—Wait a minute, where did Moonspear's survivors go? Do you remember?

I was trying to think and honestly, I don't think she'd even know what Moonspear was since all that happened beforehand (and the packs haven't really interacted since, oop)

Right, sure. She let him go with that assumption and listened as he went off about a bunch of stuff she pretty much already knew. Tierra shifted impatiently, got distracted by a loose bit of something that was caught drifting by on the wind, and caught back up at the end.

What Moonspear? she asked, looking at him with an expression that clearly showed she had no clue what he was talking about. I have no idea. I didn't think mom had any friends outside of the Caldera. I'm not surprised she didn't tell dad though. He was pissed. She grinned, then waved it off.

It's whatever, though. Kinda. Kinda not, since the thought of not finding them sucked quite a lot. She could always go back to her dad, but she missed the rest of her family.

Right. Towhee's kids had been pretty young then, so they likely didn't even remember the place. Still, it might be a decent next destination for them.

Okay, I'm gonna go find @Peregrine, and then we can start by searching around Moonspear. I think that's a good first step. Then... I don't know. Maybe go back to Brechliant if we still haven't found her and hope she turns up. It wasn't an ideal situation, and Phox wasn't even sure that Reyes would let him stay, but it was really the only thing he could think of at this point.

closing out here, since we agreed tierra would come with!