Lake Rodney And even monsters can do good in this world.

Confusion and dismay were written all over Towhee's face as she gazed across the partially frozen lake, her mind reeling. Where was Phox? Where was X? They had been gone for days now, which was highly unusual. Under any other circumstances, she might have dropped everything to go looking for them. But they were on the brink of war. Her pack needed her here to fight. And no matter how much she missed the two other halves to her whole and worried about what had become of them, the mercenary knew the pack came first regardless. Still, Towhee had never felt so torn in her life.

She wasn't usually one for howling, considering Towhee simply didn't exist in an auditory world. But with no other outlet for her distress, the yearling found herself throwing back her head and baying mournfully to the pale winter skies. Her voice sounded a lot like the screech of a particularly tone-deaf harpy, echoing off the nearby mountain and slipping away cross the ice. When her breath failed her, Towhee dropped her head and cocked her ears as if to listen for an answer that would never come.

Though Wraen had been very careful not to leave Moonspear too far away - in case she got lost again - on day three since her return, the need to expand the hunting grounds was greater than the caution. Therefore she headed South towards the stretch of forest called Bramblepoint in order to find out, whether the food there was more available than within the confines of her home. 

She had been walking through the forest with a large lake in view through the trees, when she heard a mournful howl. The girl stopped, listened, in case the person, who was crying out there, would give any other noise that could clarify, what was wrong. When nothing like this happened, she lifted her head and let out a howl of her own. After that she went out in the clearing and headed towards the shores of the lake, because this was the likeliest place, where the initial howl had come from.

Her deafness did not usually bother her; she rarely thought of it at all. But as she sat there, unable to hear if Phox or X might have responded, Towhee felt an intense frustration rise up inside her. She climbed to her feet as it heated her blood, rapidly reaching a boiling point. Another cry spilled from her lips, this one a tormented bellow of defeat. Without thinking, she raised a paw and brought it down on the closest patch of ice. It didn't crack but the impact reverberated up her foreleg rather painfully. Now her emotions took a sharp turn toward fury and she commenced her brutal assault on the frozen water, doing more damage to herself than to the elements.

When she saw movement out of the corner of her eye, Towhee gasped and peered across the lake, her heart leaping into her throat. Phox! she wanted to scream. A final cry—this time of her beloved brother's name—died in her throat. The wolf on the opposite shore looked nothing like her litter mate; she was a perfect stranger. The mercenary froze, feeling a flash of humiliation when she realized this woman had witnessed her emotional outburst.

"What are you looking at?" she barked unkindly, still seething. But as rapid breaths drew in and out of her chest, the sudden onset anger seemed to ebb somewhat, leaving a feeling of desolation in its wake.

The sight Wraen stumbled upon was not a pretty one - a young wolf, after giving yet another ear-piercing, brain-shattering howl attacked the icy surface of the lake, letting out all the built up frustration out.  Warching this felt like reading someone's diary - interesting, exciting and yet there is this nagging feeling that tells you, how wrong it is to get a glimpse of the person's innermost secret and private thoughts. 

Had not the other noticed her presence, Wraen would have turned around and left the stranger alone. Now - that option was still valid - but she thought that she should apologize at least. "Hi!" she said, approaching the other carefully, having not forgotten the unfriendly way the other one had greeted her. "Is everything alright with you?" Obviously not, but it would sound totally off, had she asked "what is wrong with you?"

Despite Towhee's dour mood, the stranger found it pertinent to approach. For a few beats, the mercenary didn't react. Her forelegs were trembling (the right aching horribly now) and she felt utterly spent. But as the stranger came closer, Towhee thought she saw pity on her face. Her eyes screwed up in response to the well-meaning query.

Wrath surged through her again. "The fuck kind of question is that? Do I look okay to you?" she shot back, her voice overly loud. Though she was most certainly not the type to unload her problems on outsiders, she suddenly found words streaming from her mouth like vomit. "He's not off hunting or tracking! None of this is an accident! He left!" I don't know why. "He left on purpose! He turned his back and he left like a fucking bitch ass coward!"

These words echoed through the frosty air, bouncing off the caldera and back again, not that Towhee knew it. She stood there, panting, chest heaving, as she realized the truth of her words. Nonetheless, she suddenly felt awful for saying such things about Phox, her Phox... "I—I don't mean that..." she muttered weakly, looking down to see that one of her toenails had been ripped clean out while smashing her foot on the ice.

"I agree, that is an effing stupid question," Wraen murmured and with ears drawn back she listened, how the stranger shouted profanities at her. The good thing in this awkward situation was - that she was not the main target. It was easy to imagine that, had she been that "fucking-bitch-ass-coward", then she would not be standing here so calmly, but would probably walk around with a face half-torn off. Or something just as gruesome. 

"It's okay, it's okay," Wraen shrugged and sat down, deciding that - prehaps - if she listened long enough the other one would calm down enough to talk properly. "He is a bastard and do not deserve you, even though I have no idea, who he is," she was sympathetic. "That must hurt," she pointed out to the toenail the loud wolf had torn off.

Towhee sagged back into a sit, dragging her eyes upward to see how the stranger had chosen to react after being verbally accosted. She couldn't find it in herself to feel bad about it, though her orange eyes squinted even as anger and guilt continued to churn in her gut.

"Don't call him that," she warned in a low, soft voice. Before she could say anything else on the matter, the silver she-wolf pointed out her damaged toe. She stared at it for a beat, before looking up again. "No, you know what hurts? When you find out you can't trust anyone not to fucking—" Her voice hitched. She was shaking. "—leave. Fuck."

The impulse to cry nearly subsumed her, yet the mercenary tried to steady herself with a breath instead. "Why am I even telling you this?" she asked the she-wolf, as if she would know the answer. "Why do you care? Who are you? What are you doing here?" She paused, then flatly finished by saying, "Please tell me you're a Blackfeather so I can kill something right now."

"That totally sucks - not trusting anyone," Wraen agreed, nodding in agreement and suddenly realizing, how surprisingly easy it was for her to keep a calm demeanor, while the other was in the middle of an emotional turmoil. "And leaving also hurts," she spoke from experience, but refrained from adding that she had been the one to leave. And adding that "sometimes it was the best choice for both parties involved" was not a good idea either. 

"I have no idea, but you seem like you need someone, who listens," Wraen replied and cast a glance around. "And here - me is as good as you are going to get. Unless you want to break more toenails on ice," however, if the girl chose to do that, she would not argue. People had different ways to, how to deal with anger. "Ehm... I have to disappoint you - not a Blackfeather and I would really like to stay alive. If it is not too much to ask?"

The fur along the back of Towhee's neck prickled uncomfortably when the stranger pointed out that she needed someone to listen. That was true, but it should have been Phox. Without him, she should turn to the shrinking number of wolves she could still trust: Uncle Elwood, Aunt Finley, Raven, Lagan, Orca... but she didn't want to admit her vulnerability, nor bother them with her emotions, not at a time like this. Still, it was even worse to unburden herself on some random passerby. Her exhausting fury was now giving way to embarrassment and a sense of vulnerability that made her deeply uncomfortable.

The kindly she-wolf wasn't associated with the Blackfeathers—the mercenary chose to take her at her word—but didn't provide many more answers. Feeling totally discomfited in the heat of the spotlight, Towhee tried to shine it on her instead. "Well, who are you then?" As she questioned, she sniffed. The cold air deadened her keen sense of smell somewhat, though she was still a wolf, with a powerful nose. Something about the stranger's scent reminded her of Hydra and suddenly her dull eyes sharpened.

Apparently the stranger had decided not to murder Wraen today, which was a big improvement to say the least. Though... looking the other up and down, even if the stranger had decided otherwise, she had a feeling that she would be able to outrun her assaulter. 

"Wraen with a fancy family name," she rarely if ever told people, because, whenever mentioned, it sounded as if she wanted to show off. Besides - many wolves she had met during her stay in the wilds didn't have a surname. 

"What about you - do you have a name too?"

She gave a name, nothing else. Towhee heaved an inward sigh. Did she really care about this stranger? Truth be told, she wanted to get out of here and lick her wounds (physical and otherwise) in privacy, forgetting about this embarrassing encounter altogether. But something gave her pause. Didn't curiosity, she mused flatly to herself, kill the cat?

"Towhee Redhawk," she answered. "Are you from Moonspear? I'm a friend of Hydra's." Her throat clicked. With Phox in the wind, Towhee had an irrational urge to shove away everyone else who remained dear to her, from her godparents to her sparring companion. This was the first time she'd ever really lost someone and it fucking hurt. She wasn't keen to repeat it—ever—and one way to take care of that was to avoid being close to anyone...

She shook her head lightly at herself. It was a stupid and, moreover, lonely notion. She would never follow through. But she felt a coldness sweep through her that had nothing to do with the below-freezing temperatures out here. And an emptiness too.

Well, that explains a lot of things... Wraen thought the moment it was revealed that this angry vixen was from the caldera. Rock-eating and snarling wolves - this was probably the first time her imagination had conjured a rather accurate image of a pack she had only heard stories about. She had conveniently forgotten that she had met Raven, who had not fit the description.

"I don't know, if I am the right person to tell you this, but," she began and carefully got up to her feet, in case another outburst followed. "... one of your packmates is a suspect for murder in Moonspear. There was a mysterious incident, where one of the alpha's children died and one of your packmates was seen fleeing for it's life."

Rather than confirm her suspicions, Wraen offered something altogether different: a warning. She climbed to her feet even as she dropped a bomb on Towhee's head, making it a little harder to read her lips (which had given her no trouble at all thus far). She still managed to catch the message in its entirety and she felt her weary heart clenching in her chest. The five Ws screamed through her mind: Who? What? When? Where? Why?

"Wait," Towhee said, since Wraen looked ready to make a break for it. "I'm not—what are you talking about? Who?" she demanded, rising herself and crowding the other she-wolf a little without even being aware of it.

"Don't ask me," Wraen replied, regretting that she had dropped this bomb and wondering, if it had not been better for Hydra herself informing Towhee. Not a person, who had not been present at that time and therefore could pass on rumours only and not solid facts.

"The circumstances under which the girl died are very suspicious and opinions are divided, whether the Redhawk wolf seen fleeing from the scene was involved or not," she explained. "Yet, if your packmate was not guilty, why would it run away? Perhaps, there is someone missing in your ranks at the moment?"

It was the howl that summoned her attention. Hydra had been nearby, but nowhere near close enough to arrive sooner than Wraen did. Be that as it may, Hydra had been heading toward the Caldera anyway. She needed the pack to know that Gannet was under their care and was unable to travel in the impending inclimate conditions. The snow had accumulated to such a degree that Gannet attempting to traverse in them might render his leg useless for good. 

Upon arrival, Hydra caught the tail-end of Towhee's inquiries. Hydra's ears pricked as she intentionally put herself in Towhee's line of sight so the other would be alerted to her arrival, her tail swaying in comradely greeting though stilling as she sensed the tension in the air. Hydra looked to Wraen, then to Towhee. Fill me in, Hydra requested, curious as to what she had missed.

She felt another wave of rage sweep through her at Wraen's utterance of, "Don't ask me." Are you fucking shitting me? Towhee thought, though she bit back the words from lashing from her tongue. Her orange eyes bored shrewdly into the other wolf's face, plucking out every syllable she spoke as she explained what she knew. It was frustratingly little.

Wraen's next few words elicited another strong reaction from her. "Perhaps, there is someone missing in your ranks at the moment?" This time, it felt like someone had punched her in the stomach with a fist made out of cold steel. Were Phox and the fleeing Redhawk one and the same?

"What did he look like?" Towhee demanded just as Hydra swept onto the scene. Because of the conversation at hand—not to mention her prior emotional duress—the yearling couldn't help but flinch and step back uncertainly. Had Phox (or whoever it had been) destroyed the alliance between the two of them? Was she possibly in danger now, outnumbered two to one by Moonspear wolves?

"Hydra, what the hell is she talking about? She says one of my pack mates might have murdered one of yours?" Her heart thumped wildly in her chest. She had yet to answer Wraen's own question and, for the moment, it didn't even occur to Towhee to think of the other missing faces besides Phox's.

"I was telling her about the case with Galaxy," Wraen told Hydra, who - as it turned out - had been hanging around nearby and had arrived just in the right moment. Either to get Wraen out of the mess she had got herself into, or prove that her facts were wrong. 

"There was a Redhawk wolf seen fleeing from the scene, when she died," she told her packmate, what she had learned about the case from other packmates. These were bits and pieces of information and opinions that varied. She trusted Korei Julia, who had said that the wolf was not to blame, but, why, why had it fled?

"You were there, you saw the wolf - you better tell her all about it," she asked Hydra and then fell silent, letting the two friends discuss the matters among themselves.

Ah. Ah. It made sense. 

Hydra sucked in a deep breath once Wraen had finished speaking and explained, slowly so she would be able to understand: Yeah. That's actually why I was coming to see you. My sisters and I went to the borders and there this wolf was, fleeing from Galaxy. Lyra looked after the body, she's our healer and noted she was dead. He was able to get away because Gannet intervened, attempting to attack me, she explained. Otherwise, the killer would be dead, which went without saying. Hell, Gannet should be dead too, which surely Towhee was wondering.

Gannet's leg was broken in the ensuing fight, but he's alive and okay. We're looking after him. I don't think it had anything to do with the Caldera... I wonder if the attacker was employed by someone from Blackfeather to pit us against one another. But I don't know the dude. I was coming to see you because I wanted to see if he had returned home, after... and to let you know once Gannet is on his feet again, he'll be coming back. Ly said it was too risky to have him travel in this weather the way he is, she continued, and then, but the wolf that attacked, he looked like... like... she paused for a moment, before articulating exactly how Titmouse looked. Hydra's ears pricked as she watched her friend, wondering if Titmouse ever had returned home at all. 

Oh, this all happened when the moon was phased... Hydra also conveniently shared the moon phase of the fateful day that a bounty was placed on Tits head.

Wraen turned to speak to Hydra, so Towhee missed most of what she said, though she caught one word: "Galaxy." She swallowed, trying to place the name before it dawned on her. For the nth time that day, her heart clenched. Her face went slack in disbelief as she turned her orange eyes to her ally, lips parting only to press closed again as the black yearling launched into an exhaustive description of what had transpired.

It was a lot of information to process with a mind already wrung dry. Towhee felt as if she'd hit critical mass as her emotions twisted and knotted into an unrecognizable mass somewhere at her core. She felt bewilderment at Titmouse's purported involvement; despair at young Galaxy's death; concern for Gannet's fate; relief (and then melancholy) when Phox wasn't mentioned at all; and then... that vast, aching emptiness returned.

Towhee wished she could've said she knew Titmouse wouldn't harm a little girl that way. But she couldn't vouch for him at all, especially not lately. She flashed back to their recent altercation. There was something deeply wrong with him. Now he'd gotten Gannet—and possibly the rest of the Redhawks—into what sounded like a very risky situation. As Towhee continued to parse the details, she wondered what information she should share herself to help them make sense of it all.

"The wolf you've just described is missing, along with my other litter mate." She paused, deliberating. "I thought Gannet was gone too." Towhee stalled again. "What happened, exactly? How were my brothers involved? Was Phox—black fur, chubby build—there too?"

I will let you two discuss it. Wraen told Hydra with a quick look, then dipped her muzzle politely at Towhee and left the two to talk through the matters in private. She stayed within the hearing distance, pretending to be very immersed into something sniff-worthy in the snow, while keenly listening to the dialogue between the two. The young wolf was ready to join her beta, whenever she decided to ask for her presence.

ooc: she will hang around in the background. Feel free to skip her from this point on and permission to PP, if needed.

Towhee said not a word in defense of this wolf. Her high opinion of Towhee caused her to think that Towhee would not lie to her, and she did not. The nail in the coffin had been hammered down and sealed. And he had not returned home? It added to the implication. To hear of the other litter mate also being missing caused an alarm bell to spring into her head. The Woods had stolen a wolf before. What if they used Phox to force Titmouse's hand? 

Hydra verbalized as much. He was not there. Gannet said the attacker was his brother. And perhaps Phox has been taken by the Woods wolves, forcing the hand of Titmouse to do as he did. To turn us against one another, so there would be no war. I do not think they know of your other ally, Hydra bristled and looked thoughtful. She and Vaati had not yet established a relationship to the point where she fully believed him, but her plans had once more changed.

She looked to Towhee. The wolf who attacked Rannoch has a brother, who has promised to lead me through the forest so that I can take down the leader of the Woods the day of our battle. Instead, I will have him lead you and me to where they hold their hostages. It would answer at least Towhee's question. It's a possibility. Even if they do not have him, I would not doubt that cur threatening to harm his family or him to get him to do as he wanted. Knowing Titmouse the way she herself did, now? It did not seem farfetched. 

After all, she had done the same thing. 

But it was different, what she had done—Titmouse had killed Galaxy. He had ran that day. Even if his fangs were not the ones who pressed their fatal grip, he had not called to Moonspear to even give Galaxy a chance at survival. He was to blame.

She scarcely glanced at Wraen as she moved away, every bit of her focus honed on Hydra. She felt ill when her ally proposed a possibility she hadn't before considered: what if Phox hadn't run out on them at all? What if he had been taken? It seemed very improbable, especially considering his size and skills. Her instincts niggled, telling her it wasn't the case. All the same, she couldn't simply dismiss something like that out of hand.

Hydra outlined a plan and Towhee wanted to jump on it, go there right now, if only to make sure Phox hadn't been abducted. But tempting though it was to impulsively thrust herself headlong into such a plot, she knew she needed to consult with her godparents first and foremost. She would inform them of everything she'd learned today and float Hydra's idea past them, then see how they wanted to proceed. Towhee was, after all, nothing if not loyal to Redhawk Caldera.

"Hydra..." the deaf wolf began after a long, ponderous silence. "I'm really sorry about Galaxy." Maybe Phox had been kidnapped, maybe he'd left of his own free will, but at least he wasn't dead. "You know that my pack didn't condone anything Tit might've done." Her calm presence here spoke volumes, though Towhee wanted to be sure. "And you might be right. I didn't even think..." None of these possibilities of Blackfeathers' involvement had even occurred to her, which in hindsight was extremely ignorant on her part.

"I have to go," she announced suddenly, gazing steadily into Hydra's familiar eyes. "I have to tell my aunt and uncle about this." Towhee prepared to turn and disembark imminently, though she paused to add, "Drageda has arrived and the two packs plan to march on Blackfeather Woods soon. I'm not sure when, exactly. And X—he's gone too." An agonized look crossed her face. "How do we do this?" How could they coordinate their movements, when their packs were at such odds?

Hydra was nearly tightlipped to the girls' apology. It's not your fault, she responded after a beat. And it was not. But "it's okay" would be a blatant lie, and Hydra wouldn't lie to Towhee and pretend it was. Hydra breathed in and nodded. I do. Gannet attacked me because he was defending his brother. He was attacked because of that—it all happened right on our borders, she expressed. As far as Towhee having not thought on all that could be, Hydra informed: I'm also an aspiring tactician. If I didn't know how messed up the enemy was already from what you've told me, I wouldn't have thought it either, after all, it was Towhee that had told her Wildfire had been held captive and tortured. 

Hydra sighed. With their packs at odds, it would be difficult, and Hydra did not want to put Towhee in a difficult position. If your aunt is interested in the proposition, find me and call me. I must warn you that even despite what could be, Tit...? she paused to see if she had heard right, Is being looked for, just as that Blackfeather wolf is. His running convicted him. If he hasn't returned home... it only implicated him more. She sighed. I'll be hanging around where we usually meet to check in. I'll hear you, she said with a wave of her tail. X was gone... where could he have went? I hope you find X, and Phox, too, because she did not want Phox to be stolen; it was all speculation. But the speculation at least made Titmouse look somewhat noble.

From what Wraen could tell, while standing some distance away, the conversation between Towhee and Hydra was almost over. Good. She thought, leaving the spot, where she had been digging for a mouse she thought she had heard and caught it's smell, and approached her beta, asking quietly, if she was ready to return to Moonspear or there was something else left to do.

ooc: last post from me.

Towhee didn't know what to think of Gannet's predicament. He was being cared for by the very same wolves who had hurt him, but with just cause. Was he really safe, or were they keeping him as leverage also? Was he involved in Titmouse's purported crime, or had he simply been in the wrong (right?) place at the wrong (right?) time? Hydra hadn't mentioned it, so Towhee figured perhaps Gannet wasn't a very good informant. In any case, there wasn't much she could do for her brother right now. What she could do was go home and tell Uncle Elwood and Aunt Finley everything she knew, so they could make some informed decisions on what to do about it.

As for Titmouse, Towhee wasn't really sure what to think. If he was guilty of this crime, then he deserved whatever was coming to him. But what if he hadn't done anything? What if it was all some big misunderstanding? Everything sounded so inconclusive. This is such a clusterfuck, Towhee thought to herself.

"Anyone who's done wrong by us will be punished," she assured simply. If that included Titmouse, then so to be it. "I hope so too. Thanks, Hydra." She began to take the first hasty steps back to the caldera, only to freeze again and call back, "Um, tell Wraen I said thanks too..." She flushed awkwardly, then woofed to her allies and turned around, facing the familiar smokestack in the distance even as she broke into a gallop.