Heron Lake Plateau Everything means something and something has occurred

It was later the same day he'd given Niamh the boot from leadership.  Confused?  Go read Quixote's previous thread.  By now the whole pack knew from his howl (unless they just plain didn't hear, but Towhee probably had been told by now anyway) and he'd relayed the whole ordeal to @Raven, of course, making sure to mention that if she had the chance, she should really talk to Niamh and see if she could maybe help her through whatever lingering trauma was haunting her.  Quixote was maybe doing a little better at wrangling the emotions of others thanks to Raven's experience, but he was still pretty much a dunce at it in comparison.  But since both he and Niamh survived without being chewed to bits, it was a victory, right?

Despite the remnants of a headache, he felt better.  It took a certain weight off his shoulders to know that maybe the reason Niamh had seemed kind of crazy recently was because she actually had some kind of issue and the responsibility was just a bit too much to put on her before she could properly heal.  If he'd known how much those events had effected her, he wouldn't have agreed to her promotion to leadership to start with. Just thank god she wasn't an alpha or they'd have been in a world of hurt as a pack.  And as Niamh had continued talking in their conversation, he'd gotten a little less worried that Towhee would come flying out of nowhere to bite off his head for daring to demote the other beta, but he'd taken some time to figure out roughly what he was going to say (with some assistance) just in case.

He'd wandered back towards the southern part of the territory, not really wanting to do a patrol, but definitely wanting a change of scenery and something else to think about.  Given the recent news, he wasn't exactly expecting to get that luxury, but hey.  Maybe someone would want to talk about the snowfall instead.  His path was pretty directionless, but at least his silhouette was pretty neutral -- an improvement over the last few days, for sure.

Towhee returned from a long, boring patrol and slumped down in the thicket to catch a nap when a flustered @Phox appeared to tell her some very strange news. Sitting up with a grunt, she watched his rapid signing. Her orange eyes widened at first. Then they narrowed and the one on the right began to twitch. She wanted to ask if her brother was serious—was this some stupid joke?—but she could tell he wasn't fooling around.

So, Niamh had stepped down but Quixote had announced it? Meanwhile, her Person had never mentioned any mental health issues to her, nor any intention to remove herself from leadership. Actually, neither of them had talked to her since the incident at the borders. Something felt very wrong with this situation. Ignoring the impulse to hunt down @Niamh, the remaining Beta went searching for the Alpha male to demand answers instead.

It didn't take long at all: Quixote was meandering not far from where Towhee and Phox slept. "Qui!" the mercenary shouted. "What the hell's going on?"

Phox barely knew Quixote, but he had grown rather fond of Niamh since he had returned to the Redhawks. So when the news came from Quixote that she had stepped down, Phox was on Towhee's side. There was no way Niamh would have done it voluntarily, was there? She was a good leader in Phox's eyes. (That had nothing to do with the fact that he might have had a thing for her, nope!) When Towhee wandered off, Phox was right behind her. He wanted answers, too. Not only that, but he was thinking less and less that this Quixote fellow was fit to lead him, his sister, and everybody he had grown up with.

The pack belonged in the hands of the Redhawks, and the longer it went without one at the helm, the more screwed up things became. Ever since Raven had stepped down, things had taken a turn for the worse. That was no coincidence, he thought. Phox had hoped that having Towhee back in leadership would help, but even that didn't seem to stave off the rot that was coming from the top. He was done asking questions, and when he heard Towhee shout Quixote's name and ask another, Phox shook his head.

What's going on? he echoed, standing at Towhee's side, but hopefully in such a way that she could read his lips. What's going on is that ever since Raven stepped down, things have been fucked up around here. This pack belongs to us, not some outsider. Phox had already told Towhee this, but now he was more sure than ever. Quixote was not fit to lead this pack. Only the Redhawk wolves were meant to.

The news of Niamh stepping down didn't strike Finley as strange or surprising or even remotely interesting, really. She liked her sister-in-law alright, but something about her struck Fin as a little unstable. Seeing as none of the current leaders had lead the pack to absolute disaster, it didn't much matter to her who was stepping down, only who would step up. Thus, when she happened to spy Quixote in the distance, she moved to approach him with her usual friendly smile and unconcern for the troubles of the world.

But then.. Towhee.

Fin had taken only a few steps before her goddaughter appeared with Phox not far behind. She could tell by their body language that there was tension, and right on cue, both kids went a little off the rails at their fearless leader.

Finley paused then, thinking.

She could keep going and try to give the poor guy some support...

Or she could bail...

It took about ten seconds before Fin made up her mind, abruptly turned, and trotted off in the opposite direction (hopefully unseen). She didn't want none of this mess.

Thanks for bailing on the kids you helped raise when they're being kinda nuts, Fin!  Or that would have been what he'd thought if he'd spotted her.  He was too busy being completely bewildered by Phox's out-there tirade.  His first thought?  'Oh god there are two of them.'  Towhee had been expected.  He stopped, politely, and certainly wasn't surprised by her response.  A slight tilt of his head when it seemed she didn't actually get the details from Niamh (woah), but he'd been about to reply when Phox came barging in with all the grace and respect of a derailed train.

He started to say something (again) stopped, thought better, then replied, Okay, we'll come back to unpack that in a moment, but first...   Perhaps six months ago, he would have snapped at him, but he'd gotten a bit more patient from having to deal with a pile of highly uncooperative pups, and if Phox was gonna act like one, he might as well get in that mindset.  Quixote looked to Towhee -- it wasn't necessarily a grim expression, but it was concerned for Niamh's well-being, despite being an awkward turtle. This part, at least, he'd sort of thought through before, but it ended up being trimmed in a kind of awkward way that left out half the juicy details, Niamh's got some stuff she's going to have to work through.  I'll go over the details with you, privately, because I don't think she necessarily wanted them to be shared, she'd never mentioned Phox so as far as Quixote knew, they'd only talked in passing, so she wouldn't want things shared with him, but the obvious part is because of what happened at the borders, I don't know if Colt's coming back.  And even if he comes back, he might not want to be with her any more, and she's going to have to go through whatever happens, and neither of those cases is nice.  You're her friend, she'll need you.

That part was so easy.  Couldn't Phox just go disappear again? That'd be great right about now if he was just gonna randomly be a hellion for no reason.  Sigh.  Quixote looked back, casually listing things in a purposely disordered manner, apparently completely unphased by either of them being rankled, Okay. Lemme just go over a few things.  The Caiaphas debacle was before she stepped down, so that's not it -- besides, I'm still trying to convince Raven to step back up again anyway... Uh.. The thing with Niamh hasn't really fully explained yet, and that involves no familial Redhawks so that's not the thing...  So what's the issue? Did you want me to tell Wildfire and family she has to go back to Drageda because Mister Grumpy Artaax said so?  Did you not want Towhee to get beta back again?  Do you just hate me patrolling the borders?  Are you flying disasters in on X's back so I don't know they exist?  What am I slacking on? By all means, I accepted the title to do the job, so let me know.  He may have been being a little facetious though some (most) of that, but given how out of left field that was, hoo boy.  If Phox had an actual point, maybe he'd take it a little more seriously, but just claiming somehow stuff was bad because the alpha wasn't a Redhawk was just silly.  Honestly, he was kind of hoping Towhee would interrupt and tell Phox to piss off so she could get the whole story about Niamh.

Camilla hadn't been up to much in the past week or so, aside from scouting the territory as best she could or gathering gifts for Phox, filling some caches whenever someone would deign to hunt with her — that sort of stuff. To say she was out of the loop was an understatement; whatever these wolves had going-on around them didn't concern her. Or, sometimes it did, but she knew to keep her nose out of other people's business.

Regardless of that need to segregate herself from the pack, she still desired to be near Phox and enjoyed tracking him down, even though she tended to just stalk him creepily from time to time. It was better than the full-tilt obsession that some of the Redhawks thought she'd cultivated. Today, as she wound her way across the plateau in search of something extra special for her husband, she heard the rising of voices. The one that drew her out of the proverbial woodwork was, of course, Phox's, so Camilla deviated along her route and tried to intercept. She came upon the gathering rather suddenly and was surprised by it.

Despite the plateau being a big wide-open space, she rarely ever caught mutiple wolves together like this, and instantly felt like something was wrong. There was tension in the air that her too-sensitive spirit caught upon. Camilla slunk closer (at least until she saw Phox) and then wormed her way between the wolves until she was near to her husband. Her expression asked the silent question, what's going on? And she watched Phox with careful curiosity.

She knew her brother was at her flank; she even intuited that he was saying something he wanted her to see, based on how he positioned himself. But Towhee didn't even glance sideways. She appreciated the backup but she was here for one thing: answers. She only had eyes for Quixote right now.

Halfway through the Alpha male's speech, Towhee's eyes were practically wobbling in their sockets as she tried to keep up with reading his lips. He stonewalled her—or Phox, really—about Niamh's "stuff." What the hell was he talking about? Concern and frustration mounting, she blinked when Quixote mentioned the incident at the borders. That was still a giant question mark for her.

Her mouth fell ajar at, "I don't know if Colt's coming back." She didn't need to say it, or even sign it, her entire body flashed with the message: "What the fuck?" Towhee's mouth clapped shut, then opened again as she began to verbalize. But before she could get out even a single syllable, Quixote launched into a second speech, this one directed at Phox.

She turned to look at her brother, completely nonplussed. What the hell had he said to set Quixote off on another windy rant? Towhee began to growl not long after the word "debacle," though she was now deaf to the content of his lecture because she was looking at her brother. The noise was directed at both of them. She was here to figure out what was going on, not bear witness to some sort of spontaneous pissing match.

"EXCUSE ME!!!" she hollered. "CAN WE PUT OUR DICKS AWAY FOR ONE SECOND SO SOMEONE CAN TELL ME WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON WITH NIAMH!!!" And Colt, though Towhee was much more focused on her Person. "I need Phox here as my official translator," she added in her sibling's defense. It wasn't even a lie, not with Quixote talking so much her eyes were at risk of falling out of her head. "But you," she added, glaring daggers at the recently appeared Camilla and moving toward her with a warning snap of her teeth, "scram!!!"

Phox is talking over Quixote for the first bit!

Phox narrowed his eyes at Quixote when he spoke. If he thought that there was much between Towhee and Phox that wasn't shared, he was very, very wrong. Not only that, but he was Niamh's friend, too. Not only that, but as a member of the pack, he felt he was entitled to an explanation about why she "stepped down." The part about Colt not coming back probably should have been disappointing or surprising, but considering Phox had never liked him much in the first place, he only thought, "Good riddance." When Quixote looked at Towhee like she was the only friend Niamh had, Phox wrinkled his nose. Clearly, Quixote was out of the loop. Phox was pretty sure Niamh would've considered him a friend, too.

Not before, but while you were in charge while she was off looking for somebody, he corrected Quixote's first retort. The fuck are you on about, anyway? Wildfire is a Redhawk. Towhee should be leading this pack; she shouldn't be beneath you. Wasn't it clear to Quixote that he just didn't belong? Phox felt movement at his side, and he glanced over to see Camilla. Before he could react to that, Towhee was screaming at everybody's dicks, telling Camilla to scram. Thankfully, she also asked him to stay as his translator.

-Why is all of this so damn secretive, anyway?- he asked Towhee. -Pack is supposed to be family, and it sure doesn't feel that way lately.- Instead, they felt like one scattered mess. Why did Camilla have to leave? Why were Niamh's reasons for stepping down kept behind closed doors? Nothing felt right here.

Lets just call this a cameo - yall continue!

She wasn't there for more than a few moments before people were shouting; mostly it was Towhee's too-loud voice competing with the backtalk of Phox and the endless explanation from a dark-furred wolf that she didn't recognize; but when Towhee got to the bit about her, Camilla's ears flipped forwards and then slicked back across her skull again as Towhee turned to sharply command that she leave. She knew she should not have come this close to the feuding band of wolves but she hadn't anticipated being singled out. Worse, she thought that Towhee already hated her for being so close to Phox, and then to be called out — well, she did what came naturally.

She bolted.

Also as a note, I'm using underline for crud that gets coherently pteroed, and then curly brackets for when things differ {don't mean the same} vs what he says out loud because Qui is garbage.  It's basically the only way I could figure out how to communicate it but if someone has a better option LMK, haha.

So even as Phox tried to interrupt him, it was obvious that that kid really didn't have a clue what he was actually complaining about.  He just wanted to complain.  And, being proven that his initial statement was wrong, now was moving the goalposts to try and find something so he could be pissed!  Ah, lovely.

He eyeballed the approach of Camilla, another reason he was glad he hadn't gone and started talking about Niamh's more major problems.  Either way, Towhee finally interrupted, huzzah.  A minor victory, but one he was searching for so that hopefully Phox's babbling could be entirely dismissed.  And she scared off Camilla too.  Whether Quixote even knew her name, I'm not even sure, but she was sure as hell out of there.  Either way, he had to try and keep from smirking, managing to keep his face relatively unemotional as he took a seat.

Let's not forget that Quixote knew enough ptero to know roughly what Phox was saying, responding calmly, You might not care if everyone else knows your business.  Some do.  I don't know what Niamh wants, and since she never mentioned you I'm erring on the side of caution.  He had plenty more examples he could have used to prove his point but Phox wasn't really worth wasting his breath on if he was just being angry for the sake of it.

And if Towhee was still glaring at her brother, he waited to catch her eye before directing the next bit just to her (not that it was exactly private), I'll be happy and willing to tell you all of it.  Translator not needed.  I'll manage {I'll try}. It's a short story.  Quixote usually just avoided using ptero, partially because it made him feel even worse at talking than the spoken word already did, and Towhee knew that he wasn't good at it by now.  His vocabulary was limited, the motions not exactly precise, but it wasn't like he slept through the kids' lessons.  His usage of it in public?  Basically never.  It did condense and somewhat slow his spoken word as well just because he had to think more about what was going on but eh.  You need to know, and Niamh needs rest.  But I'm only telling you.  And if that wasn't enough for Towhee, he didn't know what was.  Just make Phox go away, ez pz.

Camilla bolted and that took the edge off Towhee's frustration, even though it hadn't really been directed at her in the first place. She turned to see Phox signing a question he probably didn't want Quixote to overhear. The irony of this was not lost on her, though she did not react to it. Before she could form any response whatsoever, her head flicked sideways to catch Quixote's own signs. Her brow furrowed. Why was her brother's presence here such a point of contention? And did Towhee feel like pressing the matter right now?

Not really, though she did say to Quixote, "Niamh is my new Person, Phox is my old Person." Towhee felt a tingle of heat along her spine as she admitted this out loud. But it was the truth. Would he even remotely understand? "We're actually going to see her right after this, so..." Meaning: there weren't secrets between them, their sniping was a giant waste of time and there was no point at all in sending Phox away. "But if you insist..." she concluded, her expression somewhere between annoyance and disbelief.

Well aware that Quixote could likely interpret some of what she said, Towhee turned back to her brother. -To answer your earlier question, I don't know what the fuck is going on here. But why don't you go back to the thicket and wait for me? I'll come get you and we'll go see Niamh.- She didn't like giving in to Quixote's inexplicable demand, yet she gave Phox a pointed look only he would understand.

Camilla bolted, and Phox knew he would need to track her down later and explain that it hadn't been her fault. Towhee had a short fuse that was even shorter when she was in the middle of an argument. At Quixote's response, Phox found himself wondering what he was hiding. Were there things that the leader of the pack didn't want his underlings to know? What kind of secrets was he keeping? Phox furrowed his brow, thinking that he would bring this up with Towhee later.

Again, Quixote insisted that Phox leave, and again, Phox didn't see the point. Sooner or later, he'd know what was going on. He certainly wasn't happy with the alpha right now. He might not ever be at this rate. Towhee's begrudging agreement was met with a silent, disappointed shake of his head. He did as he was told by the only leader who held his loyalty these days. He left, ignoring Quixote completely in doing so.

He wasn't really sure what she meant.  Quixote had been pretty emotionally isolated most of his life, so perhaps that was unsurprising.  I'd recommend you let her sleep, but she can choose to tell him.  I'm not making that choice for her, out of respect.

At least Phox left without further argument.  Good. Given his behavior, he'd probably go off on some useless tangent.  What would @Raven think about his behavior?  Certainly she wouldn't exactly be pleased by her brother acting like a twit for no clear reason.  Yet another thing to discuss with her and would probably be super interesting to play out, dangit!

Moving on to actually saying useful things... He felt like the whole thing should be understood in the order that it was presented to him.  He didn't think she'd really care about him trying to figure out exactly what happened to Colt, so he'd summarize his mood from that to start.  She's been acting weird around me lately.  I thought maybe she just decided she hated me.  I was going to be angry she just dumped {left} you and ran off, but the more we talked the more I got concerned {worried} for her.  Man, this required more thinking than he thought it might...

Some may be she is very tired.  She wasn't listening to what I said, then had a tantrum like Owen.  From his lack of response and focus on that, that wasn't the issue.  It was something worth noting for when Towhee showed up to bug her later, but Quixote wasn't angry about it any more.  It was just something to be concerned about.

Either way, time to get to the point.  Will go into details in a moment, but what happened at the borders seems to be {is} about something else.  Do you know how much what happened with, pause.  He didn't know how to say Screech's name, or the next word after that which he wanted to use.  Awkward.  He'd just have to say it clearly instead, Screech haunts her?  If she did that would put a whole different spin on things, but it had been news to him.  Quixote thought it'd be easy enough to get over something like that, but then again his perspective was considerably different than some of the other wolves here.

Her brother did as she asked. Towhee watched him go, her jaw clenching as she turned back to face the Alpha. Quixote took her by surprise by resorting to a mixture of signing and spoken word to begin his explanation. It did make him easier to follow, though some of what he said simply didn't make sense because she was still mixing crucial context.

Towhee remembered joining Niamh and Colt at the borders. She remembered lunging the instant she learned their guest was a Blackfeather. Everything after that was dead space, up until she'd woken to find none of those three there. Instead, Quixote had been hovering over her. She didn't know how long she'd been out or what'd happened to cause her to lose consciousness. And of course she had no clue what'd gone on while she was imitating a rag doll.

"Look, no disrespect intended, man, but I don't know what you're talking about," Towhee said, trying to muster patience she didn't feel. "I still don't know what happened at the borders or how it ties into what you apparently howled earlier. I don't mean to be a dick but can you just give me the facts and get to the point?" She paused, then added, "If something's going on with Niamh, I'll find out about it as soon as I see her," just so he didn't think she'd ignored it all. But maybe she should've just gone to her Person first because Quixote sure was wasting a lot of time rambling.

There were times like this that just felt immensely frustrating for him as well. Was it just a factor of age, where he could see the big picture and nobody else did?   Guess that's a no.  Sigh.  How did he rephrase this then when she was far more impatient than he counted on?  Would she understand after it was all said?

The border thing wasn't the full reason for the demotion. --  Niamh was unclear on some details about what happened.  But I think Colt probably heard something about his sister.  Wanted to... interrogate {ask questions} and stepped in front of you.  You ran into him.  It was stupid, yes.  But I don't think it was anything but an accident.  Though he was honestly kind of afraid she'd think otherwise.  When it came to Blackfeather, her kill first, ask questions later wasn't exactly up for debate.  

While you uh.  Slept.  Not a clue how to say "got conked over the head and knocked out."  She exiled Colt and told him to go kill that Blackfeather or not come back because of what he did.  She said that her reaction was probably because of what happened with Screech.  That remembering it made her overreact, make bad decisions.  That she was afraid of you ending up like him.  Which wasn't reasonable nor the normal way of going about things.  He hoped she'd see that.

She called for help, but not Raven.  After I got there she chased after Colt -- didn't want to lose him after all.  She looked kind of panicked at the whole thing.  It wasn't normal, it wasn't chasing after them to help.  -- Questions, or on to today?  He probably looked a little frazzled and still concerned at this point.

Colt had interfered with her attack? Towhee didn't remember that at all. But her lip curled. Quixote insisted it was an accident and the Beta blinked, taken aback. She'd initially pictured Colt simply jumping in her way, not actually attacking her. Was that a possibility? She would have to ask Niamh for the details.

On that note, Towhee blinked even harder when Quixote described her Person's reaction to Colt's behavior. Niamh had exiled Colt? Towhee was dumbfounded by this. There could only be one explanation, couldn't there? Colt had attacked Towhee. Niamh surely wouldn't have exiled her own mate for anything less than something so outrageous. A growl bubbled in the mercenary's throat.

But now Quixote was saying it was an overreaction, quoth Niamh. It had something to do with Screech. Towhee squinted in confusion. She said nothing, letting Quixote finish. Niamh hadn't called for Raven but she had called for help, which was the same difference to Towhee. It sounded like she'd waited for someone—Quixote himself—to arrive before chasing after Colt. Maybe because Niamh was her Person, Towhee gave her the benefit of the doubt without even thinking about it.

"Why—" she began to ask when the Alpha opened the floor for questions, though she bit her tongue and shook her head. She really needed to talk to the person who'd actually been there: Niamh. What had Colt really done? And why had she chased him after all? And what did any of this have to do with her demotion? Towhee liked to think she knew Niamh better than anyone, save maybe Colt, and there was no way her Person was mentally unsound, whatever Quixote thought.

"I have to talk to her," Towhee said instead. But she didn't make a move yet, looking at him in a way that made it clear she would wait for his rundown of today's events. The entirely involuntary twitch in her right eye telegraphed her thinning patience.

And Towhee falls asleep as he talks

Well, at least she seemed properly confused by it all, just as he had.  Then hopefully when he said how she acted today, she'd agree.  He nodded.  Yeah, she should probably go talk to Niamh at some point.  Today was what made me decide she needed to step down for a bit.  Sorry, this part is more complicated.

When I talked to her, I was trying to find out if she would be ok.  Tried to ask if she would fix her response to wolves getting knocked out.  She didn't want to answer.  Told her if she didn't want to answer, me eventually asking if she wanted to step down for a bit would be an order.  That was where things had started to fall apart with Niamh.  Asked something like, 'What if a newbie did the same as Colt, trying to be heroic because they didn't know better' but she only heard 'newbie' and for some reason thought I was calling her that.  I don't know why.  Then she started saying I wouldn't defend the pack without Raven being around -- you know I fought.  Realized she was very tired, saying things she otherwise wouldn't.  Told her she was going to have a break.  I don't think her being a leader on top of the other things would be healthy.

Had Towhee totally stopped listening yet?  This was about where he gave up on ptero because he didn't feel like he could phrase things right, let alone know some of the vocab, She needs to talk it through with someone who she trusts will be unbiased and reasonable -- Raven or Elwood maybe.  If I'd known it was effecting her like that, I wouldn't have agreed to her promotion.  Some I've known didn't want help because they think it's a small thing, or were ashamed about it effecting them.  That's why I told everyone it was voluntary.  So she doesn't have to answer as many questions, it's just a break.  I just want her to get help.  Despite what Niamh seemed to think about Quixote, he really was concerned about her, and given her behavior, he was probably being way too freaking nice about her being a disrespectful jerk earlier.

If Towhee had wondered why she'd sought out Quixote first (and she had, several times over the course of this endless conversation), this was why: she'd sensed something amiss with the way Niamh's demotion had been announced—not by Niamh herself but by the Alpha. If there was any question as to whether it had been voluntary, he put it to rest. By the time his latest soliloquy came to a close, Towhee's face was hard.

He insisted he had only Niamh's best interests in mind, which made Towhee's eyes flash. It sounded like he'd made the decision in the heat of the moment, out of anger (justified or not). He wasn't a counselor or mental health expert, as far as Towhee knew, so who was he to make the call on those grounds? And why strip her of her rank regardless? It came across more like a power play than anything. Maybe Niamh had been emotional and tired, perhaps she'd made some bad judgment calls. But it sounded like Quixote was equally guilty of making rash, spur-of-the-moment decisions that didn't make much sense, no matter how blue he went in the face trying to explain them.

"One last question," the remaining Beta said in her stony timbre, "why wasn't I consulted in any way about any of this?"

He was starting to wonder if there had just been something poured in the water, because it felt like nobody wanted to listen to reason.  He wanted a, "I guess that makes sense," but it seemed like that wasn't going to come.  Quixote was pretty sure he'd made the right choices here, but what was he doing wrong if people didn't see them that way?  I thought it was just going to be about her running off or I'd have called you in. But the way she was acting when she got back forced a more immediate decision, and I think it's a fair one -- it's just a bit of time off and she can always get her rank back later.  If I was wrong, I'm not against apologizing and accepting the mistake.  He shrugged.  Everyone (except Colt) was still in the pack with all their limbs attached the way they were a week ago.  And Niamh was being utterly ridiculous when she got back.  If she didn't need like a week to go sleep off whatever bizarre cloud had settled in her brain, he'd find a hat and eat it.  A break would be good for her even if it was a sleep deprivation issue.

Speaking of, Truthfully, I'm pretty sure if someone other than her spoke to you the way she did to me, you'd have booted them like you did Colt the first time he got kicked.  If she's tired enough to act that way, isn't it in the pack's best interest to have her take a break to focus on herself?  He didn't quite know why the pair of them were as thick as thieves as they were (or why Phox had such freaking issues, but that's a whole different thing), but whatever.  Maybe they just hadn't seen the kind of irrational side of Niamh like he had a few times now.

"'Forced a more immediate decision'? Forced?" Towhee echoed in disbelief, talking over him and missing the rest of what he said in that particular breath. She shook her head, her orange eyes cutting away for a moment. She only turned back when he started to say something else, gaze moving with some reluctance back to his mouth.

"She wasn't just some mouthy member; she'd earned leadership and that should've counted for something here. It feels like you don't value your co-leaders much," Towhee said. She grimaced because it wasn't just some spiteful barb, it was an honest observation. She had always tried to treat her fellow leaders as part of a team, making sure to consult with them on important decisions. Quixote was Alpha, it was true, and Alphas should get the final word, but the way he'd handled this really disappointed her, even without her admitted bias.

"And maybe you're right and I'm a hypocrite. But it's been a long time since I booted Colt the first time. I was a yearling at the time." She gave him a pointed look. "I'm going to go see see Niamh now," she added without pause. Towhee turned away, then glanced back and gave the Alpha a long, unreadable look. "Later," was her only word of farewell before trotting away to gather her brother.

He kept his cool.  There really wasn't a way to explain it that would have pleased Towhee, was there?  But then again, he pretty much expected this whole thing was going to come with plenty of hidden barbs that would be pointed straight at him.  He'd seen worse.  

Yeah, I care about her health -- that's what counts.  I want her to take the time to get better, not just ignore it and let her get worse.  He frowned.  This was one thing where he was definitely gonna stick to his guns.  He was not risking Niamh, he was not risking the pack, over her previously earning the rank.   He wasn't arguing that.  He was putting his foot down and trying to force her to do something that it didn't seem like she'd ever do on her own.

At least his comment about Colt hadn't gone totally over her head.  He could have done something far more drastic if he'd really been bent out of shape, but he didn't even demote Niamh far -- just out of the leadership ranks.  He could have dropped her to the bottom of the pile, past that to an omega rank, or just told her to take a hike, but he didn't.  Quixote would continue to believe his choices were fair until someone actually had some proof otherwise.  He'd nod once to her words, then a second time as a farewell.

Yeah, so nobody was happy.  Oh well.  He'd be the bad guy if he had to in order to keep the pack from going crazy.