Sun Mote Copse Othan.

Towhee sucked in a quick breath as she drew up just outside the copse. She squinted at the stretch of forest in front of her. She could admit that it looked rather welcoming. But it was just a piece of land. Why it should appeal more to the likes of @Elwood, @Finley and @Niamh than staying where they belonged (and with whom they belonged) on the plateau, Towhee could never understand.

But she wasn't here for any of them. @Raven had pleaded with Towhee to send word to the Firebirds immediately upon discovering that Bat was alive and now in hers and @Tegan's care. The mercenary had raised only a token protest before shutting her mouth, nodding and striding deliberately east. Now she was here, pondering who to call. She supposed it made the most sense to summon Wildfire.

Tipping back her head, the Redhawk unleashed a howl that sounded a lot more like a donkey braying after taking a painful kick to the gonads.

Holy shit she was never going to get used to that.  At some point during her brief stint in Redhawk, she had definitely heard Towhee howl at some point, but that didn't make it any less shocking.  If she couldn't do a proper job of it maybe she should let someone else handle that particular skill, Kiwi thought grumpily as she attended to it.

What's going on? She asked, only a little abruptly, as she approached.  Mostly it was no nonsense,  because dealing with this sort of thing was her job now! And from the howl, it had been impossible to gain context.  She had no clue what manner of news Towhee brought.

She initially mistook the approaching figure for Wildfire. But as she ranged closer, Towhee realized it was Wildfire's daughter. It took a beat for her to place the name: Kiwi. The girl carried herself with a subtle sense of authority that made the visitor tilt her head. But she stowed her own thoughts and moved a few paces forward to close the distance even as Kiwi asked, "What's going on?"

"It's Bat. She's alive," Towhee said simply, cutting straight to the chase.

Towhee didn't waste any words, but the ones she delivered hit home.  I've been thinking long and hard on how the hell Kiwi was going to take the news, and because I still don't know, the realest reaction was probably that she didn't know how the fuck to take it either.

She just stood there staring at Towhee dumbly, as if waiting for more.  Maybe directions on what she was supposed to do with this.  No joy, no angrr, no anything... just pure shock and a growing feeling of numbness.

Kiwi didn't really react much, though Towhee thought the cogs might be spinning, unseen, behind those lime green eyes. Looking into them, Towhee elaborated, "She can't speak, evidently. I was able to read her lips and get the story though. She was pulled from the water by wolves named Tam, Spur and Kayla." (She had no idea she'd totally misunderstood that last one.) "They evidently resuscitated her and then dragged her all over creation for who the fuck knows what reason..." She paused, realizing she was editorializing. Clearing her throat, she continued, "Anyway, she eventually found her way back. She's pretty exhausted but she's going to be okay, according to Rave."

The mercenary paused and broke eye contact to sweep the nearby copse a moment before returning her attention to Kiwi. "Is your mom around?"

Bat was alive, again.  Kiwi had accepted it, buried it and her, and now again she was yo-yo'd back into her life.  This time she hadn't left by choice, but did that matter? She just kept leaving, and on purpose or not, Kiwi couldn't sort it right now.  

Her expression was fairly neutral until thankfully, Towhee asked her a question.  It took her a second, but she nodded, and her eyes regained some of their previous purpose.  Yeah.  She's here somewhere.  Wildfire would be thrilled, no doubt, but... no.  Later.  Kiwi sent up a call for Wildfire specifically, an important one.

Still her niece didn't show much in the way of emotion. Towhee squinted a little. If she'd found out that Orca was somehow alive, she would've been beside herself. But she'd had a very good relationship with her sister. Maybe that wasn't the case with Kiwi and Bat.

She watched as Kiwi threw back her head, presumably calling for Wildfire. While they waited for the Sovereign to come, Towhee lapsed into silence. She was curious about Kiwi's lack of reaction, yet it wasn't really any of her business if she wasn't particularly tickled to find out her litter mate was alive after all.

Her own howl hadn't drawn Wildfire out very quickly, though evidently hearing from her daughter put the pep in the leader's step. It wasn't more than a few minutes before she arrived, looking a little short of breath, and glanced between her younger sister and daughter. "What is it?"

"Bat turned up—alive," Towhee said promptly.

Clover was drawn to Towhee's bray like a moth to a light—a very fast moth, at that. Although she arrived later than Kiwi and Wildfire, she had arrived just in time to hear the Beta's report: Bat was alive. More importantly, she had been right, and Tegan had been wrong; Clover was tickled by the news. 

She smirked as she paused at the Regent's side, her attention poised solely upon Towhee. "Tell Tegan that I accept his apology," she said.

Wildfire arrived and Kiwi stood rooted, still silent as Towhee passed the news on to her.  Clover arrived and Kiwi only managed a stare for her as well. She should feel glad.  She knew she should feel glad.

Why didn't she feel anything?

There was something, but it wasn't a good something.  Resentment.  It wasn't like she hated her sister, and once the shock and general mistrust in the news wore off, she'd be glad she was alive.  But so far, every time something good or bad had happened for her, Bat managed to turn the focus to her.  Nomi leaves, Bat disappears.  They move, Bat shows up.  They form a new pack, Bat disappears and supposedly dies.  Kiwi gets made Regent and Bat's alive again.  It was ridiculous, being jealous of a sister who obviously hadn't chosen to fall through the ice.  But there it was.

Kiwi took a few steps back, turning away from her mom.  She didn't... really want to be here.  So, as was becoming a theme for the girl, she began to lope away.  To her credit, at least she didn't take off running.

She saw Wildfire's eyes widen slowly, the many expressions that drifted across her face: disbelief, joy, incredulity and a whole host of others. Finally, her face simply crumpled and she began to cry. She said something, perhaps, "She's alive?" but Towhee couldn't tell because Wildfire's lips were impossible to read like this.

Before Towhee could say anything, Clover appeared. She must've overheard the news. Rather than express joy over this wonderful news or in any way acknowledge what this must mean for Wildfire and Kiwi, Clover said something something else entirely. Towhee blinked, then scowled. What a petty, shitty thing to say. Did she even know how much Tegan had suffered?

-No,- Towhee signed to Clover, itching to add an epithet. But this wasn't the time for it. To Wildfire and Kiwi, she added aloud, "I'll take you to her." But Kiwi was already slinking in the wrong direction.

She heard her mom crying behind and it only made things worse.  Through everything, Kiwi had stayed.  And Bat just kept appearing and disappearing, tearing their mom down every time she did it.  Kiwi had noticed how hard it was for her mom to smile lately... she'd have to be blind not to.

Why couldn't she just stay gone if this was how it was going to be?

Even as she thought it, she knew it was awful, and a huge guilt welled up in her.  She couldn't go see Bat with her mom, she couldn't let her mom know what was going on.  Let her go be happy.  

At that she did start to run, disappearing to deal with things on her own time.  If Clover followed she could definitely find her and catch up, but she didn't look back to see how those gathered reacted.

The exchange was a short-lived whirlwind, which ended in Clover following dutifully after Kiwi. But, before turning her back on her former Beta, she pouted at Towhee's refusal—taking Tegan's side she thought ruefully. 

With her purpose fleeing and her friend pushing away, Clover darted in the direction that Kiwi had gone.  "Kiwi!" she called, "Wait up!"

The visiting mercenary turned a questioning glance at Wildfire but she was too busy blubbering. "Guess it's just the two of us," she murmured as Kiwi and Clover officially disappeared, the latter with a rueful backward glance that Towhee met with a cold, steely stare.

Redirecting all of her attention to her crybaby of an older sister, Towhee didn't so much nudge her as the air next to her shoulder. "Come on. I'll take you to see her," she repeated, beginning the steady march back to the plateau. She should probably be grateful she was deaf to the sighs, sniffles and sobs trailing after her.