Redhawk Caldera Fully symbolic creatures.

There was a spring in her step as Towhee roved the borders. The ground underfoot was cold and soggy, her legs and underside now flecked with muck. It wasn't particularly pleasant and the muted colors left behind by the melting snow were honestly ugly compared to all the sparkling white of yore. But the Sovereign hoped the worst of winter was behind them now, even if spring was still a ways away.

When she wrapped up her patrol, she began to climb the caldera's slope in search of her brother. With @Reyes remaining close and involved, there was something she wanted to discuss with @Phox ahead of their litters' arrivals.

Upon cresting the rim of the Caldera, Ruenna would become visible to the roving Redhawk. The Tradesman busied herself picking through one of the pack's caches, sorting out the good meat from the bad. The heavy snows of the previous month had been helpful for preserving their stores, but now they were having a problem with snowmelt flooding in and ruining their caches. 

Rue's paws ached to travel. Earlier, she had made it as far as the rim of the Caldera, but descending the slope had triggered a searing pain in her lower spine that put her off the notion of leaving the territory just for the hell of it. Like it or not, she was going to have to find some pursuit here at home to occupy to her time.

These pups would have a biological father in the picture. By now, Towhee had not only accepted this but even tentatively embraced the idea of Reyes in that role. Still, she wanted Phox to continue as another parental figure in her pups' lives, Niamh too. And she still wanted to be their litter's Towma. Certain they would be onboard, Towhee just needed to come up with a special title for Phox's role in her upcoming kids' lives.

Phuncle? she mused as she crested the caldera's rim, a smile twitching her lips. But he would be more than an uncle, if she had anything to do with it. Phad? Oh my god, PHADDY?! A laugh burst out of her even as the Sovereign's orange eyes caught sight of Ruenna down below, not far from the edge of the thickest section of forest: Evergreen Woods.

Lifting a paw to wave, Towhee shouted, "Hey, Rue!" and then began making her way down toward her old friend and new Tradesman.

As she made her way down to the older meat in the cache, the odor became noticeably more foul. Rue was pleased for the break that Towhee's appearance afforded.  

She pulled herself delicately out of the cache, wincing just a bit from the pain that she earned with nearly every movement. Contrary to what you would think, she seemed to almost be in more pain now that she was getting more rest, and she wasn't traveling anymore. It was as if the lack of use had caused the muscles to stiffen even further. 

"Hey, Towhee. What's good?" The Sovereign had an upbeat air about her.. amused, even. Since Towhee appeared to be in good humor, Rue added quickly, "Hey so.. I think I might have, um.. signed up for a dating service." Rue met Towhee's gaze somewhat apprehensively, wondering just how absurd the concept would seem to the Sovereign. The idea that Rue might go on dates, or have a boyfriend, or even exist as a being with a sexuality... it was something Rue was still getting used to herself.

Towhee caught a faint whiff of something rotten and glanced at the cache beside Rue as she closed the distance. But her eyes quickly flicked upward again to catch her pack mate's words. "What's good?" The casual question made her lips twitch, though before the Sovereign could say anything, Rue blurted something else.

The declaration came with a nervous glance and Towhee huffed a laugh. "You what now?" she pressed, caught off guard and immensely curious. What on earth did a dating service entail?

Towhee huffed an amused laugh, which-- embarrassing as it was-- was probably in the range of better responses. Despite knowing this to be true, Rue could feel the heat rising in her cheeks. 

"Like.. a matchmaker," she elaborated, her voice smaller. She hadn't really wanted to call it that, mostly because it just made her feel so incredibly pathetic. At least calling it a dating service gave the impression that Rue had some sort of agency in the process. 

"A Moonspear wolf is collecting the names of unmarried people, and, uh.. pairing them up."  Rue's gaze was now determinedly fixed on a spot over Towhee's shoulder.

Actually having this conversation out loud was even more awkward than she had anticipated, but Rue felt the need to at least mention it on the vague off-chance that Kukutux's service would actually work. She didn't want to catch Towhee completely off-guard for... for whatever came next or wherever that might eventually lead Rue. As embarrassed as pathetic as she felt about it, Rue was still holding onto hope that Kukutux would come through for her.

The instant Rue mentioned Moonspear, it made Towhee think of her conversation with Hydra several months back. But she didn't get long to reflect on that as her friend continued her explanation. The Sovereign couldn't help but wonder about the identity of this wolf. And why was he or she providing this service? That word itself implied a fee of some kind.

"Huh," was her initial response as she processed what she'd been told. "I think Meerkat—my daughter—has tried playing matchmaker before. I'd ask if it was her but she's in Firefly Glen." Towhee laughed, then wondered, "Who is it? And what—how does it work?"

Towhee had a daughter, and she was in Firefly Glen? Rue filed that piece of information away to chew on later. Someone-- was it Phox, maybe?-- had vaguely mentioned that Towhee had a daughter from the previous season. Rue would no doubt struggle to come to terms with the reality that there were children younger than Figment and Fennec who were old enough to strike it out on their own. Time was a funny thing. 

"It's one of their healers, Kukutux. And.. I'm really not sure. I'm supposed to meet up with her on the Snow Moon--" Oh snap, Rue would have to get going soon! She was a much slower traveller than she used to be. Maybe she'd track down that medic-- Eljay was his name, right?-- and see if he had any travelling herbs that might take the edge off the pain. She would definitely need the help to get down the slope of the Caldera. 

"..And I guess I'll find out more then. Thought I might make an ambassador's trip out of it, if there's anything we need to pass on to Moonspear?" Although her usefulness as a ranger was decidedly limited, Rue was still able to serve as a messenger... so long as the message wasn't an urgent one.

Her curiosity was genuine and her mind open as she waited to hear more about this fascinating and modern approach to romance. But as soon as Rue dropped the healer's name, Towhee's whole body went rigid. Her face scrunched as an internal battle commenced. Should she try to interfere, maybe even tell Rue to avoid Kukutux? She was part of an ally's pack, though she was also crazy, per everything Towhee knew about her. She admittedly did not like the idea of sweet Rue mingling with the likes of her, nor being paired up by a she-wolf who believed a woman was basically a receptacle for a man's seed.

That thought alone made the white furs on Towhee's shoulders bristle into ridges. Fucking ugh, she thought, same as when Wraen had told her all about it. The Sovereign was tempted to outright forbid Rue from pursuing this any further, though she didn't want to simply shit on her pack mate's aspirations. If anyone deserved something good, it was Rue. The leader's lips pursed as she finished digesting the Tradesman's inquiry.

"I want you," Towhee spoke slowly, "to be very careful. I've heard a lot of things about Kukutux," very few of them good. "And it's just hearsay—I don't know her personally—but... yeah. I know you have good judgment, Rue. And you deserve happiness." She paused. "I'm happy to help in that department too," she offered before actually answering the question. "I have nothing specific, though you could pass our good news onto Hydra about the litters we expect in early spring."

"What have you heard?" Ruenna's oversized ears lifted in curiosity. She wasn't one to gossip just for the sake of it, but Rue was placing a fair amount of trust in Kukutux and it concerned her that the Moonspear woman didn't exactly have rave reviews... especially from a friend as trusted and respected as Towhee. Rue was a perceptive wolf, and she could see that Towhee's visceral response had been strong. If Rue had been having doubts about this whole matchmaking thing before, they were doubled now.

Naturally, Rue wanted to know more about this hearsay. Towhee bit back the knee-jerk impulse to quip, "I didn't actually hear anything." She drew in a breath, reflecting back on her conversation with Wraen. Enough time had passed that some of the details were fuzzy, though the impressions remained.

"Do you know Wraen, by any chance? She's a longtime, trusted friend of mine. Kukutux threatened her, something about our friend, Arcturus. I don't remember all the gory details but apparently Kukutux also thinks a woman's worth is in her womb." Towhee paused. She could've mentioned Wraen's infertility but that seemed like private information. "If she can't or won't have children, she's worthless, particularly to a man. Do you see why I don't love the idea of such a person trying to make you a match?"

Wraen? Rue nodded. She didn't know her personally, but she'd heard the name around. 

A woman's worth is in her womb? Rue recoiled a bit in distaste. Kukutux really hadn't given Rue any impression that she could believe such a thing, but they had really only had a quick chat in passing. 

"I..." Rue struggled to find words, embarrassed by how easily Towhee had poked holes in Rue's plan. "Yeah, I do," Rue admitted. "You're right. Her matches, the men.. they could be anyone. People like that, who think..." Rue trailed off, shaking her head. Honestly, now that she thought about it, it could even be a whole lot worse than what Towhee already feared. These men could be misogynists, but they could also be kidnappers, or cultists, or any number of terrible things. 

Rue had already clawed her way out of one bad situation with a man. It had cost her everything. She was grateful that Towhee had spoken up, to stop her from making the same mistake again. 

"It was a stupid idea. I.. I might rethink that trip to Moonspear." The words came out sounding overly offhanded as Rue fought to keep her disappointment from her voice and her expression. It wasn't Towhee's fault that Rue was an idiot, and Rue didn't want her friend to feel bad for passing on a much-appreciated warning.

When Rue said she would reconsider the whole thing, Towhee felt relieved but also guilty. She didn't feel in the wrong for badmouthing Kukutux in the spirit of warning her friend, she just hated to see her comrade's aspirations spoiled. She was no matchmaker, yet just reading Rue's face, she decided she would reiterate her offer and step up to the plate.

"Wanting to find a mate is hardly stupid," Towhee refuted with a small smile. "Tell me what you look for in a guy," she coaxed, "like what's he like, ideally?"

"Oh, uh.." 

Ruenna was still reeling a bit from embarrassment, and so it took her a moment to wrap her mind around Towhee's question. 

"Uh.. Like.. settled, I guess. You know, nearby." Rue had just gotten to the Caldera, and she really didn't want to have to move again. With her chronic back pain, life on the road was out of the question, and a long-distance relationship would be a strain. 

Rue realized she had described a situation, but not really a person. What would her ideal mate be like? 

"Um.. Reliable. Thoughtful. Even-tempered. Understanding.." she continued. It would take such a person to see past Rue's physical limitations, after all. 

"And.. someone who'd make a good father, I guess." Welp, here came the embarrassment again. Rue's gaze shifted away. This was the first time Rue had mentioned to Towhee that she hoped to be a mother someday. Was there even a place in this pack for pups who weren't Redhawks? Would Rue be forced to relocate if she wanted to chase this particular dream? This was Rue's way of asking without actually asking.

Towhee met Rue's very first criteria with a light laugh. "Pragmatic," she commented, smiling encouragingly and letting her comrade continue. She found it interesting that Rue didn't have any physical criteria, instead looking for particular character traits. There was an approving, fond light glimmering in her orange gaze at that. Attributes like that mattered much more than physical looks.

The last bullet on her checklist did not surprise Towhee, though it did give her some pause. There might not be room in the caldera's ranks for another litter, depending on how many she and Niamh produced between them. There was also Eljay and Maia to consider, possibly. The Sovereign admittedly felt a little covetous of their space for puppies, as the dominant female in the pack, though an immediate solution came to mind.

"I'm not sure we can support more pups here," Towhee admitted, since Rue deserved the truth, "but, we could always branch out and create more sister packs." Her tail gave a little wave, wondering what Rue thought of that.

Rue laughed as well, humor pulling wryly at the corner of her smile. True, she hadn't listed the most romantic characteristics. If she had to choose physical traits, she'd have just landed on the very stereotypical tall, dark, and handsome. And then she would have just described Towhee's brother to a tee, which would have probably been awkward. So Rue left it with that. 

The conversation turned to more serious matters. Rue tried not to look too disappointed at Towhee's answer. It was the answer she had expected, after all. She nodded. 

The suggestion to create a sister pack was a kind one, and a bit unexpected. "Oh, uh.." Truly, such an enormous undertaking was ridiculously out of Rue's reach. She couldn't even get herself down the slopes of the Caldera, for star's sake. "Yeah that's-- that's an idea." She tried to look happy, or hopeful, or like something that wasn't how she actually felt-- disappointed, inadequate, and incapable. Stuck.

Rue seemed a little taken aback by the concept. The whole subject made Towhee think of Figment, of course. He'd seemed similarly caught off guard by such ideas. But they'd grown on him in time. It was probably inevitable that her mind wandered a bit further down this path, wondering if Fig and Rue might make a good pairing. She'd known him as a pup, though Towhee didn't see any issues now that he was grown.

"Do you remember Fig?" the Sovereign asked, unable to resist temptation.

"Fig?" The two ideas were not linked in Rue's mind as they were Towhee's, and it took her a beat to catch up with what felt like an entirely new train of thought. 

"Sure, yeah," Rue answered, shaking her head slightly as if to clear her mind. "Yeah," she said again, with a little more certainty as the new subject matter finally clicked. "I ran into him out with Phox about a month ago. They told me about the Caldera, and so here I am." Finding Phox and Fig had been an unbelievable stroke of luck. It was the first in a string of events which had eventually brought Rue home. "I can't believe he's grown.." And the spitting image of his father, to boot. 

Rue still wasn't quite sure why the young Redhawk was mentioned, and she waited for Towhee to fill her in on what she was thinking.

Towhee could see that she'd thrown Ruenna for a loop again. She held back her smile as the woman parsed her words. Her orange eyes brightened a bit when Rue mentioned running into Fig along with Phox prior to arriving here. Her tail flicked.

"I was grooming him to branch out, lead a sister pack," the Sovereign explained, "before he went to spend some time with Frosthawks. I'm hoping they're picking up where I left off, so he can spin off on his own, maybe even later this year. And, I mean, he's all grown up now..."

Was it weird to try hooking up her son with an old friend? Maybe. Did Towhee care about that? Nope. But what Rue thought about it mattered, of course. Towhee cocked her head, waiting to see if her comrade would pick up what she was laying down.

"Are you thinking he could use help?" Rue asked, a flicker of hope returning to her expression. Rue was hardly in a position to try to establish a pack on her own, but with a strong young man like Figment to do the legwork, well.. that had potential. 

Rue was absolutely not picking up what Towhee was putting down. She was imagining her potential role in this would-be sister pack as something of an advisor to the young alpha. It would not occur to her that Towhee was suggesting anything more intimate than that. Rue had avoided even mentioning that she was into Phox's look, so of course she thought that in Towhee's mind, her children were off the table.

She stifled a chuckle at Rue's innocent reply. She had looked a little crestfallen when Towhee first raised the notion, now she appeared to be glomming onto the idea a bit. The Sovereign's tail flicked again as she enjoyed the moment before she made plain her ideas.

"Yes," she answered, pausing for a beat before adding, "and he's single too." Well, she supposed he might've gotten himself involved with a lady since departing for the Frosthawks, though Towhee sincerely doubted that, seeing as he was related to most of them there.

"Uh..." Rue blinked. Then she blinked again. 

Was Towhee messing with her? Rue didn't think Towhee would-- she had to know it was a fraught subject-- but... really? 

Rue sucked in a breath. She didn't know what to say. She'd heard that Towhee herself had taken up with a much younger man, and so Rue didn't want to say anything offensive... but stars! She'd helped care for Fig when he was practically still getting his food chewed for him. 

"That's a tough one to wrap my mind around," Rue admitted diplomatically, letting her breath out with a small laugh. It was also a moot point. Young adults like Figment had minds of their own, and Rue wouldn't be surprised at all to learn that Figment's plans for himself were very different from the plans his mother had for him. Kids had the darnedest way of ruining even the most well-meaning, carefully-thought-out plans.

"Kukutux ain't got nothin' on me," Towhee quipped when Rue met her suggestion with several big blinks. Was that a self-satisfied smile? Indeed. "You should take some time to think about what I've said. Maybe we could drop by the Frosthawks sometime to catch up with him, see how he's doing and what the frick he's up to down there. For now, though, I need to find my brother. I'll see you later, Rue."

Towhee waved her tail and offered her pack mate a friendly bump before picking up her muddy paws and preparing to depart. Just before she vanished into the distance, a joke occurred to her and she called over her shoulder, "I'll send you the bill!" You know, for the matchmaking services. With a loud bray of laughter, she resumed her search for Phox.

Before Rue could find her bearings, Towhee suggested a trip to the Frosthawks. Stars, that sounded awkward. And poor Fig! Rue imagined it was a young man's worst nightmare to be ambushed in his new pack by none less than his mother and the woman his mother chose as his suitor. Rue would have no part in that, except...

Except what about that healer there? Phox had mentioned something about having a Frosthawk sister who might be able to help Rue with her pain. If Towhee planned a trip out to their sisterpack, Rue owed it to herself to tag along and see what might come of it. A long trip would be painful (and made more painful still by Towhee playing evil Cupid), but it would be worth it if Rue could possibly regain a little more movement. 

Before Rue could respond, Towhee was gone, sweeping away with a cackle of delight. Rue couldn't help but feel like she had just been bulldozed by a Towhee-shaped tornado. After a long moment of watching Towhee trot away, Rue turned back to her task with a shake of her head.