Redhawk Caldera Waayo waayo.

This is for @Vesper, though anyone's welcome! Come do a yoga with Towhee. :)

The late afternoon sunlight slanted over the caldera, the angles somehow different now that they were past the autumn equinox. The air was pleasantly warm after a cloudless day, though as the sun dipped toward the western horizon and shadows spread, it began to rapidly cool.

Up here on the caldera's rim, it remained bright and cozy. It was the perfect setting for a bit of evening yoga. Before she began to go through the motions, Towhee simply stood there for a few moments, basking in the golden glow and surveying the wilderness surrounding her home.

mother had returned, but vesper had avoided her— she had always been closer to mou, anyway, and the darkling felt unmoored without him. though she remained close to @Blueberry, the adolescent had begun to self-isolate more and more in the wake of her spar with phox. it had helped release much of her anger, though its wake left a lot of confusing thoughts and waves of other emotions she couldn't name and struggled to keep her head above. why couldn't everything go back to the simpler times, before phox?

she awoke from a nap, hidden away from sun on her dark fur as the afternoon wore on, and stepped out into the cooler early-evening air. this was bittersweet, too, reminding her of the cooler days she remembered from the island. vesper moved through the caldera, silent and sullen as ever, until she had climbed its edge to the rim. it was slightly warmer here, but the view was unmatched especially at this hour— the golden, setting sun warming the high points in the distance, casting cooler blue shadows in the areas beneath.

vesper shrank back when she realized she wasn't alone, but she was curious about towhee— and caracal had insisted she was cool, so the darkling shook off her nerves and took a tentative seat next to her aunt.

When she felt calm and limbered by the fading glow of approaching twilight, Towhee shuffled to her feet to begin stretching. She started when she noticed the small figure seated nearby, blinking owlishly at the girl for a moment before a smile tentatively found its way onto her face. This was Vesper, if she recalled correctly. More importantly, this was her niece.

"Hey there," Towhee greeted, quickly swallowing the sheepishness she felt being caught doing woo woo crap in front of her fellow Redhawks. This shit worked. It worked wonders. "I was just getting ready to do some yogurt, if you'd like to join me," she said, stubbornly sticking to that name even though someone had surely corrected her by now.

her aunt said nothing at first, merely looking back at her with their shared, orange eyes— even vesper couldn't deny her family resemblance with many of those within the caldera, and her brows furrowed slightly at this realization. in the same moment, towhee offered a tentative smile, and the darkling bowed her head and softened her expression in deference. whether she wanted to be in this place or not, this was her leader... an authority that mattered more than blood.

hi. 'm vesper, she murmured a quiet introduction, for the moment a shier version of herself. but vesper lifted her head, and her large ears perked in curiosity at her aunt's next words. towhee was difficult to understand, an accent vesper didn't recognize thick in her speech (nor did the child know her aunt was deaf)... but even after she thought she deciphered it, it didn't make much sense.

what is yogurt? vesper questioned then, suspicious.

She pretty clearly remembered Vesper's behavior on the day her family came to live at the caldera. It was rather different today, Towhee was pleased to note. She favored her niece with a smile as she introduced herself. Maegi had given the girl's name along with the others that day, though it was good to hear straight from Vesper herself.

"Hi, Vesper," the Sovereign replied in her usual toneless cadence, orange eyes flickering like fire. "I'm Towhee," she reintroduced herself. She should've been Towma or, at the least, Aunt Towhee, but she didn't mention any of that.

"As for yogurt," she continued after a thoughtful beat, "it's like meditating and stretching rolled into one." She saw the mistrustful look on Vesper's face and laughed. "It sounds like hippie bullshit, I know, but it really helps you clear your head and relax your body. Any other questions before I do a demonstration?"

she decided almost immediately that she liked towhee— she was straightforward in a way that vesper wasn't used to. the darkling had never heard of yogurt or meditation, but stretching and clearing her head sounded like something she needed. i'll join you, she agreed quickly, before the offer could be rescinded.

as a matter of fact, vesper had a lot of questions. the first one that bubbled up and flew tactlessly from her mouth was: why do you talk so funny?

She didn't expect that question, though she didn't particularly mind it either. Towhee had never heard herself, of course, but she was well aware that she spoke differently than others. It didn't always come up so explicitly, though she would much rather Vesper's question than some of the severer reactions she'd gotten over time.

"Wait, I talk funny?" she joked, winking before quickly explaining, "I'm actually deaf and it affects the way I talk. I don't really know why, just that it does." Towhee paused to let that sink in before adding, "If you're wondering how I can hear you, I can't. But I can read your lips some and use context to fill in the rest."

Surely that might lead to more questions, though before Vesper could spring any more of them, Towhee put on her best conspiratorial face and informed her, -"And we actually speak a secret language here. It's called ptero. Every word I'm saying, I'm also signing. I'd be happy to teach you."- In fact, sharing the conlang was one of Towhee's favorite things to do with new members.

towhee took her question with good humor, though vesper wasn't aware enough that such bluntness would be considered rude (at best) by many others. she had never known wolves could be deaf before— vesper was taught that snakes were deaf, and bats were blind— and it was a fascinating, if sort of worrisome, realization.

thoughts of yogurt overtaken, the adolescent was now fixated on this unique quality of her aunt's. she answered another question before the darkling could ask it; reading lips. and a secret language! as towhee spoke and signed, vesper's orange eyes watched her movements with hungry curiosity. beyond the instinctual body language wolves shared, she could see there was more to it— in the way towhee moved her head, ears, tail, and in the way she lifted and directed her paws as she spoke.

to be honest, it was a little weird. but cool.

there was still a burning question left unanswered, and encouraged by towhee's acceptance of her initial query, vesper asked, how did you become deaf?

She supposed she could've been bothered by Vesper's questions, though Towhee was actually kind of flattered. No, that wasn't the right word. It was just... nice, having someone show such interest in her condition, without any particular nuances of judgment. The child was curious and just wanted to understand how her aunt functioned.

-"You know, I'm not sure. Like, I don't know the mechanics behind it. Did you know all wolves are born deaf? Blind too. They open their eyes around a week or two, then their ears a bit after that. Usually. In my case, my ears never opened. I've never been able to hear."- And though her niece hadn't asked, she shared, -"And I think that's for the best. I feel like it would've been a lot more debilitating to be able to hear, then lose that ability."-

Towhee hadn't forgotten about her intention to do yoga, though she made no mention of it. She was rather enjoying this conversation and, again, appreciated Vesper's interest. With that said, she didn't want it to be one-sided. She was glad her niece wanted to get to know her, though she wanted to get to know her niece too.

-"What about you? Is there anything interesting or, I dunno, weird about you, Vesper? Tell me a fun fact about yourself,"- she Sovereign coaxed with warmth in her orange eyes.

vesper nodded seriously, appreciative that towhee was so thorough in her explanations. she didn't remember being blind or deaf, and she had to agree with her aunt— better to never have it at all then to know what you were missing. the darkling was glad she couldn't remember what it was like to be without sight or hearing, but somehow she knew better than to say that out loud.

i have big ears, she offered, hesitating. vesper flattened and then pointed them as she did so, showing off this disproportionate part of herself. like a bat. that's why mom named me vesper, she continued. she had never thought to ask why they were so much larger than everyone else's, except for her brother peregrine. um. maegi, the darkling clarified, appraising towhee as she did— it occurred to her that she had no idea what phox might have shared with his sister.

vesper felt her heart rate increase, as it usually did when conversations strayed to acknowledging that particular situation. the spar with phox had been an improvement in their relationship, but the adolescent still had a lot of built-up resentment. can you show me yogurt, now?

she could use a trick to clear her head.

Vesper wiggled her ears and Towhee couldn't help but grin, totally endeared by this girl who should've been more of a daughter than a niece, but who was not quite either. She wouldn't have given that more than a passing though if not for the pup's own mild correction. Her lips formed a moue as she gave Vesper an assessing look, very curious about her take on the whole matter.

But before Towhee could decide if she seemed too troubled to talk about it, Vesper requested that "yogurt" lesson. "'Course," she said, only a little disappointed. They both lived here now, so there would be plenty of time to get to know one another and feel out the situation, right? In the meantime, sharing an activity was a great way to build a foundation.

"Mmmkay, how about we start with child's pose, since you're a child and I—as you'll find out soon enough—can be extremely childish at times," the Sovereign quipped. "Since you've presumably never done anything like this before, I'm going to ease you into it. Lay down, like this," Towhee said, demonstrating by flopping to the ground and then rolling her weight onto her left side, "and streeeeetch. I mean, reach your forepaws as far forward as you can and kick out your hind legs too. Then," she continued, "roll onto your belly and pretend you're a superhero in flight."

she shifted under towhee's assessing gaze, dread that she might be forced to talk about... everything... forming in the pit of her stomach. but her aunt didn't press her, easily shifting over to vesper's request for a yogurt lesson. she furrowed her brows as towhee spoke— she had become accustomed to her aunt's affectation in this brief conversation, but deciphering the movements she needed to make for yogurt was another matter.

the darkling did her best to mimic her aunts movements, appreciating the stretch in her shoulder blades as she reached forwards, then in all her limbs and joints as she rolled to her belly. it was the perfect way to loosen up after the spar with not-father. and it hurt— in a good, less punishing way than picking fights with wolverines— which provided the distraction she needed from her thoughts.

"Feeling it?" Towhee guessed as she watched Vesper, the corner of her mouth twitching. "I'll go through a few other poses," she said in the next breath, doing exactly that. She began with upward dog, since it was an easy transition from child's pose, then it only made sense to go over downward dog after that.

After demonstrating, Towhee straightened up onto all fours to explain, "The poses are just one part of it. This takes practice—tons of practice, in my experience—but as you perform the different poses, you try to regulate your breathing and sort of clear your mind. It can be pretty challenging at first but, shit, if I can do it, anybody can."

The Sovereign glanced toward the horizon, where the sun had fully sunk out of view now. The sky was a bright shade of red off toward the west and much dimmer off to the east. Towhee felt a sense of contentment welling inside her as she breathed in the cool evening air, still relishing being home after being away so long.