Moonspear not all tears are an evil.

Fig felt so ridiculous. He was four years old—a man well grown. He was traveled, experienced, independent and strong. And yet, after finally reunited with Fenn and it going pretty terrible, all he wanted was to see his mama.

Fortunately for him, @Towhee was not too far. After taking the night to himself in the Glen nearby, he'd gotten up the next morning and returned to Moonspear. As luck would have it, he found @Meerkat before he even needed to call. And after a brief exchange and catching up session, she'd brought him to where Towhee had relocated her family.

And if none of that is okay, Kat can slap me on Discord and I'll fix it.

-"Mom?"- Fig said and signed as he came near, leaning around to make sure he was in her line of view. He gave her a smile and a soft wag of his tail, but both were weak and spoke of how defeated he was feeling in that moment.

gonna set this for tomorrow 'cause timelines "matter" looool but no for real, I can fix whatever I messed up 

The four newest villagers were currently parked at the rendezvous site. Towhee thought she might look for a den (ulaq, she reminded herself) at some point just because she enjoyed a home base. In the meantime, the kiddos were just the right age to begin spending time at a rendezvous site.

She sat beneath a tall evergreen of some sort, her butt carpeted by needles and her scarred back resting lightly against a rough (and slightly sticky) trunk. Phox had just taken Sable and Towhee Jr to the far side of the clearing, closest to the peak, so she was sort of just sitting there, missing Jack.

Towhee stared down at her feet. She didn’t regret coming here but it had of course been a fraught decision. Sighing through her nose, she glanced upward right as Figment appeared in front of her.

Fig, she said, features lighting up as she heaved onto her feet.

She went in for the hug, her face crumpling as it grazed her son’s shoulder. Towhee tightened her grip and pushed her face into his neck, overwhelmed with emotion and hanging onto her eldest son for dear life.

Towhee spotted him, but before Fig could do any more than take a single step towards her, she closed the distance and burrowed against him with such emotion he was momentarily stunned. She’d just done exactly to him as he had planned to do to her, and the sudden turning of the tables sent his melancholy thoughts of Fenn fleeing.

”Mom? What happened? Are you okay?” he asked aloud, then gritted his teeth as he remembered she wouldn’t hear him. He wasn’t exactly in a position to sign either, so he quieted his noisy mind and sank into the embrace. It was a very nice hug, if also a slightly worrisome one.

Through the close press of their chests, she could feel the telltale rumbling as Fig said something to her. Towhee gave him another squeeze, held on for a few seconds longer, then reluctantly drew back. This was the worst aspect of her deafness: she could never hold onto a loved one and talk to them at the same time.

I guess I got the whelmies a bit, she said to explain the tears in the corners of her eyes. I’m glad you’re here, Fig. You—wait, are you just visiting or have you come to roost too? Towhee added, blinking away the moisture.

Fig didn't want her to pull away yet, but he didn't protest when she did other than emit a small whine that he knew she couldn't hear. He looked at her with concern and curiosity in his eyes as she spoke, but calmed down when she explained. He'd learned much about what she'd been through the last couple of years, so he could completely understand how hard this move to Moonspear must be for her. He was going to offer his sympathies, but then she asked a question so very reminiscent of the one Fenn had asked—the question that had lead him into this downward spiral.

He dropped his gaze from hers and looked down at her paws, his ears sliding back with remorse and guilt. -Just visiting,- he answered in ptero, not wanting to feel the taste of those words in his mouth again. Not so soon. He lifted a paw to continue, to explain himself. But he dropped it after a moment and lowered his gaze even further down to his own paws instead.

When he replied that he was only visiting, he looked almost ashamed of himself. Towhee felt a pang of disappointment, though she wasn’t upset with his answer. Why did he look like he expected a beat down for it? Her brows furrowed and she reached out to touch her muzzle against his, their whiskers tickling a bit.

-“Why does your face look like that?”- Towhee asked, going for some levity even if she couldn’t quite get her mouth to cooperate by smiling. -“Visits are great. Are you staying in the area at all or just passing through? Don’t worry, there’s no wrong answer,”- she disclaimed, her head canting slightly, orange eyes less damp and more curious now.

In spite of everything, the way she phrased the question about his expression prompted a flicker of a smile. It gave him the strength to look up at her as she proceeded to reassure him that whatever decision he made was okay with her. If only everyone felt that way.

-"Fenn would disagree..."- he said with a sigh. At least he'd found his voice again. -"I talked to her yesterday,"- he continued, -"She apologized for running out on me. I apologized for making her feel like it was her only choice. Then she asked me if I would stay and I told her no. She ran off again. She was so upset..." He dropped his paw and looked off into the trees.

Towhee inhaled sharply when Fig told her about the issue with Fen. Part of her immediately wanted to meddle mediate. If she focused on their issues, it could be a distraction from her own. But she was worn so thin by now, she didn’t think she had the bandwidth even if she wanted to help them sort it out. Anyway, they were grown adults, so Towhee should probably let them figure it out themselves.

All the same, she sagged sadly upon hearing that her two eldest children—once thick as thieves, like their father and (adoptive) mother—were at odds. A small whine eked out of her as she leaned in to pull her son into another, looser hug. Surely they would patch things up at some point, though she knew it was hard on them both in the meantime.

Fen’s been through a lot, Towhee said after a moment, though she didn’t embellish beyond saying, Hopefully she just needs some time to process. What about you? Hopefully you’ve been up to things, not through them so much…

The truth was, Fig wanted Towhee to fix it. He knew it was childish and it would never actually work, but still. Life had been so much easier when they were kids and they could just rely on their parents to make everything better. Things had just felt so much easier back then. Now, it felt like nothing was ever easy.

Fig knew some of what Fenn had been through from @Phox (or so I've decided), so he didn't press Towhee for details. He let the comment slip by him, but regretted it when she turned the questioning onto him and what he'd been up to. He didn't want to talk about himself—he wanted to talk about Fenn. But that was when he realized that it was happening already. In just one day, she had become the center of his focus and his own life and experiences were cast so easily aside.

"I really don't have anything interesting to say about me," Fig admitted, "I feel like I've just been wandering aimlessly for months being trapped inside my own head with only my thoughts for company. They've not been... kind..." 

Fig shook his head and huffed in frustration, mostly with himself. "I want to be up to things again. But I feel like I can't be until I get this stuff with Fenn figured out and put behind me."

She's not making it easy, though... he added, leaving the words spoken only in his head.

Towhee’s lips pulled into a moue when Figment claimed he didn’t have anything to share about himself. Really? she thought. You didn’t see anything? Or talk to anyone?? That whole time??? But he was so beside himself about his sister, she wouldn’t tease him. Besides, she wasn’t really in the right mindset for such things.

Then find her and talk to her, Towhee said, giving her son the kindest look she could muster. And don’t stop talking until you two have put things right. Communication is key, or so they say. She paused, then told him, I wish I could wave a magic wand to make things all better but that’s just not how things work. That said, I’ll be here for hugs afterward, if either one of you needs them.

Towhee made it sound like it was so easy. That all he needed to do was go talk to her until they solved all of their problems and were best friends once again. But how was that possible when Fenn had a habit of just waking away when she didn’t like what was being said? That was what he’d tried yesterday and she’d just bailed on him…

Fig took a deep breath and held it for four heartbeats, then released it while counting to eight. He felt himself getting emotional and he didn’t want to succumb to it. He had come to his mother to seek her advice on the matter, not to whine and cry until she told him he was a good boy and Fenn was just a meany head.

”I do like the hugs,” Fig said with a forced smiled. He took his deep breath again and after letting it go, he did another. ”I’ll definitely try to talk to her again before I go,” he said, ”I just feel like it never does any good. But… I’ll try.”

Fig shook his head, trying to free himself of his melancholy. He looked around to see where Meerkat had run off to. ”Meerkat seems like she’s doing well,” he commented, trying to change the subject. It seemed better to dwell on the fact that at least someone in their family seemed happy.

I could use a few more myself, Towhee said with a wry little smile.

Fig didn’t argue with her logic, though he did point out that it didn’t always go well when he tried to talk to his sister. Towhee looked down at the ground for a moment, thinking. She wouldn’t get in the middle of this, nor take sides, though she definitely empathized with her son on this.

Sometimes, it feels she’s determined to take everything the wrong way. But I don’t think it’s on purpose. She’s just been dealt the worst hand at so many turns, it’s hard to be anything but pessimistic about everything. It’s tough but I really do think you’ll get through to her if you just keep trying to talk, even in circles. The fact that you try shows that you care, you know?

And that was all she planned to say about that. She glanced sideways, then refocused when Fig mentioned Meerkat. Towhee was glad for the change of subject, plus it warmed her heart to think of how well at least one of her kid’s lives was going.

Yeah, she is. Caracal’s doing pretty well too. And I like to think all the grandkids are happy. Have you had a chance to catch up with Killer?

She wondered if maybe Killdeer could help his uncle crack Fennec’s code or help in some other way. But Towhee didn’t mention that. Her grandson didn’t need to get in the middle of this either. What he did need to do was come hang out with his grandmother soon. Maybe when Fig went off to make amends with Fen, she’d go hunt down her eldest grandchild.

The way Towhee phrased it resonated with his own perspective. Fenn could be negative and all too ready to believe the worst. He didn't hold it against her by any means—he understood that the cards life dealt you could have a dramatic impact on your perception of the world. But it didn't change how it effected him.

Fig merely nodded to her recommendation. He was still uncertain, but he knew it wasn't something Towhee would resolve for him. He would have to figure it out on his own.

"I haven't yet, but I want to hunt him down before I go," Fig replied, smiling at the thought of his nephew, "I need to meet Meerkat's littlest ones too. I'm told they're pretty adorable." Fig had no aspirations to become a father himself, but he did enjoy the role of Uncle.

Eh, they’re alright, Towhee jested. It’s uncanny, actually, how much Orca II resembles her late aunt. Meerkat told me about her before I met her but when I first saw her, it was still…

Well, it was like seeing her sister come back to life. Towhee wondered if the rest of their litter also had doppelgangers out there somewhere. Maybe Caracal’s young wife was brewing one of them right now. And there was still time for Phox to produce his very own remix.

There’s Ray too, Towhee said after a beat, from Meerkat’s first litter. I bet he’d like to meet his hip Uncle Figgy too.

"Well, I'm sure they're no match to my siblings," Fig said with a wag of his tail. He had heard stories of his Aunt Orca, and of the others his parents had been born alongside. It was strange to think they were the only two left of so many, but perhaps that was only because Fig and his sister had simply been born the only two.

He had to quirk a brow at what she called him. Not the "Figgy" part, but the "hip". "Hip Uncle Figgy?" he commented with an appraising nod, "He sounds kinda cool. I'd like to meet him too."

Uh, yeah? Do you not consider yourself hip to the lingo, Figment? Towhee teased, reveling in this moment of easy affection between herself and her eldest son. You should, she added more seriously in the next breath, I think you’d be a good influence on him. I ought to get to know him better too. We could always track him down together, you know, surround him and force him to tell us all about himself…

Towhee chuckled, the noise trailing off as she glanced out over the meadow that served as Moonspear’s rendezvous site. She could see Phox and the littles off in the distance, still playing closer to the peak. Eventually, her gaze drifted back to Fig, a small and slightly melancholy smile tugging at her lips.

Once you kiss and make up with Fen, what comes next for you, Fig? Towhee asked.

Fig shook his head as he smiled at his mother. He was certainly not hip by any sense of the word, let alone to lingo. He couldn’t help the tight feeling in his chest that presented itself when she spoke of surrounding him, forcing him to be open about himself. He knew she was joking, that she would always respect his privacy. But the joke chafed uncomfortably, though he did his best not to outwardly show it.

”I spent some time in the Valley West of Epoch before coming here,” Fig answered, ”I think I’ll head back that way and find somewhere to settle down.”


He didn’t dispute her comment about making up with Fenn. He certainly wanted to, and he would try, but he somehow didn’t see that problem resolving itself so quickly.

The valley west of Epoch? she echoed, glancing in that general direction. That wouldn’t be be very far from here, right? But where do you mean, specifically? Towhee asked, frowning lightly and trying not to think of her recent meeting with Tamar in that area. And when you say ‘settle down’…

She trailed off, looking to Fig to fill in the blanks. She tried to keep her expression neutral but there was probably a hint of earnest, naked hoe on Towhee’s face at the suggestion that her son might plant roots somewhere in her vicinity.

Look, I caught the typo when I previewed the post but I refused to fix it.