Moonsong Glacier send the darkness

jr has settled into a comfortable routine for her. she had woken early, before the sun had ever risen and slipped out of the cave den she called her own to patrol the borders. ghost chooses to perch upon her shoulders; sleepily. a brief glimpse back shows him with his head tucked beneath his wing and she lets out a silent laugh that is a strange breathy noise that is goes unheard by her.

though she should find safety within her own little stone den, there is some primal, instinctual unease that lingers within her at times, creating insomnia within her. not quite claustrophobia, necessarily. but not quite something she can put her paw on, either.

she tucks those thoughts away, drawing in a deep breath of the stinging chilly morning air; letting the stars guide her path and the sugarspun beams of moonlight warm as she makes her rounds.

Towhee still hadn’t found anyone to run a message to the other villages. She reconsidered going herself, now that she and Phox had settled into Moontide. But she tended to stay pretty busy in their new home, so she hadn’t found the time yet.

And today would be no different. Although she was leaving the plateau for the first time this morning, she was headed east to search for small game. Towhee was determined to sharpen her skills… and prove that she still had merits, even if she was both aging and disabled.

All thought of hunting promptly fled her mind when a scent threaded through her nose. This time, there was no mistaking it. Towhee’s heart skipped a beat and she started running, stiff muscles limbering as she flew across the plain leading to the foot of the sparkling glacier.

There was a pack living here. Was it possible her youngest daughter lived among them? Towhee halted at the borders, then began pacing restlessly. The sun continued to rise, casting quite the glare, but she squinted in its direction every few moments, waiting to catch a glimpse…

When Towhee Jr appeared, it was as if her mother was looking into the past, at her younger self. There was a hawk perched on the young woman’s white-streaked shoulder. And she was clearly out on patrol. The elder Redhawk’s heart squeezed in her chest.

Let me know if you mind any of my assumptions here.

though jr does not expect much from her patrol, aside from perhaps the curious stranger, the to-be villagers; she does not expect to see her mother. for a moment, her steps falter and she stares dumbfounded for a second, as if she forgot seeing her namesake was like seeing her double.

wisened, for sure; but still her double.

-mom?!- jr signs in ptero, before the weavers spell broke and she rushed forward to greet her; a breathless yip which morphed into an excited snap of her teeth to match the joyous wag of her tail behind her.

all good with me! <3

They stood and stared at one another for a few beats, caught entirely by surprise. Delight quickly eclipsed that sentiment for the elder Towhee, who hastened to meet her lookalike in the middle, a huff of disbelieving laughter escaping her at Jr’s exclamatory signing.

-“Hey! It’s good to see you, kiddo! It’s been way too fucking long,”- Towhee Sr said, nuzzling her youngest, who’d really filled out and reached her adult proportions since their last visit. -“I was told you went on some kind of mission…”-

She wanted to know what Towhee Jr had been doing all this time, though it was secondary to the simple joy of this unexpected reunion. The elder Redhawk moved back a few feet to give them both room to sign, much as she wanted to cling to the young she-wolf. Her orange eyes cut admiringly to the hawk adorning Jr’s back, eyebrows raising with all her unspoken questions.

-i know.- signs jr, almost sloppily until the elder towhee pulls back and gives them space to sign.

-yeah, well... the mission was a bust.- she admits with a lofty shrug of her shoulders. -i mean, i found the wolves of redtail rise, i think. it was during my stay with them that i earned this,- jr shows off her coyote bite scar on her shoulder; proudly. -but then there was some sort of power struggle or something. none of them could sign and my lip reading wasn't great so i don't know the details.-

aside from the fact that she abruptly bailed during the political turmoil.

-njord told me to come home if it didn't work out but ... i wanted to make my own way. build myself up somewhere from the ground up. i met ariadne and well, here i am.-

a tightened grasp of ghosts' talon. -oh!- she signs; sheepishly. -this is ghost. he can't hunt for himself so we sort of became a dynamic duo.-

it was the very abbreviated version but content that jr felt she covered everything, her paws go still; eyes attentive to her mother.

Towhee said nothing as her (not so) miniature regaled her with tales of her life as of late. She’d been sent to someplace Towhee hadn’t heard of before, where she’d stayed long enough to obtain a rather gnarly scar. She wanted to ask what had caused it but she did not interrupt, frowning in commiseration when Jr mentioned the inevitable difficulties with communication.

Only when her daughter was clearly finished did Towhee finally speak, saying, -“I had a hawk companion too, when I was your age,”- then paused before continuing in a slightly different vein, -“It would help if your pack mates learned Ptero. I’m living in Moontide just next door, so I can help with that if you want. I could teach weekly lessons, invite anyone who’s interested in either pack and have them meet in the middle.”-

She couldn’t help but wonder if she would’ve joined Jr’s pack, had she known she was here before committing to Moontide. Towhee shook her head lightly, nudging the thought aside. They wouldn’t be any farther apart than most of her other children and grandchildren. And it still felt right to Towhee to support her brother rather than try to choose among her progeny too.

Towhee had so many questions now that it was her turn to speak, so she grinned and fired away, -“So, what’s this place called? How exactly did you get the scar? Have you heard from your brother? I saw him a couple months ago…”-

it is news to her, to find out that her mother had once had a hawk companion. -he's learned that i can't hear,- jr signs; face thoughtful. -he's probably the only reason i'm still alive.- jr partially jokes, letting out a breathy chuckle that holds no sound to it. she had come to rely upon her sense of smell and sight keenly, but also her own intuition to sense when something is near: dangerous or otherwise. she has learned to trust that sense that makes her muscles tense and her hair at her nape bristle.

traveling alone had been great; a teaching moment. independence. however, she knows it is much more safer and practical for her to remain with a pack.

a soft swell of warmth lingers in jr's chest as the elder towhee offers to teach ptero to her pack mates.

-that'd be great! i started to teach ariadne, my leader, and dutch, a weaver of tales; but i'm sure you're a better teacher than me,- jr's expression turns sheepish then. -i still have that selfish, prickly desire to want to keep it myself sometimes.- because, that was still her nature at it's core. fierce and salty and more bite than bark ( heh ). she was better at being sociable with her pack mates but it was a continuous work in progress.

or perhaps at that particular desire's root lay pride. wanting to prove that she could function in a pack dynamic without them catering to her. but it was easier, being able to communicate, and it helped her to bond with her pack mates. and that far outweighed her pride.

-it's called moonsong. one of the many moon villages, as i understand it.- she works through the questions in order. -a coyote. for a while, i was ashamed that it had escaped me. but, you fall down, you get back up, right?- she grins. -i got a cool scar from it, at least.-

her grin falters for a moment, a sadness flittering across her face; remembering how her and sable had once been attached at the hip, and that she blamed herself in part for leaving moonspear and not inviting him along. -no, not since i left moonspear.- she admits; forlorn, paws falling still.

Her daughter’s possessiveness caught Towhee by surprise, earning a little chuckle. She hadn’t realized. The elder Towhee was very much the opposite in that regard: she wanted to spread the language far and wide to facilitate communication. There was merit to keeping it close to the vest—like exchanging information right beneath an enemy’s nose—but those situations were very few and far between.

-“Guess that makes us sisters,”- Towhee quipped, orange eyes tracing over Jr’s mended wound. -“It’s a badge of honor, indeed, when you get it protecting your pack mates. That’s how I got some of mine,”- namely the particularly gnarly one that spanned her back- and hipbones.

She hadn’t seen her litter mate since leaving Moonspear, which tugged Towhee’s lips into a frown. She reached out to rest a paw on the young woman’s shoulder, giving it a little squeeze as she bit back a sigh.

-“He told me he went looking for your father,”- she shared after a pensive moment, eyes tight. -“He wanted to find you too. We ran into each other just next door,”- she shared, gesturing at the pine forest to the south, -“so hopefully he isn’t far. Maybe he’ll turn up on one our doorsteps soon.”-

It was really a shame that their little family of four had split up so completely. Towhee still wondered why her two youngest hadn’t come with her when she’d decided to go traveling in the summer, though there was no point bringing it up now. There was also no use in second-guessing her decision to leave them behind. None of them could go back.

-“I’m sorry our family fell apart,”- she did find herself saying, -“but now that you and I are back in the same neighborhood, maybe we can make up for some lost time? I’d love to start by hearing more about Moonsong. What made you decide to settle here?”-

jr's throat tightens with the breath that catches in it, a bit painfully, when towhee tells her that sable went to look for their father. she could, sort of, see the hope behind the action but also wondered if it was a lost cause. a fool's errand. maxim had been gone for so long and her own memory of him was fuzzy at best. she couldn't even say that she remembered what he looked like, that if she met him now that she would recognize him.

but she didn't dare put these words to ptero.

instead, she offered a -i hope sable finds him.- for her brother's sake, if no one else's.

-i was angry when you first decided to travel,- jr is sure her mother remembers. -but i understand now that i'm older and have done it myself. anyway,- she gives a soft shake of her head. -i don't think it fell apart.- she signs. -we all decided to do our own thing and i don't think that's a bad thing.-

perhaps sable would hold a different opinion, but jr a little more wiser and a lot more travelled than she'd been even months ago, chose to see it with a silver lining.

-i'm still learning about moonsong, myself.- jr admits, a bit sheepishly. -i don't know,- jr hedges. -in hindsight, maybe it was a bit rash to join up when all i'd done was hunt with ariadne one time but ... intuition told me it was a good choice when she offered for me to stay.- in reality, it was a double edged coin that really, could've gone either way. but jr was smart enough to know and certainly bold enough to jump ship if something didn't feel right.

Towhee met her lookalike’s optimistic comment with a blink. Just like with Sable, she didn’t want to force her narrative on her daughter. She wished she could insist that Maxim would never have walked out on them, that death was the only explanation. Towhee kept her mouth shut.

-I appreciate that,- she replied to Jr’s take, giving her tongue a rest as she restored entirely to Ptero. -I don’t think it was rash to join Moonsong. You can’t go wrong with any of the packs in this particular alliance, I don’t think. And it’s wise to flock up for the winter. That’s why I parked in Moontide. I had no particularly good reason to choose it, except that your uncle has a lady friend there,- Towhee shared, complete with a wiggle of her eyebrows.

Talking about her brother reminded her of why she was out this way: she was meant to be hunting. She idly wondered if Jr would want to join her on this endeavor, though it would definitely complicate conversation. She mulled for a moment, deciding to stay put and catch up with her daughter a bit longer before getting back to the task at hand.

-Is Ariadne one of Kukutux’s?- she asked conversationally. -What’s it like, living on a giant ice cube?-

Even as she awaited answers to her lighthearted questions, an errant thought weaseled its way into her brain. When she’d bumped into Sable, it had been shortly after Caracal’s death. She should probably tell Jr about that. Towhee imagined it wouldn’t affect her much. Had they ever even met? But it suddenly felt like she was doing her son’s memory a disservice by not even mentioning him. Her lips pursed.

hearing reading that phoxther had a lady friend comes as a soft surprise to jr, but then again, she rationalizes, it shouldn't. it has been some time since she had crossed paths with either her mother or phoxther and their lives were bound to continue on, just as her's had. -a lady friend?!- she signs; partially excited and partially slyly. -will i have cousins this year, do you think?- she asked.

-maybe? i don't really know.- jr admits, offering her mother a sheepish look.

-it's ... different. but not in a bad way.- she struggles for a moment, trying to think of how to describe it before eventually, simply, settling for her simple ( if not vague ) explanation.

As much as Towhee wanted to hear more about the goings-on in Jr’s life, she couldn’t resist the thread dangled before her. Her daughter seemed genuinely surprised and delighted by the notion of Phox’s potential love interest and the idea of younger cousins.

It would’ve been more proprietary to say something like, “I hope so!” Instead, Towhee signed, -Fuck yeah, you will. Phox deserves another chance at both husband and father. Whether it’s Heph or someone else, I’m hellbent on making sure he gets his happy ending this year.-

About three seconds after saying that, Towhee realized how it sounded and blurted out an ugly laugh. Would Jr get the double entendre? She kind of hoped not because… gross, that was her brother.

-Not interested in younger siblings?- she teased in the hope of distracting Jr’s attention, genuinely curious to see her reaction.

the double entrendre did go over jr's head but regardless the idea of phox getting a chance to settle down ( again ) fills jr with a soft, warm happiness.

which is deflated a bit as her mother asks her if she was interested in her younger siblings.

jr eyes her mother for a moment, guilt gnawing at her.

-of course i am!- hastily, jr signs; her expression sheepishly apologetic. -i didn't know you'd found someone. that's great, mom!-

It worked. Her spitting image stared back at her, then quickly signed a response. Towhee barked a laugh at the sheepishness, then another when Jr insisted she hadn’t realized her mom had found someone new.

-I haven’t,- she assured when she caught her breath, -and you can rest assured that I have no plans to find someone, nor procreate, for that matter. I mean, why bother, when I already popped out perfection?-

She reached toward Jr’s cheek, making as if to pinch it, though she only gently nudged the young woman’s face. Towhee grinned, though over a matter of few seconds, it softened into a somewhat different expression.

-You should know your dad was the love of my life. There will never be another.- She let that hang for a beat before adding, -And I truly don’t know about more kids. For me, having a mate and having kids are not mutually exclusive or whatever. But I’m getting pretty dang old, so…-

She was in her grandmotherly years. And it was on her offspring like Jr here to continue the legacy, although of course her youngest litter would need another year before that could happen. For that reason, Towhee didn’t bother raising that subject currently.

-I’m glad you seem so thrilled about cousins, though. Those are definitely happening,- Towhee repeated insistently. -And we’ll be close by so you can come help me corrupt them whenever you like.-

though jr grins, albeit a bit cheekily, at being called perfection and by the accompanying nudge of her cheek, it does not linger for long before it falters and her brows set in a contemplative expression upon her face. -but if you do, i'll support you.- jr signs, wanting her mother to know this fact, even if it never comes to be.

-i absolutely look forward to corrupting them,- jr's grin returns then; sly in it's nature.

The show of support meant a lot to Towhee. There wasn’t a snowball’s chance in hell she would ever marry again—Jr never need worry about making space for a stepfather, a thought which earned a derisive snort—and she didn’t think she would have any more children. But she’d thought that before.

-“I originally came out this way to hunt some small game to take back to Moontide. Would you like to join me? We can split whatever we catch.”-

She made no mention of just why she was out here, working on a skill she’d long accepted as totally mediocre. Towhee didn’t want to burden her replica with her worries about feeling inadequate and needing to prove her worth. She didn’t need to dignify these feelings that way.

-“Let’s go that way,”- Towhee said, pointing at the forest where she'd last seen Sable. -“We’ll find something to eat and maybe your brother. Better yet, maybe both. C’mon!”-

Fade here? <3

-sure,- jr agrees, even though she does not feel as though hunting in her strong suit. still, small game was easy enough, thankfully, and she is happy to spend the time bonding with her mother, and as towhee said, with any luck, finding some food and her brother.