Blacktail Deer Plateau i shot down the sun with bow and flame

Atticus's response made Peregrine mutter quiet oaths under his breath. His brow furrowed and he asked, "Really? That long ago?" Not wanting to make his brother feel bad about it, he continued by saying, "Well, Crete handled my promotion all right but he wasn't getting along with Hawkeye. Because of that, I figured he might go home after we found out about mom..." He frowned deeply. "We even talked about it. Ugh, it just gets my goat that he upped and disappeared without bothering to say something. I made it totally clear I would've been fine with it too, so it's not like he had any reason to sneak away." His teeth ground together audibly.

"Anyway," he said after a moment, realizing that he would accomplish nothing by blowing steam out his ears, "there's nothing we can do about it. Come inside and distract yourself with adorable puppies," he invited, his tone wooden but sounding less strained when he mentioned the pups. "They even make great stressballs. Just give 'em a good squeeze," he joked.

Leading Atticus fully inside the den, Peregrine motioned for Atticus to get comfortable, then began to introduce each of the sleeping whelps. "The black one's Osprey Jr. Her sister, Tytonidae, is right next to her. Then there's Pura there and Saēna here takes after her late mother." He glanced up, sure his brother knew of Pied's death but not knowing how it affected him. Peregrine knew that Osprey the Elder was quite sad about it—the two had known each other pretty well from their Flightless Falcons days—but the swarthy leader couldn't remember if Atticus had been close to Pied at all.