Hushed Willows Forward

Desna mentioned scouting, and initially Octavia was at a loss; yes, she heard the words, but she thought of the Maplewood and wondered if somehow Saena had found them — but then her mind corrected her, because Mordecai had mentioned the woodland being abandoned when the famine hit, so clearly she was not one of the Phoenix wolves any longer. These thoughts were tiny blips, insignificant, while Desna continued to explain, and Octavia chose to dwell on the fact one of her friends had survived the famine, as not everyone would be so lucky.

Except then, she mentioned Reek, and the Larksong, and a flood of new thoughts and feelings (or truthfully, old ones brought to light, rising to the back of her throat like stale dinner after a night of drinking), and Tavi returned to her world of suspicion, hurt, distrust, and high defenses. Her spine bristled and she let out a hmmph from her nose. He's not here, thank the powers-that-be. Did she have the energy to explain everything? Not really, but she'd try, for Desna's sake. 

Tavi licked her lips and, with a breath that was only a little more steady than before, went on to explain in snippets:

I did live at the Larksong, but now I live here, and I'm one of the Alphas. Reek and I... We don't see one another much anymore. He did some things I did not agree with, put our family at risk, so I chose to leave. I assume he's still there, but he doesn't know where I am, uh.. Where we are, actually.

At this, the tail-end of her very vague synopsis, she added with a warmer tone, I had a baby, Desna. A little boy that looks just like me - he's a little shit most of the time, but I love him, and... I had to keep him safe. Briefly she smiled, but it would be hard to tell if it was a genuine smile or a facade put in place to hide the sadness in her, because the situation was sad. Tambourine did not know his father, and at this rate Tavi wasn't going to subject either of them to that boatload of drama.

His name is Tambourine. And he was the love of her life.