Redhawk Caldera a shadow tilts its head at me

There was good news buried among all the misery and heartache: she had two new brothers. Raven gave Fox a watery smile and another gentle nuzzle for good measure. She wondered about them but refrained from asking any questions for the moment. Now that she was welcome back, there would plenty of time to meet and get to know them later, not to mention catch up on the other relatives she had accidentally left behind the better part of a year ago. Right now, Fox was her one and only focus.

The mention of the rendezvous site caused a nostalgic feeling to stir in the pit of Raven's belly. She wondered about the old badger den and the little garden beside it. Were they still there? It was another thing she would find out later. "Okay," she replied quietly to her mother's invitation. "Thank-you," she added as they slowly began the upward shuffle, "for letting me back. I didn't mean to disappear like that. I went looking for Pan and... well, let's just say I found out I'm very directionally challenged. I don't know how Wildfire does it." It had taken her eight months just to find her way back here.

None of it—why she'd left, where she'd been all this time—mattered one bit now. She was home with her family. "Would you like me to make a poultice? What about pain medicine?" Raven queried softly as they ascended the caldera.