Redhawk Caldera friends become family

Fox was quiet- it was unusual, yes, but rather than being welcome, as silence often was for Shrike, he felt slightly uncomfortable. His alpha followed him and it felt odd to be leading her somewhere, especially without talking. What could he say, though? He didn't want to bring up Peregrine; he didn't want to talk about that at all, unless of course, Fox brought it up. He felt obligated to make conversation, but couldn't think of anything appropriate to say. Talking about the weather even seemed inappropriate- why should he say the weather was nice when it was still such a horrible time in their lives? He kept quiet, instead, and was grateful when the creek came into view. 

He waded in ankle deep, silver eyes automatically searching for a white rock as he lowered his head to drink. He gulped back enough to slate his thirst, before he began roving this way and that in the shallow waters, looking for anything he could add to his collection.