Blacktail Deer Plateau witchmilk

Peregrine would've loved to take both daughters with him to the borders but Tytonidae was still grounded, that little fugitive. He considered taking Pura or Saēna instead but when he went to collect Junior, those two were fast asleep beneath a maple tree near the eastern edge of the clearing.

"Looks like it's just you and me, Jun-yawww," he drawled, mimicking the way the pup said her own name. Clicking his tongue to summon her to heel, the Alpha male left the clearing with Osprey Jr. bounding in his wake.

He led her on a winding journey through the wood, then eventually approached the borders. "We're going to do a short patrol," he announced to the pup, who'd been surprisingly docile today. "C'mon, let's hoof it!" he invited in the next breath, breaking into a ground-eating lope which delivered him to the plateau's edge, lookalike in tow.

He hadn't expected to see an interloper lurking there. Peregrine froze when he spotted the strange male, then deliberated for a few seconds. "Stick close to me," he eventually murmured to Osprey, "and do as I say. This is a stranger and we're going to see what he's doing hanging around our borders." Exchanging a meaningful look with the youth (she fell obediently into step, hanging back to walk behind him), Peregrine picked his way down the slope.

"What is your business here at my doorstep?" he asked in an authoritative tone, trying to show his daughter a good example of how to handle strange faces at their perimeter.