Redhawk Caldera No matter how much it hurts, no matter how hard it gets, you gotta keep grinding.

Although pragmatic—perhaps to a fault—that didn't mean Towhee didn't sometimes give in to her emotions. She felt sorely misunderstood when Finley spoke to her, not unlike the way she'd felt trying to argue with Lagan. But unlike that altercation, the youth simply didn't have the energy to defend herself. Her mouth opened, then closed, opened and closed again.

She slumped rather theatrically to the ground to designate her defeat. "Okay," she said simply, closing her eyes and making herself effectively incommunicable for a moment. Finley could be shouting at the top of her lungs or gesticulating wildly but Towhee would be none the wiser. Her lips curved at the thought, though she only stole about thirty seconds before opening her eyes again.

"Can I ask you something?" Her heart resumed its earlier galloping. She hadn't been looking at Finley directly but now she made herself gaze at the Alpha's face. "Like I said, I trust you. With my life." Pause. "Would it be best if..." It was a lot harder to say out loud than she'd anticipated. "...I left?" Towhee couldn't hear herself, of course, or how breathlessly strangled those last two words came out.