Redhawk Caldera Love and great buildings will survive

Had she been able to hear, Towhee might have known they were getting close long before they actually arrived. But the world remained silent for her. And while she intended to keep her eyes peeled for any sign of the pups and their parents, she was distracted by a rustling motion in the long grass by the fringes of the rendezvous site. She instantly made a beeline toward it, ready to squash anything that might threaten the pups.

It was just a turtle, shuffling slowly through the overgrowth. Towhee blinked down at it, watching it struggle through the carpet of grass for a moment. She then bent down, opened her mouth and plucked it off the ground. She cantered back into the clearing and plopped it down on the much shorter sedge there. The turtle reacted by immediately withdrawing its head and limbs. Perhaps the pups would enjoy playing with it but Towhee didn't have time to loiter over the peculiar creature.

She moved back toward the edges of the rendezvous site and began prowling along them, wary of anything other than approaching wolves. And as soon as they began arriving, she halted and lifted her head to bark at them, then loped over to greet them properly with a wiggle of her tail.

-Hey kids, there's a rock over there with a face and legs,- the guardian quipped as she approached.