Blacktail Deer Plateau coming for to carry you home

I don't mind at all. Anyone's welcome to make an appearance, as Perry's going to rally them to pay their last respects... :'(

Peregrine woke up from a fitful sleep with a sense of impending doom clasping his heart, which was even worse than the previous week's chronic misery and heartache. He pushed himself to his feet and began the slow shuffle toward the plateau's edge, where he would stand watch and wait for the search parties to return. It would be dark in a few hours and he expected them home by nightfall. They had yet to bring home any news (he struggled to decide if that was a good or bad thing), yet he sensed that today would be different.

He didn't dare hope, though, and when Blue Willow came creeping into his field of vision, Peregrine was glad he hadn't allowed himself that luxury. In her mouth, the Healer carried a bundle. His heart hammered and then leaped into his throat. She stopped, gently lowered her precious cargo, then howled for him. By the time her voice broke and tapered away, he was scurrying down the slope to meet her, mindless of his broken paw.

"What...?" escaped his lips. He was marginally aware that he wasn't the only one to react to Blue Willow's summons. He blinked absently at Pura, then lowered his eyes to the bundle. Swallowing against the saliva filling his mouth, Peregrine nosed forward and nudged it. It didn't smell like Osprey Jr., which caused relief to flood him, but then its contents took shape and he realized he was looking at the remains of a small corpse. He would've argued that there was no way this could be his little girl (it was too decayed) but then he saw the ears and looked away suddenly as if struck in the face, his breath hissing out of him in a ragged gasp.

For several moments, Peregrine crouched that way, the reality of the situation washing over him in wave after incredibly painful wave. Junior's gone. She's dead. A low, strangled cry spilled from his lips. He knew that many parents lost pups, particularly in their first year, and that it was only nature taking its course. Still, the fact that he could have prevented this would forever plague his soul. If only he'd exerted his will over his headstrong daughter, she would be here, alive, awake and enthusiastic.

There was a sense of finality and closure. Peregrine would forever reminisce on this moment, trying to decide if it was worse to know or, if Blue Willow hadn't returned with such incontrovertible evidence, it would have been better to hold out hope. For now, the sight of young Osprey's corpse caused him unbearable pain and still he looked away from it. Slowly, however, he turned back and stared at what was left of his offspring.

"We will bury her near Pied," he said quietly, his voice threatening to crack and break. He took a steadying, sobbing breath. His eyes met Blue Willow's and Pura's, albeit a little vacantly. "Let's pay our last respects to our Osprey Jr..." he proposed before slowly lifting his head and bawling toward the heavens a note of agony and grief borne from a loving father whose little girl would never come home.