Heron Lake Plateau Let's give this bad boy a test run.

Already he was wondering how this bomb was going to be extinguished.  The bomb squad was probably like an hour away and Quixote was just some dude with a pocket knife and no training on disarming explosives.  Towhee's words put him a little on edge -- there was something about them that made him wonder if this is how those ever lasting wars started.  Then came Titmouse, who pushed the envelope and seemed to be egging on a fight maybe?  Why?

Okay, they really needed a lid put on this, fast.  He took a couple of steps forward into the no-wolf's-land, not aggressively, but definitely trying to draw attention, Hold the hell up!  There's like three of you, he scoffed loudly, but perhaps not as sure in himself as he might have otherwise might have been if the situation had been slightly different.  Only one seemed to be in good health, that tawny girl, and the guys were kinda scrawny and scrawnier.  Quixote himself was noticeably on edge both from the potential fight and the conflict of wanting to defer to Towhee out of self-preservation and at the same time not trusting her to be a diplomat.  He looked to her, pleading that she wouldn't take the bait, that they'd have a chance to not make mistakes that would be later regretted.  Hell, he was regretting his decision already, and fully expected to get chewed out about it at some point but whatever.  Cross that bridge after putting out the fire on it.

He turned so he'd be perpendicular to both groups to both be physically counter to the aggression and trying to make sure Towhee would be able to see what he was saying as well.  I get it if you guys just want to fight for old time's sake, but can you just hold on a sec?  It was a plea to both Towhee and Titmouse (though honestly, almost entirely focused on the latter since he seemed less agreeable) for a little more time, a little more talking, a little less teeth.  His next words were pointed to Tit alone,  Did they, a sweep of Quixote's head indicated those that stood with Screech, agree to maybe face a whole pack's worth of wolves or is that what you decided for them?  Doing so means you've decided you want to hurt your friends -- on both sides -- because these numbers aren't at all in your favor. Some of the Redhawks had to like Tit still, right?  Did he care about anyone?  If Titmouse wanted to lead, wouldn't he care about his underlings?  Wouldn't he want to sort out challenges without maybe getting everyone killed?  It had seemed like the most logical wire to snip, but if Quixote was wrong, he probably couldn't have stopped it anyway.  He wanted this to end with words, not by potentially creating the equivalent of a new Blackfeather on this side of the mountains, too.