Heron Lake Plateau If he ever singles you up, if he's ever stupid enough

There was more to her hurt than just reasonable upset about her place. There was an unreasonable component, named Teenage Angst, that made her frown when Towhee only vaguely answered. She hadn't given any reason why Tegan, a sulky baby who had gone directly against her orders, was higher ranked than she was. Fiadh, fuelled by Teenage Angst, could only assume it was what she'd thought all along—Towhee just didn't like her as much as she liked Clover and Tegan and Lucca, but didn't want to admit it.

"I dunno," she said quietly, but I deserve to be higher than outsiders, not right alongside them. I'm just as good as my siblings. Maybe she wasn't, though. Maybe she really was useless among the Blackthorns. But what did Tegan and Clover and Lucca have that she didn't? Fiadh didn't know. She couldn't think of anything. So she fell silent, even as Towhee offered to let her challenge Tegan's rank.

"Why's he higher anyway?" she asked again, ears flicking uncertainly. "I shouldn't even have to challenge him. He disobeyed you. I didn't." It wasn't that she had a problem with her brother, mind you. She loved Tegan dearly and all her teasing was really from a good place. She just didn't understand how he could do what he did and be higher ranked when she'd done nothing but try to be helpful and obedient—and maybe a little firecracker-y, which could be seen as a problem and cause enough for her rank to be in question, but then Clover was ranked high, wasn't she?

Fiadh didn't know it, but she was capital J Jealous of her siblings in that moment.