Heron Lake Plateau A beating heart of stone.

the sylph nodded in understanding; she was well versed to contributing -- and had done so, in more ways than she knew since her coming to redhawks. yet, her contributions felt empty to her, as if the cloak of brittle leaves on a bitter winter wind. there in their presence, yet offering little save for the image of decay.

she could not hide the surprise then, at towhee's request -- ptero -- a word unusual and foreign to the sylph, who was often not at all at loss for the meaning of words. her ears drew back as she watched the beta's pantomime with paws; but bit by bit, things clicked into place.

"ptero?" she repeated back, though there was no accusation in her voice -- "you cannot hear.." her expression drew into a thin-lipped ponderance; at length she lifted up her gaze and spoke again: "a reasonable request, that i can honor. is it all of redhawk that knows it?"