Heron Lake Plateau Taurus

Not being able to go near the Alphas' den was going to be rough. Phox was so used to being allowed everywhere within his home. Then again, Heron Lake Plateau was not the caldera, so perhaps it would not be so odd after all. At the very least, he would be able to go back and see their parents' grave. That was not something he wished to divulge to Towhee... at least not yet. He wanted to apologize to them, even though he had never met them. He felt he had failed them, and some part of him hoped that explaining things out loud to them would help.

Just like with Towhee, he wanted to rush to everybody he had ever known that lived here and grovel at their feet, hoping beyond hope that he could make them understand he had changed. He had been a dumb child back then, and a lot had changed in the year since he had been gone. Primarily, he had learned that running away from his problems did not fix them. In fact, it seemed to exacerbate them, causing them to grow larger and larger to the point that he had felt suffocated by them.

He knew he could not rush this. He had to take things one step at a time, and first on the list was getting back into decent shape. His knowledge of the night sky had grown since he had left, as had his ability to hunt, but he couldn't do either of those things very well until he was healthy. Phox needed rest, food, and warmth. His first objective would be to find somewhere on the outskirts to sleep out of the cold and rain. Do you know if there's somewhere nearby I can bed down for now? he asked. It was the first real favor he had asked of her (besides the near-begging to let him stay). Considering she knew this place so much better than him, it only made sense that she might have an idea. Or she could brush him off and leave him to his own devices.