Heron Lake Plateau It’s a shame- it’s a crying shame them’s the brakes

He'd been expecting her to just go all emotional-bomb again.  So wow, maybe she was growing a little -- just at the rate of a bristlecone pine.  That wasn't exactly fast enough, though.  But at least now he was gonna get the whole story (theoretically) only however many days late.

When she got to Colt, his expression shifted to one that was definitely confused, whispering, You did what, but letting her continue.  While she did, all he could think of was that Colt was likely long gone.  There was no way he'd track that Blackfeather wolf for the good of the Redhawks is his own friggin' mate told him to scram.  That dude was way gone unless somehow they made up, and how would anyone get over that type of betrayal?  Quixote definitely would have noped right out of town.  And it did further cement his opinions of Niamh, but they'd get to that later.  For now, if Colt was following the Blackfeather, then why?

He let it be silent for a moment or two, frowning as he tried to untangle a few things.  You made the right call not believing her, I think.  You say someone's dead to get them off your back, you bring part of the corpse as proof.  Even if she was telling the truth, nobody'll believe that kind of thing without evidence.  But if you wanted information, Towhee was the wrong one to call.  As you found out, she's much more likely to deal in absolutes.  AKA you should have called me, hint hint.  A slight squint to enforce it, but if she wasn't watching closely, maybe she'd miss it.

But if all the completely dumb nonsense boiled down to Colt doing something that made no sense from the information provided, then Quixote would have to figure out the missing piece.  We'll get to the rest in a second -- but first, Colt fought in the war too.  He wouldn't just step in the way like that just for fun. Or at least so Quixote thought -- he was more sure that Colt would step back and just let those more emotionally involved duke it out if needed.  So something was missing there, Just before, what did she say that would've made him do that?  He really hoped she remembered...  And to himself, he wondered how easy it would be to go find his friend and find out what actually  happened.  He just didn't think there was any way to get him back unless Niamh herself left the pack first, and even then it might have been too much for Colt.