Heron Lake Plateau Ka-tet.

Raven was on the fence with regard to Towhee's feelings on the matter of birthrights to leadership. In her opinion, leadership was earned, not guaranteed or freely given simply due to one's parentage, birth order, or surname. She could see where her sister was coming from, but felt that perhaps she was just too young to understand that none of them were entitled to the pack's uppermost ranks simply because they shared its name. Her face betrayed her mixed feelings, but as Towhee continued to speak she remained silent and contemplative, listening.

She still hadn't really gathered her thoughts into a coherent whole when Quixote broke in, voicing his feelings on the subject. That last bit -- "just blame me if you have to" -- confused her, as she didn't know what she'd be blaming him for or why. Pressuring her into leadership? That wasn't an issue. He already knew she was too stubborn to be pushed into doing anything she didn't really want to do. But for his comments leading up to that, she found she couldn't blame him for the bitterness that crept into his words, nor could she even really disagree. Despite Towhee's less prominent position in the pack, sometimes it did feel that, in a way, she still ran the pack. Raven didn't fault her for it, because she knew that Towhee was closer with most of the younger members than either she or Qui were, and Towhee had at one point been their alpha -- an alpha that all of the younger folks could perhaps relate to better than the older duo now running the show. It made sense. But it was easy to see how that might be a thorn in the paw for the actual alpha(s) of a pack. Preferring to allow Towhee to address Qui's comments before launching in with her own, she remained quiet for the moment -- until Kite showed up.

Ah, their little eavesdropper. <3 She knew Kite had no idea what she might want to do with her life, but Raven was already thinking the girl might have a promising future as some sort of scout or spy. She had a knack for finding out information she didn't always have any business knowing. Raven loved that about her, regardless of the potential trouble it might bring down the road. "Not sure," she answered softly to the first question, her tail wagging as Kite approached. She touched her daughter's pale face lightly with her nose in greeting, appreciating as always how lovely she was becoming as she blossomed into adulthood. "And yes," she continued in answer to the second inquiry, "You are my progeny. My child. You and your brothers and sister."