Hideaway Strath Stay a thousand years.

He made a comment about their respective ages, after a few remarks about her leadership eligibility, and Towhee rolled a shoulder and admitted, "I've been a leader more than half my life, Alpha and Beta." And now she was a Kilonova but it was all semantics; it was the same as Alpha. That sent another little thrill through her. She had been ready to step up again the day she'd given her ultimatum to Raven and Quixote, yet her sister had done so instead. But Towhee felt more suited to and worthy of the rank than ever.

They'd found their way to the western edge of the sprawling strath. From here, they had a good view of the morass with its thick clumps of trees and brackish wetlands. It did not appeal to Towhee whatsoever, though she glanced off to the left and right of the tree line to gather her bearings. As her eyes roved, she realized that wherever she looked, there were jagged sawtooths on the horizon. It felt almost like they were in a giant stone pen.

She considered that a moment, recollecting the narrow passage she'd taken to get here when following her brother's and children's trails. "This place is a fortress," she realized out loud, eyes flicking to Dingo. She bet Phox knew that, perhaps it was one of the reasons he'd chosen it. "I bet if we started here and patrolled the perimeter, we'd discover that we're totally surrounded on all sides, except for the corridor to the north."