Hideaway Strath Futha.

The hawk looked down at her, her expression as ever impossible to read. But it was definitely X. And she wasn't flying away. Towhee gaped up at her, heart thundering in her throat, though she clapped her mouth shut when a whine began to claw its way out. She so badly wanted to reunite with the hawk, though she didn't blame X at all for being absent since Tegan had cruelly butchered her chick. Even after all this time, that treachery still rankled horribly.

"X..." the mercenary murmured when long moments passed and still the bird did not come down to her. "I've missed you. I'm so, so, so goddamn sorry for what Tegan did. You brought Z to us, thinking he'd be safe, intending him to help us... and Tegan..." She heaved a breath, then clenched her teeth. Yes, all her ill feelings surrounding the splintering into Asterism Grove had ebbed away, save for her murderous fury at her younger brother.

She'd forgotten about Rye momentarily but when X still sat on her branch like a statue, Towhee looked over at him. -"Yes, it's X."- She meant to explain why this was such a significant moment, yet the words caught in her throat. She didn't want to dwell on Tegan's sins or the utter misery of that day; those memories still soured her mouth. -"I haven't seen her in a long time,"- was all she said in way of explanation.

Overhead, the hawk finally moved and Towhee's head snapped upward again. Whatever X said, it brought a smile to Towhee's lips and a wet look to her eye. Without looking over at Rye, her eyes still fastened on the hawk, she translated, -"She says... she's come home."-