Hideaway Strath How I wish you were here

As a newborn, Towhee had often slept on her back, legs all crookedly askew and belly exposed to the sky (or the den's ceiling, as it were). She had long since grown out of preferring such a position, though on some occasions—when she felt particularly safe and sound on some deep, subconscious level—she tended to flop at least partially onto her back.

She fell asleep with @Phox sprawled near her head and one nearly grown child on either side. Secure in her nest of warm bodies, Towhee had rolled sometime in the night. By morning, @Figment and @Fennec had strayed off into the forest, their father too. The Kilonova blinked awake to a pale blue sky, soon obscured by a sharp beak and two wide, expressive eyes. Towhee just barely stopped herself from starting.

-"Damn it, X,"- she grumbled, slowly rolling over, giving the hawk enough time to bound off her. -"What's up?"- Towhee asked in a gravelly voice even as she used one paw to rub the sleep from her eyes, one after the other. She blinked unevenly, though she still somehow managed to catch the bird's message. She stared, blinked once more, hard and in unison, and swept to her feet with an echoing grunt.

-"Niamh?"- she shouted a little while later, as she closed in on the passageway. Her voice sounded strangely querulous, though Towhee wasn't to know that. -"What brings you to our humble home?"- she asked, smiling despite her strange tone. But as she came closer to her friend, it slid off her face as she read Niamh's body language, which told her something was deeply amiss. -"Is it—?"- The sudden lump in her throat prevented her from saying her godparents' names.