Ghost Lion Crag In the hall of the mountain king.

Truth be told, Towhee hardly remembered Caiaphas and what she did recall was badly colored by that last encounter. "I didn't know her very well, honestly," she said, shoulder rising and falling in an apologetic shrug, "but she seemed all right up until she tried to pull that bullshit on Rave." Her lip curled slightly at the memory, though it was getting pretty dim now too.

She didn't have much else to offer on that subject, so she shot Hydra an apologetic glance and let it rest, happy to shift gears and talk of Fen instead. "She was born in spring, alongside her brother, but not to me. They were born to Phox's mate, who died not long after they were born. He and I raised them together, until..." Her throat tightened and she paused, eyes closing. "Phox and Fig disappeared," she explained briefly before focusing on Fen, "and Fen got lost temporarily during some of the quakes. I'm so happy she's back with me now." Her voice hitched. "She's strong enough to have survived all of this while being completely blind," she finished, pride thick in her voice and shining in her eyes.

Towhee could've talked about her daughter for ages, though it was a good thing Hydra steered the conversation toward Wraen, because speaking of her family was making her unduly emotional. Her throat ached and clicked when she swallowed. Really, her entire head was beginning to hurt because of the prolonged lipreading, not that Towhee would dare mention it. She was too glad for this chance encounter, this opportunity to catch up with an old friend.

"Wraen only mentioned that you two had a history, nothing else," Towhee remarked, no trace of defensiveness in her tone at all as she simply stated the facts. "I don't know her very well yet but she and her pack mates saved my life, including..." And she abruptly remembered exactly what had brought her here, her neck swiveling nearly three hundred and sixty degrees as she peeped for any sign of Sugar. There was none. Her jaw clenched and her gaze refocused on Hydra's face as she finished her thought: "Sugar, my younger sister. She disappeared during a caravan to the coast the other day. I was looking for her when you turned up instead."

Towhee drew in a long, steadying breath and gave Hydra a small smile, which faded slowly as she decided to share, "The Redhawks became a powerful presence in the hinterlands this summer, with three sister packs living next door to each other, mine included. But then Raven packed up and left, taking a third of them with her. And then the quakes struck and we—we were trapped in Hideaway Strath." Her voice shook a little. "I managed to escape but not without practically butchering myself in the process. And when a final quake opened it up again, they were just... gone." When Towhee caught Hydra's eye this time, her expression was broken. "There's only the Firebirds left now, barely a dozen of us. Even X is gone."

It hurt a lot, to retell that story out loud. Towhee folded in on herself a bit, almost as if curling around a gaping wound in her midsection. That's what it felt like, as if someone had blown a hole through her chest. And it was having a hell of a hard time healing, even long after her physical injuries were fading. She gulped in a few choked-sounding breaths, trying to keep herself under control, but one wretched sob escaped her. It sounded like the cry of a dying animal, not that Towhee could hear it.

It took a few more moments, though eventually Towhee gathered herself and straightened out again. Another long, loud, shaky breath gusted out of her. "This too shall pass, right?" she said wryly before trying to rearrange her thoughts and adding, almost like a non sequitur now, "Have you seen a youth around here who looks a bit like a squirrel?"