Sun Mote Copse Last transmission from the island radio

Snowflakes tumbled from the sky, refreshing the blanket of snow already covering the ground. Towhee ignored it for the most part, keeping up her trudging march around the copse's fringes. She'd felt peculiarly emptied ever since her rendezvous with Hydra, her anguish over her missing family members ever present but somehow more manageable now. She supposed the best word to describe her emotional state was "resigned."

More pressing was her concern for her little sister's whereabouts, though Towhee had by now given up on combing the surrounding territories. She was beginning to lose hope that they would ever find Sugar Glider either. Towhee had come to calmly accept the recent and numerous reminders that, sometimes, people just went away: got lost, went missing, died... it was always hard but it was also an inevitable part of life.

She knew she wasn't alone in her struggles. When Towhee spotted Avery up ahead, she could see the misery and stress written into every line of her young body. The mercenary padded up to her remaining little sister and bumped her nose against her silver shoulder, a silent gesture of comfort and companionship. Without speaking, her orange eyes said, "I know exactly how you feel. You're not alone."