Sun Mote Copse The scene is dead.

Fig shot after the slinky little intruder, so Towhee stopped to watch and cheer for him. As she observed her son, not without a note of pride, the current topic segued in her head and she caught herself wondering whether Fen would've reacted the same way, if she was here instead of Fig. Would she have noticed the fox and been able to give chase?

Plenty of others might've pointed out that there was no way Fennec could react as quickly as a sighted wolf. But Towhee believed in her, more than Fen believed in herself, partly out of bravado on her daughter's behalf. Just because she was different didn't mean she couldn't kick the world's ass, just like Towhee had spent her life proving. But it was partly out of a sort of maternal desperation too, because the other option was to believe Fen was out there, defenseless, helpless and struggling.

No, she couldn't bear that thought for a variety of reasons. It was why she also put faith in Penn to look out for her daughter, because what other choice did she have? Although Towhee missed Fennec terribly, she wanted her daughter to be able to live a full and normal life, without restrictions. Maybe that was overly optimistic and that wasn't usually the Regent's style. But for Fennec (and Figment, Meerkat and the chiblings too), Towhee would give anything, including blind (pun intended) faith.