Redhawk Caldera Leave your bag of bones underneath your bed

Her eyes drifted back in time to catch the beginnings of Alyx's stuttering. The rest of the words came out of her in such a rush Towhee couldn't possibly follow it all in real time. She managed to interpret enough keywords that she thought she got the gist of it. Her lips parted as Phox said something about Quetzal, right after reassuring Alyx he didn't hate her. She thought she'd understood correctly then.

But just to be triply sure, she said, "Sorry, I didn't catch all that. You're leaving? Where will you go?" Towhee paused before adding a few more thoughts, "Maybe you could take your sister with you? I don't like the idea of you traveling alone. Do you think you'll ever come back?" Of course, she hoped for a "yes."

But even if it was a "no" or an "I don't know," Alyx would only find acceptance from Towhee. It was a little resigned and fraught with maternal concern, yet she'd now gone through this enough times to realize it wasn't an inherently terrible thing. Sure, she missed her kids when they left but... honestly, this was probably how it was supposed to go. If their kids were independent and strong enough to disperse, then they'd raised them right.

Of course, she couldn't help but think of Prim in this context. He would always stay with them, forever young, because he hadn't survived. Towhee's heart squeezed in her chest. Yes, much as she hated to see Alyx leave, going out into the world to live her life was so much better than the alternative.