Redhawk Caldera Strawberry Season

She almost offered to regale him with some Redhawk history as they went, though Njord beat her to the punch. Smiling to herself, she quelled a laugh and answered, "My mom is the Sovereign, or Alpha. We have two Betas, which we call Regents: Ruenna and Fennec. Fen's my older sister. My dad was a Regent. So was his mate, my Neema. Before they... left." It pained her a little, to recollect that aloud, but her expression didn't falter as they moseyed along the top of the caldera.

"Just in case you couldn't guess," she said, pausing a moment to point down at the vast body of water, "that's actually the caldera itself. The territory is named for it and, of course, my family. Which is quite... convoluted, as I'm sure you've noticed. Phox is actually my uncle, for instance, though I could never think of him as anything but my dad."

She wondered, briefly, what he might've thought about being called "granda" by Fennec's incoming offspring. But Meerkat didn't linger on that thought long, nor mention her sister's pregnancy. Instead, she resumed walking, pointing out the beaver dams, the various creeks, the evergreens. She told Njord about the sights unseen too, like the caves she never really visited much.

Eventually, she led him down the outer slope, back toward the borders. "I'm not trying to get rid of you, I swear," she joked, "there's some cool stuff to see out here too. And you have to see the caldera from every angle, of course, otherwise how will you ever complete your mental map? Anyway, did you know this place used to actually be a volcano?"