Redhawk Caldera you can only live forward.

She didn't like being the bearer of bad news, though Eshe quickly responded with an offer to help. Meerkat considered the question for a moment. She could ask her to come along on the search to the north. Better yet, she could ask her to go in the opposite direction so they could cover twice as much ground. And there was always the third option: stay home, help keep an eye on the pups whose parents were currently both out of the picture.

"You could search to the south," the yearling replied, "or stay here and hold down the fort. The pups will need looked after." Meerkat wondered if Towhee trusted Eshe enough to allow that, though it was kind of irrelevant right now, with the Sovereign missing in action. "Whichever ones makes the most sense to you," she tacked on with a bit of a shaky smile.