Redhawk Caldera Kiss my (uh oh).

Towhee didn't seem at all put off by Ruenna's slip; in fact, she looked more amused than anything, but that couldn't be right..? Maybe Towhee really was loosing it.  

Ruenna's train of thought came to an abrupt halt at Towhee's next admission. Towhee couldn't be any older than Rue! What reason could she possibly have to think she was finished--? 

"Wh--?" Rue stopped speaking before she had voiced aloud a whole question. She played it out in her mind a little more. There was Towhee's most recent brush with death to consider. There was all the drama with Reyes. There was Fennec, a handful and a half, already having babies herself. There was the little grave dug under the Hobbit Hole's tree. 

Phox was not the only Redhawk who had lived out a harrowing year. 

Ruenna registered more of what Towhee had said, belatedly realizing that Towhee had given her the go-ahead for next season. Rue's heart did a funny leap. She ought not to have been surprised-- leadership positions did traditionally come with breeding rights-- but it felt like a victory, hearing her rights acknowledged aloud.

...A victory that was best celebrated quietly, given the situation. Ruenna was unsure of how Towhee felt about it all, thinking that this years' pups might be her last litter. 

"Do you think Phox is done, too?" Rue asked, no longer caring what her curiosity might imply. Her mind was racing, fueled by the all the possibilities that next season might present.