Redhawk Caldera shine on, you crazy diamond

Her stomach wasn't hurting her quite as badly the past couple of days and she'd been spending less time scrunched up in the back of the Hobbit Hole. But Towhee couldn't quite shake the blues entirely. Yes, it was wonderful to catch up with Figment. Bronco had turned up too. But these tidbits of good news did not simply erase all the other things bothering her, particularly the toxic cocktail of feelings about Reyes and Fennec.

Today was a particularly bad day, for no reason Towhee knew. It took every bit of willpower to drag herself out of the den and take a walk. Caracal joined her for a bit, though he eventually bailed to go play with Killdeer. Towhee was tempted to go with him, as she hadn't seen her grandson in a couple days, yet instead she swallowed thickly and proceeded toward the borders. Maybe she could manage a patrol.

When she got there and saw six figures standing at her borders, Towhee's stomach knotted painfully. But then she recognized one of them and her heart leaped into her throat. It was Phox! That must mean she was looking at his kids... and the pair who had raised them. Her orange eyes burned into the pale figures in the distance, her stomach flipping appropriately as she took a plummeting fall on this emotional roller coaster ride. Could that really be him? He didn't look like she remembered...

And there wasn't anything familiar about the figure beside him, either. Towhee had almost no recollection of her run-in with the muddy Blackfeather years before, especially after taking a hit to the head thanks to Colt. She studied the pair from afar, feeling no recognition whatsoever. Maybe it wasn't Screech. But even if it was him, somehow, Towhee already knew what she was going to do about it. She was going to exercise the very same principle she'd tried on Reyes: keep your friends close and your enemies closer.

Forcing her eyes now to the three youngsters, Towhee's heart did another skip and she finally coaxed her legs into motion. She walked down the caldera's slope to meet the party of six, managing a careworn smile as she drew closer to her brother, promptly buried her muzzle into the side of his neck and murmured, "Welcome home."