Redsand Canyon Cut slope.

Her grandson’s words immediately snared her attention. Towhee beamed at him, though before she answered his question, her gaze shifted to Fennec to catch her words. Conversations like this were always a bit of a challenge for her, though Towhee couldn’t think of two wolves more worthy of the inevitable strain.

It’s like being on vacation all the time. The valley is like a little piece of paradise and the vibe there’s just very peaceful. We still stay active—I teach a couple courses every week and still do regular patrols, for instance—but it’s definitely the most relaxed I’ve felt in… years, probably. It helps with the whole healing thing.

Towhee made an absentminded motion toward her back, forever gnarled with knots of scar tissue spanning along her backbone. She would never regret making the sacrifice to keep Mereo safe. It was the reason she’d needed to settle elsewhere, though she wasn’t mad about that at all. She did miss seeing these guys every day, though they were literally right next door.

Maxim and I are officially planning another litter in spring, so you’ll definitely have to come by, Towhee said to Killdeer in particular, eyes then cutting to her daughter. Same goes for you, though I’m guessing you might be busy with your own batch…?

Naked hope showed on her face. Towhee would love to welcome more grandchildren into the world. They wouldn’t be a few doors down but they would be in the neighborhood. She could already imagine all the play dates they could plan together, once they were past the actual childbearing parts.

She wondered how Killdeer felt about the prospect of siblings and her eyes cut to him briefly to assess his expression. That was when it hit Towhee like a bolt of lightning out of a calm sky: her grandson was coming of age and could theoretically make her a great grandmother this coming year.