Northstar Vale My rusty wings are weak and tired, oh.

-“I know,”- she said with feeling, locking eyes with him again so he would understand just how much she appreciated him right now. -“I’m so glad I have you, Jackie and the littles.”-

And she knew the second part too. Phox didn’t say it but the implication was there: if she needed to go somewhere else, he would be right beside her. She felt choked up for a moment and couldn’t speak out loud, so Towhee had to resort to signing in emotive silence.

-Whatever happens, I know they’ll still have a father figure. And since you’re my de facto life partner now, I might need you to… I don’t know, tell me what to do now? I know that’s selfish, I’m just… fuck, I don’t know what to do with myself.-

For the nth time, she wondered about Maxim’s fate. Towhee didn’t believe for one second that he would willingly walk away from his life here, which left only one option: he hadn’t come home because he couldn’t. He might be lying in a ravine somewhere, smashed to pieces, or digesting in some bear’s stomach. Actually, scratch that. He would totally be a pile of bear shit by now, in that case…

Towhee made a noise that might’ve sounded like a heaving sob. In actuality, it was a blurt of laughter. And once it started, Towhee couldn’t stop it. She sat there, laughing maniacally, the awful noise of it frightening a nearby flock of roosting birds into panicked flight.