Wheeling Gull Isle Life’s a beach.

Sable pressed up close to his sister, a thoughtful look on his face before he declared he would follow her wherever she chose. Towhee felt a swell of such fondness and pride, it choked her up for a moment. She offered him a nod of acknowledgement before shifting her gaze to her young doppelganger.

Jr looked as if she was wrestling with things for a moment, though she eventually announced her decision to return to Moonspear. Although part of Towhee shriveled at the realization she would be parted from her youngest children, she was so glad they would have each other’s backs.

-“That’s a smart choice,”- Towhee said to both her children, -“and it makes me so glad that you two will be there for each other. You’ll still be surrounded by plenty of family there too. And I’ll come by frequently. You have my word.”-

If they would allow it, Towhee would scoot closer to them and sling her forelegs around her children’s shoulders, pulling them into a three-way hug. The dynamic between herself and the two of them would change, she knew. No matter how often she visited, they would be pulling apart from one another. But that was how it was supposed to be, she knew, with the pups gaining independence as they grew older.

-“For the record, I don’t plan to die anytime soon,”- she disclaimed her earlier remarks. -“I want to live a long time, traveling between Moonspear, here, Epoch… wherever my children and grandchildren have settled. If you guys end up leaving the mountain someday, I’ll come visit you too, wherever you and your eventual families end up.”-

Towhee stepped back then, to make it easier to look at them. She loved that they would be sticking together more than she could ever articulate. They reminded her of Leona and Jack Snipe. She just hoped for a happier ending for this pair, especially since they’d already lost out on their father. Hopefully they would be more like herself and Phox.

-“I think Sialuk and Whip will be heading back soon, so you can travel back with them. I’ll probably stick around here for another couple weeks, then my first stop after I can get away is Moonspear. I’ll probably even hang around there for a bit, camp out nearby like I did when we were first visiting. Sound good to you guys?”-