Whitefish River Lost in reverie until I saw her fading silhouette.

She felt a guilty lurch in her gut. Was it really appropriate to take a vacation when one of her grandchildren was recently missing? There had been no sign of him along the coastline and Towhee knew well the futility of searching. She could and would keep an eye out for Abel, though she could still do some sightseeing at the same time. Right?

Batman, she said to the tiny beast attached to her, if I told you what he looked like, could you look for him?

So far, he wasn’t like X in the sense that they communicated much. He sort of just… hung around. Towhee enjoyed his company but felt a momentary frustration, wishing she could engage him the same way she’d once done with her beloved hawk companion.

Something uncanny happened then. Towhee felt Batman scramble to her other should and then bite her. The she-wolf jerked, letting out a little grunt of surprise as she arched her neck toward him. In doing so, she noticed the wolf approaching from that direction. She stared, realizing two things at once: firstly, this wasn’t exactly a stranger and, secondly, Batman had drawn her attention to her, using the same method as X.

Whoa, she muttered.