Heron Lake Plateau nervous messed up marionette floating 'round on a prison ship

The longer she refrained from returning, the more worried Meerkat would become, Towhee knew, but she needed time to marshal her thoughts before she returned to the copse with news of Swordfish. She couldn’t keep it to herself. It was out of the question. Yet she dreaded the conversation with her daughter and Njord. The joy of knowing their son was alive would surely be eclipsed by the knowledge he still hadn’t come home…

Today, she rested beside the graves of her sister and her familiar on the little island in Heron Lake, drowsing in the shade to escape the midday heat. The sound of footsteps on the far shore didn’t disturb her, of course, but a fly biting her hindquarters definitely did. She jumped up with a little yell, bending in half to soothe the bite with a few passes of her tongue.

When she straightened, she saw the two figures across the way, a few dozen yards away from each other. One was familiar—she started a little before waving at Njord—but the other was a stranger. Towhee paused for a beat to ascertain him before wading into the water and swimming her way to join her son-in-law.

She stepped out of the water between him and the stranger, pivoting to stand astride him, her secret weighing heavily on her heart even though now was not the time to impart it.