Starglow Basin Re_jaded.

The rim of the caldera gave Towhee an awesome view of the wilderness. She stood at its southeastern edge for a while, staring off toward the lowlands as the stranger’s lips moved in her memories, forming the words, “If you have the time, come to the lowlands. Verapaz. We’re settled in the Starglow Basin, southeast from this place.”

She’d left Bushtit with @Killdeer and Treepie today, merely because sometimes a mother wanted some “me time.” But here was an opportunity to enjoy some solo travel and indulge her morbid curiosity. In the days since meeting that two-faced stranger right here at the caldera, she’d done a lot of pondering…

Towhee now had a vague suspicion about the guy’s identity. If she was right, she should probably walk the other direction entirely. But she found herself picking her way down the slope, then loping through the neighboring woods. She’d always enjoyed the lowlands, she told herself, and it was probably just a case of mistaken identity.

But if it was “Casanova,” what could he possibly want with her? He wanted to see her badly enough that he had sent someone out to locate her. That was sort of flattering, wasn’t it? Of course, the obvious answer was that he might have some sort of interest in her or any progeny resulting from their tryst. If that was the case, the next most obvious answer was that she could simply lie.

When she came within earshot of the basin, Towhee wasted no time in throwing back her head to howl @Soto’s name. She was now impatient in her intrigue, orange eyes peeled for any sign of her Latin lover and—not that anybody but her needed to know it—the father of baby Bushtit.

@Tierra is also welcome to crash this if she wants.