Redhawk Caldera Whatever's left of you

Three names came; Wagtail did not recognize a single one of them. Whip didn't have family. Whip had Wagtail -- and Wagtail had Whip, and that was all she knew and all she had ever known. 

"Towhee? Well, that's a name I know," Whip wheezed. "That old bird's still knocking around here? I'll be damned." 

"Who's Towhee?" whispered Wagtail, uncertain of what to make of all this. Dad was hardly an overexplainer; he kept talk brief and simple, but she was not used to being left so totally in the dark.

"You have an Aunt, Child. Congratulations."

So was that all this was? Some odd family reunion? 

Then, Whip huffed and turned his attention back to the one-man welcoming party.

"Well -- you gonna get 'er?" he rasped, raising an inquisitive brow.