Redhawk Caldera Although it hurts me so

Towhee exhaled, watching Hotah’s face. He looked taken aback, which was fair enough. She’d hidden her vitriol well, she supposed. He wanted to know why, though the next few words out of his mouth earned a long, hard stare. Hotah always said the right thing, yet here was an astoundingly glaring exception.

Other than the death of our son? she said slowly, hollowly.

He deserved the benefit of the doubt, she knew. He had always been such a wonderful support and she’d just blindsided him with this confession. Towhee sucked in a breath through her teeth, trying to calm down the spiders itching through her veins, and found words suddenly streaming from somewhere deep in her chest.

My parents didn’t actually choose this place, you know. My mother, Fox, fell and broke her leg. They had no choice but to settle here and make the best of it. But that was just the first of so many tragedies that have happened here. My dad, the original Peregrine, died here conceiving me. My mom died here birthing me. The caldera has been killing Redhawks for more than ten years. Some fucking legacy.