Heron Lake Plateau Down in the Valley

Towhee suddenly wished she hadn't bothered smoothing out the edges of her own anger before speaking, since Colt definitely didn't bother trying at all. He took her words in the worst possible way before declaring he would go with the latter option. There was a small part of her that was disappointed at the lost opportunity, though mostly she was disgusted as he felt the need to throw in a childish jab at the end.

As he turned to leave, the Beta thought of a hundred different insults to throw after him. It would be even better grabbing the fox carcass and chucking it at the back of his head. Instead, Towhee waited for him to ford back across the water and disappear before withdrawing into the copse. And though it came with a great deal of shame, she threw herself to the forest floor and—everyone's disapproval and nastiness toward her evidently having hit critical mass—pressed her face into her inner leg to muffle the sound as she sobbed her heart out.