Shy Deer Steppes Shake your cake.

The kids were too goddamn unruly today. Caracal in particular was getting on her nerves. What with the heat on top of everything else, Towhee couldn't deal. As loath as she was to leave them lately, she knew she would strangle one of them if she didn't go elsewhere, making her at best a hypocrite and at worst a truly horrible mother. She summoned someone else to watch them, made like a banana and split.

She found herself on the far shore of Lake Rodney, a melancholy look on her face as she peered in the direction of Broken Antler Fen. She didn't make an approach; there was no reason, with Wraen gone. Biting back a sigh, Towhee closed her eyes and turned sharply, facing the caldera across the lake.

Right then, her former mate's voice rose into the air. Towhee didn't hear it, of course. She dropped her gaze as she moved closer to the water to drink, lapping greedily. It wasn't enough. She waded into the shallows, even sprawling there for a few minutes. When she felt a little cooler, she lifted up and moved back to dry land. She didn't bother shaking, letting her pelt drip everywhere.

The shady forest off to her right tempted her, so she moseyed slowly toward it. It did feel a bit cooler under the trees, though the air was still stiflingly hot. When she emerged on Haunted Woods' eastern edge and found herself peering at the neighboring steppes, she snorted. There were shimmering waves of heat rising from the arid ground.

But there was also the smell of a rabbit wafting toward her. Still damp from her dip, Towhee moved out onto the steppes. Maybe she could take some food back to Caracal and the twins, make up for bailing on them. Nostrils flaring in the hot, dusty air, she tracked the scent, weaving in between patches of dry grass, even some sagebrush, and stones scorching hot to the touch.

She took the brown coil to be just another misshapen rock as she brushed past it. Towhee never heard the rattle, of course, but she certainly felt it when the Pacific rattlesnake struck her.