Hideaway Strath More today than yesterday

Going to forward-date two days to accommodate travel time. Also assuming Towhee has caught up by now!

The journey had been more or less uneventful. @Fig and @Fennec were, of course, exhausted, but the had behaved as well as any children of their age could, and Phox was glad to be free of the plateau. See this, kids? he asked, looking back at their weary faces. This is gonna be our new home. This place in particular would be the rendezvous site. It was a nice little clearing surrounded by trees on all sides with plenty of room for the now two-month-old pups to run about and grow up. No cliffs to fall off of, and a small, shallow, slow-moving creek running through the middle.

No more sleeping in the den, he said, just out here under the stars. Gently, he craned his neck down and licked the top of each of their widdle heads. @Towhee had caught up with them only a few hours after Phox had departed with the children, and whatever had happened with Raven, he hadn't asked. Nor did he particularly wish to know. He glanced at her, then signed -So, how's it look?- She hadn't had the chance that he had to scout out this place, so hopefully she didn't completely disapprove of it.

With as little as they'd participated in pack life so far, heading out alone with Towhee and Phox hardly felt different.  There was only one problem - Fenn found she did not like the change in scenery.  In the old place, she had learned where things were, and even with her stilted vision she could navigate with relative safety.  Here everything was new.  She hadn't minded the travel, but... this wasn't home.

Why? she asked, a little abruptly, as she plopped down with a small whump.  She didn't look at her dad as she spoke, but that was nothing new.  As one of the few words she'd found, why was a good one.  It had a lot of useful applications.

-I'm sure it's fine,- Towhee answered distractedly. She looked at their surroundings pensively. She should head out and start reinforcing the borders while her brother took care of establishing caches. But the mercenary found herself locked in place, her orange eyes suddenly glazing even as she gazed off into the trees.

Between placing her trust in Phox (and therefore not bothering with the particulars for this new pack) and dealing with the real and imagined fallout of their decision, Towhee hadn't actually thought ahead. Being here now made it all real. She felt a tightness in her chest and sat, trying to steady her suddenly uneven breathing.

They hadn't brought anyone else with them. Did they plan to recruit? Or was it just going to be the four of them? Was she a leader here? Towhee didn't even know. Her mind cast back to the plateau, to her last conversation with Raven, then further back, to the confrontation with Tegan. Towhee sank to the ground, breathing fast and shallow. Had she really left the Redhawks?

And what happened when Fig and Fen grew up? What if Phox found another mate and they had more kids? Where would that leave her? She could see Tegan's lips in her mind, forming the words: "You can't play house with your own fucking brother, Towhee." Why hadn't she thought to look ahead until now?

I've made a terrible mistake, Towhee thought as the panic attack seized her and she curled into a ball on the ground, silent and motionless save for her rapid breathing.

Fig had been afraid at first. He'd never gone so far away from their happy little den before, and never had he stepped on ground that wasn't saturated with the familiar scents of his family and pack. He might not have known who all of the scents belonged to, but it had still always been a comfort to him. Out here, he was surrounded by newness every where he looked, and so he had stuck very close to Phox and Towhee, at first anyway.

Little by little, his confidence had grown and soon enough, he was darting here and there, inspecting things and giggling and periodically nudging Fenn back in the right direction or helping her avoid things like the good little seeing eye brother he was. He flopped onto his bum when they finally stopped, looking tired but happy as he panted heavily and looked about. "Cool!" the boy chirped, not even wondering about the why. There was no one else in the pack he would miss had it even occurred to him that this meant they wouldn't be together anymore. So long as he had his big wolves and his less-cute-than-him sister, he was content.

Someone else wasn't, though. Fig's ears perked as he heard her breathing shift subtly and he turned to peer at his mother (DID IT!). She looked odd. By the time he stood to go to her, her breathing had sped up and she had crumpled to the ground. With a frightened cry, Fig darted towards her and tried to find her face so he could shower it with the magic healing power of his nervous kisses, whimpering all the while with his tail tucked beneath his little bum.

Towhee seemed off, which was probably fair. Unlike Phox, she'd spent one hundred percent of her life with the same group of wolves. Phox felt like he'd spent his life in three separate stages. Once as a child, second on his own as a juvenile, and thirdly coming back to Towhee. Sure, Raven had been there as well, but Towhee was always the wolf he had come back for. He had a pretty good feeling that the weight of that was finally dawning on her. Phox had been the more hesitant of the two during their planning, but Towhee had pushed them to tell Raven right away, to move right away, and now it seemed it had caught up all at once.

Fennec asked her question, and Phox moved over to lick the top of her head. You're too old to sleep in the den, he replied, which wasn't false. At their age, there was no need to keep them under constant surveillance. Fig seemed to be the only one raring to go, but even he was worried about Towhee (something Phox couldn't fault him for). Phox had known this would be a difficult transition; he'd done it before. Twice before, really. Once on his own, once coming back to win Towhee over.

The black Redhawk laid down next to Towhee, bringing Fennec in close, too. With the four of them here, Phox couldn't think of anywhere else he'd rather be. They were his family, they were what was most important.

She let Phox pull her in, but she scrunched her nose at the answer.  It both did and didn't make sense, but it was an answer, and her still young mind wasnt up for trying to take it apart just yet.

All she knew was this place was new and she didn't know it.  She heard Towhee and Fig but didn't respond.... she just nestled up into Phox and kept quiet after that.

She wasn't on the ground long before Fig attacked her with his kisses. Towhee didn't immediately react, although slowly her breathing slowed and evened. She unfurled slightly, though she did not rise, her stricken eyes eventually finding her boy's face. Nah, she thought in counter to her immediately previous notion, you haven't.

"Thanks, Fig," she murmured when she could find her voice. Phox and Fen had also settled close by and Towhee shot her brother an apologetic grimace, saying nothing.

When she felt she could handle it, the mercenary slipped back onto her feet. "What do you need me to do?" she queried of Phox, her flamed eyes begging for some task to throw herself into so she could stop thinking and feeling so much.

See!?? I told you he had magic healing kisses. Fig smiled hugely when Towhee unfurled and began to breathe more steadily again. He smushed himself underneath her chin like a cat the moment she had lifted it enough for the tiniest bit of space to appear, his tail wagging happily and eventually flapping back and forth across her nostrils as he tucked himself far enough under her.

When Towhee stood, he bounced along underneath her, determined to stick close even though it likely would mean he ended up tripping her. Maybe he had magic healing trips too. That didn't come out right, but I'll leave it.

Fennec seemed to take the answer alright, but at least she didn't (audibly) protest further. With Towhee's own meltdown seemingly over, Phox stood up alongside her and shook his coat. We can start by marking the rendezvous site. He glanced at Fig, who seemed to have boundless energy despite the trip. Fig, you wanna help with that? he asked, figuring that giving him something to do might make him feel even more important than he already did.

Fennec, you wanna stay here with me? he asked, sensing she wasn't quite ready to go bounding off just yet. Not only that, but he could use a nap.

The girl's only response to her dad was to turn and snuggle even more into him.  Yes, she definitely indeed wanted to stay here for a little bit.  It didn't feel good when he asked Fig to go because then Fig would be going and doing stuff and she'd be staying here, but Fenn also didn't want to be going, so there wasn't a whole lot she could do.

It was a menial task, to be sure, but that was all part of beginning a new pack. In any case, Towhee had no complaints. "Fig," she said simply, a summons, sure the answer to his father's question would be a resounding "hell yeah!"

She trotted away from where Phox and Fen remained huddled, ranging in a widening circle, until she was satisfied with the breadth of their rendezvous site, based on those she knew previously. Towhee then began to squat intermittently, glad for the mindless task and Fig's endearingly distracting company.

Fig was pleased as crap that Towhee was back on her feet again. She maybe wasn't fully back to her usual self yet, but she was getting there. That was enough for him, especially because he was really eager to do this marking the rendezvous site thing, which he did not even a little bit understand, but was super ready for.

With a happy wag of his tail, he chirruped a bright "YEAH!" and bounded off ahead of Towhee, completely heedless of where she was actually trying to direct them for a good thirty seconds before he suddenly stopped dead and spun to find her. She had, of course, headed off in the exact opposite direction, but that was also fine! Fig tore off after her again and began to play the dutiful little mime, though his wiggling bum did send his pee streams a little wayward. Was he going to lose points for that? OH WHO CARES THIS IS FUN!

Fennec pressed herself into him, and Fig and Towhee went off to secure the surroundings. Phox took a deep breath, then let his head rest on the ground. In mere minutes, he was fast asleep, optimistic about their new life here.