Redhawk Caldera Is it rejoicing, or merely halloing?

Forward dated a week or so, after the blizzard clears up.

 

Rue hobbled steadily toward the mouth of the Caldera, pushing through the pain jolting up her spine. Every step was agony. Travel had been painful before the storm hit, and days on end spent underground had not done her injury any favors.

Rue looked up to check her progress. She had almost forgotten what the sky looked like, but there it was—clear and blue, with the outline of the Caldera etched against it.

Looking at it from the outside, Rue never would have imagined it could be a hospitable place to live. Had fate not intervened, Rue never would have known to look for anyone here, and certainly not the remnants of Asterism Grove.

Certainly not @Towhee.

By some incredible stroke of luck, Ruenna had stumbled across @Phox and Figment in the Sunspire Mountains, and they (presumably, thread still in progress) passed on news that floored Rue: Towhee had survived the landslide. The Redhawk family had survived.

For a year, Ruenna had been searching for her place in the world. When the landslide buried Asterism Grove, Rue’s stint as Towhee’s beta was cut painfully short. Ever since, Rue had been unmoored.

Rue stopped to catch her breath, panting and shaking from the strain of the climb.

This is gonna be super vague but I didn't want to miss this!

When Towhee saw the figure cresting the caldera's rim, she blinked hard, her head craning forward. Was she imagining things or was that— "Rue?" she muttered quietly, taking a step forward before taking another, then another, until she was galloping toward her former Fusor.

"It really is you," she observed when she came closer, ignoring the fact that Ruenna was well within the borders. She simply assumed one of her Regents had welcomed her, maybe even into the ranks? Towhee's orange eyes glowed as she said, "Please tell me you're here to stay."

Rue couldn't really explain why she hadn't howled for a leader-- lost in thought maybe, distracted by pain? Or, perhaps it was that small piece of her that didn't really believe Towhee could be alive, and drawing out the time which her beloved alpha's fate was still unknown seemed preferable to the crushing weight of the inevitable truth.

Rue stopped in her tracks as the streak of black and orange rushed toward her, rapidly closing the distance. Her heart leapt into her throat, and a low, excited whine escaped from her. 

"It really is you."  Towhee spoke, seemingly voicing Rue's own thoughts aloud as she approached. "Please tell me you're here to stay."  Rue took in a long, steadying breath, and nodded. 

"If you'll have me. I'm.. not really worth much as a scout anymore." That much would be made evident by the pain in Rue's movements.  

Rue swallowed hard. There was so much to catch up on, so many questions-- how had Towhee survived a literal mountain falling on her? Who else from Asterism Grove was here? What had they been doing for the past year? Rue opened her mouth to ask, but then couldn't decide where to start. After a moment spent in silence, trying and failing to find words, she simply signed what was on her heart. I'm so, so happy to see you. 

Ruenna nodded and Towhee's heart did a little leap, though it sank a bit at her old friend's next words. Lips pressing together, she took a moment to step back and assess what she was seeing. Rue looked just as Towhee remembered. Something about the way she held herself, as well as the expression on her face, seemed to age her though. The Sovereign frowned, her mind skipping back to Asterism Grove, the landslide, being trapped, all the mysteriously missing wolves...

"I'm just," the began inarticulately, shooting Rue an apologetic smile before trying again, "I'm glad you're okay. More or less?" Those three simple words gently implored her old comrade to share what'd happened, what she'd been through and where she'd been all this time.

Towhee couldn't quite get the words out, and Ruenna understood entirely. That was exactly how she felt when Phox told her Towhee still lived; that their family still lived. 

"Better than I was, if you can believe it," Rue affirmed. The improvement was the reason she made it here at all. For the better part of a year, travelling had been so painful that an expansive search for the Redhawks was simply out of the question. And then there was the fact that an entire mountain had fallen on Towhee in front of Rue's eyes. She had truly believed that her alpha was gone.  

"Towhee, I thought you were dead," Rue said incredulously. "How..." Rue shook her head before she even got the question out. Honestly, "how" wasn't really important. If Towhee turned the question back on Rue, she would be unable to answer it herself. How had Rue survived the landslide, and not only that-- how had she ended up so far from the Strath afterwards? So lost? Rue had no answers. 

With another shake of her head, Rue changed her question.

"Tell me about who's here. Your family." Our family. After her conversation with Phox, Rue was left with the impression that the family might have grown in the last year.

She swallowed thickly when Ruenna told her what she'd believed about Towhee's fate. Even after all this time, it was so hard to look back on those memories. She could see her comrade reconsidering the idea and the Sovereign followed suit, not without offering a quick nudge to show she understood.

"We're both here," she said at the same time Rue spoke again. Towhee laughed, then obliged and said, "Phox and his mate, Niamh, are here." She probably already knew that part, though. "Then a handful of others I'm sure you'll meet, including some of our younger kids." Many of them were gone now, though not all. And... "Some of which won't show up for another couple months, if you know what I mean."

It was still much too early to tell for either herself or Niamh, though Towhee went ahead and let herself hope. It was a light in a time of darkness, a source of joy that she hoped would extend to the latest Redhawk.

Rue also let out a small laugh as they spoke at the same time.

Phox was here, she knew that; he was the one who had given Rue directions. Niamh was a new name though. Rue tilted her head in curiosity-- Phox had not mentioned a mate. 

There were others too, presumably folks Rue hadn't met. What about the others from Asterism Grove? Hadn't anyone else made it? Rue opened her mouth to ask about them, but then she couldn't recall any names. She could conjure up a few blurry faces, a scent or two.. but the names were gone. 

Rue smiled at the mention of little ones. 

"I look forward to meeting them. And the ones yet to come." Her eyes held a knowing twinkle. The way Towhee spoke, it was ambiguous as to whether it was Niamh or Towhee herself who deserved congratulations, or both. So Rue simply left it at that. 

Rue expected that she would have much more time to spend with the pups this season, now that she was out of commission as a scout. That thought did bring her joy, in a sense. Like a light at the end of a tunnel, there was a flicker of purpose in her life again.

"Maybe we'll cross paths with one or two of them while I take you on a tour, assuming you're down?" Towhee replied. "Unless someone already beat me to it?" she added. "In which case, we could find you somewhere to sleep or maybe grab a bite to eat? What sounds good to you, Rue?"

Her orange eyes cast around for a moment, wondering if it was even worth bothering with a tour. The blizzard had finally blown itself out, it seemed, but snow still covered much of everything. Towhee imagined it would hang around for some weeks, unless they experienced an unseasonable spike in temperatures. She couldn't quite decide what she'd prefer, considering how soggy everything would become following so much snow melting... it would be almost as bad as the summer floods.

"Sure, the tour would be great. As long as you can keep up with me," she joked, raising an eyebrow in amusement. Deep down, joking about her condition still felt forced, but in true "fake it 'till you make it" form she imagined that one day soon she might be able to take it a little more lightly. 

Even if someone had already showed Rue around, she wouldn't give up the chance to catch up with Towhee. 

"You grew up here, right?"

In time, Rue hoped the pair would slip back into their friendship with easy familiarity. Rue's question of, "You grew up here, right?" would lead to talk of family, and the new generation. Rue would fill Towhee in on the last year of her own life, which was mostly long days spent looking after the Vitales' children and performing the physical therapy exercises prescribed by the mated pair of medics. Talk would eventually move onto lighter subjects, and Rue would bid Towhee farewell once the pain in her spine and hips necessitated a rest. 

Fading this out. <3