Redhawk Caldera Airwolf six.

Towhee let out a little groan as she shifted into a more comfortable position. She tried not to move her head much, as that seemed to trigger the vertigo the worst. Despite her efforts, the dizziness crashed over her like a wave. She closed her eyes and laid as still as possible, waiting for it to pass. As her eyes squeezed shut, she couldn't help but flashback to the other night.

She didn't hear a sound, of course, though the bright flash and percussive blast were impossible to miss, especially out on the borderline. Rattled, Towhee climbed to the caldera's rim to squint through the darkness. She couldn't see anything, though a strange smell came to her from the north: the direction of Moonspear and Firefly Glen. It smelled like the air before a storm. But everything was cold and still, just the barest breath of wind, and it wasn't the season for thunderstorms...

Her heart clenched in her chest, her breaths coming rapid and shallow. That probably wouldn't help with the wooziness, yet Towhee couldn't help it. She still didn't really know what had happened, nor who was affected. She probably didn't want to know. Another breathy moan eked from her as she slowly reopened her eyes. The vertiginous spells had come on not long after the shock wave and she was done trying to wait it out.

Towhee assumed @Reyes was somewhere close at hand and she really should've asked him. Instead, she tilted her head toward the weak February light filtering in through the cave's mouth and sent up a low howl for @Eljay.

There was something of a call of help in Towhee's call. A worried frown immediately appeared on Eljay's face, who'd been lounging by the Blackthorn den while he pondered about his and Maia's future, where they'd live, how many children they'd have and how adorable those would look (and then he distracted himself from the former concerns with the latter thoughts). He immediately came into motion, worried especially after the events that had happened recently. So far he hadn't heard of anyone who had gotten anything from it, and it had seemed far enough away... But he knew that it was one of the packs that mattered much to Towhee, and he had definitely considered her mental health as well. She was a tough cookie, though, so probably she would be fine. All his earlier concerns about their harsh alliances with Moonspear that caused Wraen to leave seemed so moot now. He could not help but wonder if that meant Wraen and Maia would come live with them again, but then again, they seemed to have really settled into their new home, too, so perhaps not.

As he quickened his pace Eljay shoved these thoughts aside. Towhee? he called out when he reached the cave, and as he got closer he saw Towhee there. There was a concerned look on his face that asked her to tell him what was wrong.

He didn't make her wait, his familiar face appearing in the cave's mouth and momentarily blocking the light. Towhee considered just staying sprawled there, her cheek pressed to the cool stone, but really preferred to at least raise her head. Drawing in a deep breath and shutting her eyes, she shifted gingerly into a sphinx pose.

Just as she feared, the dizziness swelled. Even with her eyes closed, everything seemed... swimmy. Her head felt like it was full of air and ready to detach and float away into the stratosphere. Towhee kept her eyes firmly shut and tried to breathe through it, holding very still otherwise.

"I'm having really, really bad dizzy spells," she said, eyes still closed. But she needed to open them to see Eljay's reply. "They started the other night, after... do we know what happened?"

When he came upon Towhee, Eljay instantly noticed that something was very wrong. She looked completely out of her usual self, very off, and her breath came out just a little shaky. When she spoke her eyes were still closed. It was a bit of a relief that it was only dizzy spells and nothing worse. Nothing acute, at least. However, it was still rather concerning.

As she spoke, he nodded, as he instantly knew what she meant with the other night. Maybe from the light or the noise? he said, clearly unsure of himself. I haven't ever seen anything like that before, so... So I'm not sure what side-effects it could have. Did you look directly at it when it happened? There were a bunch of things to go through, honestly. Since Towhee so directly mentioned the incident, Eljay didn't really consider the possibility that she was pregnant presently, though he should've as he knew she had stayed to herself for some time while she smelled funny, presumably while she was in her heat (but perhaps it was because of that that Eljay'd dismissed that Towhee might try to get pregnant again this year — because she had been such a hermit about her heat, and because he was sure she would've told him if she had intended to get pregnant, beforehand, considering his position).

"Look at what?" Towhee pressed, too woozy to get angry but definitely anxious. Much as she really didn't want them, she needed details. "What happened, exactly? All I know is I was patrolling the other night and I saw a flash, then felt the ground shake, kind of like an earthquake..." She couldn't suppress the shudder that wracked her at the memory, so she had to stop there and close her eyes at the bout of dizziness that followed.

It was concerning that these problems seemed to have come out of nowhere; not even because she had directly looked at what had happened, or something. Eljay frowned when she responded, then started a response of his own, even though he was not really sure what he wanted to say precisely, and moreover, how. Towhee... Something happened on Moonspear. There was a loud crash and uh, I don't know exactly, but it looked like something was on fire, and there were a lot of rocks falling. He knew how much Towhee cared about the Moonspear wolves, and he felt a replacement worry growing in his own heart on her behalf. He might not know them well, but he knew they were important to wolves that were in turn important to him.

There was a brief pause after he said her name. Towhee instinctively braced herself, sensing bad news incoming, and did her best to ignore the way her stomach rolled. She focused on Eljay's lips, her breath catching in her throat as he gave her some of the ominous details. The mention of rocks falling immediately made her think of the landslide cutting off Asterism Grove.

Her mind should've gone straight to Hydra and her family, yet she found herself mostly worrying about Meerkat in the neighboring glen. "Has anyone gone to check on them?" Towhee asked, closing her eyes against another bout of wooziness. She would've gone to see for herself, if not in such a bad state. Niamh couldn't go either but perhaps they could spare Phox. He should probably take someone with him, like Eljay himself.

But before Sovereign could tell him to find her brother and go—they very likely needed medical assistance—a wave of nausea hit her. Towhee didn't know if it was just a byproduct of the dizziness or a reaction to the bad news. But her mouth began to water and she didn't even have time to warn Eljay before she was vomiting at his feet.

Eljay frowned when Towhee asked him if anyone had gone to check on them. It hadn't even occurred to him. He felt dumb about that instantly, but it just... It was a lot to process all on its own. He himself hadn't even considered leaving the Caldera to check on anyone; and if it was anyone, then it would be Maia, not the Moonspear wolves.
She felt so far away right now.
I... No, I — Not that I know of. It was evident in Eljay's voice that he felt kind of dumb about that when he spoke. Even if he wasn't a leader in the pack, Eljay still felt responsible for the well-being of others. There was a short silence between them, and it looked like Towhee wanted to say some more but then she paused, and it wasn't long before she threw up.
While it was sudden, it wasn't unexpected for the medic; after all, he knew she was dizzy and dizziness was more often accompanied by the unpleasant side-effect of nausea and, eventually, throwing up. The smell was unpleasant, but not unpleasant enough for Eljay to show it in any way; he was used to some unpleasantries through his line of work, after all.
Are you okay? How... What are you feeling? he asked with a frown, even though clearly, she was not. He wasn't sure what else to say; it seemed a matter of just resting up for her, he hoped. He might be a medic, but he'd never see anything like this — like what happened to the sky — before, so he wasn't too sure what to expect in terms of Towhee's illness that came from it.

"Fuck," Towhee spat as soon as the heaving stopped, strings of sour saliva dangling from her jowls. Her head swam worse than ever and she had to close her eyes and let herself sink back to the floor. She missed Eljay's question, though answered it in a way when she thought to assure him, "I'm not dead, I just needed to put my head down."

She breathed for a few beats, then opened her eyes. "Sorry about that. Did I get any on you?" She felt a little stupid as the words left her mouth. She was worried about puking on Eljay, when the wolves of Moonspear and Firefly Glen were likely in deep trouble.

"I'll be fine," Towhee said, "I'm just dizzy and wiped out. Someone should really go check on them, though. I would, but..." Well, it was pretty obvious why she couldn't. "I want to make sure they're okay... Meerkat, Bronco, Hydra... all the rest." As she spoke, her words began to slow down as an overwhelming weariness pulled at her.

Eljay nodded as Towhee said she was 'okay', more or less, but in other words. He wished that there was something he could do for her but honestly, he had no idea what precisely was happening to her. That's why he was so worried.

She asked him if she got any on him and he shook his head. No, uh, he glanced down at his paws, which actually had some throw up on them, then shook his head as he looked back at Towhee because it was irrelevant. A white lie seemed best for the patient. No. So uh, did this start precisely when it happened..? Or is there anything else that could cause any of this?

Eljay swallowed when Towhee said someone should check on them and maybe it should be Phox and himself. Honestly, someone should. But. The wolves here we also all dealing with what happened themselves. Eljay wanted to focus on Towhee. He also decidedly wanted to not go out; the thought gave him a terribly familiar but horrible feeling. Yeah, he agreed offhandedly to Towhee's suggestion. But let's get you cleaned up first. Is there anywhere else nearby that you can rest..? He glanced at the throw up; here was not a good place right now.

He pressed her for more details, presumably to help him figure out a diagnosis. Towhee's eyelids wanted to stay closed for many reasons but she raised them at least halfway to keep open the lines of communication, even as her ability to hold a conversation faded rapidly.

"Lethargy," she told him. "I was already feeling really wiped out when it happened. I'm hopefully pregnant, so I just figured it was that. It's still pretty early, so..." Towhee honestly wasn't even sure what she was saying at this point or if any of it was relevant.

Eljay wanted her to move away from the vomit. There was plenty of space in the cave but she replied, "No." She would much rather hang out by her own upchuck than risk more dizziness, nausea and vomiting. "Jus' throw a leaf at it or somethin'..."

She'd been tired before. Then maybe it was just overexertion? Eljay considered this possibility, though he seemed hesitant still. I'm not sure what else could be the cause. I don't know what to do about it, but I think just rest and make sure someone takes care of you.

Eljay responded with a crisp, surprised and quivering Oh. when Towhee said she was hopefully pregnant. I.. I didn't know you'd been, uh, with anyone this heat. You... Should've told me. As your midwife. As your pack mate. As your friend. None of these words slipped past his lips though. Instead Eljay shook his head and said, I don't think that it would cause this, not that I've ever seen, but it might not help with the nausea.

Of course, Towhee refused to move. Eljay was torn between kicking her out and forcing her somewhere clean and taking care of her until she was well and trying to convince her. Or maybe just leave her be here, if she wanted to. After all, Towhee always knew better. What did he really know? It wasn't like he was the master caretaker around here. He was just a joke, the mascot kept around because he refused to leave. These sour thoughts came as a surprise to Eljay wasn't he was glad he could focus his attentions on Towhee.

Eventually he reluctantly decided, .. okay, I'll try to find something to uh, soak up the moist and the scent at least. Because when you were dizzy and nauseous, laying around in your own filth wasn't usually helpful.

"Yeah," Towhee said, flapping a paw in the air, "Reyes. To all of the above. Oh?" Man, were any of her brain cells even firing anymore at this point? When Eljay accepted her refusal to move and offered to clean up, she gave up on trying to keep her eyes open and added, "Just throw some pine needles or a beaver at it. 'Ppreciate it." She stopped fighting at that point, because conking out was a much better state of being than this horrific dizziness, worrying about her loved ones.

Right before she fell asleep, Towhee thought to herself, My ears feel kinda funny too. That's weird. I should probably mention that. But she didn't, as she instead coasted into dreamland.

Reyes. He hadn't expected that. Eljay didn't even know they were close at all. Oh! I uh, didn't know you were close. Are you..? he asked, hoping she'd fill in the blanks even in her current state.

Will do, Eljay said, and when he said it he realised that Towhee was actually already asleep. He shrugged, turned away and went to fetch some stuff that soaked up things -- a bit of moss, though it had been hard to anything dry enough -- and some pinecones, because needles were impossible to find under any snow. Well. It would have to do.

Then Eljay left to clean his own paws. As he cleaned them in a stream he watched Towhee's vomit on his toes. He felt guilty about the ugly feelings he had about her. He'd always felt not good enough for her. Too weak. Too easy to give up.

Too Eljay.

It had gone away over time and he'd felt more valued as a medic. But still he felt bad for not being told about the pregnancy. About trying. How many others knew? Why hadn't she already told him? Asked his advice?

These thoughts ate at his brain and it felt like a dagger that was twisted between his ribs.

The worst part was that he felt like he was overreacting.

Still, the feelings refused to go away for the rest of the day, turning over in his head.