The Heartwood Dance fruits.

Towhee knew the pups were a bit young for a field trip but if she didn’t get out of Epoch for a little bit, she was afraid she really would lose her mind. She refused to leave any of her kids behind, so she asked @Phox for his help and gathered up @Jack Snipe, @Sable and @Towhee Jr right after breakfast. She asked her older son to notify the rest of the pack: “We’re headed to Moonspear to visit family, be back soon!”

Minding the youngest members of their little caravan, Towhee slowly led the group out of the vale via Razorback Ridge. She kept an eagle eye on the little ones as they shuffled their way to the neighboring plains. There were so many pack scents on the crosswinds here, it really set her teeth on edge. They faded a little as the party of five passed through a hollow into The Heartwood, so Towhee decided it was a relatively safe place to take a break.

Phox caught a rabbit, which Towhee split into thirds for her kids. After settling the pups down for a nap and nodding at Jack’s mention of exploring the neighboring glen, she looked for somewhere where she and her brother could park and relax. They could see Moonspear through a break in the trees here at the southwestern corner of the woods. Minding her scars, she relaxed her back against the trunk of a middle-aged oak and let out a sigh.

Towhee didn’t actually care if they made it all the way to Moonspear. She definitely wanted to see @Fennec and @Killdeer, Meerkat and her family too, but whether they went there or they came here really didn’t matter. In fact, it probably made the most sense to meet in the middle. In any case, they were away from the vale and that was the important thing. Towhee felt like she could breathe freely and think about something other than her mate’s absence for the first time in days.

We should try calling them, Towhee mulled aloud to Phox, swiveling to look at him in the gathering gloom of dusk, maybe in the morning? She paused thoughtfully, looking down at her paws kneading in the unfamiliar forest floor. I don’t mind taking our time, spending a few days here…

Anyone who’s tagged is welcome! :)

the journey was two parts exciting and exhausting.

but towhee jr doesn't complain; instead taking the world outside of epoch in with wide, eager eyes.

but she tires easily. too easily for her liking and at any chance she gets, though she fears missing something, she curls up alongside sable in the hopes that her naps are short.

she stirs awake; disoriented for a moment, heart thudding loud in her chest, in her throat. she looks 'round gaze finding sable first — the closest to her — before she finds towhee and phox in the nearby distance.

she stretches the sleep from her stiff limbs and trots over to the adults, eager to just ... be apart of it.

They mutually agreed to wait until morning, which left them the rest of the evening to make themselves at home in this little forest. Phox stretched and yawned, clearly ready for a nap himself. Towhee smiled and waved him to bed, turning to watch him mosey that way and seeing her groggy doppelganger shuffling toward her.

-Hey, sleepyhead,- Towhee greeted, pushing onto all fours to face her daughter. -Are you hungry?- she asked, feeling even more maternal than usual, considering the circumstances.

Towhee couldn’t help but wonder what Jr would think of the upcoming visitations. Would she be withdrawn, like Leo had always been, or perhaps just a little standoffish? She was quite the little guardian spirit, Towhee mused as she smiled lopsidedly at her child.

sleepily jr blinks up at her mom, a small yawn escaping her before her gaze trails down to catch the signing — almost missing the greeting.

-uhm,- jr signs, pausing as she thinks about it. -no,- she was too excited to eat. -we explore?- she signs, her expression hopeful.

Towhee Jr would rather explore than eat. It was getting late and they’d been on their feet all day. But Towhee hesitated to deny the request. Perhaps they could look around for something to eat together.

-Yeah, okay. We can take a look around for a little bit, maybe see if we can find a snack,- she agreed, pushing to all fours. -I’m pretty famished myself and I get really grumpy when I’m hungry. You’d better help me scavenge something to eat before my inner grumpus comes out…-

She held out a paw, curling her toes like talons and waving it in Jr’s face. Snickering, Towhee then motioned for her daughter to lead the way. She would skulk along right behind her, protective of her baby in these dark, unfamiliar woods.

jr’s eagerness to explore her rapidly expanding world quelled her desire for all else. soon, her stomach would rumble more consistently and demandingly.

cleverly, towhee suggests looking for a snack while they explore: a compromise that jr cannot help but agree to.

-ok.- she signs in agreement; turning to take the lead, a notable pep in her step even as she has no idea where she’s leading to.

she stops at random intervals: new scents catching her attention. a shiny rock enraptures her as if she is a magpie next and jr makes a direct beeline for it, poking at it with her paw before she scopes it up into her mouth and deposits it at her mom’s feet.

-lookit! i found!- she signs eagerly, almost tripping over herself.

She was grateful for the pup’s slow mosey, as she didn’t have much energy to spare after today’s long trek. Towhee kept an eye on her miniature, in between sweeping glances at the surrounding woods. They were very dark and deep, especially at this late hour.

While Jr scooted over to investigate something, something compelled the elder Towhee to look upward. She locked eyes with an owl perched on a bough overhead. Although she was fairly certain her daughter was too large now to be picked up by a raptor, Towhee nonetheless swept closer to Jr, right as the youth plopped something at her feet.

She had to bend down and squint, it was so dark now. A soft laugh escaped her when she realized it was… a rock. Towhee didn’t know why the little girl found it fascinating, though she raised her head and ruffled the dark fur atop her little noggin.

-B+ for effort. Now see if you can find anything edible,- she encouraged, glancing backwards only to see the owl had swooped away. -You know, like something we can eat. Dead meat. Or even berries. Look for something like that.-

towhee didn't seem entirely all that pleased with the rock that jr found and showed off to her with the pride of a preening peacock. but jr wasn't wont to let it hurt her feelings.

she scoops it up back betwixt her jaws: stubbornly intent on keeping it.

at least, for the moment.

-ok.- she signs, a little resigned with a sigh muffled 'round the rock she cradles betwixt her jaws. she sets out in the task she was given, dropping the rock when it got too cumbersome.

and forgot about it when she comes across a sweet fruit smell, almost sickly. she gives the berries of some sort a quick sweep of her eye before she bounces back to towhee.

-found —! come! look!- she signs quickly, not bothering to finish signing the rest of well, anything, before she bounds off towards the berries, assuming towhee would follow.

Towhee decided to stand still and keep watch while Jr searched. Her eyes swept the woods in regular intervals, though nothing moved out there besides her daughter, as far as she could tell.

While she waited for the pup to find something to eat, it gave her tired mind some time to wander. Of course it went straight to Maxim. Out here in a dark, strange woodland, it was too easy to picture her mate being torn apart by a mountain lion or maybe… maybe it had been a bear. Either way, there would be no trace, unless someone happened to find a pile of dung somewhere with tufts of her husband’s fur.

Funny in some other context, perhaps, Towhee’s stomach turned and she heaved on the dark grass between her forepaws. There was so little to bring up, mostly just bile and saliva. Her stomach convulsed a few times before settling. Out of pure instinct—she couldn’t have her smelly vomit drawing attention to her family’s presence here—Towhee quickly dug in the loam and buried the evidence of her sickness.

Moments later, Jr returned to report her findings. She would not have overheard her mother’s heaving and didn’t seem to notice any lingering odors. With a sigh of relief, the mother trailed after her youngster. She wasn’t hungry, though Towhee knew she should put some food in her stomach. And eat something that would get rid of this sour taste in her mouth.

The younger Towhee had discovered a berry patch. Towhee leaned down to sniff warily, trying to discern whether they were safe to eat. @Fennec had detailed some of this stuff with her once upon a time, so she felt fairly confident that they could eat this particular type without getting sick. But just in case, she decided to play guinea pig.

-Berries like this can be poisonous, making us very sick. I’m going to eat one, then we’ll wait a few minutes. If it doesn’t make me ill, we can eat more of them. Got it?- Towhee asked, glad that they would be rolling some survival skills into this little camping trip.

jr watches as her mother sniffs at the berry patch warily. a small tilt of her head is given, leaning down to mimic: sniffing at the berries.

to her, they smell sweet. perhaps, to her sensitive nose in an effort to compensate for her deafness, sickeningly so. so sweet it makes her teeth ache slightly.

but nothing in their look or scent that triggers any red flags in her instincts —

that was until her mother goes on to explain that some berries could make them very sick.

-oh...- jr signs, a little deflated; brow furrowing in puzzlement as she looks from her mother to the berries and then back again. -how do we know if they'll make us sick?!- she asks with the unbidden curiosity of the child she was, assuming that her mom knew everything, if simply because she was her mom.

she watches warily as towhee eats a berry, watching her face studiously for any changes that may require her getting help.

-Some wolves know a lot about this subject and pass along their knowledge. They probably found out the hard way, just like I’m about to do,- Towhee explained right before she popped one in her mouth.

She expected the berry to be mushy in her mouth but it held its form until she pressed her teeth into it. Then it burst, sweetness flooding her palate. Towhee chewed thoughtfully. She didn’t really see the appeal, though food was food.

-Now we wait,- she said after swallowing. -I can tell you a story in the meantime, if you like. Would you like to hear one about your Grandpa Peregrine and Grandma Fox?-

jr squints at the berry patch one last time before her gaze remains trained upon her mother, studious. her worry for her mother getting poisoned by the berry — even if the concept in it's whole is a little bit over jr's realm of understanding beyond sick equals bad and meant get help — keeping her attention zeroed in.

-ok,- jr signs, not entirely convinced.

but either way, it was done and all the two of them could do was wait.

-yes!- jr signs eagerly, slinking down into a sphinx-like position, gaze focused eagerly on towhee's paws so she didn't miss anything of the story she was about to be told.

Her little mirror image accepted her terms. Towhee smiled as the child made herself comfortable. She remained upright to keep her forelegs free, though she curled in closer to Jr, since it was a little difficult to see in the dark. She tried not to breathe directly in the girl’s face. The berry had sweetened her mouth but her breath probably still smelled rancid.

-This is the history of Redhawk Caldera,- she began, channeling a version of herself only a little older than Jr. -Your grandparents, Peregrine and Fox, lived in a pack called Blacktail Deer Plateau. The plateau’s actually not far from here, that way,- Towhee said, nodding to the north.

Her stomach gurgled, though it was probably just because it was so empty. Towhee paused, just in case things took an ominous turn, but she felt fine. Before Jr could get impatient with her, she continued.

-But they decided they wanted to find a territory of their own, so they set out into the wilderness to find the perfect place. They were exploring an old volcano with water inside it when Fox fell and broke her leg on the steep slopes. The choice was made for them. They decided to claim it and call it Redhawk Caldera.

Peregrine and Fox lived there with their growing family for several years, persevering through all of life’s craziness until one fateful night when Peregrine died very suddenly. Fox only lived a few months beyond him, just long enough to carry and deliver their last litter of pups: Phox—your Phother—your Aunt Orca and yours truly,- Towhee concluded, editorializing the ending a bit.

attention is rapt upon her mother, gaze following the flowing, languid movements of her mother's paws, that forms the only words that towhee jr will ever understand; beyond the primal instinctual intuition of simple body language.

towhee weaves the story and jr tries to put faces to the faceless, tries to imagine what the redhawk caldera would look like.

-redhawk... is us?- jr signs when towhee finishes the story, repeating the motion for 'redhawk', focusing on the movements of her own paws for a moment before she looks to her older mirrored image for confirmation.

How much of that had Towhee Jr followed and understood? Towhee peered curiously at her offspring, watching the shifts in her expression as she processed the story. She pieced together a bit of information about the Redhawk name that prompted a smile from her mother.

-Yes. Redhawk is our second name. For instance, you and I are Towhee Redhawk. Your brother is Sable Redhawk. My brother’s Phox Redhawk. And so on and so forth.-

And she had given that name to Maxim too, a thought which made her heart throb and her jaw set. Towhee exhaled through her nose and redirected her thoughts to her stomach, which still felt fine. There was nary a sign that anything was amiss, digestively speaking.

-Alright, I think we’ve waited long enough. The berries are fine. Go ahead and eat some, though I wouldn’t eat too many. Just ‘cause they won’t poison you doesn’t mean they won’t give you a mean case of the shits,- Towhee cautioned. -And after your little midnight snack, it’s off to bed with us. I’m beat.-

The yawn that punctuated these words was entirely authentic. Towhee would do whatever it took to keep up a brave face for her kids, even when she was completely out of bandwidth. A little rest would help. If she managed to get some sleep, tomorrow would come and she would get to see family. And it would be one more day without Maxim but also one day toward making peace with his absence.

Want to wrap and/or archive here?

sure thing. <3

-towhee redhawk.- jr traces her name in the dirt, the swipe of her paw to form the words leaving a soft imprint in the earth that was easily swiped away.

she's given the go-ahead on the berries but she approaches them begrudgingly, her shoulder slumping in an 'awww' fashion, common of a child who wasn't ready to go to bed yet.

still, she doesn't argue; saving all that fierce energy for those she deemed 'outsiders'. she eats her fill of the berries and dutifully trudges after towhee, they way they came where she plops down next to sable; curling up and eventually, falling asleep.