Ocean's Breath Plateau Alay Alay

It had taken longer to return to Moontide than to head to the plains, her injury would not be as quick to heal though the healers had done much to set it to rights. The restriction chafed even if it was her own fault, but the instinctive part of her was glad to be home, knowing and feeling Moontide to be safe a place to recover and rest. Though she feared that she would be nothing but a burden on the pack in the state that she was she resolved to try to help out where she could. She could still make her way around the territory to check on things and perhaps prepare those pelts that she had not quite gotten around to treating. But for the moment she enjoyed the feeling of being back, let herself the familiar sights as well as note anything that had changed in her absence.

She worried after @Rolayne and wished, irrationally, that she had been there, even if she could not or would not have stopped him from running off to Moonspear. But she would spend some time with @Panuk worried about him in the absence of his brother now.

Towhee dragged the bison pelt @Rodyn had gifted her to the foot of a Pacific yew tree growing right at the eastern edge of the plateau. She dug out a little hollow between the roots on the tree’s northwestern side, so she could get a glimpse of the ocean in the distance to the north and, nearer at hand, she could look out over The Sentinels. She folded the skin over her dugout to create a makeshift tent, then crawled beneath it to sleep.

She couldn’t be sure how long she’d slept but Towhee felt very disoriented and groggy when she eventually crawled out of her cozy little space. She spent a good ten minutes just stretching and yawning beside the yew, then finally shook out her coat and headed north. She would begin a patrol there, though hell if she knew whether it was a morning or evening circuit.

Her orange eyes spotted a familiar figure on the way and Towhee called out, -“Hey, Heph!”-

Heph turned, wincing slightly at the bruises still on her ribs but catching sight of Towhee she grinned, trotting closer albeit with a somewhat stiff gait. When she was close enough to did her best to put the ptero lessons to use although her signs came slower than her speech and both ended up being slower than if she had used either one. "Hey Towhee!" A wag of her tail and she could not help but lean back just slightly as she accidentally put some weight on her bad shoulder. "How's it going?" Though she spoke "How's it going" the signs came out a bit awkwardly "Going okay everything?"

Even from a distance, Towhee saw the woman’s wince and wondered what prompted it. Heph’s gait told Towhee she must feel stiff, a feeling the aging Redhawk knew all too well lately. She grimaced sympathetically, picking up her own pace so they could meet in the middle and Heph could hopefully get off her feet or, at the very least, stop moving around.

-“Don’t feel the need to sign if it hurts,”- she said. -“I’m fine. I’m more worried about you. Did something happen at the hunt?”- she asked, gesturing to indicate Heph’s obvious discomfiture.

That made her worry about her brother. Surely Heph wouldn’t be standing here in front of her, acting totally normal (if a little pained) if anything was amiss with Phox. Reassured by this thought, her orange eyes weighed steadily on the the woman’s salt-and-pepper features.

Heph would not have been quick to admit it but she was glad when Towhee closed the distance and leaned back to sit once they were at a more conversational distance. With her weight more off oher front she signed more easily and her ribs felt a bit better. "It's okay." She shook her head shortly, her sings breaking in and out as she explained, some words coming more easily than others as she spoke. "I was trying to distract the old girl and she caught me across the shoulder and then bruised my ribs. Luckily it didn't break the bone but the leg felt like it came out of its socket and the healers had to do something to it so that I could move my toes again. I'm supposed to stay off of it." She offered, though it was easy to see that Heph was only following the letter of the instructions, hopping along on three legs wherever she could. "@Matteo also took a hit, but everyone else @Phox, and @Valiant were well and @Kukutux's son, @Arrluk was the one to land the final strike." Mireille and Raindrop were well too, but she named the wolves she thought Towhee most likely to know. She knew she should seek out the younger wolf soon as well to check on his recovery.

She frowned when Heph described the nature of her injuries, going whale-eyed for a second at the thought of a leg coming out of its socket. Towhee absently glanced down at her own bum leg, the one she’d been unable to feel for a while following a tumble down the caldera. Of course, that was just one of many injuries from over the years. Suffice it to say she could empathize.

-“I guess we can’t really hold it against her for putting up a fight, huh? That said, I’m sure that sucked. Healing is a bitch too. I was never very good at being an invalid, myself,”- she mused.

She felt for the woman, truly, but Towhee supposed there was no point dwelling on it. By the sound of it, there hadn’t been any shortage of healers—she assumed she probably knew a few of them by name—and all Heph could do now was take it easy and wait. And maybe make Phox wait on her hand and foot.

-“Aside from your injury, did anything else happen at the hunt? Anything, you know, gossip-worthy?”- Towhee fished, trying not to smile.

Heph shook her head in agreement, after all she would not expect prey to not put up a fight, even rabbits would kick when chased. But she too was not accustomed to staying off her paws. At the mention of gossip she laughed but nodded her head and spoke, tongue sly and eyes sparking. "Well we did stay so long the season began to hit some of us."


The most obviously scandalous pair had been the leader of Moonsong and her paramour, since she was the leader of her own village she might not have had a bride price, but Heph had thought it a rather short amount of time to gather one. After all Rodyn had also claimed the hand of one of Kukutux's daughters and he had roamed far and wide for his. "I think @Ariadne and @Kaluktuk made it known to everyone and then some that they have been practicing for this for awhile." And though she had not seen anything obvious she had noted some trails of scents, the absence from their camps. "@Valiant and @Vaire seemed very close." And of course the pair whose wedding was older news but still their courtship seemed apace. "And hopefully a wedding soon for a pair from Moonglow, one of the pair is from Brecheliant and they came too."

But with all the references to other relationships her paws shuffled in no particular movement at all as she fumbled for her words. "And...perhaps it's odd to ask you first. @Phox came out early with me to scout the plains and I did want to ask you if your family had any kind of traditions when it came to courting?" Her thoughts moved fluidly from one to another. She was not quite sure if Towhee of all wolves wanted to hear that Heph had thought her brother looked handsome standing over the rise and surveying the herds, and surely the wolf already knew that he was steady and kind and level headed.

tags for ref let me know if Heph wouldn't have noticed any of these things and I can adjust!

Towhee wore an amused expression as Heph regaled her. She didn’t recognize all of the names, though the tales were still quite entertaining. Of course, she was most interested in any Team Hephox updates. She leaned in keenly when her brother’s name came up, hanging on the woman’s every word.

What a question! Towhee straightened up a little as she considered it. Of course, there were none, not really. The Redhawks tended to produce animal prints at a weirdly high rate, with the expectation of naming the children accordingly. But first comes love, then comes marriage, then comes the baby carriage.

-“Actually, yeah. You’ve heard of a bride price, right? Well, Phox comes with a groom price.”-

Heph was rapt, and listened and watched carefully the signs and for the words. But it was sensible, she remembered her discussion with Dwin about a groom price also making sense in the context of proving oneself worthy to the family and though she cared about Phox's approval first and foremost she knew that Towhee both as his sister and closest living relative but also as the co-parent and co-grandparent to many children was important to him and she wanted hers as well (not that she would ever ask Seal to call her grandma!).

Her nod was decisive at the question and at the statement, then came the questions. "Will you or Phox set it or do I gather what I think you might like and submit it for approval? Rodyn I think kept his journey a secret first should I ask Phox first or do it without his knowledge? Am I allowed aid or should it be something that I prove through my skills alone?"

She watched Heph carefully for a reaction. Would she be surprised? Towhee doubted she would be opposed, though the woman’s enthusiasm actually took her aback—in a good way! Her orange eyes widened as Heph fired off a bunch of questions. She had to fight a smile again.

-“I set it,”- she answered the first, -“and we’ll do it without his knowledge.”-

Towhee let that hang for a moment. It might be fun to make Heph prove how serious she was about her brother. Phox definitely deserved someone dedicated. But inwardly, she kind of scoffed at the whole institution. It was really up to Phox, though Towhee thought Heph was already worthy.

-“Okay, are you ready? Here’s my price: I want you to promise me you’ll only pursue Phox if you plan to commit to him for life; give him children to love and raise; and wake up every morning with the intent to make him happy until the end of his days. Why would I send you away on some scavenger hunt? All I want is for you to stay beside my brother, give him the happy ending he deserves.”-

Heph at first listened carefully not wishing to forget should she need to travel far. But though these words were important there was an undercurrent that ran through them that made her listen with care but from the heart not the head. It was a hefty thing to promise for a wolf who had not felt fully settled in her own pack for months at a time and constantly looked to the horizon. But she felt no desire to outpace the steps that she could take side by side with him. The double entendre prompted a nervous chuckle but her voice and expression leveled when she replied. "I...I promise...And" Somehow it felt not enough. Words were words, and some were easier or harder to say than others but she wanted Towhee to know that she did not speak nor sign nor think them lightly.

She took a breath. "I'll tell Phox, I want you to know too that Rodyn is a brother to me but if Phox feels for me too and it came down to it I would choose and cherish him and our family over my place here in Moontide." She would not relinquish the family and friendships she had forged in Moontide, and she had resolved to be there for Rodyn and his children. But though she had made her home there she was a wolf who knew that life brought with it unexpected changes. And if she needed to make a home elsewhere for Phox or whatever family they might have in the future she knew she would pick up the pieces of her heavy heart and muster her strength to do so. She was proud of what Moontide had become and her part in it, but the position of beta was not one she had sought because she had grand designs for leadership or a vision to shape and mold a pack into. But she knew that becoming a mom herself, and starting a family with Phox would shift her priorities. She approached that decision with no small amount of nervousness, but she did not approach it ignorantly.

Heph promised, which was good enough for Towhee.

-“Good,”- she said simply, pondering the merit of adding, “and if you break it, I’ll kill you,” you know, for gits and shiggles.

But then Heph caught her off guard again by mentioning Rodyn and her place in Moontide. This gave Towhee pause only because she didn’t follow, like, at all. She replayed the words in her head but there was nothing for it.

-“Wait, why would you have to choose one over the other?”- was the only thing she could think to ask.

Heph shook her head, it was a difficult thing to think about and one that she had no indication would come to pass. But then again she had not spoke with Phox about if he would like to stay in Moontide at all. "I don't think it will happen and I hope it won't, but I wanted you to know. There's future's never a certain thing but some things we can say." She offered instead as explanation although perhaps it seemed apropos of nothing.

-“Well, I appreciate the sentiment, though I don’t think it’ll ever come to that,”- Towhee replied. -“I think you can have it all, Heph. And you know that includes a mouth-breathing sister-in-law right?”-

She smirked, then looked around as if curious about Phox’s whereabouts. If the two of them were here, then why wasn’t he? Towhee supposed she could go find him, though she suddenly remembered she was meant to be patrolling.

-“Hey, I need to head out on patrol. I’d invite you along but you really should take it easy. I hear Phoxes make great pillows. Actually, I know they do, speaking from experience.”-

Heph nodded, she hoped so as well. And adding some levity to the declaration she replied, warm and yet teasing. "Well I hope you know the position of sister-in-law comes with aunt-duties and if they take after me at all they'll be tough to catch."

At the mention of patrol Heph nodded a shake of her shoulders to indicate that she did not mean to keep the other wolf or slow her down. "Good luck."

A wide grin and parting of her lips as she dipped into a laugh. "Not sure I trust you enough on that without verifying myself." She replied, taking a moment to catch her breath before ambling off herself.