Sun Mote Copse Should have bought myself a home when I was a fetus.

Towhee stood at the top of Nord’s Cragh, chewing her lip as her eyes panned over the fall foliage. She’d only just returned (escorted again by @Towhee Jr) and now @Seal was gone, @Otter not far behind her. Unable to wait for their parents and brother to return, they had left to find them. Towhee couldn’t fault them for this. She only hoped they would find Meerkat, Njord and Skipjack out there. The world was a big place.

We could go after them too, she thought aloud, eyes dropping to Bushtit playing with the tail she’d torn off a squirrel earlier today. I don’t think you’re quite ready for that big of an adventure just yet, though.

Being left behind had been hard, much harder than she’d anticipated. Towhee hated to do the same thing to the few remaining in the copse. But if @Reyson and @Meadow wanted to claim this little corner for their family, then that was more than fair. None of the Sveijarn-Cortens could lay claim to it, not now that all of them had left, and Towhee sensed deep down that they wouldn’t be back anyhow.

Which means we’re free to go, she posited. We’ll travel to one of the Moon villages for a visit, then figure things out from there, I think.

Seconds later, Towhee bent down to snatch the tail from her son, then galloped downhill toward The Taigh. Bushtit came tumbling after her, rolling ass over tea kettle and prompting a bellowing laugh from his mother. She went to check on him, though he was unfazed. Towhee nuzzled the top of his head, then lifted her eyes skyward, absently looking for any sign of Ghost.

the life-bringer headed inland after finding nothing of note upon the coast, save a plateau territory that seemed to be recently abandoned by its wolves. these borders, however, are much fresher, if somewhat lacking in numbers based on scent. still, undoubtedly a current claim.

tziporah paces the length of what the copse denizens know as the northeast border, unsure of whether or not to call out. is this not, after all, why she has traveled so far? she cannot help but hesitate, though, after the poor interaction she'd endured at the tide pools.

the sound of thundering pawsteps and laughter make the decision for her. in the near distance, she spots a well-muscled woman dressed in black and white with splashes of red-orange, and what appears to be a young pup near her side. she barks loudly, seeking the wolf's attention, but does not move quite yet.

friend or foe? she'll find that out soon enough.

She spotted the hawk off toward the south, winging in slow circles. He must be right over Jr, Towhee deduced, dropping her eyes to look ponderously at her youngest child. He was at an age where she could leave him on his own for a little while, so she ushered him into the cottage with the promise of snacks.

After settling him into The Taigh, Towhee stepped out of doors and once again looked southward. But she saw no sign of Ghost. She frowned, then began scanning in other directions. Her head reared back a little when she saw him flapping steadily toward the copse’s northeastern corner.

She immediately began loping that way. There was no way her daughter had kept up with the hawk, though surely she was en route. The elder Towhee was much closer and clearly there was something—or, more likely, someone—there to capture Ghost’s attention.

When Towhee first clapped eyes on the stranger, she immediately mistook her for a small deer. Then the canine features began to register. This wasn’t the first dog she’d ever met, though this one—a female, by scent—couldn’t have looked more different than the one Towhee had come to think of as “the beefalo.”

I have to ask: what’s it like, Towhee said as she approached with a mostly curious, slightly wary expression, wandering around a place teeming with wolves, looking so edible?

even though she made the summons, tziporah is still taken aback by the approach of the large, tri-colored wolf. though they're much of an age, the woman dwarfs her in size. she'd tucked the child away somewhere, so it's just the two of them—with a raptor strangely hovering above their heads.

and then she speaks.

i beg your pardon? the midwife murmurs, eyes widening to their full extent. for the first time in a while, she feels quite vulnerable. she'd come here to offer her assistance. . .but perhaps she's put herself in danger in doing so.

father told you that these giants could be deadly, tziporah recalls—but she holds her ground, firming her jaw and holding the woman's gaze from across the border.

my name is tziporah, she says. i come in peace.

The stranger seemed taken aback, though she quickly recovered and met Towhee’s gaze with a steely look. The Redhawk was in a good humor, otherwise the eye contact might have irked her more. Her own eyes narrowed ever so slightly, though her lips twitched into a smirk.

Nobody’s ever told you you could pass for a deer? she pressed, then flicked her tail and added, What brings you here, Tziporah? She just hoped she hadn’t stumbled over that pronunciation too badly. Here being Sun Mote Copse. I’m one of the—I’m the leader, Towhee, she finished.

Her lips pulled downward slightly at that. She was alone in the leadership at present, soon to drop the title herself. Of course, this passerby didn’t need to know any of that, at least until Towhee better understood what Tziporah was doing here.

a deer? no, of course not. how can this woman see her as anything other than canid, despite her appearance differing drastically from what the stranger knew? maybe it's a trick of the old eyes—she notes the woman has lived even more seasons than she.

she will not judge. sympathize, yes—but never judge.

i am a traveling midwife, she explains, smiling teeth stark white evening against her greying tawny muzzle. i offer my services to those in need—i wish to bring souls into the world with grace and comfort.

this woman had clearly whelped late in the season, and the boy did well. would she seek another mate, come the spring? 

(was she even capable?)

will your pack need a midwife this breeding season? she asks, with a graceful incline leftward of her tapered head.

She found the stranger’s words nearly as intriguing as her appearance, though Towhee’s knee-jerk reaction was to tell her no, they didn’t need a midwife. They had Meadow. Besides, who knew what the copse would need in the spring, if it would need anything at all? Would anyone be living here? Her ears drew back a little. She wouldn’t, though the aforementioned woman and her mate might still be in residence when the time came.

I won’t be living here come spring, Towhee said, laughing when she realized how cryptic that might sound, given her age. I’m a traveler too, she explained, and one of the wolves who might take over in my stead is actually an experienced caregiver. She’s the one you should talk to about this, so I can call her if you want.

It went unspoken, though the tightness in her orange eyes and the slight hesitation between “this” and “so” left a certain implication. Towhee didn’t want to waste this woman’s time and had half a mind to direct her to the Moon villages, where she would find much more opportunity than here. But perhaps she could be useful to the copse, even keep the pack afloat, and Towhee didn’t want to rob Reyson and Meadow of another member, even just a potential one.

Besides, she thought with a frown, she was already doing Meerkat et al a disservice. Towhee knew she was giving up too quickly, that she was treating her granddaughters’ departure like an out because, deep down, she didn’t want to stay here anymore. She blew out a breath, then pressed her lips together and tried to refocus her attention on Tziporah.

the explanation came, sensibly, and tziporah gathered that her vocation was not needed here. she inclined her head with grace and backed away, giving the mother-and-child pair a gracious smile.

if that is so, i will take my leave, she told towhee. i should be where i am needed.

she looked upon towhee and her youngster with a sympathetic gaze, then turned, though feeling a prickling at her nape, as if she was followed. it would not leave until she left the territory, and even after that—

well, that was the way of things. a lone woman, exploring. wariness was all part of it.

The doe-like woman took a step backward, signaling her intent to disembark a moment before she vocalized it. Towhee’s lips parted, though she couldn’t—and didn’t want to—argue with Tziporah’s logic. She merely offered a simple farewell, punctuated by a nod, eyes tracking the dog’s movements until she disappeared into the distance.

The guilt continued to tug at her. Should she have persuaded Tziporah to at least meet with Meadow, even if it might’ve proved to be a waste of both women’s time? Had Towhee just let a potential body slip away during the copse’s greatest time of need? She also felt a flash of resentment, which prompted a hard swallow. The responsibility for things like this should not have fallen on her old shoulders alone, or at all.

With a switch of her tail, the Redhawk turned and padded back toward The Taigh to fetch her son. She wanted to snatch him up and run off for the hills herself, though instead they would play and eat together before eventually seeking out the Morningside-Ebonywood family.