Redhawk Caldera Look, we're all a little weird, we're all a little wacky.

The summer air throbbed with the hum of cicadas, the noise rising and falling like ocean waves. Towhee's left ear twitched in her sleep as if disturbed by the rhythmic racket, though of course she couldn't hear any of it. The August evening was as silent as ever, her slumber as soundless and still as death itself.

When she roused, it was dusk proper. Towhee yawned and stretched where she sprawled near the Alphas' den, peering about herself a little suspiciously. The sun had baked the earth during the day and it was still quite warm, though the encroaching nightfall appeared to be the genuine article this time. Smacking her lips, she pushed herself to her feet and gave her slim body a shake.

She still felt a bit sluggish, yet the nap had helped with the fatigue. And patrolling in the dark would be a lot more manageable than doing it during high noon on these dog days of summer. Towhee ignored the pinch of hunger in her belly as she padded right past the den—she popped her head in just long enough to sign, -Hi, kiddos!-—and began slinking downhill toward the borders.

@Elwood

Towhee wasn't the only one who had napped during the last of the daylight hours. Although Elwood felt a little guilty at first, he followed a train of thought similar to his goddaughter's; he would likely be more productive after the sun went down, when it wasn't so hot and fatigue wouldn't catch up to him so quickly. He lifted his chin from his paws, initially woken up when one of the puppies trampled across his tail. As he looked up, there was a quick flash of black near the entrance of the den and he identified Towhee by smell.

With a quick backward glance to make sure that Finley would be okay keeping an eye on the four little monsters herself, Elwood slipped out into the gathering dusk. "Towhee," he called reflexively; then, remembering that she wouldn't hear him, he accelerated to close the gap between them. When he was close enough, he reached out to touch her flank with his nose, then fell into step alongside her.

"Where are you heading?" he asked, finding that he was in a relatively good mood despite the persistent feeling of hunger in the pit of his stomach.

At a touch to her hip, Towhee pressed her paws into the earth and stopped, turning her head. It was Uncle Elwood, asking, "Where are you heading?" She didn't reply right away, instead taking a moment to read his expression and body language. Like Finley, he didn't appear upset by recent events. He surely had an opinion of his own about what had happened—and Towhee was interested in it—but it was good to know she hadn't completely pissed off her godparents.

"I'll give you three guesses," she eventually replied, giving him a bit of a cheeky smile and a wiggle of her tail.

Rather than give him a direct answer, Towhee teased Elwood with a joke. He pursed his lips thoughtfully, rolling his eyes skyward as though considering. "Hmmm," he hummed, then turned fully to face Towhee to make it easiest for her to read his body language and lips.

"To the moon?" he guessed playfully. He followed it up with, "No, wait. The ocean?" He paused again, wrinkling his brow. Then his face relaxed into a smile. "I bet I know -- good thing you gave me three guesses. Going for a patrol?" he said with a wave of his tail.

Clover had been a perfect newborn, but was by no means a perfect child. She had a desire to adventure, and when her father disappeared from the den Clover made a wild attempt to dash out and follow. It was Towhee's face that first inspired her, and Clover was now able to sign Towhee's name. In the dark, her elder might not have been able to see it. As she had been waking up, the signing had been both crude and lazily done... but the second her father left, Clover was wide awake. 

And that was when she had made a run for it. 

She only made it to the outside of the den before her mother caught wind of her plan, but Clover was able to bellow out her first actual word to the retreating pair: HEY!!!!!!!!

Elwood humored her little joke and Towhee smiled, tail waving. She blinked up at the sky, as if actually contemplating a voyage to the moon. Her orange eyes quickly dropped back down so she wouldn't miss the rest of her uncle's words, though her quick glance reminded her of something.

"Bingo," she said, then added, "Did you see what happened to the sun earlier?" The instant the words left her mouth, she realized, "Wait, that's a dumb question..." Unless he'd been asleep or something, the phenomenon had been impossible to miss. Towhee chuckled sheepishly, oblivious to the shouting toddler behind them.

Elwood grinned when Towhee announced that his third and final guess had been correct. When she asked about the sun, he glanced up at the sky, as though expecting to see the same phenomenon that had occurred previously. Everything was as it should be, however. "Yeah, it was weird," he said, shaking his head. He was by no means an astronomer, and while he would likely be enlightened by Raven or Phox at some point, he was presently still clueless.

There was a sudden shout from behind, and Elwood glanced back to find Clover watching them from the mouth of the den. Towhee didn't seem to have noticed the girl, so he touched her shoulder and then gestured back towards Clover. Imitating his daughter's tone and volume, he yelled, "HEY!" in response.

Once her father regarded her, and her mother had seen it, Clover was permitted to make like a madwoman toward the duo. Her trot was like an eager prance, though less elegant than that at her age. She giggled giddily at his response, and as she moved she again bellowed a loud HEY!!!!!!!! Her tail whipped wildly behind her and she became all the more wiggly as she neared them.

Towhee caught her godfather's backward glance and turned to look. Seconds later, he touched her shoulder and she flashed him a quick sideways smile as she pivoted to face the approaching youngster. Clover couldn't come along for a patrol, though the guardian wasn't really in any particular rush.

-Hey, Clover,- Towhee greeted, tracing the shape of her three-leafed namesake in the air to indicate her name sign. -Where do you think you're going?- she asked. In lieu of a playful tone, she made sure to smile teasingly at the eager little girl.

Elwood hadn't thought it possible, but Clover's voice got even louder as she shouted back at him. She wasted no time in approaching the pair, and thoughts of a patrol slipped from the father's mind for the moment. The borders would always need to be patrolled, but his children would only stay small for a short time.

Towhee asked about Clover's intentions, and Elwood raised his brows. "Yeah, where do you think you're going?" he echoed verbally.

As she looked at Towhee, her ears mimicked her elder sisters sign of "hey" and she grinned. To her fathers question, she marched up to him, reared, and attempted to plant her legs on his foreleg. Go-ink hey, she explained succinctly, smiling broadly up at him. Her little tail wagged, thinking her explanation perfectly obvious. Naturally, she planned to hang with them and do whatever they did.

The young girl's response was impossible for Towhee to decipher, so she looked to Elwood for a translation. In the meantime, she continued smiling at Clover. Although she had been heading out on a patrol, she didn't mind being momentarily waylaid by one of her younger siblings. She wished she could take the child along with her, teach her a bit about guardianship, but she was pretty sure it was too early for that. The very idea of taking a vulnerable pup near the borders made the fur along Towhee's spine prickle.

Clover's response was delivered frankly, as though it made perfect sense -- when in reality, it didn't. Even Elwood, being an experienced father, wasn't quite sure what she was referring to. Luckily, he had learned the art of smiling and nodding when he didn't understand his children, and he did just that.

"Want to walk with us?" he asked, then looked to Towhee. "We can stroll for a little bit, and then I can take her back to the den when you're ready to go patrol," he offered, one shoulder lifted in a half shrug. He suspected that Towhee wouldn't mind putting off her plans for a couple of minutes.

Clover was thrilled by her fathers invitation, semi-understanding that he wanted her to come along. She was beginning to understand more, though was having difficulty in being understood. That would come in time, but in the meanwhile she spoke in her childish gibberish. Her siblings, at least, understood her. 

YYYYYAAA, she agreed, racing underneath his legs and then darting beneath Towhee's. She was a hyper, wild little child who was excited to hang out with two adults she found to be particularly cool. Raven and Finley were also quite cool, too. Phox as well. Basically, Clover was partial to all of her active family.

Maybe it was early to take the youngster to the borders, yet Towhee realized perhaps she could still begin instructing Clover. She snorted when the little girl weaved between her elders' legs, then reached out a paw to tap her should in a familiar signal for the puppy to look at her.

-Would you like to learn a bit about patrolling, like how to be vigilant? Do you know what that word means?- the mercenary signed.

As always, Clover's reply was enthusiastic. Elwood found himself wishing that he could possess even a quarter of her energy; it would certainly be useful during those long days of hunting and patrolling. And although he was pretty sure Clover would have been equally excited had they suggested a pooping competition, he knew that Towhee would appreciate her gusto and enjoy giving her a few tips about guardianship.

He raised his brows as Towhee encouraged the girl to define the word "vigilant." Surely this would be an interesting explanation, so he watched her with eager curiosity.

Clover was expected to define something, though her vocabulary at present was limited to five words at most, none of which she used in the proper context. And anyway, with never really being given context clues to any of these words (mom and dad went to patrol, but what even was that?, they hadn't had the capability to even ask), she had no idea what Towhee was asking. Oh, you know what—as she thought extra hard about it, Towhee had signed to them about the word 'patrol'... patrol, patrolling... they were the same, she deciphered. But vigilant, that was a new word for her. So she signed the word -No,- because she hadn't the slightest idea.

She hadn't expected Clover to know and gave the youngster a reassuring smile. -Being vigilant means always keeping an eye out for danger. When I patrol our borders—the outsides of our pack territory—I make sure that nothing dangerous crosses to do harm to those of us who live here. You're too little right now to come along, though one day, it'll be your responsibility too to do your part to protect this pack, to be vigilant.-

That was quite a lot of information to dump on someone so young, so Towhee motioned for Clover to stand in front of her and, when the puppy was properly positioned, the guardian sank into a playful bow. "Playing games is fun but it also teaches you too," she said out loud, seeing as her forepaws were too busy thumping on the ground. "Come on, pretend to attack me and I'll show you what a guardian does!"

Elwood was impressed both by Towhee's explanation and Clover's understanding of sign language. He nodded, pleased with the way this little mini-lesson was going. It was the perfect way to channel some of Clover's energy into something productive.

As Towhee invited Clover to attack her, he nodded encouragingly, his tail whipping to and fro behind him. He would join in the fun too, but he wanted to watch Clover's attempt first.

Concluding and archiving with Kit's blessing!

Clover didn't need to be told twice! She came at Towhee enthusiastically, fully embracing the task set before her. The mercenary grinned and easily sidestepped the youngster's playful attack, then whirled and tugged at the tip of the girl's tail. That wasn't quite what she would do to a real attacker, yet this was the very beginning of Clover's lessons.

After dodging and feinting back and forth a few rounds, Towhee finally let Clover catch her. She plopped to the ground, then rolled into a sphinx-like position to say, "You're off to a great start, Clover. We'll make a great guardian out of you." Her eyes lifted to Elwood and she smiled. Pushing herself back onto all fours, she gave herself a shake and said, "Now why don't you practice some more—on your dad."

Having effectively sicced Clover on Elwood, a grinning Towhee called, "See ya!" and resumed her earlier venture to the borders for a patrol.