Heron Lake Plateau On a hill, under a raven sky.

It took her several days to properly absorb the news about Screech. Towhee surprised herself; she had no interest in hunting him down. She'd done that—she'd killed him—already. And it hadn't even worked. Though she loathed the idea of him running free, Towhee hoped he eventually ran here so the might of the collective Redhawks could annihilate him, once and for all.

She emerged on the far side of the digestion process feeling rather surly about everything. With the temperature dropping so low, especially overnight, her leg was doing particularly poorly. It was almost completely numb right now, as Towhee wrapped up her evening patrol and began to climb back up onto the plateau. The sun had set hours ago and the territory was cloaked in frigid darkness, lit palely by a waxing crescent.

The mercenary crossed the plain and approached the bank opposite The Roost, coming to a standstill at the edge of the black, glassy lake. It mirrored the moon and a pretty scattering of stars. Towhee tipped her snout skyward, watching the breath stream from her in a silvery spout that evaporated in the direction of the distant galaxies.

@Phox :)

Phox had not seen one since Towhee had told him he was allowed to stay, but he had thought about Taurus much since his arrival. The moose had been a good sign to him since then, and he had peered up at it each night, thinking of it as a good luck charm that he needn’t carry around. The star formation was comforting to him, reminding him that even in his most difficult moments, there was hope that things could be better. Maybe even close to how things once were.

He hadn’t actually been seeking her out, but when he came across Towhee’s scent, it was second nature to seek her out. Phox hadn’t seen his sister since the Caiaphas incident, though he liked to think that had had a part in his slightly elevated status in the pack. A theta now, he knew hard work and time would still be required to gain the trust and respect of the rest of the pack. As for Towhee, he was not sure if he would ever be able to gain either of those things. He knew her well enough to know that she would not be easy to convince.

She was looking upward, as he imagined others had seen him many times before, when he spotted her. He approached cautiously, ready to flee if she wasn’t ready for his company, but hoping that she would be receptive to it. Pretty, aren’t they? he asked, though the question was purely rhetorical.

Whether or not he meant to, Phox's cautious approach telegraphed his presence so that Towhee turned, despite his footfalls falling on deaf ears. Her orange gaze settled on his dark face even as he posed a question. She frowned and said nothing, peering at him a beat longer before redirecting her attention skyward.

She only ignored him for a minute or two before she said, "Did you hear?" She lowered her eyes again so she could see his reaction. "Screech—Titmouse—is still alive." Although Towhee was pretty much incapable of conveying tone, there was a hardness to her face and a burning in her eyes that broadcast her hatred for their brother and the fact that he still breathed the same wintry air as them.

And that thought caused her to think of the fourth sibling, the sister they'd lost: Orca. It was true that Phox's participation in Caiaphas's attempted usurpation and subsequent dismissal had scored quiet brownie points with Towhee. But she would never say so. All the same, she slowly signed, -Orca's resting there,- and pointed at the dimly lit island.

It was unclear whether or not Towhee heard his question, but he supposed it didn’t matter much one way or the other. She didn’t try to stab him with a stick, so this was progress, right? In fact, he wasn’t even sure if she knew he was there at all until she finally faced him and asked a question that left him feeling rather unsettled. He was speechless, and his mouth remained shut as he attempted to contrive an answer, but none came. Instead, Towhee gestured to an island and mentioned that Orca’s body lay there. He looked out over the water, wondering how they had gotten her there. Maybe she had died there. He couldn’t recall much of his first conversation with Towhee. That day he had not exactly been with it.

-How?- he finally signed back, the movements coming as a natural second language. Hadn’t Towhee killed him? How could he still be alive? Phox had never believed in the super natural, but that was exactly what this sounded like. -Who found him?- he asked. Phox was fairly certain that Towhee would have finished the job if it had been her who had discovered he was alive. If it was somebody else, had they known Titmouse before? How did they know him now? Were they certain it was the same wolf? The questions continued to pile up and leave Phox feeling rather helpless.

She had been so utterly thunderstruck by the news that she hadn't hashed it out at the time. Now that the opportunity presented itself, Towhee found herself seizing it. Turning to face Phox more fully, she shook her head. -I don't know how it's possible. I tore out his throat and then threw him off a cliff. You'd think he'd be dead twice over but no, he's still out there. It was Tegan,- she signed a little jerkily, her agitation with the whole situation evident even in the darkness. -They fought and Tegan has a concussion from it. I just can't believe that piece of fucking shit is still out there, hurting my—our family,- she corrected herself mid-gesture, feeling a weird heat pass through her as she acknowledged Phox as part of that family. -Pisses me off,- she concluded with a low growl rumbling in her chest.

Feeling uneasy now as well as angry, Towhee turned away from Phox again, gazing over the black lake. The mere thought of swimming across to The Roost caused her to shudder and feel the ghost of a chill. Not only would it be uncomfortable, it might actually be dangerous. It wasn't something she'd considered during the high heat of summer but the island wouldn't make a suitable resting place over the winter. She'd have to find somewhere else to bed down every night.

She could shack up with Quixote, Raven and the kids or Elwood, Finley, Clover and the boys. The idea of rooming with Colt and Niamh even crossed her mind—she was rather fond of her Person—but she dismissed that thought out of hand because she couldn't imagine sharing space with the Beta's mate. She also tossed out the other ideas. She didn't want to infringe on any of the pack's family units. That left her out in the cold, so to speak, although she was looking right at the obvious solution.

Towhee had made the mistake of giving Screech a second chance and she was loath to repeat that situation. But Phox was... different. Technically, Screech had been on his third or fourth chance. He'd been accused of murder. Phox's biggest fault was his cowardice. But he was back now and seemed ready to do whatever it took to prove himself. She eyeballed him for a long beat before deciding she'd do it for survival, if nothing else.

-Come with me,- she signed before striding away from the lake shore.

Phox tried to visualize Tegan, but he came up blank. He knew the name, and he remembered that he was Finley’s son, but he could not bring up an image of the Blackthorn. Had he really been away that long? It was sometimes hard to believe it had been almost an entire year since Phox had set foot in the vicinity of his family. He found it completely unbelievable that Titmouse would be alive after all of that, but somehow he had managed. He wondered if perhaps Tegan had been mistaken, but Towhee surely would have grilled him on the subject.

Whatever was going on in Towhee’s head then, Phox did not know. He wondered if she wanted him to offer to go after their brother, but he knew he was not the right wolf for the job. He had literally run away the last time fighting was in the cards, and he did not wish to bring that memory up again. Thankfully, she broke the silence (well, not really) by asking him to come with her. Curious, but hopeful, he nodded and began to follow her to wherever she was leading him. Perhaps it was a memorial for some other death he had missed.

He let his gaze wander upward as he followed, taking note of the constellations he could pick out. Pisces—the fish—and Aquarius—the cloud—were the only two he could make out aside from Taurus. There were other, lesser constellations in the sky, but he did not know them as well. He wished that Sassafras was still around, although he had not smelled her scent here since he had returned. She had been the first to teach him, although Raven had a part in his education as well... not to mention the wolves he had met in his time away.

Not bothering to look back to make sure he was following—she had no doubt that he was shadowing her step—Towhee walked in a southwesterly direction, favoring her bum leg and moving at a slow but steady clip. She wondered if Phox could hear the rushing water of the falls, invisible in the darkness. The territory's namesake lake curved here and there was a strip of grassland between the water's edge and the drop-off near the waterfall. It was pretty sparse, though there was a scraggly thicket and it was toward it that she led her brother.

Coming to a stop beside it, she stood for a moment before turning to Phox and signing, -We're going to winter here, keep each other warm.- Towhee said nothing else, for there was nothing else to say, though her orange eyes brushed speculatively over his countenance to gauge his reaction.

She led him forward past rushing water he could hardly see in the dark. When Towhee stopped and explained her intentions, he gave her a confused look. -You and who else?- he asked, clearly not understanding that she meant “we” as in “Towhee and Phox, the wonder twins.” Phox had only just come back, and he had not suspected such an offer, so his brain did not comprehend it as such. He wondered if maybe “we” meant her and Tegan, who she had mentioned earlier. Maybe she had somebody she was growing close to? Was she growing close to Tegan? Was there somebody else?

Suddenly, Phox felt extremely displeased at that thought. Towhee getting close to another male felt downright... wrong. He could not quite put his finger (toe?) on why it bothered him so much, but he felt something strange awaken in his heart that had not been there before. He swallowed and licked his lips, trying to keep whatever it was at bay.

Towhee stared at Phox for a moment, eyes gradually narrowing. Was he really so dense? Was he really going to make her spell it out for him? She didn't know why that irritated her. It made her almost reconsider and answer his question with someone else's name. But then a shiver stole through her from standing here in the wintry darkness.

"You and me, you dumbass," she said flatly, out loud, breath spuming from her muzzle in a quiet sigh. "Don't make me repeat myself and don't ask questions. Just get in."

With a look that could kill, Phox wondered if he might drop dead right then and there. He was on the verge of fleeing when she explained that she meant the both of them. Towhee and Phox. The wonder twins. The last Redhawks (well, aside from their back-from-the-dead brother). He opened his mouth to speak, but she told him not to, so he clicked his teeth shut and followed orders like a good brother trying to repent for whatever he had done in the past.

Once he was settled, he waited for her to do the same, finding the warmth of two was much, much better than the warmth of one. He had all but forgotten what it was like. It felt... nice. Really, really nice. Phox considered trying to thank her, but decided against it because a) signing while laying down was difficult b) he wasn't lying in a way that she could read his lips, and b) he was pretty sure she would reject the gratitude.

He did as he was told. As soon as he settled, Towhee climbed in after him. She hesitated briefly, as if second-guessing her decision to inherently trust him. But then she flopped down beside Phox with another gusty sigh, scooting right up close to him so their warmth mingled and seemed to multiply in the cozy space.

She grew warmer and drowsier, though it would take a while to feel comfortable enough to find proper sleep. In the meantime, Towhee didn't much feel like trying to make conversation. The angles were all weird and she didn't feel like moving at this point. And she didn't have too much to say to Phox, at least not yet.

Knowing she wouldn't be able to get a response—unless Phox dislodged himself to sign one to her, at which point she'd probably bite his nose—Towhee mumbled quietly, "Remember Gemini?" With one last sigh, she then let her chin fall atop her paws, her eyes sliding shut.

Of course he remembered Gemini. He also remembered Towhee telling him to never leave, and he winced at the thought. Phox was glad it was dark enough she wouldn't be able to see him. Her breathing steadied after that, and the piece of shit coward felt himself starting to get drowsy as well. He stayed awake only a few minutes longer before he too was snoring alongside his sister. It felt good to be home.