Heron Lake Plateau Sooner rather than later

The kids were old enough to be left alone sometimes, although Towhee had a hard time walking away from them if nobody else was there to supervise. She forced herself to leave them unattended but not without several sharp reminders to stay put or else. She really wished X was around so she could ask the hawk to keep an eye on them, yet he'd been gone more often than not lately.

It would've been an understatement to say she was extremely distracted as she made her way to the borders for what would be the world's least attentive patrol ever. She found herself constantly thinking of Fig and Fen, worrying about them running away and getting into trouble of some sort. More than once, she slowed and considered turning around and going back. They need to learn to be independent, she argued with herself, just not too independent... yep, that's it, I'm going back...

But even as she swiveled, something caught Towhee's eye in the middle distance. She rolled to a stop, staring at what appeared to be a heated conversation between Raven and Phox. Oh no, oh SHIT, was all the mercenary had time to think before she burst into a gallop. "HEY HEY, PARTY PEOPLE, WHAT IS HAP-PEN-ING?!" she bellowed as she approached, trying to cut through the tension crackling through the air in between the two (she swore she saw lightning bolts shooting from Raven's eyes!). Towhee had a good guess as to the why, though she was more than a little taken aback that the two appeared to be on the verge of blows. Neither Phox nor Raven was the type, so what exactly had gone down here?