Hideaway Strath Shriek.

Rue's expression softened as she accepted Towhee's condolences. Rue knew that Towhee too felt the sting of a recent loss, if she had been close to Fig and Fennec's mother. 

"That's right," Rue confirmed. She wasn't new to the Teekons as a whole, just these southern territories. "I've lived at Blacktail Deer Plateau, Swiftcurrent Creek, and Arrow Lake." 

Rue tilted her head in curiosity, eager to hear Towhee's random question. "Hmm," she murmured after the question was posed, mind whirring.

"I did pass several packs before I reached your border," she recalled. "They all seemed to be large, well-established, thriving packs." Rue's tongue flicked across her muzzle in thought. 

"But that wasn't..." Rue trailed off. With a shake of her head, she continued. "I don't want to join a pack, I want to help build one." When children are building a tower, the pieces added last are easiest removed. Rue wasn't going to be some throwaway piece-- she was going to be the foundation. 

The perceptive woman noted the shift in Towhee's demeanor when she mentioned the other packs. Rue had picked up on a similar air of irritation earlier as well-- was this the source of the Towhee's trouble, then?  "What we build here will be different from the Firebirds and the Frosthawks. It will be better," Rue assured her leader.