King Elk Forest You say it will reach out and seize the sorrow.

After drawing as much comfort as she could from @Figment and @Fennec, Towhee told them that she, like @Phox, needed some time to herself. Unlike her brother, she only planned to leave for the day. She disembarked from the far southern edge of the territory, moving at a steady clip and retracing her steps toward the Frosthawks. But she stopped when she reached the forest on the far side of the summit, isolating herself in a far corner of the woods and letting herself emotionally collapse.

Some time later, a sniffling Towhee regarded her surroundings with puffy, red-rimmed eyes. It was very still here, peaceful too. There was a dusting of snow on the ground that sparkled in the winter sunlight peeking through the sparse clouds overhead. Sighing so deeply it felt cleansing, she pushed herself to her feet, wincing at the joints which ached after being in one position for so long. She then began to plod through the trees, taking deep breaths and trying to keep her mind clear after letting herself wallow in her despair these past several hours.

Towhee didn't expect to cross paths with anyone, nor did the she-wolf who emerged abruptly from behind a tree. They started simultaneously, the mercenary's glistening orange eyes widening as she spat, "Bat?!" She couldn't even remember the last time she'd seen or heard from Bat. Towhee guessed it had been close to a year. Despite herself, she immediately wondered if Bat and Tegan were still attached at the hip. She looked around warily.

But Tegan wasn't here. He was at someplace called Triquetra, the pack he and Bat had established a little south of Kintla. Towhee stared as Bat told her about their brief and ill-fated stint at the coast; the tidal wave that had almost ended everything; and, more recently, their decision to settle down together. She also mentioned finding a badly injured Sugar Glider just a couple weeks back, give or take, and Towhee's jaw actually dropped at this particular bit of news.

She temporarily forgot about her woes as Bat regaled her about all their goings-on. When the yearling pressed her for news in exchange, Towhee did her best to share some tidbits, mentioning their own ordeals with the earthquakes. She was a little relieved when Bat eventually announced that she should get going; she had a bum ankle and the trip home would take a while. Even though Towhee still kind of despised Tegan, Towhee sent her well wishes and watched as the yearling expertly hopped away to the southeast.

Towhee knew how much the news about Sugar Glider and Triquetra would mean to @Elwood, @Finley and even @Wraen. She would inform them just as soon as she returned to the copse. For now, though, she wanted to savor a few more hours to herself. With Bat gone, her mind returned to her empty womb and the breath caught in her throat as the grief welled up and subsumed her again.

Miriam wondered back, soft paws walking quietly into the forests, her silver eyes watching around the snow to catch a familiar view. She wondered what had happened to him, the behemoth she had saw long ago. He was grand, a beauty beyond her own, and the day he was slain was a day to mourn. For wished for it naught to come, he deserved more then a simple meal. Though fate be damned, as destiny comes for all eventually, to even the Goddess set her ways to him. 

However what had been seen was not that of a grand Elk, but a sullen figure, blackened with reds, a bird in the winter. Not the one she had yearned to see, but perhaps what Miriam's fate desired to. A coincidence not, for all is lain to be. She approached the figure, who seemed shrouded in a blue haze, indisturbed by all, a picture on the wall.

"Are.. you alright, miss?" The Maiden couldn't help but speak up from behind, to what looked of blues that should be of feiry reds. Soft and small, she asked of concern to the stranger she saw before her.

She moved to stand beside the trunk of a tree, a stately oak this time. She didn't start weeping again; it seemed that well was empty. Towhee just stood there, hunched slightly around the aching sorrow which had taken residence somewhere in her midsection, probably where her damned useless womb was housed. That thought invited a new emotion into the melancholic mix. She felt a stab of furious anger, which caused her to suddenly lash out and smack her foreleg against the tree trunk.

Pain shot up her leg like electricity and Towhee cried out, an anguished sound. She sidestepped away from the tree, hissing under her breath, only then noticing she had company. For a split second, Towhee thought Bat had returned. The color palette was eerily similar. But even as she shifted her weight off her paw and began to shake it, hissing through her teeth, she realized she was looking at a perfect stranger.

"Can I fucking help you?" she seethed, still trying to shake away the pain radiating in her bones. She felt bad a split second later, especially when Towhee took notice of the stranger's concerned look. "Look, I'm not really in the mood for a meet-and-greet right now," she said flatly, unaware that her already strange voice was incredibly hoarse, scratched raw from all today's sobbing.

Miriam flinched at the sudden aggression, taken back from not only the source of aggression against her own leg, a self-harm, but at the snap she gave toward the lilac maiden. A flicker of emotions, but as strangers she wouldn't know the turmoils the one before her faced. A whirlwind of emotions continued and she looked upon her with starry, and warm eyes- but tinted with fear. 

She still remained concerned onto this birdened lady, as her voice was coarse from previous sobbings, but angered by her intrusion, and even more so against the pain, "It's alright." Miriam refrained from the intro- forgoing usual formalities and simply nodded to the blue-plagued one, "but..." she started with a hesitation, and repeated the question, "are you alright?"

The stranger flinched but did not retreat, which was kind of ballsy, Towhee thought. She stilled her paw and set it back on the ground, gingerly, wincing a little. But her eyes remained pinned on Bat's lookalike, scrutinizing her as she weighed whether she felt like answering that question.

"Do I look all right to you?" she retorted, though without heat. "I'm not going to spill my guts to some stranger, no matter how well-meaning," Towhee added gruffly. She'd unloaded a little on her kids and she would take a massive emotive dump on her brother when he got back but she was not going to cry on some stranger's shoulder.

Although she really didn't feel like making small talk, Towhee still wasn't ready to return home yet. She considered telling this would-be good Samaritan to beat it, though on second thought, she was weary of sitting around and stewing in her feelings. It would take a lot of time and hashing it out to truly accept and make peace with her inability to bring children into the world, though she'd fulfilled today's quota of mourning, she was pretty sure. So why not seize another opportunity for a distraction, despite her initial reluctance to engage in chitchat?

"Are you from Frosthawks?" she found herself querying. They weren't far from there, though an idle sniff told Towhee nothing informative.

"No," Miriam replied with honesty, "I asked.. If you wished for help." She thought some preferred the comfort of a strangers ears, for there would be no one to tell, to know what truly inspired. A listener of a moving picture, and that is all Miriam could be to the red and black stranger; who did not wish for such words to be bestowed.

"I will not force it upon you." Since she didn't want to, the lilac wisp wouldn't press further, and only dipped her head in understanding. She wished to help, but couldn't help if force was given. There would be no point to pressure the words out, and only could come out willingly. Perhaps, she desired to take her mind off of it. Miriam wouldn't mind help grant that, either.

"I am not," silver eyes grazed toward the ground, "I am from no pack." There was a slight familiar scent, that whiffed to her nose.. Smelled similar to a wolf she met in the same woods. 

"Oh," came Towhee's reply. She found herself squinting at the stranger anew, assessing her. It had been a long time since the mercenary had bothered trying to recruit someone, though the thought crossed her mind. The she-wolf looked and smelled healthy, plus she didn't seem intimidated by Towhee's emotional display.

"Why not?" she asked a beat later, then realized they hadn't even exchanged names. "I'm Towhee," she said, though she didn't mention her pack allegiance just yet. Unlike some, she wasn't an open book when it came to outsiders. She had long since ceased viewing them as "other," though she would never be the type to overshare information with a stranger.

"If you still desire to, it's alright." She oh-so desired to help the saddened blue bird, but a shame to say the chance wouldn't be given. A final word if the other so wished for it to happen, otherwise the spiritual wolf would stop, as she knew the Goddess would be displeased if she pressured too hard, and make the other uncomfortable.

"I am Miriam, Miriam Iris Willows, it is nice to meet you." Her head bowed low as she properly introduced herself to Towhee. It was a question that seemed to speak to her a lot; especially to those who were already from a pack within the wilds. However it always remained the same, "I wish to see the world."

Towhee's face screwed up in confusion at what she considered an errant comment. Still desire to what...? she thought but didn't get a chance to ask out loud before Miriam introduced herself in the next breath and explained why she wasn't putting down roots anywhere. Her answer made Towhee dismiss the idea of trying to recruit her. Even if Ms. Miriam Iris Willows had been on the market for a home, she wasn't entirely sure she had the energy for a sales pitch.

"What do you mean, 'if you still desire to'? If I still desire to what?" she decided to voice the question on her mind, though speaking of desires, Towhee could feel herself wanting to disengage. It was nothing against Miriam, really, but the distraction was more draining than enervating. And it was getting pretty late, so she should cut bait and start heading back home.

Miriam realized she had took it too far, feeling a bit on edge, "I apologize," was an immediate responds. Pressuring was indeed not the best, but she was selfish, and desperate to try and appease the thought to be of help.. "to help, mind.. or body." However there was still a need, and she believed her Goddess would want to try.

Especially as the one not only was in a dissaray, but fell with it to her body. While no master, the star-eyed wisp knew a few remedies to help the pain- and even with winter afoot, Miriam knew the ones that did not need for flowers as the recipe. Her own soft, and lilac paws lifted upwards to point at Towhee's, inciting she could help with the pained area. Her Amma, taught her well enough.

Though there was another thought that came to be, as the more they spoke, the more she smelled and familiarized with the scent, "Are.. you of Firebirds?" The Maiden met a boy, long ago by the their name, and she carried a familiar scent that he brought along. Maybe she knew of @Bronco.

"Oh," Towhee repeated her earlier bland answer. "No, I don't." Maybe she was being too blunt but she didn't have the capacity to care overly much at this point. Suddenly, she was itching to get out of here. She wanted to go home and fall into her brother's arms. He wasn't there, though, and that thought made both her heart and stomach sink. He'll be back soon.

She was staring into space when Miriam spoke again. Towhee turned sharply, catching only, "—Firebirds?" "Yeah, I'm from there. And I should be headed back," she said, slowly picking herself up from her sit beside the tree and making it clear she was getting ready to go.

"If you have a medic," she wished to part this before the other is leaving, "request the root of a golden rod." The pratice was to chew the leaves of the plant. and to soothe aching joints. Though she found it would be the same if one felt light pain on a sore wound. Hopefully by chewing the root instead of the leaf, it would provide a bit of relief. Winter is indeed hard for medics.

"Then I wish you well, Towhee of Firebirds." The other was reluctant to stay, and she did not wish to keep it like a prisoner to a dull converse. So Miriam dipped her head, saying a farewell.

Towhee looked a little taken aback at the unsolicited advice. Unless the root of a golden rod could magically restore her womb to life, then she didn't need it. She wondered what Miriam thought was ailing her but didn't ask. The mention of a medic made her think of Sugar and she remembered that she really should get going, right this minute, and save her godparents from even one more moment of suffering.

"Thanks," she replied distractedly to Miriam's farewell, "bye." Perhaps she should've been a little pleasanter before departing, yet Towhee didn't really think about it just now. She spun on her heel and began to bustle toward the copse, wincing at the pain in her foreleg from where she had struck the tree. That was going to hurt for a while, although that was good. Maybe it would take the edge off the emotional pain.

Thanks for the thread!