Nova Peak jämmerlich

she was present on one such path when her father's throat unfurled its stentorian peal, insisting upon her company in the swathing fireweeds. her thimble-paws were plucking and slewing along the sedgy terrace of flowers in measured steps, her mind counting each footfall made for no reason other than boredom.
the rain was as perennial as the hardy flowers encompassing her, and there was only so much to do in the rain. most of it involved singing to the worms that surfaced and dancing around them in some pow-wow circuit of adulation. phaedra wasn't much of a puddlejumper, one occassion of being dumped into a deceptively deep mudhole was all it took to rid her of that childhood joy, but she didn't mind getting wet and muddy so she saw no reason to seek the aegis of trees either. 
she watched the very same hawk her father had heard and saw as it plummeted into the rushes. a rabbit made the most terror-stricken scream, then silence reigned, and even the wind seemed to hold its breath. the terrible bird erupted from the grass and beat its wings into the sky again with its rouged quarry clutched between its talons. it circled the larches, and landed amidst them.
her heart paled for caintigern, but she knew he was wise, and growing almost as big and fast as she, and her worry for his prosperity was needless. martens were fierce, and he was the fiercest—albeit only—marten she knew.
phaedra was in no haste to meet her father, but didn't delay his summons for long. once his ashlar silhouette revealed itself at the edge of the field, phaedra picked up her stride to draw silently alongside him.
he was a man she had adored so profoundly in her greenest days; she'd seen him through a lens of innocent perfection. try as he might to cobble what had been broken between them, for all that perhaps she was just too gimcrack. too feeble minded for his like. 
as if she were a child with her hands clasped politely together, phaedra stood patiently and silently rocked back and forth on her dirty soles in wait for him to speak of his need for her.