Sun Mote Copse looks like we just got a little closer.

It was pissing rain again as Towhee made her rounds, though she did her best to ignore it, at least until she reached the easternmost stretch of borders. She felt mildly alarmed when she arrived at the foot of the Barriers and found the river overflowing its banks. She wouldn't necessarily use the word "flood," though the usual shoreline was certainly underwater. Towhee stood there a while to see if she could gauge how quickly the waters were rising.

A howl rang out from the far side of the borders. Towhee looked skyward, though she didn't hear the call, nor the peal of thunder. It was the flash of lightning that had drawn her attention. Just the other day, she'd been worried that the copse would become a big mud hole. Now she was seriously concerned that it was becoming a watering hole instead.

The Sovereign eventually turned, retracing her steps. It was already raining hard but now it picked up and fell faster, harder. It was getting hard to see. And there was officially water pooling around her ankles in some places. Towhee worried at her lip and kept moving, unknowingly headed straight toward the soaking wet reunion taking place a few hundred yards ahead.