Redtail Rise to science

One by one, the youths fielded the question. Masquerade found herself smiling as each voice chimed in, though it slipped at Lilia’s answer. Masque glanced at Avicus, who took the response in stride. Her eyes then cut to Relic and Redd, who were both staring intensely at Lilia. The answer had inexplicably rubbed her the wrong way, and though she didn’t understand why, her litter mates’ expressions reassured her.

Then Redd spoke and Masque forgot all about Lilia. The small smile returned to her face and her tail thumped as she bent toward her sister, bumping her chin with her muzzle. The exchange was brief but as Masque pulled away, an errant thought drifted through her mind: if anyone here was destined to be queen in Avicus’s stead, it was Redd.