Redtail Rise Moonburn

She nodded at his suggestion, moving into position so they could very carefully relocate the nest in tandem. Something kept pricking her in the gums, yet Masquerade ignored it. She held her breath the whole time, so that it whooshed out of her in a noisy gust when they finally settled the nest among the limb’s forking offshoots.

Now her attention turned to the dead hen. Masque chewed at her lip, gaze bouncing from the carcass to the nest and back again. Eventually, she looked at Ashlar again. He would know the answer to the question floating through her brain.

I’m going to put the bird on top of the nest, she declared her intentions. We’ll take it to mother, leave it and some of the eggs with her. Then the rest to New Snow.

If any part of that plan wouldn’t work—namely, if the hen might be too heavy to carry on top of the nest—then Masquerade trusted Ashlar would let her know and hopefully come up with an alternative approach to their impromptu food delivery service.