Ocean's Breath Plateau Raptor shake-up.

She had been living here for more than a month now. As Towhee tidied her little tepee near the yew’s roots, a realization struck her. Not a single soul had come to visit her here. She had been collecting the berries strewn all over the ground and only belatedly realized she was squeezing them as juice dribbled down her foreleg. Now she’d made a real mess.

Towhee curled her fist around the crushed berries and hobbled to a patch of grass a few feet away. She dropped them there, then wiped her paw. She would need to find some running water to rinse away the rest of the sticky juice. She wasn’t going to risk licking it.

As she meandered in the direction of the nearest stream, she extrapolated on her small epiphany. Of course nobody had come to see her. They all had families and lives to keep them busy. Had she really believed anyone would come running to Grandma Towhee’s house to visit? That was stupid.

Towhee sighed. She’d promised to stay until spring and she would keep that promise, especially since she’d told Rodyn she would help him with the boys. She didn’t want to miss out on Phox’s next batch either. But she could always favor him in the rotation when she took wing again, a thought which had her yearning for winter’s end.

I’m hoping she can meet some more of her pack mates? :)

@Chakliux was still away, and @Tullik was scarce in his absence. Marina felt alone. And in some ways this was her own fault; did she not have a whole pack surrounding her, a pack that she avoided rather than step outside of her comfort zone? It was still difficult to remove herself from the lodge for any period of time.

But healing was not an easy thing, and she knew this. Marina parted from the lodge in search of company, finding new scents threaded through Moontide's territory and deciding that she would acquaint herself with one of them. It was good to know that the pack was thriving, at least. She chose the scent of a woman to follow, tracing it to one of the streams that ran through the territory.

Hey, She called out when she found her packmate, an older woman with dark fur. She smelled of berries. We haven't met yet, have we? I'm Marina. Her gaze drifted toward the woman's paw, the source of the berry scent; Marina was curious, but for now did not ask.

She arrived at the stream. It was frozen in places, though Towhee settled beside a small rapid and dipped her messier paw into the moving water. It was frigid, of course, but she maintained a poker face as she dunked her second paw. She began splashing water onto her stained leg, then scrubbing at it with her toes.

Towhee didn’t hear the greeting called out to her, though she looked up and saw a small, silver wolf walking her way along the stream bed. She spoke as she walked closer, offering an introduction. The Redhawk focused on her face as she wrung out both paws and stepped back from the water.

-“We haven’t,”- she replied. -“I’m relatively new. I’m Towhee.”- She paused, glancing down to examine her leg, which looked clean enough. -“Have you lived here long?”- she added, orange eyes bouncing back to Marina’s face.

Marina tilted her head, caught off guard by the movements that accompanied the woman's words. For now she spoke nothing of it. Maybe it was some kind of... tic; she didn't want to be rude.

Since the beginning, She answered Towhee's question with a slightly sad smile. Moontide had been a different place then. So filled with hope. Sialuk brought me here. Moontide took me in and supported me through my first pregnancy.

What brought you here? Marina wondered next, watching closely for more of those odd movements.

She momentarily wondered if this was Raiyuk’s mother. No, Towhee knew his mother’s name and it wasn’t Marina. Was it? Wait, which kids belonged to her, then? Towhee thought she’d met them all—Raiyuk, Panuk and Rolayne—but obviously not. She wondered if she’d figure out these answers in the course of their conversation.

My brother, she replied, too busy air drying her legs to bother with signing. Have you met Phox yet? He’s kind of got a thing with Heph. I figured we’d camp here so they can get to know each other better. We only planned to stay for the winter but I bet he settles down here, she speculated before admitting, I probably won’t, though.

After rubbing some warmth back into her legs, Towhee set them down and glanced over at her tepee. She thought about inviting Marina to join her there but she was still in the middle of tidying it. Instead, she turned to face the younger woman again.

I don’t think I’ve met your kids, she said conversationally.