Moonsong Glacier earth skills

while she's looking for dutch, its still all welcome! keeping things vague.

she had spent some time away from morningsong, working through her feelings. she still felt the sting of betrayal, the uncertainty of where she stood with them. but her mom had been right. it was fucked up if she did the same thing ariadne and her husband did: leaving without a word.

and jr hadn't meant to leave without saying something; hadn't meant to spend so much time away.

but she had. and she wasn't interested in coming up with excuses.

she stops at the borders and motions for ghost to seek out @Dutch for her, using her feathered companion's presence to be her voice. ghost takes flight and heads into the territory in search of morningsong's leader.

He'd been searching for Eira, but when he glanced up at the sky, it was for another young woman. Or for her bird, rather. When he caught sight of the pale figure outlined by the sunshine behind it, he thought he must be seeing things — but then he shouted for it, calling its attention to him, and he knew it was her.

Dutch followed at a run to keep track of the bird as it led him back to Towhee Jr. He was out of breath by the time he reached her, and he could have wept to see her standing whole and undamaged. He had been telling himself all along that she was just off on an adventure, as full of wanderlust as he had been at her age. But, seeing her now, he realized just how fragile a facade that has been.

"Where have you been?" he demanded, his ptero stilted and incomplete. It was hard to use it at all with relief making him feel so energized and boneless all at once. "We were worried sick."

Despite doing his best to give every appearance on the contrary. And, despite meaning to sound stern, the gladness he felt at seeing her alive and well dominated his body language.

his sterness? expected. deserved perhaps. the rushed ptero that conveys his relief at seeing her? well, this is surprising. and to her dismay, it works to fuel the guilt already gnawing like a starving hellhound at her bones. she hadn't considered that her prolonged trip would cause such worry.

perhaps worry for her was default, given her chances of being caught off guard were so much more higher than everyone else's.

while towhee jr didn't feel any more vulnerable because of her disabilities, she knows, logically, that she was. ghost could only do so much to help her.

she resists the urge to scowl at her own thoughts, not wanting to think them. they were intrusive. unwelcome.

-i am sorry, dutch.- she is genuine as she signs these words, body language apologetic. -i went further than i'd intended to and then i made a pit stop to sun mote copse. to see my family.- and it had been nice to see them again. -meerkat, my sister, she's due to give birth very soon.- towhee adds, unaware that she had missed it on her journey back to morningsong.

-i didn't mean to cause you worry.- she hadn't thought she was significant enough to cause much worry. it wasn't as if she'd made many friends during her time here. dutch, perhaps. ariadne... but that one stung and she shoves it away.

-my mom was pretty mad at me, when she saw me at sun mote copse,- jr admits, ears fluttering back to rest at half mast atop her skull. still, she knows she deserved it. -i'm going to go stay with them. help njord and meerkat out.-

The urge to brush off her apology was strong — but he knew that while the situation was resolved in his mind, this was still a lesson for the young wanderer. So he breathed out the impulse in a little sigh and said,

"I am glad you've spoken to your mother already. She was worried for you, too.

He had not liked sending her away without so much as a clue about her daughter's location or state of being. This had, perhaps, plagued him even more than worries for Towhee herself. But, if this was the case, it was only a very little.

[I]"Come and eat, and rest, and tell me about your sister before we see you off again."

We can fade here if you'd like? I know I took forever to respond!

all in all, jr thinks, this has gone a lot better than she thought it might. dutch handles it well, which makes her feel a little awkward. while she did not think it was in dutch's nature to hold ill wishes, she also felt like she might've deserved them.

still, she gives a firm nod and follows after him, looking at the glacier through the eyes of a once apart of it but now third party observer.

she fills her belly, and tells him of meerkat and njord before a fully belly and the journey both behind her and ahead, lulls her from a state of languidness to slumber.