Softberry
Softberry flinched in her sleep when a bright beam of sunlight hit against her face and she stretched her front paws way in front of her, jaws stretching out into a wide yawn. Her fluffy tail curled up and over her back as she flipped over in the nest, eyeing Hollowpaw asleep beside her in his own nest. He was just about full-grown now, but she could affectionately remember when his paws and ears had been too big for his lithe body and he had oftentimes knocked over herb bundles in his early training. She twitched her ear when she heard Scorpionstar calling out for a Clan meeting and she forced herself up onto her paws, giving one final stretch before prodding her apprentice and then leading the way out of the medicine cat den.
Softberry sat down in her normal spot near the leader's edge and kept her eyes focused on Scorpionstar. He was so young for leadership, and she had seen great leaders come and go in all her moons. She couldn't tell yet what he was going to be, but she would always respect her leader and be behind them, provided they followed the Warrior Code. The mottled molly caught the faintest flick of his ear towards the elder's den where sat Olivewhisker. The old she-cat was sitting partially upright, but couldn't get all the way due to a crick in her spine that just wouldn't straighten out no matter what anyone did. She was also totally blind but she definitely made up for it in her other senses.
When her own name was mentioned, Softberry sat up taller and flicked her tail over the paws. The sickness. It was eerie, unlike anything she had seen in all her moons. Her pale eyes narrowed a tad as she sorted through the cats names mentioned in the patrols, just quietly nodding to herself. A good mix. She turned when Scorpionstar bounded down and made his way to her den and she got onto her paws, briefly brushing up against him with a purr. "Right here. I slipped out and you must have missed me." Softberry sat down and quickly swiped a paw over her ear.
Olivewhisker
The old pale elder had lost her sight many moons ago, and that had actually been the incident that first pushed her to the elder's den. However, in that time her hearing and sense of smell had heightened tremendously to make up for that loss. Her tongue darted out between her jaws at the sound of Scorpionstar calling a meeting and she heaved herself up with a groan, feeling that insistent crick in her back refusing to let her move how she pleased.
She was a little late, as most cats had gathered by the time she heaved herself up. The old molly slowly seated herself outside of her den and listened to her former apprentice, an odd swell of pride rising in her chest. She paid mind to the ground, keeping her paws fully pressed against it. As her hearing was fading now, her most relied on senses were smell and touch. She went over each cat's name as they were called to patrol, nodding to herself. Good choices. Once the meeting was dismissed, she simply stayed where she was and hunched over a little more patiently, knowing Scorpionstar would eventually make his way over to her and want to talk. He needs to have more confidence. She rasped in her own mind, briefly tasting the air and then finally moving to lay in a patch of sunlight. She wouldn't get up for a while yet, just stretching her old bones out under the bright summer beams before it got too hot. With no other elders, Olivewhisker oftentimes got very lonely. During the day, when all the apprentices were busy and weren't doing the camp chores, she would even sometimes go pester queens for company. Some of the warriors were starting to get up there, but she figured she would be in Silverpelt before their time came to retire. No matter - it was better to keep healthy cats as warriors.
Stripeheart
Stripeheart had been awake whenever the meeting had been called and he was one of the first to go bounding out of the warrior's den. His whiskers quivered in anticipation, taking a seat near the middle as he gave his whole dedication to his leader. Scorpionstar was younger than himself, and that alone might have deterred a lot of cats from listening, but he knew that a leader was a leader, no matter their age.
Stripeheart caught Scorpionstar's brief glance towards the back and he turned his own head to see Olivewhisker, the elder was seated in her usual spot and despite being blind, her head was lifted and she seemed to be focusing right on her former apprentice. Any cat would be a fool to not see the bond they had, and he remembered his own mentor with a fond purr before thinking of his own apprentice. As his name was called, he was the first onto his paws and eagerly swished his tail. Leading a patrol, what an honor! The cats called with him were also rising and he stepped towards the entrance, patiently waiting while seeing his apprentice padding over. His ear twitched with slight irritation as she declared her own plans and he whisked his tail over her flank. "You can keep an eye out for something like that, but the medicine cats would have already told us if there had been any suspicious, unknown plant growth in the desert. Make sure to stick close. We still don't know what caused..." The grey tom's voice trailed off, not wanting to continue that thought. He simply shook his head and then pushed his way out of camp, expecting to be followed. An unannounced command for the patrol was to keep an eye out for anything odd or wrong that could give hint to what was wrong, and clearly every member of the Clan was on edge to some degree.
"Warblerpaw, since you're still learning boundaries, you can sniff out the edge of our territory and remark over an old scent. Oddpaw, you can do the same." Stripeheart glanced briefly towards Sandclaw for confirmation that he could give his apprentice the little suggestion before tossing his head and quickening his pace a little. The sun would soon be scorching and if they wanted to avoid a dangerous stroke, they had to get back after scoping out potential dangers and remarking borders.
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