oceanz wrote: it had been a moon since the fox incident. acornnose was doing well but mudslide suggested the young tom rest for at least one more moon. although maplestar agreed, it meant the clan was now down two great warriors for a while. maplestar had completely recovered from her own incident and was back to being the leader she needed to be, with snowshoe now watching over her kits until her own came. it felt strange not spending ever second of the day with them, but she was the leader, she had to do her job and care for her clan as well. maplestar emerged from the nursery, she would stay there until the kits were apprentices, there was no point in sleeping in her den instead of with her kits. she immediately approached rowanclaw, who was sitting near the warrior den, and nuzzled him in greeting. "good morning to you too." rowanclaw purred, smiling at his mate, "care to share a thrush?" he asked, nudging the thrush that had been in front of him towards her. "I would love to." maplestar responded, settling down to eat. she had learned that her kits enjoyed sleeping in, a habit they would have to get out of, and ate rather late, so as of right now she didn't need to worry about their breakfast. "how are the kits? I feel like I haven't spent real quality time with them in a while." rowanclaw asked after taking a bite of the bird, as if reading her thoughts. "they've been good. oakkit said he wants to be leader one day." she answered with a small laugh, "he definitely had the ambition that's for sure. leafkit of course challenged him and they acted out a very dramatic battle scene.. which honeykit stayed far away from." maplestar went on, taking a bite of thrush for herself as rowanclaw chuckled. "oakkit and leafkit are quite the characters that's for sure." he purred, proud of his kits. "honeykit I worry about.. she's so shy.. and she hates conflict.." he continued quietly, glancing towards the nursery. maplestar nodded slowly, "she is.. but have faith the warrior in her will come out eventually.. it's in her blood." she smiled, nudging her mate reassuringly. "now, I was thinking about taking a patrol to check out where the fox was.. make sure he didn't at any point return.. would you like to come with? I was thinking you, me and dawnwing. I don't want to bring toadstool or reedsong just because the event.. really scared toadstool and I don't want her, or reedsong, to have to relive the situation." rowanclaw nodded in agreement "of course I'll go with you, I want to make sure that fox is as far away from our clan and kits as possible."
--
it was hard to be stealthy this time of year. the trees left their crunchy leaves all over the forest floor, difficult to just step around them. there was a constant rustling noise as the three cats made their way through the forest, making rowanclaw slightly anxious. he prayed to starclan the fox was gone. the last time they checked it all seemed fine, but enough time had passed the fox maybe decided everything was okay and to come back. rowanclaw tensed as they approached where the fight had happened. as if sensing this, maplestar turned to give him a reassuring look and the patrol slowed down. "alright. we're sticking together and sticking close. we don't know if the fox is back or has been back and I don't want to take any chances of it getting one of us alone." maplestar said in a hushed voice. the two warriors nodded in agreement and they began to look for any signs of the fox being back. a few minutes passed when rowanclaw passed a singular paw print. suddenly rowanclaw was back in time with toadstool, acornnose and reedsong, fighting the fox. he shook his head, shaking the memory away and leaned down to inspect it. it was old, at least a moon old. was it possible this was the same track? he cleared his throat to get the two she-cats attention. maplestar padded over to inspect the print herself, "it's old, let's check the den we found last time and make sure it hasn't been there either." she said, turning to walk towards the den. as they approached, there was no sign or scent of fox until they got right next to it. still, the scent was just as old as the paw print. "fantastic, it hasn't been back." maplestar sighed in relief, turning to rowanclaw and dawnwing, "however I still think any patrol.. border or hunting... should be careful in this area." she continued, receiving meows of agreement from the two. when maplestar got back, she called a quick meeting to share her patrols findings and to set up different patrols. for a hunting patrol she chose toadstool, dawnwing an reedsong. for a border patrol, pearlstone and rowanclaw both volunteered themselves.
--
mudslide sat in his den sorting through his herbs, often glancing over at acornnose. the young tom had become quiet and depressed having to just sit in the medicine cat den. although it was nice company for mudslide, acornnose was full of stories, he wished for the tom to heal a bit faster so he could be happy again. the only time there was really any light in acornnose's eyes was when dawnwing would come visit to ask him about his day and tell him about hers. mudslide cracked a smile at the thought, young love. dawnwing had been after acornnose since he joined the clan. a new face her age, he had heard snowshoe giving the new warrior grief about it often. "acornnose." mudslide began, turning towards him. acornnose yawned and raised his head o face mudslide. "I need to go out and look for more herbs, its getting to be cold out and I want to prepare.. just in case anyone gets sick. Maybe you would like to join me? It would be good exercise for your leg and the fresh air would be nice." the medicine cat offered. acornnose immediately perked up, sitting up excitedly in his nest "oh I'd love to! it will be so nice to get out of camp finally." he answered happily, getting to his paws. "that's what I thought you would say, alright let's head out." mudslide said, leading the tom out of camp. when they were just a little ways away from camp, acornnose let out a satisfied sigh and smiled "I missed the forest, being outside." mudslide looked over at him and offered him a small smile before continuing on. "I don't know how you do it mudslide. I wouldn't be able to sit in a den all day." mudslide let out a little laugh and looked at the tabby, "you think I just sit in the den all day?" he asked. acornnose's eyes widened and he shook his head "n-no..er.. I didn't mean that's all you did.. but..uh, what else..what.. do you.. I never see you leave? I.." the young cat stammered, making mudslide chuckle. "okay, okay stop that. it's alright. it's safe to assume that's all I do. I'm not a warrior I don't go on the patrols and I normally don't go hunting, but I do go out." mudslide purred, amused, "I go when I think everything is quiet and when no one needs me. I go for my small walks around the forest. both for exercise and to clear my mind, to think." acornnose, who was at first a bit behind mudslide, sped up to walk beside him. "where do you go? what do you think about?" he asked, curious. "I go anywhere I feel. although I usually stick close to the camp. sometimes I'll check out the lake, look at the two leg village. it's interesting to just sit back and watch the world sometimes." mudslide explained, "I think about the clan, how I would react to certain scenarios. I think about my past, my future. I just think." he continued with a shrug. "that's a lot to think about." acornnose mumbled, looking down at his paws while they walked. "well what do you think about then?" mudslide asked, glancing at acornnose. "well.. I don't know." acornnose responded with a shrug, "I try not to think about the fox.. I think about when I can go back to my normal warrior life.. I think about my family sometimes I guess." he answered, his voice getting small at the mention of his family. mudslide noticed this immediately, "oh so not dawnwing huh?" he responded, looking at the warrior with a sly smirk. he let out a laugh when his fur turned hot and his nose twitched in embarrassment. "dawn-dawnwing what no-I mean, yes? I mean, how could I not? she visits everyday and-and we're friends." acornnose stammered, nervous. "friends? yes I guess that's what it is." mudslide pushed, even more amused. acornnose's fur grew even more hot and he stopped walking, "what do you mean? you guess? we-we are just friends. nothing more. right?" acornnose said, his reply like a question. "right, sure." mudslide replied with another smirk, nudging acornnose with his tail, "oh calm down I'm just giving you a hard time." he laughed, shaking his head. acornnose sighed and looked down embarrassed. "dawnwing is nice, and I love spending time with her. but I'm not exactly the relationship type cat, and we're so young a-and all that." he explained, beginning to walk again. mudslide nodded "I understand." he began with a nod, "however, please, if it looks like dawnwing might think you feel the same.. carefully bring up your feelings. I've known her since she was small.. I don't want her to get hurt." mudslide replied, looking at acornnose seriously. acornnose nodded quickly, eyes widened slight, before the two continued their walk silently.
[the clan consumes 3 servings of food]
[maplestar, dawnwing and rowanclaw check out where the fox had been]
[pearlstone and rowanclaw patrol the south border near the thunderpath]
[toadstool, dawnwing and reedsong go hunting near the lake]
[mudslide takes acornnose out when he looks for herbs so acornnose can get fresh air]