Murderers in Thunderclan V.5 [News on page 897]

[snafu,]

Froststep looked out her den, and saw Nightstar and Sootkit walking towards her. Oh no, what happened? Froststep thought. Instinctively, she quickly made her way to her herbs and asked over her shoulder, "What is it? Did some cat fall and scrape themselves? Is some cat sick?"

[SpiceCookie]

Acorntail woke up, her eye that can see facing the moss so that even if her eyes were open all she could see was black. She rolled over and exited the warriors den, finding many cats awake already. She opened her mouth to purr good morning to them. Then seeing Nightstar''s grim expression and eyes full of sorrow, she felt worry settle in. "What happened?" she asked when she saw Froststep gathering up her herbs. "Is everyone okay?"

[scuttlefish]

Sootkit
Sootkit nodded. Riverpaw looked scared, and she didn't like that. The best thing would to be follow her orders. Why was Mouselily gone? The warrior was right there, unless...
The kit was very new to death. Lillystep had told her that a new star would be added to the all the other shiny ones above. That was it. Mouselily couldn't be dead, could she? Stop worrying yourself... that couldn't happen. She looked up to Froststep. Sootkit was about to speak until she remembered that she was standing next to Nightstar, the leader of Thunderclan! Nightstar probably should do the talking, since Nightstar outranked her by a lot.

[snafu,]

Froststep dropped a wad of cobwebs into a small pile. "Sootkit, Nightstar, what is it?" She didn't care who told her what was going on; she just needed to know so she could grab any herbs that could help her out.

[MockSun]

The black cat internally readied herself and looked Froststep in the eye. "Froststep, Mouselily is..." It was unlike her to trail off, but then she glanced at Sootkit. Would it fall to her to explain death to the kit? She turned back to Froststep and finished her sentence. "... she's dead. It's too late to heal her." She stated simply, sparing the Medicine Cat the details. She'd be able to see herself in a moment, and she felt the rising feeling of worry and discomfort with Sootkit by her side. Nightstar liked to think she was a decent leader, but she didn't have the slightest clue what to say with kits around, much less with the gravity in this kind of situation.

[snafu,]

Froststep turned to face Nightstar in shock. "Are you completely sure she's dead? What happened?" She ran out of the den, and at the sight of Mouselily's body, Froststep hurriedly made her way past the crowd of cats to Mouselily's side. She noticed claw and teeth marks, and ThunderClan scent. Oh no no no, she thought. A ThunderClan cat couldn't have done this, could they? Turning to her clanmates, Froststep announced, "I can confirm that Mouselily died of no natural causes, but in fact from a member of ThunderClan. Someone in this clan is responsible for this death!"

[invective~directive]

Snowberry stepped out of the den, ears perked towards the sounds of her clanmates. Immediately, the choking scent of blood filled her nose. Her eyes widened, staring at the queen's body. "Great StarClan... What happened?" she cried out, shocked. She bounded forward, skidding to a halt next to the body. "Someone in ThunderClan did this?!" She couldn't think of a reason why anyone in the Clan would hurt Mouselily.

[SpiceCookie]

"That's what Froststep said," Acorntail answered Snowberry, her voice choked and quiet with shock and grief. She had also heard Froststep's words and was still trying to process everything. Mouselily was killed? And by a ThunderClan cat? It was so much shocking information to take in that Acorntail felt like everything was a dream since it was so hard to believe this was true. Who in ThunderClan would murder anyone, and why? Why Mouselily? She had been such a good warrior and friend.

[snafu,]

Froststep was as shocked as any cat to know that a clanmate had killed Mouselily. What were they thinking? It couldn't have been an accident, there were distinct teeth and claw marks that were obviously made on purpose. Still trying to process what happened in the past few minutes, Froststep padded back to her den to clean up the mess of herbs she had made.

[MockSun]

Nightstar nodded once, numbly, when Froststep asked if she was certain she was dead. Nightstar didn't see any mistaking it, as much as she would have loved to have been proven wrong. As the leader of ThunderClan, she thought she knew her clanmates as well, but she was lost as to who might have killed a cat as kind and optimistic as Mouselily. She wanted to deny it, but she trusted her medicine cat's judgement. She wanted to turn to Beetlenose, but she had only been deputy for a quarter moon. It wasn't fair to turn to her this early with a task this grave, and so soon after the loss of her brother and her brother's mate. Nightstar decided to let her clan speak for a while longer while she tried to sort out a plan of action. Was there something important she had missed?