storms are approaching

Emberpaw collapsed not too far from the medicine cat's den. She was finally feeling the effects of everything that had happened - her injuries, and the things she had seen. The cat she loved, disappeared, and in her place a pool of blood... That was something she knew would haunt her nightmares all her life. And the stinging pain of the wounds all over her body wouldn't fade for a while yet, she knew - she would have scars when they finally healed. Toward the end, the battle was just a blur. She couldn't recall the face of the cat that had finally done her in, she couldn't recall much at all from that point on. The next thing she had known, she had awoken and ThunderClan had fallen.

They had lost. They had failed, and they had lost cats... Thistlepaw was dead. Sure, she didn't really know the other apprentice all that well, but she didn't deserve to die. Beyond that, their medicine cat was gone! Taken hostage! RiverClan's leader... Emberpaw couldn't help but blame it all on her. She had refused to negotiate, and she had struck the first blow. If she had listened, none of this would have had to happen. And oh, the war was far from over... ThunderClan needed Sunningrocks. She was lost in those thoughts for the moment.

"Hey, E-Emberpaw." Dustcloud slowly padded towards the young apprentice who had fallen near the entrance to the medicine cat den. She would do what she could to help. "Maplepaw t-told me you c-could have some po-poppy seeds to h-help with the p-p-pain." She pushed a pile of seeds towards Emberpaw, seeing that she had some pretty serious wounds, and they probably hurt quite a bit. She was instructed to take some as well, but she refused to when she knew there were other cats that needed it. Her crackly voice was really starting to bother and even hurt her, soon she was tempted to ask Maplepaw to take a look, but she would wait until she wasn't so busy. She sat herself down next to Emberpaw, licking some of her wounds to clear the caked up blood away. "Y-You fought we-well out th-there, you kn-know."

Emberpaw nodded gratefully, taking a couple of the poppy seeds. "Thank you, Dustcloud," she said to the older cat, and then the last sentence registered. "...You think so? I didn't even see the cat that took me out in the end... But you were doing really well against Ivystar the last I saw."