Warriorhood's End (OPEN)

Part One (Pre-Icepaw's injury. This is totally late by the way but I still wanted to do it soooooooo...)

The journey shouldn't have been so hard. The ache in her shoulder pulsed and bled as she stumbled her way over the fresh layers of snow that covered the familiar terrain of RiverClan. Her front paw felt like small icicles were stabbing into it for small moments before she felt nothing but a clouded feeling of nothing despite her paw hitting the ground roughly. Her tooth ached from hitting a rock, part of her eye teeth chipped off in the mighty battle.

Simply because she had dared to peek beyond the border. She hadn't even crossed it, not more than a claw before the large tom ran into her, yet she found herself now staring at the water that seperated camp from the rest of the territory. A sense of intrepedation sinking into her pelt. Could she swim it? She swallowed through a tight throat as she paced the side with a heavy limp. She didn't have a choice. The burn of her shoulder warned her of that, and she slowly slipped into the water with a grimace. Her three paws paddling hard until she made it to the other side.

Safety. Relief flooded her pelt and warmed her as she stumbled into camp. Directly towards the ginger pelt of her mate who must have just returned from patrol.
"Gingerstripe." She called, even as her leg gave out and sent her crashing to the floor of camp.

Why did StarClan despise his family so much? Gingerstripe had just returned from patrolling when his mate collapsed on the ground in front of him, covered in bloody scratch marks, raw and recent from a battle. "Dewshine!" he cried out in alarm, green eyes wide in panic. She'd been okay when he'd left... what had happened? What warrior had dared to attack her? Anger, worry and fear wrestled within him as he nudged her silvery side, trying to help her up from where she'd fallen on the grass. Fear won out, and hoping that she would be okay, the warrior stood back up. "Oh, dear StarClan. Don't worry, Dewshine, I'll be right back. I just need to get Goldeneye.... Then, I'll go find whoever did this to you and make sure they never do it again." With a last glance at the she-cat he loved, the orange tabby scampered off to the medicine cat's den, glancing inside to see if either she-cat was there. "Goldeneye, Fallowpaw! Dewshine is injured!" His voice was strained, and his emerald-green eyes shone with worry. So soon after losing Firepaw... he couldn't bear to lose any other cat. Maybe he was overreacting, but the fact that his mate couldn't get up worried him.

"Dewshine is injured!"

There had been so much panic in Gingerstripe's voice when he called out desperately to RiverClan's medicine cats. Having heard the name of her dearly beloved mentor right away, Flurryshine quickly raced away from the nursery where she was helping Clanmates reinforce the protective reed barrier to protect the queens and kits inside and up to Dewshine's side. Stars above, she looked horrible! Who on earth could have done this to such a sweet, loving, and gentle queen?

"Dewshine?" the snow-white molly whimpered, nestling down next to her mentor and gently nuzzling her cheek in an effort to comfort her -- or was it really just to comfort herself? "Dewshine, it's okay. It'll all be okay. I promise. I'll help you in anyway I can, okay?" She knew very well that the injured queen had asked for her mate to be with her, but if anyone dared to try and drag her away from her beloved mentor's side...!

The sight of Gingerstripe eased her pain as he tried to help her stand. The scratches burned, but the worst was by far the leg the felt odd. She felt pinpricks all the way down, then abruptly nothing all over again. She grimaced as she tried to put weight on it, but nearly toppled over instead. The wound on her shoulder bled, but she held it together to hear his question. Her heart chilled at the thought of telling them the truth. ThunderClan was in the bad graces of RiverClan already... would this start a war? She thought about it carefully for a long moment. The river would have washed away the scent of ThunderClan...

"A rogue." She answered quietly. "I was... patrolling the border near the twoleg nest when a rogue ambushed me." She turned towards Flurryshine with a soft smile. "I'm alive Flurryshine, it's alright." She replied softly to the white she-cat with a familiar soft smile on her muzzle as she leaned into Gingerstripe's comforting pelt.