howling ghosts [closed]

ooc: follows this topic

When Snowflight had first poked his head into the medicine den, he’d seen nothing but sorted herbs. At the time, it didn’t register as unusual; medicine cathood didn’t have to mean a life confined to camp (privately, Snowflight was relieved Spiderquill seemed to understand that). Spiderquill had herbs to collect and Lilypaw to explore with. He could take care of himself. So Snowflight had shrugged, sighed, and headed off to the river. But when he peered into the den again just before sundown, fresh from a successful hunt, he found it as empty as it had been before. A round of questioning confirmed no one, not even Thornpaw, had seen Spiderquill. Lilypaw was gone as well. The call for a search patrol went out; Snowflight promptly volunteered. This was his friend. Whatever had happened, he wouldn’t stand by waiting for news. Not again.

Now that they were out on the territory with sun sinking all too quickly toward the horizon, that resolve meant nothing. Snowflight had no clue where to start. He wasn’t panicking—he’d never considered himself the kind of cat who panicked—but his mind had gotten alarmingly foggy. His gaze darted first to Wisteriabloom, then to Ivystar. “Does anyone have a trail?” Though the drought had forced him to get better at tracking, he couldn't quite manage to pick one fading thread of scent out from his Clanmates'.

Wisteriabloom calmly padded back into camp, unwounded from her fight with Twig. Well, could you really call it a fight? she questioned herself; there had been few attacks launched by either cat before the warrior had backed off. But all the same, it had distracted her from her previous worries - Lilypaw and Snakekit. Countless patrols had already been out to search for them, all to no avail. Lilypaw, on the other hand, had told her mentor that she was going to go off with Spiderquill, yet still hadn't returned by sundown. In Wisteriabloom's opinion, her young apprentice spent far to much time with the medicine cat, but any least she had some friends. That was more than she could say for herself as an apprentice.

Seeing Snowflight's concerned face popping in and out of the medicine den and questioning other cats (all of which seemed to answer 'no' to his question), she panicked a little. Upon further questioning from her side, it turned out that neither Lilypaw nor Spiderquill had been seen all day. When Ivystar called for a patrol, it only took seconds for her to volunteer. She may've been hard on her apprentice when it came to training, but she cared about her a lot more than it seemed.

Ivystar, Snowflight and Wisteriabloom made their way out of camp - the patrol was small, so she hoped that there would be enough of them. She tried her best to try and pick up traces of either missing cat, also keeping wary of any kit-scent, just like she did whenever she was out these days. "Sorry, no I can barely pick up anything." she glanced hopefully at Ivystar.