apologies long overdue [c]

The last thing Swanpetal felt was her voice, cut off before she could say what mattered most. She'd always imagined that she wouldn't go down without a fight, but she'd never imagined it like that...

But it was over.

Now that she was here, there were things she had to answer for.

Mistakes so distant they were nearly forgotten, harsh words shouted to the sky out of sheer desperation... There had been plenty of both.

It was time to face the consequences, proven by the first form she saw in the starry landscape that greeted her once she finally opened her eyes.

Flowerpetal.

RiverClan warrior, victim of the Mist... But most importantly, her mother.

Yes, Swanpetal had a lot to apologize for... And this was where she had to start.

Where once she'd felt resentment and anger, now there was only guilt and regret.

She had so many regrets.

"Mother..." she whispered, her voice soft and weak and so much younger than she felt. "I'm sorry..."

Her chest rose and fell as steadily as water lapping against the shore, constant, rhythmic. Although it wasn't cold, her breath still hung in a wreath above her head, half-frozen, a piece of her death that had followed her to the afterlife.

Flowerpetal had never truly lived. Even in life, she had been stagnant, frozen in place long before the Mistwalker's attack.
But standing face to face with her daughter, she seemed to come to life.

"Why?" She asked, her voice soft. Why are you sorry? Why did you do what you did?
Swanpetal's words and actions, her anger, her hatred, had been heartbreaking, but Flowerpetal couldn't bring herself to dislike her daughter for it. If anything, she blamed herself. If she had only been stronger, wiser, she could've stayed in the Forest and been there for her daughter when she needed her the most.