A Falcon's Fall

OOC: Continuation of this topic.

Mossbloom made the journey to camp, her only company the still body dangling from her back. She had left hours earlier with her mother, the last of her immediate adopted family, full of hope and  happiness... Now she returned feeling empty and hopeless. As she picked her way down the ravine carefully, she pushed on through the tunnel into camp, stopping once she reached the middle of the clearing. Letting Falconwing's body slip to the ground, she opened her mouth.

A squeak was all that came out, a pitiful noise. Her head lowered as she situated her mother in a regal position, as if she was merely sleeping. Once Falconwing looked comfortable, she raised her green eyes again, hoping to find Oakstar or Beartooth... Anyone would do. The clan had started to gather around the blood-soaked pair as Mossbloom tried to speak again, with a little more success this time. "A fox.. at Snakerocks... Falconwing died killing it... To protect me..."

Explanation given, Mossbloom turned towards the medicine den, disappearing within it. Feeling numb, she rooted among the herbs until she found mint and rosemary among them, and carried them out to the middle of camp with her, setting them at her mother's paws before curling up at her side. She would need those later, but for now, she just wanted to breath in the scent of the she-cat who had found her and taken her on so many moons ago.

✢ Beartooth padded over as her noticed Mossbloom pad into camp. The frame of another cat was across her back, and it only took a moment for the tom to recognize the stench of blood. If there were anything to be done, the healer would have already done it. A solemn look crossed his face and he met her eyes. The deputy didn't say anything but he offered her a stiff nod of recognition. The pain that sat in her gaze was something that he had felt before. After that, he looked to the still warrior. Falconwing, even if they had never been close, had been a great warrior and asset to the clan. She had raised Mossbloom from kithood and into a fine medicine cat. Her presence would be sorely missed among these walls. Even if he showed little outward emotion, the burly deputy cared deeply for the members of his clan. He dipped his head and pressed it to her fur without a sound. Leafbare always brought death. It would have been foolish to expect anything else. ✢

✧ It took Houndheart a moment to notice the scene, as he had been engrossed in dropping off some prey to the elders. While he left ticks and moss clearing to the apprentices, he hadn't stopped visiting now and then. When he returned, Falconwing's body was in the center of camp, Beartooth looming over it. Once again, the discomfort of seeing death strip away breath from another cat's lungs settled in his chest. Even if he would never admit it, he feared death as much as he hated it, even if his bull-headedness prevented any cat from seeing that cowardice. There was a tinge of sadness as he recognized Falconwing. The pair of them hardly interacted but she hadn't been a bad cat, she didn't deserve whatever fate had befallen her. Before he thought much more into it, the tom saw the familiar pelt of Mossbloom disappear into her den. When she returned, the medicine cat curled up at the side of the fallen warrior.

Ah. Right. That had been her mother.

A sickening realization churned in the pits of his stomach as he remembered Flintfang. This had been the other cat that raised her. He never understood how such a bond had formed between cats who were not truly blood. His own mother had abandoned him to die, and his father his own method of leaving behind the young kit. It was strange and he could never grasp it between his paws. As much as he longed to dwell over those intricacies of life, Houndheart found his mind to be more concerned with the fact that Mossbloom was there, grieving. He padded slowly over. As he approached her side, the young warrior looked around and glared at any cats nearby, challenging them to say anything about what he was about to do. Curling around her side, the warrior gently touched his nose to Falconwing and began to join in a vigil for the missing. ✧

Stormpaw hurried out of the apprentices den, a smile plastered on her muzzle and a purr in her throat. When she saw Falconwing, all the energy and happiness drained from her and she stood rigid, as if frozen in place. Her eyes widened to huge blue discs the size of moons and her mouth was slightly open, as if she wanted to say something but was unsure of what.

Finally, she regained her speaking abilities, and she let out a wail and slowly picked her way to where Falconwing was, pressing her muzzle into her still-warm fur. Stormpaw had never known Falconwing, but she was Mossbloom's mother, and a loyal ThunderClan warrior. The whole clan would grieve. Well, maybe not the newest additions. She lay down and pressed against Falconwing.

She hunts with StarClan now.

Snow glistened in the light of the leaf bare sun. The sound of something being dragged in the snow was unusual. Enough that he padded out from the nursery den with a concerned expression, one that only deepened as he realised Mossbloom was crying. That the tabby and white pelt below her… was motionless and still. Covered in wounds, but that Mossbloom was quiet meant the danger wasn't current. That it had already happened... and too late.

He bit back a yowl of grief as he strode towards the body of Falconwing. He remembered her exuberance the day she became an apprentice. Her drive to become a good warrior… the day she arrived with little Mosskit… then adopted tiny Lilykit in turn. Raised them with Flintfang as though they were her blood kin.

Her energy never seemed to fade. Only a few moons ago, she was playing in the mud with him and other clanmates. Illness barely seemed to hold her back, for all she sprung back from it with ease. He blinked slowly, as tears fell to the snow at his paws. When he had met her, he had only just become Marshstorm.

In a strange way, it felt as though a tree had fallen in the forest. He wrapped a tail around Mossbloom. Solemn in silence for a long moment, and hating that he had to break it.
"Falconwing… may the stars guide your path." He forced himself to say the words. "May you find good hunting, swift running and shelter when you sleep… and Flintfang for your comfort." He lowered his head, crouching his body low to settle in for a long night. "You’ve brought our clan so much light. Thank you, Falconwing."

Dacepaw was gently pushing a pleasantly round rock across the terrain when the scrambling of paws in the entrance tunnel reached her ears. The apprentice looked up, curious to see who had returned, and for a brief moment she was happy to see Mossbloom returning to camp. Her happiness quickly shifted to confusion and, even more swiftly, horror, as she spotted the mass of fur drooping over the medicine cat's back and recognized it as Falconwing. The scent of death made Dacepaw gasp, and she scrambled to her paws, holding her breath as she stood motionlessly, watching Mossbloom set the she-cat's limp form on the earth. She's just asleep, right? Mossbloom brought her back to help her? Dacepaw thought, quietly squeaking in her head, but the look of helplessness on the medicine cat's face...

... no. It was too late. With all the gentleness the medicine cat possessed, she shifted Falconwing into a less unnatural-looking position. Dacepaw could feel her heart thumping rapidly, even as she stood still; she felt like a mouse caught under hooked, hungry claws as she stared wide-eyed at Mossbloom. The medicine cat managed to explain what had happened, and Dacepaw felt her lip begin to quiver as tears stung her eyes. A fox - another fox! The stupid foxes were always hurting her Clanmates and her loved ones! She was too sad to be angry; seeing the empty sorrow on Mossbloom's face as she disappeared into the medicine den, returning with a small packet of herbs.

Hesitantly Dacepaw began to edge forward. She hadn't known Falconwing as well as Houndheart or Duskpaw, but the she-cat had been kindly whenever they interacted. She had held an air of knowledge, and of kindness, that perhaps Dacepaw hadn't ever appreciated properly. Dacepaw did know Mossbloom, though, and Mossbloom had been Falconwing's kit - so far as she knew. Mossbloom was sad and hurting, slowly laying with an unreadable expression to curl up at Falconwing's side. Dacepaw hesitated; did Mossbloom need to be alone with her mother? Dacepaw couldn't imagine what it would be like to grieve the loss of Dappleshine.... She felt a small, choked sob escape herself at the thought, and she sniffled hard and thought It's not my momma - it's hers, before she looked to Mossbloom.

Surprisingly, Houndheart had joined the medicine cat. Dacepaw was caught slightly by his scathing, challenging stare as he slowly laid down, pressing his tabby fur to hers at the same time as he pressed his nose to the fallen warrior. She wondered what his hard glare was about; did he think someone would be angry with him for comforting Mossbloom when she so clearly needed it? Her own mind made up, Dacepaw picked her way forward to close the gap between them. She slowed when she reached Mossbloom, lowering her head to press her nose to Mossbloom's shoulder. She couldn't think of what to say. Then, delicately, Dacepaw laid down, letting one paw rest against Mossbloom's side and laying near enough Falconwing to gently groom her fur. Though she was uncertain at first, the apprentice relaxed into a rhythm after a short bit at Oakstar's words; Falconwing deserved all the love and care in the world while they could still give it to her.