Searching for Dock Leaves (closed)

The cool of the early morning chilled the air as eyes blinked in the darkness, her heart thudding as she carefully uncurled, the sounds of sleeping denmates rising to the roof of the den all around her. Carefully sitting up, she poked her brothers lightly, whispering, "Do you think this is early enough?"

Daris softly blinked his open at his sister's prodding, raising his head. "Yeah I think." He whispered back, lifting a paw to rub his eyes.

While her siblings slept in the apprentices’ den, preparing for tomorrow’s mission, the ever-thorough Thrushnose had volunteered to keep watch through the night. Though dozing off mid-search was an undeniable risk, it meant ThunderClan might assume she was trying to sneak in an early-morning nap rather than sneak out of camp entirely. With any luck, they wouldn’t even notice her absence until after she’d returned with Hickorypaw in tow. It wasn’t a flawless plan, but it seemed good enough to her.

At last, the darkness began to give way, and the night guard drifted off toward their own destinations—their nests, mostly. She watched them go, one by one, brown-tipped tail twitching with nerves. Then she was alone. Silent as a hunter, she padded toward the apprentices’ den. If she angled her ears just the right way, she could hear Sablepaw and Quailpaw’s muffled voices. They were awake; Kestrelpaw probably was, too. With a soft sigh, Thrushnose planted herself just beside the den’s entrance, pinning her tail down with a paw so it wouldn’t rustle the ferns.

"It is. Let's get going. Gotta use all the time we have wisely." Kestrelpaw whispered groggily once he sat up in his nest after Sablepaw's prodding had awoken him. He stretched for a bit before speaking up again, "Thrushnose is already waiting outside for us. The coast is clear." He'd noticed Thrush's presence near the entrance when he had been stretching his limbs. The tabby apprentice gently got up onto his paws and stepped lightly toward the den's entrance, ears swiveling around in an attempt to alert himself of any unwanted attention.

As soon as he had fully exited, he offered his sister a nervous smile and sat right next to her, pelt brushing pelt, waiting for the other two to arrive. He was internally shaking with anxiety and at the same time, eagerness. They all wanted Hickory back and they made it their mission to try and get her back together. He had a strong feeling that their mother and father would be rather angry at them but right now, he didn't care about that. The mission is all that mattered right then and there. It was almost the opposite of what he normally thought and acted but it was never too late for some change, especially when it comes to the benefit of his family.

"Okay," She whispered back, feeling a tingle of excited nervousness travel along her back, her heart beating slightly faster as she followed Kestrelpaw through to the outside of the den, giving her sister a bright-eyed glance, the tip of her tail trembling. "I think we're ready. We just... leave?" It felt a little dumb asking, but it also felt wrong just sneaking out - except she knew everyone would forbid them from taking even a step once they knew what they were doing, and - Stop thinking already! We're finding Dock, and we need to do this.

Quailpaw followed his siblings out, nodding in hello to Thrushnose. "Yeah I think we do. If we don't wanna be caught." He said, flicking his tail.

After another brief exchange too faint for Thrushnose to make out, Kestrelpaw emerged, giving Thrushnose a tense, wordless smile as he joined her outside the den. Sablepaw appeared on his heels, with Quailpaw pawsteps behind. Mingled nerves and excitement blanketed the air, turning it thick as a muggy greenleaf afternoon. This mission was risky, and all of them knew it—but any risk was worth getting Hickorypaw back, and all of them knew that, too. With the four of them (five soon, she hoped), they could handle almost anything they came across. The days of getting thrown around by dogs were… Well, at least they all knew their way around a fight, if it came to that.

Looking around at her siblings, gathered together for a common cause, Thrushnose felt her heart rise. She nodded. “Everyone’s in their dens. If someone does ask…” Her scarred shoulders rose in a vague shrug. “We have a warrior with us, don’t we?” At a glance, they were nothing more than a strangely-timed patrol. Maybe ThunderClan (their parents, Pinefrost, and possibly Nettlestar excepted) wouldn’t bother to pry.

"We do. And she's a great one at that." he mumbled breathily, a half-hearted purr managing to escape his chest. His green eyes scanned his siblings' faces, hoping to find how they're feeling about what they're about to do. He felt a tad bit better knowing they were all just as nervous as him. He breathed in deeply then exhaled slowly, a little more shaky than he was comfortable with. His anxiety was slowly creeping up but he was managing to push it down. They needed to go. They absolutely needed to.

He quietly got up onto his paws and nodded at them all, a strained smile adorning his face. "Well, let's go try our very best to get our sister back. Lead the way, Thrush." he said, gaze reuniting with the determined gleam. Oh StarClan, wherever Hickory was, please have her safe and sound.

(ooc: we don't have to keep to a rigid posting order, so we can be fairly fluid with this)
Lirista smiled slightly sheepishly, ducking her head. "Yeah, we don't want to get caught, I guess, so...." She clammed her mouth shut before she could say any more, glancing up at Thrushnose and feeling a flicker of determined warmth kindle in her chest. Mermurr was right, they had a warrior with them, so it was fine - and the rest of them knew some battle moves, too, in case they ran into something like that strange rogue. It'd be fine, and it was to find their sister, so they couldn't back out. They'd come back with her, they'd find her.

Nodding determinedly in agreement with Kestrelpaw's words, she padded after her sister out of the camp and onto the trail. The hunt for Dock was on.

Daris followed his siblings out of camp, as his ears were perked up for any sign of Dock. They'd find her. They had too!

With another nod, Thrushnose picked herself up and pushed her way out onto the territory. Though her warrior status ostensibly made her this patrol’s leader, she drifted back to walk alongside her siblings as soon as the darkness and tree trunks hid ThunderClan’s camp from view. Hickorypaw had to be alive. Any reality where she wasn’t just didn’t make sense. But the part of Thrushnose that had embraced this search was the same part that felt the tug of her scars with every step she took—the same part that, today more than ever, needed her siblings within her line of sight. No point in finding one if they lost another.

As they padded along, she raised her nose to the air, then pressed it to the dirt. Nothing stuck out to her amid the forest’s usual jumble of scents. After some minutes of this, Thrushnose dug her paws in. “I’m not getting anything.” Refusing to give those words’ hopelessness a chance to settle, she pushed on, looking at Sablepaw, then Quailpaw, then Kestrelpaw in turn. “Where do we think she’d go first?” If they put their heads together, they’d have to come up with something. Who could possibly know Hickorypaw better than the four of them?

"Uhhhmmm." Sablepaw glanced around at the forest, early light filtering through the trees, reflexively tasting the air for any scent and catching, well, nothing. It's been a while since she left.... An uneasy feeling of doubt started to rise up from her paws, sitting in the base of her throat. Had this... been such a great idea? What if they couldn't find anything? But... she shook her head. No, they didn't need to find anything, just figure out where she would have gone, like Mermurr had asked. That was a good place to start - they could find trails from there, surely they'd know where she'd go.

Where would she go?

She stuck her tongue out of the side of her maw, glancing at her brothers, and then back to Thrushnose. Hickorypaw had always liked Mum and Dad's stories, their tales of adventure.... "What about someplace Mum and Dad went to? Like the mountains? Do you think she'd go there? But..." She frowned up at the canopy of leaves, the end of her tail flicking, eyes narrowing until only a sliver of blue caught the reflection of pale sky. "How would she get to the mountains...?"