This Fire Burns [Foxfire]

Snow blanketed the clearing, and Beechface stared up at the gray sky through narrowed eyes as she sat outside her den. The clouds threatened more of the white stuff, but Beechface couldn't find it within herself to be enthusiastic as she might've been. Flashstorm had been buried, and still the stars gave no answers. He'd fallen from a tree. A tree. He was a Skyclanner, through and through. Skyclanners weren't supposed to fall from trees.

And yet Wolfstar... Beechface would have fallen if he hadn't pulled her back to safety. Only to have the branch snap beneath him as he'd tried to give her space. He was still in the medicine den recovering, the only saving grace being those extra lives. Life Flashstorm no longer had. He'd hardly been a warrior, and just like that he was gone. Poor Leaf-frost was distraught. Beechface hadn't known him well, but she knew what it was like to lose a sibling.

Lost in her thoughts, Beechface's gaze drifted absentmindedly to her paws, claws making small furrows in the snow. The Asylum rogues had learned to give the medicine cat space in their moons occupying Skyclan's camp, but she seemed to hardly notice them, for once.

Foxfire sniffled from where he sat outside of the warrior's den, his shoulders sagging and ears slicked back. It was...Hard to swallow the truth he had just faced - that his son, Flashstorm, was dead. A tree - of course it had been a tree. He raised a paw, scrubbing at his face as a soft hiss escaped the devastated tom. He was suppose to have the problem with trees, not his family. Not... His hiss twisted into a sob as he lurched forward, trying to hold back the sound. He wish he could say that he couldn't imagine the terror in Flashstorm's final moments - but the fear he had fought so long to overcome was rising in his throat - memories of his first time out of camp.

When he had been hit by an owl and unable to recover his balance...He had fallen out of a tree and broken his leg.

He straightened up with a gasp, trying to escape the overwhelming fear, the onslaught of memories and emotions that he had fought so long to not overwhelm him. The striking terror whenever he had seen one of his Clanmates climb a tree after that, afraid of the same fate. But they were SkyClan, they weren't suppose to fall out of trees. So why did... He shook his head, pushing himself to his paws as he struggled not to fall into a panic attack. He needed... He padded over towards the medicine cat den, relieved to see Beechface sitting outside. "Be-Beechface?" he murmured, trying to restrain the fear that strangled his words, making them scratchy as he forced them out. "Do you think...Do you think you can give me some poppy seeds. I don't..." he hesitated, closing his eyes as he took in a deep breath. "...I don't know how well I'll be able to sleep tonight after...After..." he drifted off, thinking he had to go no further to explain why.

Beechface jumped slightly as Foxfire's voice broke into her thoughts, glancing up from her paws to look at the tom. The look in his eyes was one she knew well. Panic. Grief, too, but the panic was something Beechface understood.

"Of course, Foxfire." Beechface forced her voice to remain steady as she spoke. She didn't know the older warrior all that well, but she knew panic well enough that she needed to force her own troubles to the side. The poppy seeds would help calm him, though privately Beechface didn't think he'd be sleeping well even with them. He was distraught, rightfully so. The poppy seeds would only go so far in dulling the senses.

Turning, Beechface went and fetched a couple of poppy seeds, setting them on a beech leaf which she then carried over and set down for Foxfire.

"I'm sorry about..." Beechface found herself floundering for what to say. Nothing she really could say would make his grief easier to bear, she knew, but... she had to say something, didn't she? And the medicine cat, for all that she knew what she was doing with herbs, wasn't known for her skill with soothing words. Not in any way, shape, or form. Words were frustrating and confusing, even more so when one didn't quite know what to say or how they would be perceived. Beechface knew how she would react to an apology while she was trying not to panic, so that left her voice trailing off awkwardly, a frustrated breath escaping her.

Foxfire sighed in relief as Beechface agreed to get the poppy seeds, plopping onto his haunches as he tried to redirect his panic towards...Something. He tugged at the ground, kneading as the medicine cat turned and disappeared into her den before she padded back out a short time later with a leaf. He leaned down, licking up the few poppy seeds that rested on it before he straightened up. He knew it would take a little time for it to kick in, hoping that it would at least take the edge off his building panic attack. He sighed, glancing over his shoulders toward the entrance of the camp - where his son was now buried. It didn't feel...Real.

Like he could easy convince himself that Flashstorm was just out hunting, that he would arrive back into camp any second. That it had been a bad dream but...No. No, it had been a living nightmare. He jolted a little as Beechface spoke up, stumbling to apologize and the warrior turned to give her a weak smile. "W-What is there to apologize about?" he questioned, ears slicking back as he kicked at the ground. "There was...Nothing to be done. B-But I get it, I tend to apologize a lot when I don't know what to say..." A weak laugh escaped him, broken and hollow. "Flowerthorn gets angry at me when I do - 'don't say, act,' is what she says. But...What is there to even do in this situation?" He lifted his head, his smile fading. "How can we ever prepare for something like...This? Falling out of a tree..." His expression darkened. "I'm the one that had the fear of heights. Why did Flashstorm have to...?"

"Flowerthorn is smart. We tend to agree on things." Beechface commented with the faintest hint of a smirk. Still, the humor quickly faded, and the medicine cat sighed. "It's always worse when there's nothing to be done. I can't stand not being able to do anything." About any of this, but especially about losing clanmates.

"I thought Skyclan was supposed to be better at not falling out of trees." Primroselight, herself almost, Wolfstar, Flashstorm... Two of those falls had ended in death. Primroselight had been in the medicine den for weeks. Why were the trees proving to be more of an enemy than actual predators, recently?

A soft laugh escaped Beechface agreed on Flowerthorn being smart, smiling softly before Beechface admitted to hating when nothing could be done. At that, his smile faded as the weight of reality fell upon him. His ears slicked back as he hung his head, staring at his paws. He...He wasn't sure what to say - he was right. It sucked, being powerless to do anything, to change his son's fate. They just had to accept it, and that was the worse of all. His ears perked a little as Beechface muttered something about SkyClan suppose to not fall out of trees. This caused a laugh to escaped him - but it was hollow, broken...Bitter. "I wish," he said, his voice taking on a sharp tone as he nearly growled it out...Before he sighed heavily. "I...I have - had - a fear of heights," he admitted, shuffling at the ground with a paw. "I can't balance well in trees cause I don't have a tail... I-I've gotten better but the fear of falling, of other cats falling. I don't...I can't-" He could feel the panic start to swell in him again before it suddenly...Faded. He only felt tired, slumping forward a little with a sigh of relief. He...Suppose the poppy seeds were starting to kick in thankfully. "Why did Flashstorm have to...?"

"I'm not so sure how comfortable I am in the trees after I nearly fell and Wolfstar..." Beechface gave herself a shake, as if that would be enough to rid herself of the memory. Beechface was a large cat. She'd taken after Bloodstrike, with the added bonus of long, thick fur from Smokefeather. It was no surprise that fooling around in the trees would get someone hurt. Should've been here and not Wolfstar. He'd make the same mistake she had, backing away, only instead of placing a paw into nothingness, the branch had snapped under him. If a branch had snapped, it should've been under her own paws. And she hadn't been quick enough to save him, like he'd done for her.

But talking about trees would do neither she nor Foxfire any good. She understood his fear. It was hard enough trying to judge whether a branch would even hold her weight. Not having a tail to help balance must've been even worse. The panic in Foxfire's voice had died off, likely due to the poppy seeds. She needed to find something to distract him, at the very least.

"How's Leaf-frost doing?" She asked, hoping that asking about the newly-named warrior would be enough distance from the previous subject. Foxfire's daughter was sharp-witted, and Beechface enjoyed her snark. She'd done both her and her brother's warrior ceremonies. Had hoped it would be better on either of them than having Dawnhawk poison the moment while Wolfstar recovered. Doing the ceremonies had certainly earned Beechface some odd looks, over the past few days.

Foxfire paled a little as Beechface mentioned Wolfstar and trees. Wait, had the leader...? The warrior bundled up a little on himself, holding his tongue from mentioning that it was...Perhaps his fault. Stars, why had he neglected to teach Wolfstar how to climb trees? It was such an embarrassing fact - he should have handled his fear enough to at least teach him the basics but his desire to not even think about going up into trees had caused him to neglect that part of training.

He blinked however when the subject, thankfully in some sense, was turned onto his daughter. "Oh, she was doing fine, happy to be a warrior, but with Flashstorm now...I-I'm sure she isn't taking it...Well," he admitted softly, shaking his head as he straightened up a little. "Her and Flashstorm were so close, this has to be hard on her. I'm not even sure how to start helping her or the others... I-I can't imagine what its like to lose a littermate, I never had any siblings and my parents died when I was so young..." he drifted off with a sigh. "Its hard enough as a father but they've never known a moment without each other. ...I'll have to check on Leaf-frost later, same with Mistypaw and Sparkpaw. Once I figure out what to say - how to comfort them."

Foxdung, Beechface thought, watching as the tom paled at her words. I'm no good at this.

"Yeah..." Beechface muttered, "Losing a sibling sucks." Dustpaw came to mind, taken by those stars-cursed foxes, and... Dawnhawk, somehow. She'd never been close with the silver and golden traitor. All they ever did was bicker and fight and drive their poor parents (and probably the rest of the clan) crazy. Still, she wouldn't have thought him capable of any of what he'd put the clan through recently. The vision of him as a brother who could at least be relied upon despite their animosity towards one another had been lost. Stamped out just as surely as Flashstorm's life had been.

Beechface briefly touched her tail to Fixfire's flank, and sighed.

"You'll... They'll be okay, eventually." It didn't feel like it, and probably wouldn't for a while, but Beechface had little else to offer in the way of support.

Foxfire's tattered ears perked as he felt Beechface's tail brush against him, giving her a small smile as she tried to assure him that they would be okay. "I...Yeah, yeah they - we - will," he said, taking in a deep breath as he straighten up. "We all have each other after all. It won't be easy but...As long everybody is together and can support each other, I'm sure we will be fine..." he drifted off, sparing a glance around the camp before a sigh escaped him. "We all need to stick together. I...I don't know how I feel about... Them but the fact that I have the rest of SkyClan to rely on...I think we will all be fine in the end," he added as he flashed Beechface a smile. He honestly truly had no idea how he felt about Asylum. Their presence was...Strange as little seemed to transpire but he knew how Flowerthorn felt and...Well, he wanted to support his mate. He had to trust her - if she didn't like Asylum, he suppose he wouldn't like them either.

"Yeah... You have family that will support you and each other, Foxfire." Hopefully better than my own family supports each other, lingered on her tongue, but Beechface wouldn't say the words now. The grieving tom didn't need to hear about her own problems.

"The clan must stick together," She agreed quietly, "whatever happens, we're still Skyclan, not some group of rogues bent on conquering and leeching off of others." Much as she wanted to rage at the Asylum (and she had, hadn't she?) Beechface was starting to recognize how little that anger was helping matters. She would disagree with Wolfstar on naming Dawnhawk deputy to her dying breath, of course, but complaining about it was doing little good. Still, it felt as if she could do little else. She was one cat, and currently, she was helpless to do anything about that situation. She could bond with Flowerthorn and Primroselight by complaining all she wanted, but that wasn't going to change things for the better any time soon.

Beechface gave her head a shake, forcing the thoughts towards the back of her mind, or as much as they could be.

"Go and rest, Foxfire. You look like you need it." She said gently. The poppy seeds were definitely kicking in, and it would do him no good to sit here talking, Beechface thought.

Foxfire hummed softly as Beechface spoke, knowing how lucky he was. He had lost his parents so young, to have a new family was...It was wonderful - actually being there for his kits. Being able to be the parent that he never had. He had to support his kids...And let them support him right back. He closed his eyes, taking in a deep breath - before he jolted as he caught himself swaying. It was at that moment that Beechface softly told him to rest, causing a small laugh to escape him. "Oh...Yeah, I guess I should," he mumbled as he raised a paw to scrub at his eyes. "I...Thanks, Beechface. For the poppy seeds and just...Talking with me in general. I needed it." He turned and gave her a small, but tired, smile as he pushed himself to his paws. "Take things, easy, alright? I'm...I'm sure things will shake out in our favor at some point. It...It gotta, right? We are stronger then to give in to them..." A yawn stole the rest of his words, giving his head a shake. He dipped his head to the medicine cat and turned, padding away towards the warrior den.

As he reached his nest, he plopped down and curled as tightly into a ball as he could. Within moments, he could feel himself drifting off and he could only hope that his dreams - if he had any - would be peaceful. Or, perhaps, if he was truly lucky, he would see Flashstorm within them. It was all he could hope for as he let himself drift away into the calming darkness of sleep.