lions inside [c]

The moon was high, and a light drizzle earlier in the day had cooled the forest considerably. Wolfstar sat by the fresh-kill pile, the feathered remains of a sparrow between his paws. Since Beechface had taken Muddythorn under her wing, the leader had tried to just... casually supervise. It wasn't that he didn't trust Beechface... no, StarClan had been right in their decision to choose her, but... Wolfstar also knew that the she-cat had very strong feelings about her position, and not the good kind. He didn't want Muddythorn to feel like it was a burden, the way Beechface did. So far, he'd noticed nothing of the sort - his granddaughter was steadfast and precise in her teachings, and Wolfstar was happy.

Things had been quiet... peaceful... more so than it had been in some time now, and even Briarthorn's migration to SkyClan had proven easier than he expected. Wolfstar had even come to look forward to this newest litter of grandkits, due any time now. It seemed like StarClan was finally smiling down on SkyClan.

A dark shape caught his eye, and Wolfstar glanced over to see Ashstorm emerging from the warriors' den. "Ah, Ashstorm," he called over, rising to his paws. He padded over, lowering his head and purring a greeting. "Would you like to go on a hunt with me? And check a few borders, while we're out?"

Ashstorm rested her head on her paws as she lay in her nest in the warriors den.  She attempted to go to bed earlier than normal tonight, she had nothing else to do anyway.  Day felt as though they past very slowly, but when she looked back on everything that had happened, all of the events throughout her life felt like they went by fast.  From when she earned her warrior name to even when she figured out that Sneezingpaw and Mountainpaw were still alive.  Even with the Asylum, it felt like they left so long ago now, even though they were there for most of her life.

With a sigh, she lifted her head up.  She couldn't sleep, not when thinking of other things.  Not wanting to just stay in her nest, she forced herself to her paws and yawned.  She walked out of the warriors den and looked up at the moon, which hung high in the sky at this hour.  There was a good breeze as well, making it cooler than it had been in a while, which Ashstorm enjoyed because her long fur was not making the summer heat easy for her.

A familiar voice called her name and she turned her head to see that it was Wolfstar.  "Hi, Wolfstar!"  She said happily, smiling at her grandfather.  "That would be great!"  She responded, happy that she didn't need to go to far to find something to do and that she would be able to spend more time with her grandfather.  More birds would probably be out because of the recent rain and it was just the perfect temperature outside.  Not too hot, not too cold. "And this seems like perfect hunting weather too."

The moon rose above as Beechface pushed her way out of the medicine den with a low huff of irritation. It had drizzled earlier, meaning she hadn't had much of a chance to go out to gather herbs with Muddythorn as she would have liked to do. It had stopped though, and the night was reasonably cool. It had left the medicine cat restless and itching to get out of the stuffy den despite the late hour, and so that was what she intended on doing. If she had to spend another moment in the medicine den she was going to lose it. Birdsong didn't stir from her nest as Beechface hesitated slightly, glancing down at the sleeping warrior. Her neck was healing, but she was still in pain and not thrilled about being cooped up in the den any more than Beechface herself was at having to treat her injuries. She'd be fine for a few hours on her own, now.

Spotting her sister making her way out of the warrior's den, Beechface waved her tail in greeting. "Hey, Ashstorm." She mewed, padding towards the tabby... Just in time for Wolfstar to also approach.

"Grandfather." She managed to keep her tone polite enough, though their relationship hadn't improved much in the moons since Asylum had finally been ousted. Mostly he avoided her... And maybe it was the other way around too sometimes. Something had to change sooner rather than later she knew, but Beechface had little idea of how to even approach improving things. Usually she just made situations worse.

"Mind if I join you?" There was an almost pleading note in Beechface's voice. The duties of a medicine cat had her at her wits' end and tonight was no different. The idea of just tagging along on a normal hunt was nice.

The start of Muddythorn's re-training had been a lot, to say the least. It was more work than he had expected, but he was even more surprised when he found he didn't mind. This kind of workload was much more calm and collected, more about memorising and repetition than warrior training. Also, with Birdsong's neck injury, it had become a sort of crash course, even if Beechface closely watched and assisted anything he did.

He followed his mentor out of the den, and paused slightly in shock when she offered to join the two warriors. A lot of herb-hunts so far had been just the two of them, and Muddythorn wasn't ignorant to the underlying tension between the medicine cat and her grandfather. "I assume I'm coming as well?" He added hopefully. It was either this or watching Birdsong sleep, and, as much as he loved his cousin, this was much more interesting. He knew the answer was probably a yes, since Beechface hadn't stopped him following her, but it was always good to double-check.

"Perfect hunting weather indeed!" the leader confirmed, smiling at Ashstorm. Wolfstar lifted his gaze to survey the approaching medicine cat, as if his thoughts had summoned her to him. He smiled, unable to hide the briefest tendrils of tension in the greeting... things had been complicated between him and Beechface for some time now. It upset him to no end, but he didn't know what he could do about it other than stay out of her way.

"Of course, Beechface," he dipped his head, eyes flicking to Muddythorn as he approached behind her, and nodded at the tom. "I'm sure the herbs have been flourishing in this weather, as well."

Another moment of uncomfortable silence, and then Wolfstar turned and headed for the entrance, brushing his tail across Ashstorm's shoulder as he passed, almost as if in apology that their probably peaceful hunt had been turned into a tense, awkward affair. Together, the four of them moved out of camp and into the forest, Wolfstar keeping his eyes peeled for both herbs and prey. The border they shared with ShadowClan had suffered the least during the fire, and so that's where he led them. He broke off for a brief moment as the scent of a shrew caught his attention, and he followed it until he found the little creature half-buried in the ground, where he snatched it up and promptly dispatched it.

As soon as Beechface came over, she could feel the tension between her and Wolfstar.  She loved both her grandfather and sister and honestly didn't really know why there was still this much tension.  Still, the grey she-cat kept the smile on her face, even if it did turn into an awkward one.  Wolfstar brushed his tail against Ashstorm's shoulder.  She looked down as she turned around, but quickly lifted her head back up and followed after Wolfstar.

She walked with Wolfstar, Beechface, and Muddythorn, trailing slightly behind Wolfstar.  She saw a rabbit hopping along the path.  She quickly chased after it.  She dug her teeth into it and it quickly fell lifeless.

"Of course." Beechface nodded at her apprentice. Birdsong would be asleep for a while yet, but her condition had stabilized. It worried Beechface, but she also understood that she couldn't hover over the warrior. That would raise questions she didn't want to answer, aside from only stressing her out. Birdsong wasn't boneheaded stubborn like Bloodstrike or Smokefeather was, and would actually listen to an order to stay put. And it would give her an opportunity to test Muddythorn's knowledge of whatever herbs they found out there, too.

Beechface padded after her grandfather and sister, choosing to stay quiet for the moment. There was little she could say to Wolfstar that would make things less tense between them, but at least he'd allowed her to join the patrol.

"We'll search for herbs while those two hunt." She mewed to Muddythorn, keeping her voice low so that it wouldn't carry as Ashstorm went after a rabbit. She couldn't help the hot flare of jealousy that burned in her chest at her sister's easy catch. She missed hunting prey, she missed simply patrolling with her clanmates without needing to look for herbs or fret over someone's injuries.

"Nice catch, Ashstorm," Rabbits were difficult to catch, but Ashstorm seemed to have a penchant for catching them. She was skilled, that much was clear. Beechface turned in search of herbs, a plant with thin, spiky leaves catching her attention. Beechface came to a stop in front of the fennel, and glanced over at Muddythorn.

"Can you remember what this is used for, Muddythorn?" Time to test whether he'd been paying attention while going over herbs earlier.

((Khamosa, for your herb hunting requirement, you roll an effect dice and choose a herb from the list depending on what the result of the roll is. Herbs and Uses for reference.))

Effect Dice Rolls:

Burying the shrew beneath the roots of the tree, Wolfstar scraped some dirt over it and marked it so that it would be easier to find later. Satisfied, he turned just in time to watch Ashstorm take down a rabbit, and he smiled, remembering the first time he'd been out with Foxfire as an apprentice, and how the red tom had been so impressed with the catch. Wolfstar padded to her, his voice quiet, "Great job, you can take that to the elders when we return home," The elders' den had been growing crowded lately - they would no doubt appreciate it. The leader purred gently, then turned and stepped in the direction of the ShadowClan border.

Suddenly, an ever so faint scent on the breeze. Wolfstar froze, nostrils flaring, sucking in another breath, but he didn't catch it again. The others were busy behind him, and he was reluctant to worry them, but he couldn't ignore it. What if he was imagining it? Wolfstar's brow furrowed. He fought with himself for several moments, and then, "I'm going to go check something out quickly - don't wait up for me," the words left his mouth before he even really planned to speak, but once they were in the air, they were final in his mind, and the dark tom moved towards the border.

His eyes scanned the terrain, every hair on end, until finally, they caught something - a flash of gold fur, caught in a clump of pine needles a few fox-lengths up. Wolfstar's heart sank at the same time that relief flooded him. He wasn't crazy, but that meant Dawnhawk was still alive... and still haunting SkyClan's borders. His claws extended, he lifted his voice to call out to the others, and instinctually, Wolfstar sank them into the bark, scaling up until he was on a bough close enough to capture the fur. It could be Tornshadow's... but he'd scented Dawnhawk, even as faint as it was, he was sure of it... but he had to be certain. He stretched up, his foreleg extending as far as he possibly could go - one claw tipped the clump of fur and it dislodged. Wolfstar swiped to catch it, but he was no expert tree climber, and as the fur was swept away on the wind, he stumbled.

All four sets of claws dug into the bark, his eyes widening in fear for a split second as his heart hammered in his chest. Flashbacks of when he'd fallen from high, so high, when he was out with Beechface moved through his vision, but he forced himself to relax. He wasn't high at all - a fall from here wouldn't even hurt. But the weight of his paw swiping the needles had shaken the thin bough they'd been caught in, and there was a subtle, almost silent crack from above... He glanced upwards, into the thick green clumps of needles, squinting to see what had made the noise, but nothing moved, and he shrugged it off as having startled a bird.

Muddythorn watched in surprise as Ashstorm took down her rabbit, knowing that there was no way he ever could do it. As an apprentice, his hunting had always been better than his fighting, but he was still no where near skilful enough. However, his attention was quickly refocussed when Beechface asked him about the herb in front of them. He inspected the spiky green leaves, running through his memory to think of what it could be. They had been over it just this morning, and so it didn't take long. "That's... uh, Fennel! Right? And it is used for..." This part, he could not remember. He mentally listed the most common things they used herbs for: infection, painkillers, bellyaches.

"It's a painkiller... for..." Now that he thought about it, it definitely did something specific. "HIPS! That's it!" He quickly ducked his had after his outburst of a revelation, remembering that there were warriors hunting around them, and how easily prey was scared off. 

Muddythorn barely noticed Wolfstar moving away towards the border, much too caught up in searching for his own herbs. Once they walked a little further, a dark bush caught his attention. It was covered in small, purple berries, that definitely looked familiar and very healer-y. At least they were surely not death berries, given the colour. "Hey, Beechface? These are juniper berries, right?" He asked for confirmation before picking them, just in case they were some unknown poison he was adding to the herb pile.

Just as he was nipping a few of the stems to collect the berries, their leader's call lifted his head to attention.

The member 'khamosa' has done the following action : Dices roll

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'Effect Dice' : 4

"Thank you, Beechface," Ashstorm said to her sister.  Wolfstar told her that she could bring it back to the elders den and she simply said "okay" in response.  She looked around, trying to see to fine some more prey.  She hadn't really been listening to Beechface and Muddythorn's conversation, but she jumped slightly when the medicine cat apprentice yelled.  She turned towards them for a second in surprise, but said nothing.

"Okay?"  Ashstorm said skeptically as Wolfstar broke off from the group.  She was silent for a moment, trying to figure out if he was going after a piece of prey.  She thought, but couldn't remember seeing anything else.  She turned to Beechface and Muddythorn.  "Do you know why Wolfstar left?"  She mumbled.  Oh well, it was probably something he saw in the distance or something.

She went to continue to hunt.  She found a squirrel and she slowly made her way towards it.  She was almost ready to pounce, when she heard Wolfstar call.  Immediately, she looked up.  The fluffy brown squirrel then scurried away, able to live another day.

Ashstorm made her way towards where she heard Wolfstar call.  He was up in the tree.  She was under the branch he was on.  "Grandpa?"  She half whispered, trying to stay pretty quiet but talked loud enough for him to hear.  "What's going on?"

"Fennel, yes. It's used to treat hip pain, good." Beechface mewed, giving her apprentice a mildly reproachful look at the loudness. Poor Ashstorm had been startled, but hopefully there hadn't been any prey around to be startled as well.

Ashstorm continued to search for prey, and Beechface just caught her grandfather's words before he was slipping away from the group. Her eyes narrowed slightly in annoyance, but she said nothing, only turned to inspect Muddytthorn's find. "Juniper berries, good find." She confirmed.

"Said he wanted to check on something...?" She shrugged in response to Ashstorm. With a shrug she followed her sister, feeling her heart sink at spotting the leader up in a tree. It wasn't high, granted, but it still provoked memories of that unpleasant outing they'd had under Asylum's reign. Her fur lifted in instinctive alarm. Neither she nor her grandfather were known for their climbing skills, and after what had happened last time, it was unnerving to say the least.

"What's going on?" She asked, eyeing Wolfstar uneasily.

Annoyed that the only real evidence he'd have been able to get had blown away in the wind, Wolfstar bared his teeth in frustration, tail lashing. He'd been so obsessed with Dawnhawk lately that even he sometimes questioned his own sanity, he could only imagine what the others thought. Now, as the others gathered below, Wolfstar was left looking like a fool once again. "Nothing, I... nevermind," he grumbled. He shifted his weight to one side of the branch, preparing to leap down, but another crack from above sounded as his weight caused the limb to vibrate.

And then all at once: chaos. Another, weaker limb above him shattered with the combination of his movements, and then weight of a widowmaker branch perched against it. The air was filled with pine needles and shards of bark, and Wolfstar, with only a split second to decide, tried to leap out of its way. His discomfort in the trees, however, slowed him down too much, and before his paws even left the bough, the widowmaker crashed down on to him. He fell the several fox-lengths to the ground, a fall that would have been laughable had it not been for the incredibly large, heavy branch that crashed down on top of him, and anyone else within range. He'd taken the brunt of the force, though, and as he smacked the ground, covered in a heap of splintered wood and pine needles, his vision faded, and then went black, his body limp and lifeless.

Beechface followed Ashstorm and when they got there, Ashstorm gave her sister a worried look as she saw Wolfstar in the tree.  Ashstorm tilted her head thinking it was strange that Wolfstar called them over just to tell them that it was nothing.  It must be something... Ashstorm thought, but didn't say aloud.  Ashstorm was beginning to walk back, when a cracking sound reached her ear.  She began to turn around, but her time to turn was cut short as a branch fell on top of her.

She didn't get the biggest part of the blow though, that honor would have to go to Wolfstar.  Pine needles hit her through her fur.  She tried to scramble out, feeling trapped under the heavy log.  "Wolfstar, are you okay?"  She said, seeing as Wolfstar had seemed to have taken the worst of it.  She tried to reach the ground in front of her and pull herself out and it worked a little bit.  Everything hurt, but it would only make it worse if she just sat there.  Finally, she was able to slip her way out of that, but then felt like she couldn't walk after.  It was so sudden and heavy and it hurt so much, she felt like she couldn't do anything.

Ashstorm looked over at Wolfstar, feeling like she should help him.  But when she looked she found he was limp.  To still and quiet to still be conscious... or possibly alive.  She tensed looking at his lifeless body.  She knew that he should still have lives, but that didn't make it any less terrifying.  "W-Wolfstar?"  She quietly mumbled as if she hoped he'd just open his eyes right then because she said his name.

Nothing? Beechface's eyes narrowed slightly at her grandfather. Something had caught his attention, clearly, but what, she couldn't begin to guess at. Ashstorm turned away, and that's when Beechface heard the sudden crack. Beechface hissed, but was late in leaping to the side as the cats were showered in bark and pine needles. Plenty of it caught and snagged in her fur, and a low growl escaped Beechface as her gaze swung wildly towards her sister and grandfather, her heart racing. Bits of bark and needles dug into her skin, but the pain could be ignored for the moment. Adrenaline tended to do that. She'd pay for it later, of course, but her clanmates and family were more important.

"Muddythorn, Ashstorm! Are you okay?" She darted forward, trying to help Ashstorm out of the debris. She couldn't tell if it was just shock... And she really, really hoped that Ashstorm was just shocked rather than truly hurt. At bare minimum she'd have some nice bruising, but she'd at least manage to pull herself out... While Wolfstar was far too still beneath the fallen branch.

Fox. Dung.

Beechface made her way toward Wolfstar, bracing her paws on the branch as she struggled to get it off of him. "Ashstorm, Muddythorn! Can either of you help me get him out from under this?" She wasn't sure that she managed to keep the panic out of her voice entirely, but that was unimportant. They needed to get Wolfstar out of there, and then she could assess damages for everyone and get them all back to camp. Wolfstar had lives to spare, but Beechface didn't think she'd ever be okay with seeing grandfather's body so still and lifeless.