saith my heart / i am a soldier [closed]

A spindly crown of surely melting snowfall dusted the prickly nape of the neck, a rapidly dissipating dusting of partially translucent frost gently bleaching the dark fur into a removed, washed out grey. Left to nurse a thoroughly bruised tongue, the new wound which had only freshly blossomed in the aftermath of a futile attempt at working himself free of any lingering entanglements of debris and stony ice, Jaystar turned an unblinking eye in the direction opposite of the wilting, snow-heavy entrance. It was a truly unfortunate day to put up the energy for a patrol- the past few sunrises marked only by the perpetually mounting banks of snowfall and creeping tendrils of ice weaving across browned and brittle earth.

The world's continual turning upon its axis did not halt for the counterfeit death, though.

Dark gaze fixed upon the softly swaying movements of deceptively strong reeds, the dark-furred tom's pointedly schooled expression appeared to be more apt with the studious procession of precariously strung together boundaries compared to the independent act of actively searching for his assigned counterparts for the afternoon. Though he was familiar with Dewlight through a relationship secured largely in blood spilled together, the two young ones they were meant to be attending were wholly unfamiliar by all standards discounting parentage. Softly wounded tongue clicking and curling sharply against the hard bed of teeth encasing it, Jaystar shifted softly atop the frigid carpeting of churned snow and freezing sands, perpetual dredges of an unspoken, non-verbal argument whittling away at the edges of his sanity, already thoroughly fed up with the frigid weather that had descended upon the forest in recent times.

Dewlight approached Jaystar quietly, lowering her marred face respectfully as she joined him. Without a word, she settled close by to wait for the other members of their patrol, wishing that newleaf would come sooner rather than later. The younger cats that would be joining them better not be too late, it was far too cold to sit around and wait for them for a moon. Shifting her weight from paw to paw, she wondered if they would continue without them if they took too much longer.

Though the wind was sharp and the cold bit at his toes, Otterpaw swiftly made his way from the apprentice’s den to where Jaystar and Dewlight sat, panic striking him as he approached the duo. Lowering his head respectfully to the leader and nodding sweetly to Dewlight, he mewed, ”Sorry to keep you waiting, I uh… I was making sure the kits and queens had prey.” Though it wasn’t a lie, it wasn’t the full truth, either. He had brought fresh kill to the nursery, but he certainly spent more time than was necessary flaunting his status as a soon-to-be-warrior to the beaming kits that wanted to know all about his training.