Treading [closed]

Comreyheart, Specklewish, and Dayquill. They were all great warriors in Thunderclan, all cats that Mottlerose herself had watched in one way or another. Specklewish had been her own apprentice, and even with the struggles he'd faced, managed to grow into a fine warrior. Comfreyheart had become a daughter to her, especially with her bond to Morningsun. Dayquill, while quiet in his day-to-day life, was still a tom she quite enjoyed the company of, respecting him even despite his lineage. He was proof that blood didn't define a cat, even if they happened to be from a lineage that seemed to have left a poor taste in the forest's mouth.

Nevertheless, patrols still had to go on. The deputy found herself more often than not organizing them to where she didn't have many cats left to go with her, typically only going with one other warrior, or an apprentice. It was something she wanted to get better about. With the routine patrols out of the way for the day, she figured she'd acquire some company. "Let's go see what we find, shall we? If there's quite a bit of prey, we can certainly catch some. But for the most part, I want to just get an update on how the territory is doing." After all, if there was something wrong like predators taking up nest in Thunderclan, it was important to know. More experienced warriors certainly would be able to patrol those areas safely and battle if needed, but those with apprentices would be advised to avoid it unless they were with larger patrols. Mottlerose cared deeply about the safety of her clan, and part of that was knowing just how their home as a whole was.

"Once everyone is ready, we'll set out~"

Mottlerose's summons were impossible to deny– in part, because she was their deputy, and Dayquill couldn't refuse a request from her if he wanted to. But more than her station, he liked her and considered her a friend. Turning down a friend would just be bad form. It was just an added bonus that two of his siblings would be joining them on their hunt.

Approaching the pair that had already joined up near the entrance to camp, Dayquill dipped his head in greeting, stopping at Specklewish's side to give his shoulder a gentle bump with his head. "Hello, both of you," he mewed, a groggy rasp to his voice. "Hopefully we can catch something, too. The fresh-kill pile can never be too full. But," blue eyes focused on Specklewish in particular, lingering for a moment before turning back to Mottlerose, "We'll have a good patrol, the four of us. It'll be nice."

It did her heart certainly some good to see the patrol of cats gathered around her. Not to mention seeing how they each were vocal in their own ways about what to do. Part of why she had selected these particular cats was she had wanted to know how they were doing, so she could confidently place them in charge of patrols going forward. Comfreyheart in particular she had her eye on, the she-cat had blossomed into her own brilliantly. She knew grief was still a hard thing to overcome, and it truly never went away, but she was so incredibly proud at how Comfreyheart had grown beyond it. The deputy was more than proud to call her a daughter of hers, even if they weren't related by blood. Her heart squeezed metioning the Owl Tree, as that was where they had placed the memorial for Morningsun.

"What do you think, Specklewish?" Mottlerose asked instead. Sure, as deputy, she easily could have given an answer- but she didn't always want to be the one with answers. Keeping her clanmates as cats who were listened to and encouraged to speak was just part of her job. After all, they were all a team, not simply individual cats forced to work together under a leader. "We certainly could set an end-goal of going to the Owl Tree, and perhaps find some prey on our way back? But I think Specklewish could give us some good direction on where to start."