ready, set, go! [closed]

Dawnfeather grinned at Wolfblossom’s praise. Of course she’d fought like a SkyClanner- her teacher had been one by blood and by training, and to the best of her knowledge, no-one else in the Clan had been trainined by him- to think in three dimensions, to soar through the trees and climb down trunks head-first. The silver tabby’s next question, rhetorical as it may have been intended, made her ears prick regardless. “Whatever you want to be,” she purred forcefully. “You can be resilient and uncompromising yet still listen to and understand the other side’s argument.” She had done that, her whole life- uncompromising was not the first word that came to mind when anyone thought about Dawnfeather, but in her own way, she was- she never did anything she didn’t want to do- but what she wanted to do always aligned with what her loved ones wanted to do.

She nodded at Wolfblossom’s next statement. ”You’re not supposed to eat too many, it isn’t good for you.”

Wolfblossom nodded at Dawnfeather's words. She seemed... Reasonable. Strangely reasonable, in a clan that Wolfblossom had always known for unyielding stubbornness above all. Perhaps that was a good thing, and Skyclan needed more of it. "I understand that." She mewed softly, "It's good to have different ways of thinking, to not live in an echoing den." She nodded. Like poppy seeds... Dawnfeather had a point. Too many clashing ideas of only the most stubborn cats, and nothing productive could possibly be achieved. That wouldn't be good for Skyclan, just as too many poppy seeds weren't good for a cat to have.

Pale blue eyes lifted to the sky, silently judging the time for a moment. "We should start heading back before too long, I think." Things were far from normal, and for the time being as normal as they would become. Skyclan would miss the presence of two warriors soon enough, she was sure. "I thought we might hunt along the way but you put up more of a fight than I was expecting. I'm kind of tired." She added with a grin, rising to her paws and stretching out her limbs.

Dawnfeather’s eyes glimmered with joy as Wolfblossom used a metaphor. Oh, oh, she loved that- the every single sound just like the last rebounding off the stone, no creativity or original thought, no deviation from the many. Things were made to be different, truly, like each spider on his quivering web, like every leaf on a tree, golden showers of splendid majestic glory, fragile spiderwebs of frosted diamond, mountain ranges that verily supported the skies. Cats were like that, too: each made to be different. Even- nay, especially, her and Dawnhawk.

Lost in her own thoughts (no, not lost, for she knew what losing her way felt like, now, the indecision that weighed her down as surely as stones), the golden molly didn’t notice Wolfblossom glancing up at the sky. “You did well, too!” she purred, rising to her paws with the other molly, twitching her tail. Oh, this had been nice, wonderful even, calming yet with a healthy exhilaration.

“I’m right behind you.”

And she was, and she would be, for even in the span of such a brief interaction Wolfblossom had become a friend in addition to the family she already was, and already hers was a pelt Dawnfeather would be glad to see, no matter the occasion. She was making ties, finding cats to support and anchor her to the Clan. Not to replace the ones she’d lost (not lost, not truly lost, just… separated, for a time), for nothing could ever replace them- but- just because. Because Dawnfeather could not live in a Clan without trying to spread the light of laughter, could not pass a stranger without a smile and an encouraging word. It had nearly cost her life, out, all alone, but-

It was all she’d had, for a long time. And she’d cling to it- as long as she could. As long as she possibly could.