World, Revolving [Sitewide]

Russetpaw, still looking about wildly, heart still pounding, finally, finally caught a glimpse of a familiar silvery pelt. “Silverwing!” she yowled over the commotion, sprinting her little heart out towards her mentor. The relief she’d felt seeing Whiteburn and Tigerstripe and Wheatgrass safe paled next to the overwhelming joy of seeing Silverwing alive, and okay, and even though she’d known her awesome mentor wouldn’t be laid low by a little earthquake… yeah, she was just happy to see her safe an’ sound- though happy didn’t quite cut it. Ecstatic might fit a bit better.

Perhaps she should’ve slackened her pace a bit before cannoning into her mentor, but, hey, hindsight’s something somehting yeah no time for hare-brained metaphors. “Silverwing! I was-“ she cut herself off, she wasn’t scared, kits were scared, not apprentices… but she had been, and maybe the tears pricking at her eyes gave her away- “-but I knew ya wouldn’t let a little earthquake stop you! Blazefang was watching us an’ said you knew where ta go or something- an’ I knew you’d make it ‘ere but please maybe don’t do what that again? Please? Pretty please?” the puppy-dog eyes had worked before on her mentor, she just hoped they worked now- she- she didn’t want to have to go through that again, the waiting to see if one of the cats she loved dearest in the world was- was- and having to keep up a facade of everything-was-okay, and… she wiped a paw over her eyes. Because Fourtrees was dusty. Yes.

At last. At last, Silverwing. Blazefang sprang to her paws and darted through the crowd, pushing cats out of the way on all sides. “Silverwing! There you are! When I didn’t see you I wondered what happened but I figured keeping both our apprentices in sight was probably the most important thing in all the chaos. I knew you’d come to me if you couldn’t find Russetpaw anyway. Are you all right?”

It didn't take long for her name to be called from the crowd of cats. Russetpaw? Wait, Blazefang too? Blazefang too! Any negative thoughts seemed to wash away as the two cats made their way to her, though that cat that barreled into her almost knocked the warrior off her paws. "Russetpaw, what-" Hearing the words out of the apprentice's mouth was just so surreal. Was she being mistaken for another cat? Silverwing could feel tears fill her eyes as the apprentice went on. "I didn't mean to worry you Russetpaw, really! I was just doing some very important business, but you'll know about that soon enough!" She tried desperately to keep her voice steady, she tried will some of her usual joy back into it, but she couldn't help the quivering mess she was quickly becoming. "Here I am!" She replied to Blazefang. Ah, Blazefang had taken care of Russetpaw. That was... The right thing to do. There wasn't a reason to be upset with the warrior, but it still hurt! "Y-yeah, I'm fine... No scratches or anything, all good!" The tears began to flow freely as Silverwing wrapped her tail around Russetpaw. It was a pale imitation of Lilacsong's embrace, but it would do. The silver warrior let out one last "I'm sorry." to both of the cats before settling her nose on Russetpaw's head.

Moosepaw heard Thistlemask's voice still in his head. Fourtrees. He had to get to Fourtrees...

What he wasn't expecting was the absolute mixture and chaos of cats around him. Voices, accents, smells, it was a jumbled mess of information that the massive red tomcat could barely comprehend. He was used to cars and noise, sure, but he wasn't sure if this many cats even lived in the city...

His heart pounded out of his chest, adrenaline from Comfreyheart being injured combined with the anxiety from the mass of cats practically made his ribcage burst. Copper eyes scanned them all. Fawnshine had to be here, right?

He swiveled his head, locking eyes with the medicine cat. He darted over, Comfreyheart on his back, as he gently put her by Fawnshine.

"Fawnshine, you gotta do something, I found her under a tree, it snapped on her," the tomcat rambled at her, feeling like an even bigger idiot. The massive Moosepaw stood at the ready for whatever Fawnshine needed.

Moosepaw delivered Comfreyheart to Fawnshine and is incredibly nervous with all the new cats!

Fuzzybelly came from the marshes, smelling the mixing of Clans. He knew that vision was terrifying, but so soon? What did the stars have in store for them?

"Hullo, excuse me," the brown tabby meowed, trying to find Burdockpaw and the rest of ShadowClan.

"Anyone need anything?"

Fuzzybelly is doing his best to help!

Mintheart huffed as she watched Vixenkit underfoot.

"Ain't nobody meant ta sleep in no holes. We ain't moles. We WindClan. StarClan don't want der precious kits livin' in de dirt."

Vixenkit squawked, "Don't you have some fleas to chew on?! You complain ALL the TIME!"

Mintheart and Vixenkit are looking for WindClan!

“Oh, surprises! I love surprises!” Russetpaw chirped despite the suspicious fogginess that lingered in her eyes. She was so so sos sosoooooo relieved and overjoyed to see Silverwing safe, but at the same time all the scary panic she’d been stuffing down was threatening to overwhelm her??? It was all very confusing, but now that Silverwing was here, everyone she cared about was safe, and Russetpaw could finally take a deep breath and relax… somewhat.

“‘S alright,” Russetpaw mumbled, melting into the embrace with a warm purr. “Jus’, next time maybe don’t disappear on us like that, eh? Save surprise-plannin’ for days wi’out earthquakes, eh?”

A sniffle escaped Acornkit as she was gently lowered to the ground, wasting no time to lean against Echokit. Shortly after they had left the camp, a realization had hit her - she had left behind the precious rock that her friend had given her. She knew the camp was dangerous and this was for the best but if anything happened to it or if she lost it forever... She mutely nodded her head when Briarrose asked for them to stay with the apprentice, simply settling down. Maybe...Maybe it was for the best to try to sleep. She felt exhausted from all of the confusion and chaos - it was just so much for a little kit to take.

---

Perchstar tried to slow her heartbeat as she looked over the cats who flooded into the clearing. There were a lot. She recognized many faces. She returned Stormdance's nod, once again feeling a quiet rush of gratitude for his invaluable assistance. Her eyes met those of Poppyshine for a moment, and she allowed herself to inhale sharply in relief. Not only was the deputy here safely, but there was a lucidity to her eyes she hadn't seen since the calico's fall in camp half a moon ago. However, that was where the relief began and ended. Poppyshine's gaze was immediately drawn back down to Hickorypaw, one of the cats who had been missing during the headcount in camp. Perchstar's apprentice. At first, she was glad to see him, and almost began to walk around and look for others. Then, at the sight of the apprentice's back half, she stopped. His back legs were unmoving, held at unnatural angles that left only one answer to the question that rose immediately to her mind. Even as Dovesight ran up to help, thankfully gaining her wits to command the situation, letting a still-comatose Harebounce rest on her makeshift bed a few lengths away, Perchstar could not redirect her gaze. Her apprentice was badly injured. She hadn't found him out in the territory and saved him from whatever had happened. Another tragedy she could have prevented.

She wanted to walk forward to Hickorypaw, to see him, to talk to him, to comfort him? to apologize? She wasn't sure what she wanted to do, but her paws were frozen. Unmoving. It was just as well, as she would have only cluttered the crowd that began to move around the dazed tom.

Perchstar's anxiety, which was gradually resurfacing from the necessary façade she'd forced herself to bear ever since the shaking of the earth, was briefly interrupted by a face poking into hers. Sandypaw, bless her heart, had come to offer herbs. To her and to Stormdance, as well, who upon second glance seemed to be nearly as close to collapsing under the weight of his own emotions as she was. Though she could not quite force any more words past her stiff maw as of yet, she accepted the herb with a nod, hoping that the gratitude in her eyes was visible at the young apprentice's assistance. She was certainly Poppyshine's daughter.

Worry later. Act now.

Perchstar once again shoved down the tangled mess of fear and worry and guilt that threatened to put her out of commission. She could not afford to stop. Her face regulated back to her leader expression, and she finally managed to move her paws. For a moment, she stopped next to Stormdance, resting her tail on his shoulders. He had done so much. Without him, she may have lost a life running herself ragged trying to evacuate camp single-pawed. "Thank you. Please, get some rest. You've earned it." Turning back to the large mass of RiverClan cats, she saw that their number had grown by two. Sprucebark and Hawkshriek, who had been somehow temporarily swept away by the shallow waters, had managed to return, looking not too worse for wear. Another tiny blessing in the sea of unfortunate circumstances. She barely managed to offer a nod to the two tired toms before her gaze was directed elsewhere. She saw Twistpool, Brookstone, Kitespring, and many others. It seemed that they might have all made it, despite all the odds, though she may have been missing someone in her half-fogged mind.

Next, she had to approach the small cluster of cats who had surrounded Hickorypaw. As much as she wanted to do all the things that crossed her mind-- run forward, call his name, bury her face in Poppyshine's fur, scream at the sky for giving them yet another trial when their previous ones hadn't even gone away-- she restrained herself, and simply stood there for a moment. Her face was calm. Her voice only wavered a little bit. "Dovesight, I trust that you can take care of him. Let me know if you need anything, and I will do my best to assist. Poppyshine, I believe we have everyone, but we may be missing an apprentice or two. I must go talk with the leaders. Will you be okay on your own for a little while?" Despite her desire to appear as neutral as possible, she could not stop herself from leaning forward and softly pressing her nose to her friend's head for just a moment. The cat she cared most about in the world. The only one left. The rock she'd relied on for so long, who had come so close to being lost. Poppyshine was alive. She would remain so. "I will be with you soon. For now, I need to know what the other leaders are discussing. Thank you for all your help."

Perchstar hoped that she looked as calm and objective as she had practiced appearing, even though the moment she allowed herself to rest, she would likely collapse under the weight of her collective stresses. But once again, she knew that there was no time to do so. Instead, she walked over to the other leaders she saw. Only Shrikestar and Nightstar? Where were the rest? She saw cats from SkyClan and ThunderClan, deputies even. But where was Mottlestar? Briarstar? What happened to them? She forced herself to continue walking until she reached the small conference the two toms were holding. "Shrikestar, Nightstar. I am glad to see your Clans remain relatively unscathed. Have you seen Mottlestar or Briarstar? How fare your camps?" The answers were likely "no" and "not well," given that they had come to Fourtrees just as she did, but she would give them the courtesy of answering. The least she could do was offer an opening to discuss the obvious question that loomed over everyone's heads: What Now?

Burdockpaw heard Fuzzybelly's voice call out over the mewling of the other kittens in the clearing. She raised her head so he could see her. "Fuzzybelly!" She called, the herbs still on her back making it impossible to meet him. She waited impatiently for him to come over then looked at him blankly. "I have the herbs under my pelt." She said flatly. For StarClan's sake, at least Fuzzybelly would have to help her.

Burdockpaw is trying to get Fuzzybelly to help her get the herbs off her back.