Family Ties [Lynxpaw/Owlshade]

It was morning, and the sounds of cats up and about all over fourtrees meant Bracken was half-curled in her nest, wide awake, ears twitching with every noise. Her broken leg was splayed awkwardly, the position about as comfortable as she could make herself, which wasn't very comfortable at all. Birchpaw and Batsong were doing what they could, of course, but a broken leg wasn't something that would heal in a day. To say that Brackenwing had been antsy was a little bit of an understatement.

Just her luck, to be injured and stuck in fourtrees, of all the miserable places to be stuck at. With the other clans. In effect, it was an even larger, tenser gathering than ever, and Brackenwing very much wished for the confines of Windclan's own camp. Of course, after the churned earth had come twolegs, the lumbering beasts roaming through the territory with loud, heavy footfalls and harsh voices that could be heard faintly even from this distance, so simply going home wasn't quite an option. She worried for Windclan's missing clanmates, and even for the clanmates that had made it to fourtrees with the rest of the clan. Lynxpaw, Owlshade, Flutterpetal who had helped her back to camp after the earth had decided to throw her off of her paws in violent fashion. Silverwing, who hadn't appeared.

Her dark-tipped tail twitched in agitation as Brackenwing carefully pulled herself upright, licking a paw and carefully grooming herself. The broken leg made any real attempts at such exceedingly difficult, but being in fourtrees among so many cats made her skin itch and her fur prickle with discomfort.

Green eyes narrowed as Brackenwing stared out at the landscape around her. The leaves that still remained in the trees were shades of red and brown, with many having fallen already. The sight of branches overhead was a disconcerting one, even if the four oaks should have been a sign of safety to many. In Brackenwing's opinion, they were just trees, no more important than any others. Hopefully, she thought, those trees wouldn't come crashing down on them all if the ground decided to start shaking again.

Fourtrees was not a place that had ever been foreign to Owlshade. He'd been to nearly every Gathering since becoming an apprentice... not that he really enjoyed the company of the other clans, per se, but it was nice to see some faces he didn't already know every once in a while. This, though...

As the pale tom sat on the fringes of the clearing that had become their temporary home, his eyes keenly surveying the cats that milled about, his gaze wandered to where Brackenwing and Lynxpaw lay, at a distance from once another. The cats had mostly separated Fourtrees into five sections - one for each clan, naturally - which meant that the little section that Windclan had to themselves had them pretty on top of one another. Except, apparently, for his sister and niece, who (seemingly deliberately) had kept a distance, despite both of them being denbound for one reason or another.

Owlshade's long tail flicked as his mind pondered this. He'd known, of course, that Lynxpaw had been taken ill, but he'd never visited the medicine den, never asked her how she was doing. A small part of him felt guilty for that, but that's just the way it was, and always had been. Their family had been shattered a long time ago, and never really recovered. The pain of Shimmergale's recent death only struck home the rule that Owlshade tried so hard to enforce with himself: don't get attached. It was impossible, however, for him not to be attached to Brackenwing, his final remaining sibling, and by extension, he supposed that should extend to Lynxpaw as well.

With a quick sigh, he rose and padded over to where they were sat, making sure to sit exactly in between them, so that they'd both be able to hear him. [color:0b9b=##9d69ff]"So," his eyes flicked from one she-cat, then the next. "How are we feeling today?"

Lynxpaw's presence a distance away had, of course, been noticed. Her daughter had been sick since shortly after becoming an apprentice, stuck in the medicine den for moons. There had been nothing Brackenwing could do, aside from bringing her fresh-kill. She would begin to say something then stop, ever-unsure of herself and how to approach the young tabby. Overly-concerned fussing wouldn't have been appreciated, Brackenwing knew, nor would Brackenwing have appreciated it herself. So she worried, but kept it to herself.

To be sharing the same makeshift "den" (if it could even be called that) as Lynxpaw felt strange, and awkwardness hovered in the air around the marbled warrior. Green eyes shifted toward the still-recovering apprentice, her jaw parted... Then snapped shut. She didn't know what to say, and never had. Swiftspirit would've, or Shimmergale. But Brackenwing? She'd fumbled her way through a short-lived fling, had fumbled her way through Lynxpaw's kithood, and generally fumbled her way through social interactions.

She caught sight of her brother Owlshade approaching, and thought with sardonic amusement that he too hadn't quite managed to inherit their mother's grace with social interactions... Or keeping up with family. Neither had she, of course. She'd promised herself that she would do better and yet... And yet, here they sat. In silent, agonizing awkwardness. Still, she was glad of her brother's presence, a weary, if tense smile flickering across her expression.

Her shoulders began to lift in a habitual shrug at Owlshade's question, and stopped with a wince. Green eyes glanced briefly at her broken leg, as if offended. "Fine, I guess... Counting the days until we're out of fourtrees." She wasn't the only one who wasn't enjoying fourtrees, she was sure, nobody in their right mind would. And the rumblings that there were twolegs mucking about... It worried Brackenwing. What if the twolegs found them? Lynxpaw was still sick, she could tell that her daughter wasn't at a hundred percent, not that Lynxpaw would admit such (gee, where had she gotten that habit from?) and for all Brackenwing's aloof awkwardness, the idea of her daughter being injured was terrifying. Owlshade was strong and in good health, but twolegs and their monsters were unpredictable and nothing that a cat had ever fought and come out on top of. She didn't want to lose what little family she had left.

"What have you been up to?" She asked, glancing back up at Owlshade.