i can't handle change [C]

Rowanpaw

The memory of Sprucebark, Hawkshriek, and Reedpaw being torn away by the river was haunting, and that was generous. It had made Rowanpaw particularly prickly, and was often all he thought about. Even though two of them had returned, he'd yet to wrap his head around how quickly they'd been pulled away. He had yet to speak with either of them since their return, either. Some part of him could not rationalize that they had been taken and given back in such a short time. It seemed entirely surreal to him. It still felt like they were a figment of his imagination, even as he watched them move and talk and sleep as any living cat would. It disturbed him. Many things did, now.Still, there were some small comforts: mostly to be found in his mother and in Stormdance. There was also comfort to be found in his other family, through blood or adoption. Today, with no matters of feeding his Clan to attend to, he went seeking out Sootspirit. He didn't speak to his adoptive brother often, though he did like the warrior and looked up to him a deal. Approaching the elder tom from behind, Rowanpaw swatted halfheartedly at his tail, hoping to gain his attention without earning equal reproach. "Sootspirit?" He hummed dryly, batting again at his brother's tail.

Rowanpaw

Sootspirit was slow to address him, and stammered at first when he started to speak. Rowanpaw's ears lowered. A lot had happened in just a few short days. A lot had happened to their family, before all this. Sighing, Rowanpaw pulled his paws in closer to himself, sat up a little straighter, and forced on as light of a smile as he could manage. "Oh, it is nothing much," he hummed softly. As he started to speak he shuffled forward a little bit so that he was sitting properly at Sootspirit's shoulder and his brother didn't have to crane around so much to regard him.

"It's so busy here, is it not? All the Clans in one place for so many days. It certainly feels odd.  And yet, somehow still so lonely. Isn't that odd?" Rowanpaw's voice was calm and distant, but there was a wistfulness to it– a quiet echo of his own personal loneliness creeping into his musings. "I did not want anything in particular, I don't think. Only to say hello, and see if we are both well. You are one of my brothers I do not speak with enough, and that is a shame. Tragedy is as good a motivator as any, then."

Rowanpaw

An ear flicked acknowledgingly toward Sootspirit as Rowanpaw's attention turned away from the warrior, instead scanning the clearing. Sootspirit had neither confirmed nor denied that he was well– but, well, were any of them? Every Clan was properly rattled by this turn of events, and Sootspirit had had the luck of preceding it with the loss of his own kin. Rowanpaw's tail swept idly across the grass as he watched cats mill about the clearing, going about their own familiar routines.

"Me? Oh, yes. Never fear. I am always alright." The sentence was punctuated with a laugh not unlike the yap of a fox. Tipping his head backwards to look at Sootspirit without turning around, Rowanpaw went on, "I do not have much in the way of trouble to bog down my mind. In fact, I may consider this affair a small blessing– though I am newly bound to Fourtrees, in some ways, I am just as newly unfettered. What a fine way for a young cat to gather new experiences, wouldn't you agree?" His smile didn't entirely reach his eyes. In truth, he hated this ordeal and wished to return to the comfort and familiarity of his nest, of their camp and home, but whining did not do well for morale. It was easier, this way. "As well as we can be, yes?"