Recuperation [Sitewide]

Birdchaser

 
Terror was becoming a familiar feeling.

The day the earth moved should have been the height of terror for Birdchaser– for any cat. She had heard plenty of frightening stories when she was still a kit. She heard them whispered still, now that she had grown. The ones that stuck out the most were the recent ones, those that felt like her own memories rather than the tall tales of haggard elders. Hulking beasts caked in sludge and grime, alongside the worst of the forest's ilk brought back from their eternal darkness to torment the living. Though she hadn't been alive yet to see them, she could see imagine their grisled features, the screams they left in their wake.

Still, their recent traumas seemed worse. Maybe it was just because she'd gotten the absolute pleasure of experiencing it directly.

A heavy sigh passed Birdchaser's maw. Sighing, she'd been doing that a lot lately. Sighing, brooding; neglecting sleep or sleeping too much; neglecting meals or attention to her leg. She'd wanted to devote all her energy to keeping SkyClan afloat as they sheltered with the other Clans under Fourtrees. Keeping their spirits high, keeping them fed and well. There was scarcely any energy left to care for herself, though she managed somehow.

And then there were twolegs. Another horror, where they were all just trying to heal, with their oddly gurgling monsters and strange yowls. The rumble of their monsters shook the ground as they stalled, watching hungrily from the treeline. In desperation, so many cats had fled, all in different directions. Too many weren't lucky enough to escape. Her heart panged for all of those unfortunates, even those she would never know by name.

What thin reserves of energy had previously been devoted towards managing her own needs were focused solely on SkyClan now. For days, Birdchaser prowled the woods. As promised, she found as many of her scattered Clanmates as she could. She knew there were missing faces among the crowd; she wouldn't have even needed to look to know something had changed in SkyClan. But when she had not been searching for her family, she remained close to Fourtrees. Watching, perched silently in the boughs of thin trees, as the twolegs set down their odd, silvery wreaths of brambles. As they laid something in them that smelled like food, but carried their reek and an unfamiliar tang. As they slowly, slowly peeled away.

Safety. Finally.

It was tenuous at best, Birdchaser knew that. Though they had left, they were not gone. The remains of them echoed: the acrid reek and distant rumble of their beasts was an ever-present ambience; their shouts and heavy steps filled the air from dawn to sunset; and their traps. So many of their traps. They were gone though, at least from this clearing, at least for now. When they were gone, and she was sure of it, she roused each of her Clanmates from their hiding spots, guiding them into the hollow.

It was a terribly odd feeling. She'd yet to be at the head of SkyClan as they descended the slope into Fourtrees, and never in her life had Birdchaser seen the clearing so... empty. Empty, and yet filled with the clutter of disaster, hastily torn away remains of the other Clans' lives. It was then that the exhaustion caught up with her in full. She wanted more than anything to let her legs fold beneath her and fall asleep in the middle of the clearing. She would sleep for days, or moons, or however long it would take for her to be a new apprentice again, naïve and reckless and not yet exposed to the nature of the forest.

But that was not an action she could afford. SkyClan needed... something. Anything. With great effort, she lumbered to the base of the Great Rock, and hauled herself slowly along the well-worn grooves marking its face. Once she scaled the top, she paused, looking down at the faces below her. She had raced up here in a fit to announce their flight into the woods; she stood here now, surrounded only by the quiet thrum of twolegs and the beat of her Clanmate's hearts. This was never how she'd imagined her first few views from the Rock. It was meant to be scenic, a brilliant full moon lighting the clearing, the casual din of a Gathering echoing around her as she soaked in leadership for the first time.

I don't want this. I'm still so young. I can't stand to be their deputy anymore.

She wheezed. Self-doubt would do her no good now. They would need her, would need an affect of leadership around, even a poor one. "SkyClan," Birdchaser's shaky voice rose through the hollow air, "please report to me if you know of anyone that was taken with– that was– please tell me if anyone was lost, or if someone's gone missing since. Do nothing except rest for now. I'm so, so sorry for these miserable days. The clearing itself is safe: please, just rest. I'm scared if any of you go too far right now, SkyClan will lose you too." The waver in her voice grew thicker there, and Birdchaser's head dropped, hung low against her chest. There were no more words for her to say, other than a silent plea that, if StarClan were listening, they would all be safe soon.