complacent with the decisions you've made [O]

Stormwatcher glanced over at the sound of a meeting called. Curious he went over. His eyes widened as the leader and deputy both appeared to be injured??

He got very nervous,

Stormwatcher from 4 moons ago would not have cared all that much and would have seen this as an interuption to a nap.

However! now he was much more close with wolf as much as he would never admit that aloud. And he did like bird too, the pair of them were like his older sisters not that he would ever tell that aloud either.

Going over towards wolf but stopping to give her enough room and for enough room for Smoke to inspect injures and all.


"good stars... are you okay? he meowed. For once the concern in his voice was actually apparent.

his eyes drifted over and he saw the lifeless trufflesnap and the hair along his back rose in shock.

"oh no" he muttered

Her shoulders felt like they were on fire.

Wolfblossom had accepted only the bare minimum from Thunderclan’s medicine cats, wanting desperately to be back on her own territory and away from their prying gazes after what had just occurred in Mottlestar’s den. She limped alongside her sister, the weight of their former clanmate shared between them doing little to make the deputy’s wounds hurt any less. Their trek was plagued by pauses and stops, Wolfblossom’s ragged breaths the only sound beyond their pawsteps.

She didn’t trust herself to speak, choosing instead to keep her silence and her expression carefully neutral until they were well away from the fallen oak that marked the border between the two clans. The body they carried stiffened, a twitch of limbs making Wolfblossom’s own posture stiffen in turn. Dead, she reminded herself, Trufflesnap was dead.

Even if she had trusted herself to speak, the hard lump in her throat would have made that impossible. The deputy’s shoulders dropped, exhaustion and pain lacing each step toward camp. Her head turned briefly, eyes flicking to Birdstar before returning to the path ahead with grim resolve. What a mess the past few days had been, what a mess that single, solitary patrol had turned out to be. Trufflesnap had not been a member of Skyclan for some time, but Wolfblossom dreaded bringing this back to Skyclan camp all the same. Her transgressions could not be allowed to stand, she was – had been, Wolfblossom told herself – a danger to them all. Killing a leader so indiscriminately, trying to take Wolfblossom with her at the end... No. Sister or not, family or not, Trufflesnap could not be allowed to continue to be a threat. Skyclan would not suffer such looming over them again, no matter how much the decision left a bitter taste in her mouth, no matter the ache in her chest that rivaled the physical pain in her shoulders as she limped onward.

The entrance to camp was awkward, walking side by side with Birdstar and with the body across their backs, but Wolfblossom managed. Trufflesnap’s weight was removed from her back, though Wolfblossom hardly felt the difference as she sat heavily, pain etched in every movement. Birdstar briefly pressed the top of her head to Wolfblossom’s, and the deputy closed her eyes, a ragged breath escaping her as she pressed against her sister. “I'm sorry it came to this.” She said quietly, then Birdstar was turning toward the tallbranch and the unenviable task in front of her. Wolfblossom’s gaze flicked around camp, searching for family. Falconmoon, Sunfire and Graywind... The aunt they had hardly known daring to speak their names had sent anger boiling through her blood. They would never become what she was. Never. Finding them among her clanmates was a relief. Beechfang, sitting near the entrance to the warrior’s den... Not a relief. She had thought about it since making their way into Thunderclan’s camp, and any thoughts of how to explain this mess to their mother were simply beyond Wolfblossom’s capability right now. All she wanted to do was find her nest and sleep for a moon or three.

---

Stoneheart sat quietly outside the nursery, watching over Kestrelkit when movement at the camp’s entrance heralded the return of clanmates... And the scent of blood and death. The body the deputy and leader brought with them was vaguely familiar to the aloof queen, and the sight of it immediately had her turning, gently ushering Kestrelkit inside the nursery. Evidently, foxes were not the only threat to Skyclan that had been dealt with violently, if the disheveled state of their deputy was any indication. She’d noted Wolfblossom and Birdstar’s absence earlier in the day, but had just thought the two were patrolling together. Trufflesnap had been a clanmate once, but she was Thunderclan now. What were they doing with a dead Thunderclanner in camp? Worry for the potential outcome swirled in her gut, but Stoneheart’s face remained stoic.

---

Graywind was resting outside the medicine den. The wounds on her shoulder were healing up nicely, and her paws itched to be back on her normal patrols and duties. Following the medicine cat’s orders was a struggle, one that the warrior undertook only reluctantly. The appearance of her mother and aunt arriving in camp with a body andblood staining their fur made the golden-eyed warrior rise to her paws, fur bristling at seeing her mother in such a state. Smokepetal was called for quickly, but Graywind paid the medicine cat little mind as she glanced between her mother, Birdstar and the body of a somewhat-familiar calico. She remembered that pelt only vaguely, having not spent much time with the former Skyclanner while she’d been alive... And she was very much dead now, as the vivid crimson staining her throat and the stiffness of her body indicated. Wolfblossom looked exhausted and the wounds she had acquired were still bleeding through very minimal cobwebs... Graywind’s eyes narrowed, her tail lashing once. Whatever had happened, she didn’t think it was anything pleasant. Not that Skyclan seemed to know much of pleasantness the past couple days.

---

A dull eye lifted from staring at blood on her paws that only she could see, turning toward the camp entrance in silence as the commotion of Birdstar and Wolfblossom’s return roused her attention. The scent of blood and death permeated the air, only this time it was all too real and not her own paws. The returning leader and deputy looked as though they had seen better days, and the blood covering their fur was more than a little alarming. The body they carried with them, coming to rest on the soft earth before Birdstar turned toward the tallbranch was more of a shock. An all-too-familiar dilute calico lay unnaturally still, the vivid stain of red at her throat and soaking her chest fur indicating the reason why. No, no no no... Beechfang’s own hackles rose, heedless of the minimal herbs covering her own recent wounds as her stare bore into the trio. The daughter who had left Skyclan before her return, who she hadn’t seen in moons. Who had thought she abandoned her, who might have been right, Beechfang thought, as a twinge of guilt tangled with other emotions made her chest constrict painfully. Trufflesnap. Dead.

Her daughter, perhaps the one too much like herself for her own good, was dead. Wolfblossom, injured. And Birdstar... Her eye turned toward the leader, swinging from the closed down, distant stare of Wolfblossom to the daughter that was calling the clan together from the tallbranch, something in her gut twisting at the sight. Birdstar’s gaze too was fixed on a distant point, the heaviness that surrounded leader, deputy and their fallen sister thick enough to cut with claws. There was a sinking weight of dread in Beechfang’s stomach as she watched, grief clouding her expression. Whatever had happened, the stars had taken another of her children today. So soon after Plumleaf had succumbed to illness, and her father had...

Beechfang shook her head slowly, jaws parting briefly before words failed her. All she could do was watch, paws frozen to the earth.

The scent of blood and death still lingered upon the walls and floor of the medicine den. First Plumleaf, stolen from her in the night by some uncontrollable sickness, and then Bloodstrike, slain by the claws of his own daughter only steps away from where Smokepetal slept at night. Or... tried to sleep, at least, trying to ignore the spike of fear every time a shadow danced across the entrance of the den.

There were many shadows, now, as the sun began to dip below the treeline, but she still didn't sleep, choosing instead to curl up in silence and stare outside, eyes following the movement of the warriors and apprentices as they walked past. The ground beneath her was hard and empty, the nest having been thrown out after the vicious conflict that had left the inside of the den splattered with gore. She hadn't had the energy nor the heart to replace it.

There was a commotion outside as the clan began to stir, and Smokepetal was on her paws and halfway into the camp when Birdstar's sharp summons startled her into a trot, and her eyes raked the pair, searching for injuries to explain the sudden scent of blood. Then Birdstar spoke, and Smokepetal noticed the cobweb bandages. "Oh," Wolfblossom, her beloved mentor, now in harm's way as well. Unfamiliar anger bubbled up in Smokepetal's chest, her throat burning as she lamented about the injustice of it all. What had SkyClan done to deserve all these terrible things?

"Come, please - g-gently though," the smoky tabby turned and touched her shoulder against the deputy's, offering the support if she needed it on the way... and it was then that her eyes landed on the body they'd brought with them, something she hadn't noticed before. Smokepetal froze momentarily in shock, but didn't linger on it, and quickly made her way past it and towards the den. The cat was someone she only barely recognized... and if it had anything to do with what had happened to the leader and deputy tonight, Smokepetal couldn't bring herself to care... she was full up on grief. Right now, the only thing on her mind was getting Wolfblossom to safety, so she could treat her and make her better. This, she could - no, she wouldfix.

Smokepetal was quick to appear from the medicine den, and Wolfblossom gratefully leaned against the offered shoulder as she was guided toward the medicine den. "Thank you... Been a rough few days, hasn't it?" She wished that this would not be placed upon her former apprentice's shoulders as well, but the burden of leading the clan was a heavy weight they all shared. Birdstar began to speak, and a weary sigh left the deputy. It was more than just the blood loss and extent of her injuries that made her feel exhausted.

---

Wolfblossom was led toward the medicine den, and Beechfang's attention was caught and held by Birdstar's words. She'd known her daughter had left for Thunderclan, but to realize that most of the clan now was even too young to remember her... It was another startling reminder of how fast the world moved, of how time marched mercilessly onward.

Birdstar continued, and Beechfang despaired as the hopes of a rogue, a predator, the siblings defending each other were stripped away. Trufflesnap... Had attacked her own sisters. Had taken one of Birdstar's lives. Had been prepared to bring Wolfblossom down with her. Something bitter rose in Beechfang's chest, clawing at her throat as she listened to Birdstar strip away any hopes she had once held of her daughters not being like their ancestors. The conversations she'd held with her kits before her own exile for murder... With Trufflesnap. Attempting desperately to make them understand the importance of family, the idea that some actions were simply wrong and deserved appropriate consequence, but that she would never abandon them. For Trufflesnap, it seemed, those words had fallen on deaf ears and gone ignored.

Birdstar continued, sharing bits and pieces of a story that Beechfang had never known. Of nonsensical sibling spats and disagreements, of being goaded into fighting... It reminded Beechfang far too much of her and Dawnpaw as apprentices and young warrior, young medicine cat. After everything, that cycle had repeated.

Trufflesnap was dead before things could escalate more than they already did. Perhaps Beechfang's earlier thought about the stars claiming another had been wrong. Listening to Birdstar speak, it was hard to imagine that Trufflesnap would walk among them. The leader's words and stare were filled with too much heartache to be falsified, much as Beechfang did not want to believe that her kits would succumb to the same mistakes she had.

She had taken Trufflesnap's life. Made it quick. Hardly a comfort, given the suffering Trufflesnap had already inflicted, hardly a comfort knowing that it was her own kits who had fought each other. That one of her own could be so murderous. But then, thinking of herself and Dawnhawk, how could she have expected they turn out any differently? They had both raised claws against family, why should Beechfang's kits be any different? Something in the dark forest had cursed this family long ago, it seemed, and nothing escaped it. Birdstar's bloody paws were not alone. Just another way Beechfang'd failed them all.

Anger stirred beneath the grief and shock of what Beechfang was hearing, stirred more at Birdstar's final orders before dismissing the meeting. The way her daughter's voice cracked made her claws itch to tear into something, but there was nothing for them to tear into. Birdstar disappeared into her den, and Beechfang lifted a paw to follow, before hesitating. She ought to see Wolfblossom too, be there for both of them. But she lacked the energy to make her paws move. She didn't know how to even start, were she to make it into Birdstar's den or to Wolfblossom's side. She felt numb, and Trufflesnap... A single, ill-timed glance at the body was all at once too overwhelming for the old warrior to do a thing.