ain't over yet [c]

For the first time in days, the sun was shining. Having had a near-perpetual gray sky for the last half-moon, it was bizarre to walk outside and not be greeted by frigid gloom, but Sunfire couldn't bring himself to complain... the beams were warm on his pelt, and the clear sky meant they were unlikely to be assaulted by snow, at least for now. That was reason enough to get out of camp, and he would have, even if he hadn't been assigned this patrol. But he'd probably be doing it alone, in that case... and not with whoever it was that had been told to go with him. The yellow tom padded over to wait in the designated spot, busying himself with a quick groom in the meantime, and wishing that either of his siblings were well enough to be here waiting with him.

While Mintglade always took it upon herself to be as jovial as possible, there was something about the sunshine that seemed to make the she-cat practically sparkle. Accompanied with the fact that her symptoms had lessened to no longer practically force her to be nest-ridden, she was feeling significantly more jubilant. Her fur had been finally groomed out of all the mats that had formed in her days of sleeping, and though a cough still kept itself pent up in her chest and the occasional flash of chill or hot worked its way through her fur, she knew she could do much more than she had been able to for the past moon. As such, she'd practically begged Wolfblossom to let her out of camp and onto some patrol, wanting to do something for Skyclan other than sit around and chew through Smokepetal's herb stores.

Reigning in her relief and enthusiasm to a much more professional degree, the silver molly approached with a dip of her head. "Hi there~!" Her words rumbled with a purr, and though the crackle of congestion still lingered in her chest, it was far from what it had even been during sunrise. It took only one look at the tom's head for her to know just who it was: Sunfire. The one who had been... unlucky enough to end up at the receiving end of the tortoiseshell leader of Thunderclan's wrath. Having had her entire apprenticeship under Beechfang, it wasn't like she was unfamiliar with seeing grotesque scars on cats. However, something about it was almost... artistic as she looked at it. Careful not to look for too long, Mintglade's tail ripped as she properly came to the tom's side.

"I'll let you take the lead, if you'd like." She immediately offered, dipping her head with respect. From her knowledge, this was also the tom who was Bubblepaw's father. Odd, given just how little they looked like one another. While Sunfire was strong and muscular, she knew Bubblepaw to be much more soft and round. Shrugging the detail off as simply a manner of complicated cat genetics far beyond her own comprehension, she was more than ready to get going. Part of the entire purpose of Mintglade's desire to go on patrol was to assess her own energy levels for taking her newly-assigned apprentice, Shatteredpaw, out for training. For now, she felt good and strong, and simply hoped the best for allowing her energy to carry her through their route.

With half of SkyClan still too sick to leave their nests, Sunfire had grown used to cycling through the same few warriors and apprentices on patrol... usually, he could tell by the way they walked, by their silhouette in his periphery, who it was that was coming to join him. So when an unfamiliar shape appeared there, it startled him enough that he glanced over, brows raised in query, only to see Mintglade. He blinked dumbly once, and then shook his head, looking past her briefly as if expecting Falconmoon or Graywind to follow.

Surely if Mintglade was well enough to go on patrol, the others would be, too? Soon?

Sunfire's eyes were drawn back to Mintglade when she spoke, and he felt almost guilty about not being thankful that at least one of his clanmates was on the mend. He wasn't particularly close to the she-cat, but she'd always been nice, and she was loyal to SkyClan. "Hi." His tone was not nearly as bubbly as hers, but it was friendly enough, and he flicked his tail in greeting, rising to his paws as she reached him. Together, they quit the camp and ducked into the snow-covered forest.

Everything was white: the ground, the tree branches, the bushes, and as they walked, and the lake came into view, Sunfire noted that the first several cat-lengths against the shore were frozen solid, too, and coated in a layer of unbroken snow. The yellow tom paused, watching his breath frost in the air in front of him, and stared out over the flat expanse of water. "It's good to see you up and about, Mintglade." He'd seen the she-cat whenever he went to visit his siblings, and she'd looked equally as terrible, curled up in a nest and half-dead like the rest of them. Now, that wasn't the case - she was still thin, but her pelt was well-groomed, and her eyes held a light that, quite frankly, was refreshing in comparison to the doom and gloom that had persisted about the clan recently.

If there was anything that Mintglade expected, it was certainly for her clanmates to never fully reciprocate her impossibly cheerful demeanor. She'd grown up that way since she was a kit, always being a positive force that seemed to spread to others rather than be instantly met right from the beginning. Such was a fact that never bothered her, and if anything, it just drove her to keep being exactly who she was. The personal mantra that followed the silver-tabbied warrior was that a broken spirit could kill a Clan faster than any physical wound could, and that was why she had made it her personal mission to always keep looking towards the bright side. After all, even in the heaviest storm, the sun remained shining just behind the clouds.

Falling in step with Sunfire while being just a few paces behind, it was extremely easy for her to match stride with the tom. After all, they both had long, powerful limbs to help them prowl forward, even as the snow blanketed the entire forest. While the sight of the alabaster powder brought a great sense of joy to the molly, she kept it tempered. A glance to her side gave her the assumption that the tom was a much more serious cat than she was, almost reminding her of the professional, task-driven attitude of her mentor Beechfang.

She was quick to offer a friendly grin and dip of her head as he gave well-wishes to her recovering state. "Others should start being able to join soon, too. I wanted to get moving sooner rather than later, though. Wolfblossom has given me another apprentice, Shatteredpaw. I want to do right by him." Berrypaw's disappearance still stung deep in her chest whenever she thought too much about being a mentor. It'd made her hesitant to want to even work with the young tom now assigned to be under her tutelage, but in her recent forced relaxation to heal, she'd come to terms with the fact that death was simply part of life. As was disappearances that would lead to no result, especially when the entirety of the Forest had to keep going to find a new home for the sake of their survival.

If anything, it was quick to provide a question and a proper topic of conversation rather than just cordial exchange. Every emotion shimmered in the depths of her green gaze, and the warrior was a wide-open slate of omens. "I know you're much more an experienced warrior than I am, so surely you've also had some apprentices under your wing. ... Do you have any advice?" She'd gone to Beechfang for some advice, too, but it felt odd asking given the fact that she'd been the one to learn directly from the former medicine cat. "I want to give Shatteredpaw the best experience possible, and I'm not exactly knowledgeable in the whole mentoring thing." Perhaps she rambled a bit too much, and she kept an eye on her clanmate for any signs that she needed to shut her mouth a bit more. If Sunfire wanted silence, she'd be more than happy to provide it. It was simply her first instinct to share conversation.

"Let's hope so," he muttered, ears tilting back in an almost sullen manner at the mention of their recovering clanmates. Every day that passed with his siblings still nest-ridden made it feel more and more likely that they'd never get better again. SkyClan was resilient, but this illness didn't discriminate between old and young, weak or strong. It killed them all, and though he would never admit it aloud, the precarious balance of mortality seemed uncomfortably close to SkyClan for Sunfire's liking. So despite his internal griping that it wasn't Falconmoon or Graywind that was able to join him today, he was genuinely relieved that Mintglade was recovering... because SkyClan needed her. SkyClan needed every warrior they could get, right now.

Even if they just so happened to be excessively chatty.

He almost wanted to pretend like it bothered him, so that she'd be quiet and leave him alone - then they could get the route over with, and he could return to brooding in solitude until the next patrol. But a small part of him was puzzlingly comfortable with the she-cat's company, so instead he just listened.

"I've had apprentices, yes." Neither had yet made it to warrior, through a series of almost humorously cruel circumstances, but both were cats he'd trust with his life, and that was good enough for him. Sunfire glanced sidelong at Mintglade, never breaking stride as he considered her subsequent appeal. Advice? He had advice. "Treat them like warriors from the start. Don't go easy on them." A pause, to let her digest that briefly before he continued. "I don't mean, treat them poorly. But don't treat them like kits, either. A badger or a fox won't care if Shatteredpaw wants to learn hunting first... if they're out in the world? Out here?" He inclined his head over his shoulder the way they'd come. "Out there?" This time, jerking his chin at the snow-frosted mountain ahead of them. "They need to be prepared, always. So... fighting, first. Survival, first." He looked her in the eye. "That's how you keep them safe."  

Sunfire held the stare for only a moment before he turned back towards the mountain and slowed to a halt, sweeping his tail in front of Mintglade to stop her. He'd never gone any further than this... there was really no need to, with ThunderClan's temporary territory somewhere all the way on the other side of the mountain. If they stayed here much longer, establishing a proper boundary would be necessary, but for the time being, doing so would expend more energy than it was worth. They simply couldn't keep up with the amount of patrols necessary to lay the foundation of a border or keep it fresh.

There had never quite been a time that a clanmate had told Mintglade to stop talking. Her mentor, Beechfang had even seemed to encourage her social nature-well, except for that one time-to the point that it never really crossed the warrior's mind that there would be some cats who would much prefer to keep things quiet. She still kept an ear out for any signs of disdain, but for the most part he just seemed... sullen. So, the easiest way that she knew was to keep up with conversation.

Pure interest registered on her face, even as her attention was divided to looking about on the lands that they patrolled. The remnants of the past snowfall still speckled the landscape here and there, popping out as pockets of pale white amidst the otherwise earthy brown hues. Her memories pulled back to the time of her own apprenticeship, especially as he was more than willing to share what advice it was that he had. Nodding in affirmation of understanding as she could, her tail swished in a graceful ripple as she considered his expertise and took it to heart. An ear flicked as he mentioned her apprentices name, and though she'd been the one to say it, it was oddly heartwarming for her to know that he had actually been listening to her drone on.

"Beechfang did the same for me." The molly nodded, recalling back to her first time out in Skyclan's territory. Their actual territory. "Took me on a patrol to learn our homelands, then went right into teaching me how to fight." It made sense. She needed to know how to properly navigate her own turf if she was going to defend it. Here, though? Truly taking the time to learn the lands would be useful, but it wasn't like they were going to stay here.

Quickly coming to a halt as Sunfire's tail blocked her from going any further, her gaze swept about just in case it was a pause to indicate there was trouble. In fact, her maw parted to make sure of it, the faintest trace of Thunderclan coming to her nose. "Hey Sunfire... what did happen with Thunderclan that day?" The question spilled from her maw before she could even think about it, and once it'd processed in her mind that she'd said it aloud, her muscles grew tense. "Not to pry... but something changed once you guys came back. Bubblepaw... I couldn't ask her. What did they do?" Her best friend had come back bloodied and terrified, and she knew better than to ask when it would do nothing but prod a trauma that seemed to still be healing.

Given the fact that he'd yet to speak about what happened that night to anyone, other than to give Wolfblossom a vague summary of events when the patrol returned, Sunfire was unsure, really, whether he should even answer Mintglade's question. It wasn't exactly a secret that his patrol had gotten into a border skirmish with a ThunderClan patrol, but the detail of what had actually happened were a mystery to most, and most seemed not to mind the lack of information. He'd expected to be drilled about it eventually, but not here, not by Mintglade, and... certainly not in this casual, almost worried tone, either.

Sunfire had been fully prepared to defend himself when these questions were finally asked, convinced he'd have to justify his actions so that they would fit somewhere neatly within Birdstar and Wolfblossom's warrior code... but Mintglade's tone wasn't accusatory or reproachful... just genuine, and... concerned, even? The yellow tom's eyes narrowed, unable to squash the sudden wave of suspicion that made his pelt prickle uncomfortably beneath Mintglade's gaze. Why did she want to know? Why should it concern her?

Fixing his stare on some distant shape at the base of the mountain, Sunfire sighed. She was right, something had changed, and his daughter was worse off for it. Mintglade and Bubblepaw were friends, he knew that. It made sense for the molly to want to know what had happened. He just... mostly tried not to think about it, because aside from making him incredibly angry... he also felt guilty. Not for the injury that Bubblepaw had gotten - no, that was firmly ThunderClan's fault - but because between Bearpaw's crisis, Ploverpaw's disappearance, and the literal plague, Sunfire hadn't exactly been there for Bubblepaw. Not in the way she would have needed.
 
"SkyClan needed food... I took a patrol out, to hunt at the Fallen Oak. ThunderClan tried to stop us. We stood our ground, and they stood theirs." That was the truth, plain and simple as. "Some behemoth of an apprentice got his claws into Bubblepaw during the battle... I knocked him off but not before he hurt her." He glowered darkly, kneading the ground beneath his paws and pretending that it was Mottlestar's pelt his claws were pricking, rather than frigid dirt. ThunderClan would get what was coming for them, eventually. He would see to that, if it took him until the day he died to do it. But Mintglade didn't need to know that; not yet, at least.

Eager to change the topic, Sunfire looked over his shoulder at Mintglade. "I want to have a look at that," he tipped his head towards the large, dark shape at the base of the mountain. "If you don't think you can keep up, just wait here - I'll only be a moment. If you want to stretch your legs, though..." He flicked his tail at her, eyes glinting with something that could almost be humor. And then he turned and started loping towards the foothills... but if Mintglade followed, he'd slow and match her pace.

Her ears flattened back about a quarter of the way as she closely watched the golden warrior's reaction. Part of her immediately felt as if she had crossed a boundary and indeed had pried a bit too far, shying away a couple paces to give him some space in silent apology. The fluffy, silver tail that had been up in the air moments before now lowered as well. It was a sensitive topic, that was certain, and the guilt eddied at her stomach for crossing that line. As his gaze narrowed, Mintglade could feel the apology bubbling up on her tongue. Even parted her maw to say it. The only thing that kept her from saying such was how his gaze went from scanning every part of her in scrutiny to the distance, as if taking the time to sort out the reality from the memories.

It wasn't lost on her how the emotions seemed to ripple down his entire body, from the stiffness of his ears to the irritation that near imperceptibly twitched his tail. Still, she was silent as he explained. For once in their interaction, instead of being the one to lead the conversation, she was the one to follow. Mintglade didn't doubt that there were details being left out as he explained, especially from the curt tone of his voice, but she had already pushed into that den. She wasn't about to go delving into it any further - no, that was not her place.

If only to make herself feel a bit better, Mintglade took it as a sign of trust that he had shared what had happened to Bubblepaw especially. Her mint-tinted gaze seemed to harden and sharpen into some other emotion than careful treading at the mentioning of her closest friend, and her ears flattened the rest of the way as her tail flicked with an anxious frustration. She would keep an eye out for whoever it was whose claws matched those that had marred her close friend's pelt. She didn't deserve that at such a young age, especially during her apprenticeship. Scars would happen at some point as they were inevitable, yes, but to Bubblepaw? Precious Bubs? No, that was a wound that had been wrongly dealt.

Mintglade's frustrations slipped away as the tom glanced over his shoulder at her, and she straightened up. "Thank you for telling me," She said quickly, even to simply acknowledge the fact that she had indeed been listening. Pulling herself out of the half-submissive, half-bloodthirsty stance she'd put herself in and stretching as her muscles seemed to complain from having held such a stance, her entire being seemed to morph to curiosity at what it was that the tom had pointed towards.

She didn't need any convincing to come with. As soon as Sunfire's legs started moving, so did her own. The structure almost reminded her of Mothermouth back in the forest territories, and she craned her neck upwards to follow part of its path up the mountain. Her gut told her it was certainly something not made of nature, but whether it was of Twoleg origin or something else... she had hardly an idea. The only thing that she knew was that it seemed to burrow right into the side of the mountain, delving into a pitch black that she would have no way of immediately knowing how to navigate. A healthy dose of fear rippled down her spine, but right alongside it was the curiosity that had kept her going all this time.

Though the terrain was certainly uneven as they climbed towards whatever it was that had piqued the golden tom's interest, it seemed to be of little difficulty for the Skyclan warrior. Climbing trees required more use of her muscles, so if anything, it felt natural to once more be climbing something. Stopping just at the entrance, her tail flicked in a quiet display of her hesitation as she peered into the darkness. Cold, damp air seemed to beckon from within. "This would have made a very strong camp," She commented absent-mindedly. After all, very few warriors would probably dare to explore it. Only the most curious... where there could easily be a guard stationed outside to ward against intruders.

A loud prrt came from the molly's chest as she used the sound to see just how far it went, and she blinked in surprise as her mrr seemed to echo for significantly longer than she had believed it would. With one glance towards the tom, the signature smile that she always donned came back. "Well, let's go inside, shall we?"