Happy Father's Day Sprucebark

Sprucebark was waiting at the exit of camp ready to go at a moments notice. The timely and respectful tom had requested to Cindersky that a patrol be made to search for his lost son Elmstorm. He was pacing already back and forth filled with nerves something that was very unsual for him.


He gave a heavy exhile as he looked at the skies above... where was Cindersky and Harebounce? They were supposed to be here by now. The tom was very timely and very orderly. Not a single fur stuck out in any way from him as the neat and tidy fellow settled down and tried to close his eyes to calm down. He was usually so calm and collected but losing your only son would make anyone on edge. The poor tom had hardly slept in days - he had even given up his usual hunting patrols to opt for looking for Elmstorm. Something that usually for him would be unheard of. He had not missed a single hunting patrol since the day of his appretniceship but all of that was on hold for now.

He knew with each passing day where he did not find his son was a potentially more dangerous situation Elmstorm was in, what if he was like Perchstar and had gotten hurt somewhere and was starving out there injured and unable to move on his own. The thought of it sent his tummy into sick spirals.

His thoughts of doom were interrupted by pawsteps. He glanced over to see Cindersky and Harebounce.

"Thank you both for agreeing to help me look for him" he meowed dipping his head. Even in the turmoil that life had curveballed him with he still did his best to be his polite self.

"May we please hurry?" he meowed urgently - He was far too formal and polite to rush clanmates but this was as close as he would get to as such.

Her loss was stark, and final. Nothing, no amount of searching, no amount of praying to StarClan would bring Milk back. But that wasn’t the case with Elmstorm. His fate was uncertain, and in that uncertainty, there was hope. She would do everything in her power to bring him back not only for his own sake, but for Sprucebark and Scorchlight. No cat deserved to feel the gut-wrenching grief of losing a kit that had only just become a warrior.

With her pelt stuck firmly on her back, Harebounce found herself rushing over to Sprucebark. “Oh! Yes, I’m sorry, let’s get going. Cindersky, are you ready?” In the subtle darkness of the hare’s eyeholes, the older she-cat’s eyes scanned the tom’s face. He was prim and proper outwardly, as usual, but he looked… exhausted. If she didn’t know better she would’ve told him to go rest instead of go on this patrol. But an echo of that pain evident on his face nipped from within her own heart. Right now what he needed was answers, that was all that would finally bring him any rest. She brushed her tail along his back. Not unlike how she used to do for her daughter, she recalled with a fresh pang of grief. “…We will find him. Wherever Elmstorm is, we are going to find him and bring him home.” Whatever bringing him home might look like.

As his patrol mates were ready now Sprucebark nearly bolted out of the clan camp wanting to get the search on right away. He had to forcibly dig his paws into the ground from keeping himself from doing just that.

As his clanmates got closer they each comforted him in both their actions of small things, weather it was touching nose to his shoulder or laying tail across his back - they were agreeing to help he had to remind himself, he would make himself use the patience he so usually had in abundance now.

Taking a small shaky breath in to try and calm himself he nodded a quick thanks to them. They might not know how much this meant to him but even them just being there for him now meant the forest to him. "Right" he nodded to the older warriors word with a nod of trusting that she would be correct. He had to believe as such.

He thought about the deputies query, where might Elmstorm have gone? "You are right Cindersky he was very prone to wondering as an apprentice... Erm as an apprentice he got himself very close to the gorge I recall."

His thoughts wondered, the gorge incident was something Perchstar had punished Elm for and his son's behavior was one of the last conversations he had with Perchstar. He snapped silently in his head to keep focused on the task at paw and not let it wander further.

"Perhaps we can check around the gorge area?" he asked shrugging not sure where else he could think of that he had not already looked many times over.

Harebounce nodded with Cindersky's words, then with Sprucebark's. If it were anyone else, she'd wonder why anyone would go to the Gorge by themselves what with how dangerous it was. It could be beautiful, that was for sure, especially in the very early morning when the spray sparkled in the light. But the ground could be unstable and there would be little hope of getting out if someone fell in.

Unfortunately, even just living in the same camp as Elmstorm made it abundantly clear he was not the sort of cat to even consider risk. It's like he didn't even know what risk was. He was constantly getting himself into dangerous situations entirely, it seemed, to his own surprise. A flash of realization went through her. Had... had she been like that? She felt a sudden desire to pray to the stars and apologize to Captain Lyralei, and Heads Eris, Ivystar, and Perchstar for the headaches she'd caused them. 'I don't think Jaystar noticed.' Her pelt hid her suddenly bewildered expression while she put those thoughts aside for later. Now wasn't the time for self-reflection.

---

The path felt longer as they kept their senses at peak focus on the way to the Gorge, sniffing pawprints in mud and tufts of fur caught on twigs, but nothing came back as conclusively Elmstorm. The sounds of crashing water heralded the Gorge's appearance through the trees, although they weren't close enough yet that it drowned out the sounds around them.