Exhausted. (O)

It was sun-high, and this green leaf was no hotter than any other. Scorchlight lazed in the sun, sitting on a bump of rock in the middle of the sandy RiverClan camp, with worries and thoughts placing a heavy burden on her. For the second time, she was too tired to do any hunting. Her head was in a spin. She had been lying in camp all day, dazing around. The fresh-kill pile was filled to the brim, so no one really scolded her for being so lazy. Her eyes dropped low as the thought of Elmstorm struck her…No, everything was alright. Elmstorm would come back. He was just… occupied, right? She sat up, staring at the weeds that separated camp from territory, and swayed her tail. Sprucebark was her only comfort at this point. She blinked twice, in a doozy, before getting up in exhaustion, staring at everything around her. It was as if StarClan was out to get her. She was so depressed, hopelessly and utterly exhausted. She fell back down weakly and stuttered, "ow..." Could she return herself to her former glory, or was it all hopeless?

Kitespring didn't know how to comfort Sprucebark and Scorchlight after Elmstorm's disappearance. It seemed to only get worse and worse for them, and yet... it didn't feel right just letting them suffer in silence. Perhaps there wasn't anything she could really do - she couldn't promise them that Elmstorm would come back safe and sound, that everything was going to be alright, that even if he didn't come back that things would get better.

What she could do was sit next to Scorchlight, spend some time with her. "I hope I'm not disturbing you," she said, smiling warmly at her clanmate. Maybe having someone there could help lighten her up, even if it was just a little bit.

She halted, her tail swaying as she noticed another warrior approach her. She recalled the warrior to be Kitespring. She slightly raised her head as the anxiety that had flooded her drained away, replaced by the comfort of another warrior’s presence.

"Oh, hello, Kitespring! How are you? Personally, I’m not doing too well, but I can manage! We will find Elmstorm soon!" she meowed with the first bits of confidence she had felt in weeks. Even with the thought weighing on her, maybe if she used optimism against it, maybe it would all be better, she took a deep breath. The sudden outburst of joy made her feel like she could heal herself, like she was fine…

She slowly picked herself up and stared at Kitespring, smiling. Talking to someone while fighting against the cloud of darkness slightly lightened her load, even though it seemed like she was just being a kit. Even so, she felt a little bit better, and that’s what mattered at the end of the day. That’s what contributed to her.

She sighed. "It’ll all be better. We’ll try our hardest to find him, right?"she said, uncertain.., trying her best not to wimp down again..

Kitespring smiled back at her. It was nice seeing Scorchlight happy, though Kitespring didn't know how much of that was a facade she put up to hide herself. "Yeah," she said. "I think we will." She didn't know if they would find Elmstorm. Perhaps he was gone forever, trapped with Twolegs for the rest of his life - or worse, killed and in StarClan now. For all she knew, Scorchlight would only see him again when she passed on to the stars.

But she knew that wasn't the right thing to say to a grieving mother. Kitespring knew how it felt to have someone go missing on her, and she knew that one of the few things that kept her going was hope that they were alive. It's what kept her sane when Rushtalon and Sleepycloud disappeared. She never saw Rushtalon again, and when Sleepycloud returned she went to ThunderClan. Still... it's hard to expect someone to not change after a long period of time.

She wondered if Rushtalon ever returned, if she would even recognize him - or if he would recognize her.