london bridge is falling down [CLAN MEETING]

[OOC: This takes place after the September Gathering and before the October Gathering. Sorry it’ll be a tight fit! I will be replying to this topic tomorrow or on Thursday to keep things moving and avoid too much soup.]

Those of RiverClan who had stayed to help fight instead of getting the vulnerable back to camp slowly dragged themselves through the forest and back to camp. Poppystar instructed Pigeonpounce to look after others in RiverClan who were injured, but thankfully it didn’t look like their clan sustained any terrible injuries.

Poppystar was still bleeding sluggishly when they got back to camp. Her head swam, but she had to check on her clan first. She murmured to Pigeonpounce to wait and heal her after that. If any cat was missing, she needed to ensure that warriors could go looking for them, and they needed stricter patrol teams in case more wolves lurked in the forest.

“RiverClan, gather under the Willow Branch!” Poppystar called in as strong of a voice as she could manage. She leapt onto the branch and winced as it aggravated the wound in her chest. Breathing was difficult and she felt like she had a broken bone (or maybe multiple) in her chest.  Her mouth still tasted of blood, and she probably looked like an awful haggard mess, but she had to check on her clan.

She looked over everyone, trying to take count of the cats and search for any horrid injuries. “Thank you to those who helped our queens and apprentices back to camp…If anyone has been injured, see Pigeonpounce immediately. I want no infections…For those not in attendance, the Gathering was interrupted by two wolves that attacked. Tell me, is anyone missing from the chaos?”

Cindersky was fine, having made it back in one piece. So was everyone else. Relatively. They were alive, and that was good. She had waited for Poppystar and the rest of the group to return after escourting those that were vulnerable back. How injured their leader was made her gut twist, and even standing near her now, hearing the panicked warbling of Herringkit, she felt it twist more so.

That calm settled in. The horrible calm, when you could stop and think. There was one voice in her mind, as the lull settled over. The collecting of oneself, Poppystar checking in with the clan, everyone finding their loved ones. One voice, and then followed by another;  'I leapt into the jaws of death for you and Littlesplash,' 'I can't.' She felt sick, acidic bile rushing up her throat which she forced back down again and jammed her claws into the ground. Her breath was not steady, though she pretended it to be so. She kept her lips as taut a line as she could, eyes fixed on either Poppystar, or whoever she knew. Larkspring. Or Rookflight.  She was okay, she told herself, though it was only her claws dug so painfully into the ground that kept her legs from trembling.

Willowwisp walked hollowly back to camp with Rookflight pressed tightly to her side. She still saw the wolf, its maw stretched open wide and its bloody teeth racing towards her. It was behind her eyes every time that she blinked. Her body continued to feel tense like she was expecting another attack to lunge at her. She didn’t have a scratch on her—though maybe that was why she was still so dizzyingly tense.

Her eyes trailed back up to Poppystar where she swayed on the Willow Branch. Her aunt had gotten back up when she was bit. She wasn’t killed immediately like the SkyClan leader had been. But still—she could see the wound through shifted fur and the bright red stains upon her pelt were frightening to see. Her leader’s eyes looked glassy. She wondered if the bite would have killed her had Poppystar not intercepted the attack. It felt so unfair for Poppystar to be enduring all of this pain because Willowwisp had been too foolish not to dodge in time.

“Hmm?” Her eyes moved back to Rookflight when they murmured something to her. They walked off and she watched them before she sank to lay down in the sands of the camp. Her head hurt. She hoped the meeting would not be long so that they could all get some well-needed rest.

Larkspring remained close to Cindersky’s side the entire time. They had rounded up apprentices, queens, and elders, and guided all of them back to camp. The howls and screams from cats had deafened their ears, and Larkspring did wish that he could have stayed to assist, but he would sooner have gone with Cindersky to ensure her safety first.

Now as everyone returned, he did not see too many injuries. The worst came from Poppystar, who looked half dead on her paws and the blood staining half her body was frightening. He wondered if she had lost a life at the Gathering after he had left with Cindersky. He hoped not. A leader was only as powerful as the number of lives they had left.

His eyes found Rookflight wading through the crowd of cats. Larkspring perked up and his tail waved, catching his sibling’s attention. When Rookflight was close enough, Larkspring said, “There you are. Are you alright?” His eyes swept over his body and saw no injuries. “You look okay. Good.”

Poppystar stared out at her clan. Their words sounded distant and warped, like she was listening to them through water. Her vision kept blurring and she had to blink a few times to keep her eyes straight. She tried to count heads as cats chattered and spoke among themselves. There was Dovetail and his kits, keeping them as calm as he could manage. Swandive to the side and edging towards the den, no doubt wanting to rest. Snailpaw was there, Duckfeather too. She saw Rowansong pulling himself towards the front of the crowd, and she wondered for a moment with tense anxiety where Sprucebark had gone, and it took her too long to remember that he was off looking for Elmstorm. There was Rookflight talking with Larkspring. Cindersky would not be far. And then Willowwisp, resting but still uninjured. And Pigeonpounce by the medicine den…

She tried to hold onto each of those names and keep them straight. She counted a few of them twice, skipped over others. Her head was throbbing almost as badly as her side and it still hurt to breath. She could still taste metallic blood in her mouth, and it had soured more as time went on. Perhaps she should have listened to Pigeonpounce, but she wanted to check on her clan first…She seemed to have the worst injuries out of anyone, which was good. She needed to keep her clan safe.

“Any…” Poppystar’s voice sounded weak even to her own ears. She swallows and tried again. “Anyone that has been injured, see Pigeonpounce…” Wait, did she say that already? She felt far away. Was she still talking? She couldn’t seem to control her own mouth. “We’ll improve our…our borders…two at a…til w-wolves…” She looked up at the sky. The stars look so bright tonight. Had they always been that bright, like the eyes of monsters barreling down the Thunderpath? The stars looked beautiful despite their intensity. Maybe she was being watched by StarClan. Maybe by… “Perch…” she mumbled before her weakness became too much for her.

All at once consciousness left her, and with nothing holding up her muscles, her body crumbled at once. She fell like a stone from the raised branch and into the sand below. Inside her chest, her heart beat wildly as it tried to continue pumping what blood she had not lost yet. Similarly, her lungs heaved in heavy breaths despite the sand that coated her tongue with it. Her body remained in overdrive for another few seconds before it decided that it had been too much: too much pain, too much blood lost, too much movement afterwards, and too much waiting. Her heart stopped and her breath stilled. The stars encased her.

Poppystar has lost a life.

She watched Larkspring pad away in that fuzzy, pinprick vision of hers. She felt her breathing stutter, a cold rush of air and she could swear her stub was bleeding again with how it throbbed. False pain, she kept telling herself. False pain, like she so often felt. Poppystar was speaking, she could hear her tone above the ringing in her ears. Every time she moved her eyes it was like the drool-dripping, bloodstained teeth of overgrown hounds lunging for her.

Until Kitespring cried out, and the ringing stopped.

She was on her paws in a second, though they felt so unsteady. She caught her stumble, paw sliding along the stand as she whirled around to Poppystars limp, no-- Lifeless,-- form on the ground. She blinked, and the tri-coloured pelt was white and grey for a moment. She blinked again, and set it right. She dived through the group, nudging against Swandive as some way of comfort. This was her first time dealing with this.

"Support her head," She meowed to Kitespring as she reached them, leaning down to confirm that she had lost a life-- No breath. "Pigeonpounce!"

What was she to do? Wait for StarClan to heal her wounds? Poppystar had not experienced this before either, she realised. And whatever fear she felt... She moved, swinging around to in front of Poppystars face. The last thing she needed to see when she woke for the first time was her Clan staring at her in horror. She would be afraid. And if she said she wasn't, then Cindersky would know she was lying. She leaned down, running her tongue along the unwounded parts of her face and neck, to her shoulders and around her ears. Like she remembered her father doing to her all those moons ago in the nursery, when she woke from a nightmare.

"You are okay," She murmured quietly to Poppystars ear. "Take your time. You are alright." If she could hear her.

Poppystar found herself in a place of stars after her vision went dark. She blinked and looked around with surprise. She knew what this place was; it was a place that she dreamed about often after her leader ceremony. (Though it was always just a dream, and never a true vision.) StarClan, full of the cats that she longed to see again. Was she dreaming again?”

“MOM….” came a voice, loud but also quiet and tentative. Poppystar saw her now. Minksplash, standing only a couple of paces in front of her and trembling like a frightened kit. Poppystar’s heart swelled and she rushed forward to press her forehead to her daughter’s, and she murmured softly to try and quell her tears. Minkplash whimpered and rubbed her face against her mother in turn. “I…I’m sorry…Death is n-never fun, Mama…”

Death? Ah…that’s what that was. Poppystar grimaced. She hadn’t realized that her injury had gotten that bad on the walk back to camp. She had only wanted to check on her clan and then she was going to allow Pigeonpounce to treat her straight away. Guilt gnawed at her. She should have listened to her medicine cat and gotten treatment before calling a meeting.

Minksplash lifted her head to look at Poppystar and she pressed against her again. “You did a good job protecting your clanmates…But I’m sorry that you had to die for it. It’s not—It’s not fun.” She looked up at her and smiled despite her watery eyes. “But the stars will put you back together and they’ll get you back…Please be careful if you can. I don’t want to see you back here for a long time.”

Poppystar smiled through her emotions and she nodded. She leaned in and licked the side of Minksplash’s face. “Yes dear. I’m sorry for worrying you. I’ll be careful.” She pulled back and gave her daughter one final smile before the stars around her began to fade.

---

Back in RiverClan camp, Poppystar’s eyes creaked open. She tasted sand in her mouth and it left her breaths feeling dry and papery. She blinked slowly and registered a quiet voice whispering to her. Right, she died…She thought the voice speaking to her is Cindersky. Her wound still ached, but her head was not quite as fuzzy and distant as it had been on the branch. Poppystar groaned and slowly moved to turn and right herself. She looked up and found immediately in front of her was Cindersky and Kitespring. She saw the fear evident in her eyes and guilt flooded her veins.

She tried to smile up at them, though she still looked tired. “Mmm…For all the times I scolded Perchstar, you would think I would learn to listen to my medicine cat.” It was an attempt at being lighthearted, but she wasn’t sure they were ready to hear it. She shakily pushed herself up to her paws. “I’m sorry to worry you…Cindersky, please finish the meeting for me. I want our patrols to be adjusted to be longer but with more cats on each patrol so there is less danger if those wolves still lurk in the forest. If they come across one, they are not to engage unless forced…The rest I will leave up to you.”

With her instructions given, she started to move toward the medicine den. She had to lean on Kitespring since her full strength had not returned to her yet, and her side still ached from her wound. StarClan could put off another death for a time, but she would still need treatment for something like this. She owed Pigeonpounce an apology as well, for not listening sooner.