Everything Shifts (c)

Since losing her mate and two of her kits, Lighttail had good days and bad days. Today was a not-so-good day. She’d dreamt of him the night before. It was a pleasant dream, the worst kind to have to wake up from. Emotionally numbing herself to dull the pain, Lighttail sought out her best friend. “Hey,” she mewed as she flopped down next to Wolfstar. “Do you ever feel like… cats just disappear into the void? We’ve lost so many, and without a burial and a vigil… sometimes I wonder if the missing cats will make it to StarClan.”

Another patrol along Skyclan's borders, another day without a sign of some of their missing clanmates. Sometimes, Wolfstar wondered if keeping an eye out was even worth it. Sunfire had come back... And he'd been the only cat to do so. Now, more cats had gone missing. Stoatclaw, Harespring, Otterpaw, even Lighttail's kits. Perhaps, she thought, they were with their father wherever he'd gotten off to... But why would Stoatclaw have taken them from camp at all? It didn't make sense. It didn't make sense that Skyclan's cats kept vanishing into the night with hardly a trace. Could they not be allowed to have one thing without more strife?

The leader wasn't so lost to her thoughts that she missed Lighttail's approach. Wolfstar offered her friend a small smile, though it wasn't enough to break the worry and frustration from her expression. "Hey, Lighttail." She greeted softly, an ear twitching as the she-cat spoke.

"One cat returns, and three more go missing. If I could send search parties beyond out borders without fear of them also going missing..." A sigh escaped Wolfstar, "A vigil would make sense for the dead. We don't know that they are, though." She had assumed that several previously missing clanmates were dead, in fact. Sunfire's return offered the slightest glimmer of hope that they might show up again. Hope was a dangerous thing. So was being lost to your grief.

"It's not easy, to lose a mate or kits. I wish there was something I could do, Lighttail."