Private Thread After the Leaves

Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished
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Bravesong’s paws carried him back toward the den with the slow, steady rhythm. He had a light meal that he shared with Maplesprig, who appreciated the gesture even if the age old tom felt a bit distant as of late.

He ducked into the elders’ den, whiskers brushing the log’s edge, and paused when his hazel eye fell on Robinpaw. A new day, a new name. "You kept your promise." He rumbled, voice low but warm, carrying the soft note of approval. His gaze flicked toward the neat moss she’d spread out, bedding freshened like some unseen blessing. "Already putting your paws to work... You must be tired."

Bravesong eased himself down onto the new moss with a grunt, his tail sweeping behind him until it curled along his flank. After a moment, his gaze softened. "How does it feel? Carrying a name that’s yours?" Now that Robinpaw had returned from her trip to Highstones with StarClan's approval, there was no doubt in his mind.

Don’t compromise yourself - you’re all you have.

✦･ﾟ: *✦･ﾟ:* 🐦 *:･ﾟ✦*:*✧*

"Of course I kept my promise" Robinpaw replied, her whisker's curling into a small smile that didn't quite reach her eyes. Perhaps it was a little tiredness? Uncertainty? Even anxiety? But something stopped her smile from widening. But at least Bravesong was there to bring it there in the first place. "Why wouldn't I?" she flicked an ear at the elder, curling her tail around herself and tapped her paw against the nest beside her

"I was just finishing clearing out the nests, I may not be great at it." She admitted with a soft breath, not quite a chuckle, but it was something close to a light amusement. "Would you like to give it a test drive? They're a little different to what my nest was like in the nursery, but I hope I made all the nests to the elders' liking."

Robinpaw gave her paw a few licks and drew it over her whiskers, clearing them of any moss that might have gotten stuck while adjusting the nests. And twitched her whiskers as Bravesong moved closer. "A name... that's mine?"

She repeated Bravesong's words with suspicion as if he was telling her a kit tale. "It's... different." She didn't share how she felt as if she didn't feel like a kit anymore, didn't feel like herself, but she didn't doubt that Bravesong would figure it out himself. "But I suppose everything feels a little different now."

Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished
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Bravesong shifted against the moss she’d so carefully laid, rolling one shoulder until it settled into place with a faint crackle of stiff joints. A low hum left his throat. "Hm. Different but not bad. Feels like a step forward."

He flexed his claws into the bedding once, testing the give, and then gave her a slow nod of approval. "Not bad at all, Robinpaw. You’ll spoil us elders if you keep this up. My nest hasn’t felt this fresh in a good few moons."

His tail tip brushed against her flank as if to steady her, a small anchor in the midst of change. "Let it feel strange. That’s just the shape of growth. One day you’ll wake up and realize you couldn’t imagine being called anything else."

He tilted his head, studying her face, catching the way her smile didn’t quite reach her eyes. "Have you gotten something to eat recently?" A part of him wondered if a bit of his queenly cadence seeped into his worry for her, after Coyotepaw.

Don’t compromise yourself - you’re all you have.

✦･ﾟ: *✦･ﾟ:* 🐦 *:･ﾟ✦*:*✧*

Robinpaw shrugged at Bravesong's first statement "I suppose so, it's good, but the name doesn't really feel like mine yet. That will fade eventually... I'd hope" she replied softly, her voice small like she was still a kit snuggling up to the tuxedo elder after a story, but now, it had a little more of a grown cadence to it, not fully grown, but not a kit either. "But I'm glad you like the nest. Tried to give you some freshly dried moss, the fluffy type" she replied, placing her paw against the moss then lifting it, the nest bouncing back in tandem.

"Like, how I felt when I was still Robinkit." The young apprentice replied, the tip of her tail twitching in her characteristic thoughtfulness that she carried from her kithood. "And then I'll be something else, like, I don't know, Robinflight? Robinbranch? Who knows" she let out a soft chuckle, a smile widening like it was releasing something held back "I'm too young to be thinking of my true name already."

The medicine apprentice's unflopped ear twitched at the question of prey, she'd eaten this morning, a little woodmouse after returning from highstones. "I haven't really thought about prey. Had a mouse after highstones." she replied, curling her tail upward, aiming to stand in case Bravesong wanted anything "Prey to share?"

Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished
✧ ⭒ ♦ ⭒ ♖ ⭒ ♦ ⭒ ✧

Bravesong gave a little shake of his head, easing back down into the moss as if to pin himself there. "There are plenty of good names out there...I'm sure StarClan will pick a special one for you when the time comes." A purr rallied in his chest before he answered her generous offer.

"Already shared a bite with Maplesprig earlier. No, no prey for me just now. Let your belly be the one full."

He kneaded the nest idly, then gave her a sideways look, his voice slipping into a thoughtful hum. The new moss felt lovely. "I always wondered what life would have been like if I were a medicine cat... Even after my accident...I thought if I could learn those secrets, I’d never feel useless. I’d always have something to offer.'

Bravesong let out a rough, warm chuckle at himself low in his chest. "Didn’t work out that way, of course. It was...nice to be a queen for a while."

Don’t compromise yourself - you’re all you have.

✦･ﾟ: *✦･ﾟ:* 🐦 *:･ﾟ✦*:*✧*

Robinpaw gave a nod to the older tom, no shared prey for today then, that was fine by her. If Bravesong and the elders had full bellies, that was all the consolation she needed, at least right now. "How is Maplesprig? Doing well?" She asked, speaking in a way that made it seem like less or a formality and more genuine interest in an elder's wellbeing, she would be asking that more often soon enough.

Her ear pricked at Bravesong's admission to his thoughts when he had been healing in the medicine den. She hadn't seen him when he was a queen, but she had definitely heard of his time in the nursery as a queen. "You're never useless." she stated, firm, like she was stating a fact that Bravesong hadn't picked up on "Not to me. If you'd given the whole clan the advice you'd given me, we'd have a lot less arguments I think"

"And if you ever wonder what it would be like as a medicine cat, you're always welcome to ask me, after I get the experience under my paws of course" She stated, a soft trilling slowly seeping into her tone, maybe being an apprentice wouldn't be as bad as she thought, at least as long as Bravesong was here. 

Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished
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Bravesong’s whiskers twitched, hazel eye brightening. "Maplesprig’s the same as always. Complains about something or other then steals the best moss patch the moment I look away." There was a trace of fondness in his voice, the kind reserved for cats who’d weathered moons together.

Her next words gave him pause, though. His ear flicked, and for a heartbeat he simply looked at her, expression quiet but struck through with something softer. "Not useless, hm?" He rumbled low and thoughtful with the tiniest knowing sort of smile.

He leaned back into the bedding, sighing, but it wasn’t the sigh of weariness—it was content. "Maybe you’re right. If I had given the clan my two whiskers more often, perhaps there would’ve been fewer quarrels."

At her offer, his eye narrowed in something like a smile. "Careful, now. If you extend that invitation, I’ll take it. Next thing you know I’ll be pestering you about herbs every time my joints ache" He gave a low chuckle and heaved a heavy, satisfied sigh. "Still… I’d like that, Robinpaw."

Don’t compromise yourself - you’re all you have.

✦･ﾟ: *✦･ﾟ:* 🐦 *:･ﾟ✦*:*✧*

Robinpaw's ear perked, her face turning to Bravesong as his response came with fondness and calm, a calm that she hadn't even begun to feel for any cat she'd known so well. However, she was glad Maplesprig was well, there was no need to worry about an elder that wasn't aching.

"Not useless." She repeated as Bravesong gave that little smile of his, then a contented sigh that made the smile on her face soften. These moments were nice, just moments where she could sit beside her favourite elder and be, she didn't feel pressured to fill any silence that may have surfaced, she was simply glad to be there, be there with Bravesong.

Robinpaw's shoulder's shuddered with a supressed giggle, shaking her head like Bravesong's words were the punchline of a joke, a joke that was so bad that it was funny. "Maybe in the next few moons you'll know more than the average warrior. Being in the medicine den has that effect on you" she stated softly through her giggles, she gave the elder a light flick with her dappled tail before letting a calm breath leave her nose "I'll have to learn about them first though. Can't teach you something I don't know."

Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished
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Bravesong chuckled, a low rasp that carried like the tail end of a purr. 'Me? Knowing more than the average warrior? As an Elder I'd have to agree with you there." His whiskers twitched, mischief dancing there for just a heartbeat before it faded back into something softer.

The flick of her tail drew his eye. "You’ll learn it, Robinpaw. You’ve got the ears for listening and the eyes for noticing. The rest you’ll gather along the way. Even Tigerrush started as an apprentice. We all do."

His tongue teased his sore paw into dull submission, smoothing down the fur by his toe pads. "Knowledge has a way of coming when it’s needed most. And until then you’ve already got what matters. A good heart and a promise you keep."

Bravesong’s tail gave one last slow curl as he thought, for a heartbeat, about his mother's lineage. "That’s more than some warriors ever learn."

Don’t compromise yourself - you’re all you have.

✦･ﾟ: *✦･ﾟ:* 🐦 *:･ﾟ✦*:*✧*

"We all start somewhere, whether it's in hunting or gathering herbs." Robinpaw added onto Bravesong's statement with a nod. She took a glance outside of the elders' den the entrance to the den seemed smaller now, but that was because she had grown, she wasn't the smallest cat in ThunderClan anymore, she'll have to leave that up to Rimekit.

Bravesong's words seemed to strike a chord nestled deep down that she wasn't sure she had, the worry that seemed to constantly hold residence in her eyes slipped, softening, even if it was just for that moment. "You always find a way to see the good in something, even if others can't" she thought about that incident she had with Rimekit in the nursery, she wasn't sure what came over her but she didn't hold that against Rimekit. She was being a kit, a bully of a kit but still a kit.

"Bravesong..." Robinpaw's tail twitched as she made herself comfortable beside the elder, curling her tail around herself. "Do you think Rimekit is going to mellow out? Last time we actually played she..." Robinpaw paused, kneading her paws at the soft, freshly cleaned nest "She's a bit impulsive I think, I just wonder if she knows any better"

Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished
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Bravesong’s one good eye flicked toward her, the glimmer of amusement there tempered by thought. For a long moment he was quiet, the sound of his rough tongue rasping once more over his sore paw.

At last he gave a rumble, not quite a laugh but something deeper. "Rimekit’s fire runs the same way her mother’s does. The same way my mother's did." His hazel eye softened, lids heavy with memory. "It’s in the blood, that need to wrestle the forest head on... from the age of Bloodstar."

He settled his chin against the curve of his shoulder tail curling faintly. "But fire can warm just as well as it burns. Fierceness can turn to bravery... loyalty, if it’s tempered by the right paws. Kits don’t know better because they haven’t lived long enough to know different. That’s the truth of it. But give her time, give her cats worth looking up to, and she’ll learn where to put all that wildness."

Bravesong’s gaze drifted back to Robinpaw, steady and kind. "Don’t measure her by the way she ruffled your fur in the nursery. Measure her by who she chooses to chase when she’s grown." He blinked with amusement. "Or 'what'." Bloodstar had chased down a Monster head on to protect his kit, after all.

Don’t compromise yourself - you’re all you have.

✦･ﾟ: *✦･ﾟ:* 🐦 *:･ﾟ✦*:*✧*

"Bloodstar." Robinpaw had heard things, definitely, but not enough to form much of herself on what the story truly meant to her. Sure, Sunstrike had told her all about Markedkit, Hopestorm. About Stormstar, all that but there was something that Robinpaw felt held her apart from all that, something that was more than blood. "I heard that story before. Sunstrike told me. He's my kin, from generations away." She added, though there wasn't much conviction there, like someone cynically stating a fact.

She watched as Bravesong settled himself and nodded, her tail curling calmly around herself "Yeah, Rimekit's got her own thing, so does Finchpaw, we all do" Robinpaw ear twitched, there was more to this that she was sure she hadn't learned yet, though she wasn't sure if she was ready to learn about everything. She was happy being Robinpaw, not named for her blood, but named for herself. "I won't interfere with what Rimekit does, I'll do what matters to me, not what matters to whoever wants to say what I should be. I'm Robinpaw, not anything else."

Robinkit shifted as Bravesong got comfortable, glancing back to see Orchidflame sleeping, she didn't have and fierceblood thistledown to worry about, nothing really tying her to anything, she was just Orchidflame. "Orchidflame been complaining about her leg recently?" She asked, still looking at the dappled brown and ginger she-cat, though she turned back to Bravesong. It'd be good to get anything back to Tigerrush, even if the elders felt fine. That'd be something to bring back to her mentor.

Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished
✧ ⭒ ♦ ⭒ ♖ ⭒ ♦ ⭒ ✧

Bravesong’s hazel eye lingered on her a long moment, the way she said her own name. "That’s the right way of it..." He murmured, voice like low gravel. " What matters is what you choose to stand for.'

Her glance toward Orchidflame drew his ears and his gaze followed. The molly lay stretched in her nest, flame patched fur shifting faintly with breath. At Robinpaw’s question, he gave a soft huff that might’ve been a chuckle. "Maybe a bit."

He gave his tail a slow flick, thoughtful. "She probably won’t thank you for fussing, but… we are grateful either way."

Bravesong’s gaze returned to Robinpaw, warm and steady as his tail brushed lightly across her flank. Her visit was better than he could have hoped, perhaps more than any balm or poppy seed.

Don’t compromise yourself - you’re all you have.

✦･ﾟ: *✦･ﾟ:* 🐦 *:･ﾟ✦*:*✧*

"Well... fussing is part of the job" Robinpaw replied softly, lightly swiping at Bravesong with a soft paw before laying down beside the tuxedo elder, curling her tail around herself before casting a soft smirk to him "If we didn't fuss we wouldn't know if anything's wrong would we?" she trilled softly, letting her jaws part in a yawn... she had been out a for a little while, hadn't she...

Robinpaw shook her head and turned to Orchidflame, who stirred faintly in her nest. She didn't seem to scrunch her face or wince in her sleep, that was a good sign. "Maybe you could join her on one of those walks she has, not sure where she wonders off too but I think a cat like Orchidflame would like the company" Robinpaw added with a soft mew. She'd always noticed Orchidflame to be one to go out and stretch her legs, however stiff one of them was. It was commendable to stay so committed to something like that, especially with all this stuff with the killer rogue roaming around.

"Bravesong," she asked, lighter this time, like she was addressing him on a dawn patrol rather than about to ask him something deeper "how was it like in the nursery, as a queen. I heard you raised Coyotepaw in there, did it feel strange being a male queen?"

Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished
✧ ⭒ ♦ ⭒ ♖ ⭒ ♦ ⭒ ✧

"Fair enough. I suppose if no one fussed, medicine cats might become very bored." His eye gleamed with the warm rasp of humor. At her suggestion about Orchidflame, he gave a slow nod. "Maybe I will. Forest keeps calling to some ThunderClan cats even when our paws don’t answer quite as quickly anymore." His tail tip flicked thoughtfully. Might do us both good."

Her last question pulled his gaze back, steady and unflinching despite the curve of a smile tugging at his mouth. He let out a hum before speaking. "Strange? Maybe...But it wasn't for long. I don't think it's much different if a she-cat or a tom raise a kit after they've been weaned." He kneaded the moss slow and steady, as though grounding the memory.

"But Coyotepaw…" His voice softened, gravel wearing smooth. "She was all alone. Without her siblings. She needed someone and the kind of care I could give. Moosestar thought so as well. Better me than a fierceblooded queen that could intimidate her or fill her head with nonsense."

His head moved to try and catch the smaller she-cat's ear with his tongue. "I'd do it all again if Moosestar asked me to."

Don’t compromise yourself - you’re all you have.

✦･ﾟ: *✦･ﾟ:* 🐦 *:･ﾟ✦*:*✧*

"Coyotepaw is a good cat, I think that would be because of you" the silence in the Elders' den felt like it lasted forever, but it was a peaceful length, nothing that would make a cat feel the need to break too quickly "And Leopardrose too, all of ThunderClan." she added, her ear giving a soft twitch of contentment, but the heavy feeling in her eyes began to dawn on her, her yellow eyes becoming half-lidded with incoming sleep.

"You never know Bravesong" Robinpaw whispered softly, standing back to her paws, it was about time she went to bed, it was late now, but she was glad that she could spend some time with Bravesong, even if it was a promise. Bravesong never made it seem like one. "Rimekit is an apprentice next moon, there will be an empty nursery. Maybe the next queen will let you kit-sit" she suggested with a shrug.

Robinpaw made her way to the open of the Elders' den, stars how did she get so big? Robinpaw shook her head for a moment, she wanted to stay, but her yawn reminded her what her body needed.

She was never one to ignore what her body was telling her, especially for sleep.

Robinpaw dipped her head and let out a soft purr, curling her tail in a farewell as if she was saying goodbye to an old friend. "I'll be back tomorrow Bravesong. But I think we've all got to sleep at some point" She stated, a short, amused breath leaving her nose as she waved her tail to the elder.

"Goodnight, Bravesong"