Love is just a cloudy sky as far as I can see
⤝ ⥈ ⥈ ☁ ⥈ ⥈ ⤞

Cloudflare had just finished off the last few bites of his meal, licking a stray bit of prey from his whiskers. The day had been a busy one. He had returned from dawn patrol but he was never too tired to make time for his apprentice.

He rose to his paws, giving his shoulders a brief stretch before padding over to the apprentice's den. "Flickerpaw! How would you feel about a little combat training today?" he asked, his ears pricking forward. "I thought we'd work on something a bit different from hunting."

Like the sun, I may burn fiercely, but it's my fire that warms those I hold dear.

· · ─ ·☽𖤓☾· ─ · ·

It was no surprise to Sunbear that Beewhisker had yet to rise from their nest, even as the sun burned overhead for well past dawn now. And worse so, they had yet to take Smokepaw out for more than two days in a row. The only time she seemed to see them go out was to go on patrols set by Emberdawn and even then. Their eyes seemed… distant.

That was ending today.

The shadows in the den were thick, but not thick enough to hide the hollow look in the warrior’s eyes. They sat, unmoving, staring at a frayed piece of moss between their paws. There was a flash of guilt in Sunbear’s eyes but this was getting out of paw and it needed to end.

Her heavy frame blocked the den for a moment, her form casting a shadow into the den as she walked into the cramped space. She did not stop until her chest fur met with the tip of Beewhisker’s ear.

“Get up.” She spoke in a little rasp, but overall still serious and stoic as she was. If Beewhisker didn’t get up, Sunbear fully planned to make them.

Survival demands caution, but greatness requires daring
⋆｡°✩ ⭒ ──● 𓄿 ●── ⭒ ⋆｡°✩

The raven perched high upon a branch overlooking WindClan's camp, her dark feathers ruffling gently in the breeze. From her vantage point she could see the comings and goings of the cats below...

She lowered her head and dragged the edge of her beak along the bark, scraping away a stubborn remnant of her last meal. Once satisfied, she gave her feathers a quick shake, settling them neatly against her body. Then movement caught her eye as a gaggle of apprentices could be seen below.

There they were... She shifted along the branch, angling her body toward the open land beyond the camp. Then she dropped from the branch and spread her wings, flying low over the grass... She gave a sharp, rasping 'grack' as she passed, then veered toward a distant bush.

An invitation...and if they followed, she'd lead them farther still.

Like the sun, I may burn fiercely, but it's my fire that warms those I hold dear.

· · ─ ·☽𖤓☾· ─ · ·

Today had been rather... peaceful if not anything else. Despite a slight ache in her joints that wasn't out of the ordinary for a day she hadn't really been able to find the energy to rise for her usual walks around the territory. Great StarClan, was she really getting this old? After a few more moments, she pulled herself to the opening of the Elders' den and settled herself down once more, however, uncomfortably avoiding laying on the joints in her front paws. Making them evidently stretch out in front of her.

The dark pointed she-cat let free a wide yawn, her teeth, still white and well kept in spite of her age, on full display before her jaw snapped shut. An ear flicked before she began to lick at her chest fur, avoiding moving or bending her front paws in general to avoid the pain, but she was rigid from it regardless.

She debated going to Rowanglade, Ashpaw or Muddypaw, but she didn't want to be a bother really, Sunbear had handled worse than a bit of achy joints, after all.

The reason people have problems is that they have too much time to think.

⋆˚✿˖°

It had taken even longer than Petalsnap had expected to travel from RiverClan’s camp to WindClan’s with a sprained paw. Petalsnap couldn’t see the sun through the blanket of clouds, but she knew it was sinking by the increasing difference in brightness from one side of the overcast sky to the other. The heavens were turning a grey-tinted tangerine. In her mouth she held a mouse and a rabbit.

When WindClan camp finally came into sight, she sighed through her nose in relief. Her pace quickened slightly. She silently cursed the injury to her paw for the thousandth time and swore to never take the ability to run for granted again.

Believe that life is worth living and your belief will help create the fact.

｡ ₊°༺ ☀︎ ༻°₊ ｡

Emberdawn's perked as he moved to his usual spot by the talking cliff. The bicolored deputy let out a sigh. He had been rather distracted with his duties and he had yet managed to find time to speak with Fawnstar on the topic of Beewhisker. He worried that she would take her own stance and decision on the matter and his ear twitched. He had placed Beewhisker on lighter duties, hunting patrols, sentry duty. Things that won't cost the clan much if they were too upset to concentrate. He was... trying his best to accomodate, he had no idea what it was like to lose a best friend, nor a kit of his own. He found it hard to view their perspective, but he was trying his hardest.

"WindClan! To me!" He called out, flicking his cinnamon tail as the clanmats gathered around him. It still felt sort of stange to be looked at so highly from his clanmates, but it felt nice to an extent, he was getting used to it. "Before I start, I would like Beewhisker and Smallclaw on sentry duty today. You both may swap places interchanagbly." Emberdawn responded, watching as Beewhisker nodded numbly and his brows furrowed for a moment. They certainly weren't themself.

With a sigh, composing himself, he continued. "I would like Bayflower to lead a border patrol with Heathersky and Fallheart across the west and south ends of the border, mark wherever you can." He spoke, was putting Bayflower with his former apprentice a good idea? Probably. "Then I would like Basilflame, Petalsnap and Boulderdash to take the other side of the border, mark as you can." 

And lastly, hunting, they had been doing fine preparing for leaf-bare so far. He would keep it up for as long as he could, for his clan. "Breezwing, you will be leading a hunting patrol, the Steppe is where you will be hunting. While Shadesleek, you will take a hunting patrol through the opposite side of the territory. We are doing well, warriors. Keep it up!" he chirped, a deep seated part of him was proud of his warriors, and was proud that they were his warriors. He would remain proud for now.

Believe that life is worth living and your belief will help create the fact.

｡ ₊°༺ ☀︎ ༻°₊ ｡

The bi-colored tom stepped over to the area below the talking cliff as he did each day, he wasn't blind to Beewhisker's grief getting the better of them. He had been giving them light patrols until he could talk to Fawnstar about it. He also glanced at the nursery, giving Cloudflare a flick of his tail in greeting. His kits were getting large, perhaps their ceremony was coming up soon? It seemed about the right time anyway. He wondered if any of the kits would get given to Beewhisker if he didn't manage to talk about it to Fawnstar in time... pity the kitten.

When he found his spot, he straightened himself up and puffed out his mid-furred chest. "WindClan! To me!" He called out, watching the warriors gather around him, he had gotten a little more used to all this now. It felt more like him slipping into a routine now than it ever had before. It was now that he started feeling like a deputy. Not Aspenberry, nothing could replace Aspenberry, but at deputy non-the-less.

"I'd like Basilflame to leade a patrol with Heathersky and Smallclaw to the border by the barn. Mark the border and report anything of note back to me or Fawnstar." He commanded to the chosen cats with a nod before adressing the rest of the crowd. "Same goes with Shadesleek, Oatcloud and Petalsnap, please mark the borders along Trespass point then circle back along the edge of the gorge and make sure there are not distubances with RiverClan or ThunderClan." He didn't have a thing against the two named clans, but it was always best to keep vigilant.

With a nod, He looked to the other senior warriors "I'd like hunting patrols to be send out throughout the day, Cloudflare, you may take a patrol out at dusk, so you will have this time to train Flickerpaw throughout the day, Bayflower, you will take a hunting patrol out at dawn, and Breezewing, take Berrypaw and a patrol of your choice out to hunt at sunhigh, catch as much as you can to prepare for leafbare." He stated, flicking his tail before turning to the cats left. "Those not picked for a patrol will stay here, sentry duty and prepping the dens with Boldclaw is the most important task for you, Clan dismissed." 

I’d rather bear the weight of others than let others carry pain alone.

━✺━✿━✺━

It was early morning when the idea came to Basilflame, she wanted to ask the certain toms she had been fond of to help her with the decision that has been flickering in her mind since the current kits started getting bigger and older. But even more since Cedarpaw had been missing for long enough for some to give up looking. Boldclaw was the first cat she intended to ask. But she wouldn’t just ask him outright, there was a methodology to it. It would seem awkward to simply ask him for a favor that large, she had been taking Boldclaw out of camp every so often, perhaps every two days over the past few days now. It wouldn’t be out of the blue for her to ask him out of camp.

And so, she slipped from the warriors’ den and made a line to the Elders’ den. The rest of the elders seemed to be asleep, for a moment, she looked to her mother, sound asleep in her nest, she was going to be the oldest elder in the camp soon, and that worried her, because she would eventually be without her, perhaps giving her a bloodline would give Sunbear some peace of mind? She wasn’t sure but she was sure that she wanted kits. Boldclaw was one of her toms of choice.

"Boldclaw?"She called out quietly, flicking her flame colored tail as it caught the early dawn light. "Are you awake? If you’re still sleeping I could come back later." She asked with just as much volume as the whisper she had begun with. "I was just hoping we could go out, hunt a little, share tongues under the tree at the Wind Hill. It wouldn’t be too hot for you at this time would it?" she meowed, she had taken notice of his moods on the hotter days, especially when it was sunhigh, she thought that taking Boldclaw out when it was a little cooler might make him a little more comfortable. For Boldclaw, she would go out of her way to do a lot of things. Including much more than this. For Boldclaw.