private diamonds in the sky // berryheart

[cottonsprig]

It's odd. There are five Clans in the marshlands, four huddled around a lightning-struck tree, and yet Cottonpaw exhales as if she's alone. She has a pawful of friends and has mad a few more despite their predicament as a whole - but the hustle and bustle (and fear) leaves her stagnant. Every hour that passes offers a new tone voicing unfortunate what ifs, and even the moorland princess cannot uphold her usual optimism. She thinks all would be better if her father were here (the Stars will not take him) and if not him, then her mentor.

She swallows thickly, pawing a leaf that Starlingheart had given her. The black and white femme had reminded them each of the usages for the herbs she was able to provide, yet Cottonpaw either in her youthful position or with the frustration poisoning her heart, couldn't even remember the names. How can StarClan pick her moons ago and yet she struggles so quickly?

A mottled form with a slightly odd gait catches her eye. The ThunderClan medicine cat - she debates with herself at first, as with any sturdy WindClanner she's resistant to ask for help. However she'd rather no blood on her paws because of perceived inattentiveness. And so, she lifts to her paws and gathers just one of the many herbs offered to her. Unsure, she brings herself towards the tom, greeting him with a dip of her head.

"Berryheart?" she asks, ears turning back, "I'm sorry to be a bother, but... With Wolfsong in the nursery, I'm a bit..." lost? Confused? She purses her lips, "I just need a little help, is all. If you have the time." She's noted that the mottled tom doesn't have another padding after him, though she's not known yet that Lichenpaw has passed. In truth she figures the pointed tom to be mixed up with the sick within camp.

@BERRYHEART ​

 

[BERRYHEART]

Without his apprentice, a call of his name only meant something bad. Berryheart, in ever-stuck monotony, did not give away the twinge of pain he felt- but how sad it was that his own name could make him feel so despondent? No more would his student call for him, seek him for advice; he would only be asked after if someone wept ribbons of blood into the dust, or otherwise stumbled at StarClan's gate.

Often Berryheart found his mind drifting away, an ailment which up until now had not often touched him. Distraction was something he vehemently avoided as if it might kill him to give into it; even with this tireless attention, though, bodies still stilled at his paws. He was glad, therefore, for something to pierce through the veil. Someone- the smoky apprentice of Dawn-eye, a Windclanner but first and foremost a fellow healer.

That she asked for him warmed the dappled tom somewhat. Despite the obvious logic of it- he was the most senior of the healthy medicine cats (which was an odd thing to think about)- his sadness-steeled eyes softened a little with the welcoming gleam that only touched his gaze when he taught.

"I do," he said. Behind the crooked stoniness of his expression, there was a profound happiness that hadn't managed to reach him since Freckles had died. A lean, dappled tail beckoned her. "You aren't bothering me." It was a confident assurance past the layer of his monotone, near-impenetrable to one who did not know him well. Nothing betrayed his inner feelings, but at the same time he was as soft and polite as ever, mild and welcoming. Maybe, just maybe, she would notice a glimmer in eyes dulled by heartbreak. ​

PENNED BY PIN ☾​