- Jun 7, 2023
- 407
- 47
- 28
Finally, he had allowed himself to rest. To take a day or two to recuperate and let his body settle and heal fully as Wolfsong had suggested, letting the other warriors in camp handle the many duties that he had been stacking atop his own shoulders day after day. The break had honestly felt like a breath of fresh air, soothing his body and mind alike and making everything clearer. No longer did his very being feel bogged down by all that had transpired, Sootstar and her rule finally an unpleasant memory to be left in the past as Sunstride took the reigns and led Windclan towards a brighter future.
It was a heavenly way to feel, but not one so easily in reach for some of his clanmates, namely the poor kin of Sootstar that had been left behind.
Cottonfang was part of that group, forced to cope not only with the cruelty and death of her tyrannical mother, but also the deaths of her siblings that had spun off as a result of it all. Rattleheart had no doubt that the young medicine cat - apprentice? he wasn't sure anymore - would be struggling with it all weighing down on her. That was why he had volunteered to go along with her when she had headed for the entrance to camp, clearly planning on going out for an herb gathering patrol. The tunneler would be the first to admit that he didn't exactly know almost anything about herbs, but he could at least follow instructions. He could grab anything that Cottonfang told him to, and hopefully help her with bringing back more than she could grab on her own, even in the harsh conditions that leafbare presented for herbs.
For a while, he had just followed silently alongside her, taking in the feeling of truly being back in their territory once more. It was a blessing that he'd been appreciating more and more often lately, even with snow usually covering their beautiful moors in a blanket of white. The faint crunching of the snow was the only sound that passed between the two of them for a while, before Rattleheart finally cracked open his maw, hoarse voice spilling out. "How have you been feeling, Cotton? Truthfully. I know that so much has happened lately... to everyone, but especially to you and your family. I thought... that talking about it might help." It certainly seemed like a better choice than keeping it all shoved down inside, until eventually the stress of it all swallowed Cottonfang right up.
// @cottonfang
[ PENNED BY EO ]