IN CARDS AND FLOWERS ON YOUR WINDOW ✲ morningbird

[BLAZESTAR]

Blazestar initially had thought himself shaken out of his brain-numbing grief because of the battle itself. Unsheathing his claws against another cat, missing her face and feeling her own rip the life from his body. The whirl of battle about him as he bled out into the snow, the dizzying comeback to see RiverClan cats throwing themselves at their foes. The realization that Morningpaw had lost her life to something all cats in the forest risk when they meet another feline in battle.

But it's something greater, something he hasn't had time to ponder properly but that is slowly dawning on him. The solidarity of his Clanmates banding together to fight a unique enemy. Regardless of age, of health, of role in the Clan, every single SkyClanner gave it their all to defend one another, their home.

The family he had lost -- they still have that, with Emberstar, with Howling Wind. And he does, too, with Fireflypaw and Howlpaw, with Dawnglare, with his deputy and lead warriors, with every cat from Morningbird to Deersong's kits to the rogues who'd recently joined his ranks.

When he peeks in on Morningbird, his own face is haggard, strained against the weeping wound trailing from lower chest to mid-belly, but he's alive, and so is the elder. His paws brush softly against the frosty floor of Dawnglare's den, eyes gleaming in the dusk. "Morningbird," he murmurs. The old tom's thick orange and white pelt had sustained the deadliest of blows aimed his way, and Blazestar had been told he would live, live to see Mushroomkit become an apprentice, to see her acclimate to SkyClan like his own daughter never had.

"I'm sorry for waking you, friend." He settles close to the elder, shaking his pelt to dislodge the cold. "I wanted to make sure you were okay. Howlpaw told me you fought fiercer than any WindClan rogue."

@MORNINGBIRD​

 

[MORNINGBIRD]

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Old as he was, Morningbird had learned Blazaestar's lesson long ago, but he understood just how hard it was to drag yourself out of that gorge. No one could pull you out of it, merely point out footholds, only you could make the journey. It was a journey everyone had to make, some earlier, some later, but all would know its wake, for everything living must die.

He himself was nearly cause for Mushroomkit to fall back in her own journey out of the gorge, and yet...he would make the decision to fight again and again and again. Skyclan was his home now, its warriors his children and grandchildren, his friends and siblings grown from different trees but uniting in a single forest. It was a warrior's honor to die for their home, for their family, but it was also an honor he did not have to worry about today.

Clouded green eyes peer up at the leader, more exhausted than the elder has ever looked in all his days, yet still filled with their same warmth. "Ah, Blazestar...it's quite alright, come, come sit." His voice was deeper than normal, a bit gruffer from disuse during his rest, but a long tail pats the space where Blazestar would settle anyways, still bare of its normal cardinal feathers. Morningbird chuckles at the claim, remembering the way Howlpaw had cheered shortly before his collapse. "I merely acted as I should have moons ago. Those star-blinded Windclanners had the audacity to not only attack our children, but send their own into a known, active warzone. Disgraceful. Incorrigble." The conflagration rearing its head again only to settle back down into warm flickers, eyes softening towards the younger tom.

"But you, my old friend, you died that day. How are you feeling?" He does not know what it means to bear the weight of nine stars, nine lives to lose in service. Surely though, Blazestar was suffering at least as much as he, their wounds similar in their make. ​

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[BLAZESTAR]

Blazestar blinks warmly at Morningbird's invitation. He can see the exhaustion in the elder's eyes, the raspy, rusty undertone in his voice. "I merely acted as I should have moons ago." The Ragdoll shakes his head softly. "It was a matter of time before they attacked our camp," he murmurs. "My fear is that now that they know where it is, we are more vulnerable than ever." A flare of anger lights his dark blue eyes, thinking of Coyotepaw, but he shakes it away. It's a thought for later. "How are your wounds, Morningbird?" He studies the elder's patched snowy pelt, a frown decorating his maw.

"But you, my old friend, you died that day. How are you feeling?"

Blazestar smiles. "I'll never get used to losing a life," he confesses. He studies his paws for a moment. "I've lost three so far." A confession he hasn't made to anyone in awhile, though the Clan has been present for each time he's gone to StarClan and returned -- somehow, putting it out there is different, tastes strange on his tongue.​

[ PENNED BY MARQUETTE ]​

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[MORNINGBIRD]

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The old tom listens, nods to the younger's fear, reasonable in its end but not its beginning. "Dawnglare says I will heal, I am sure of it myself though my medicinal skills are lacking in comparison. This is not my first battle, and so long as I have cats to protect, it will not be my last." He murmrus, morals presented forward on a silver shield. Morningbird seems mildly surprised at the admittance of exactly how many lives Blazestar has left, for surely this is information one would want to keep close. It is an olive branch to him, a sign of trust, so in turn, the elder offers his own sign of trust.

"Nine lives to give in service of your clan, that is the purpose of the magic of those long passed yes?" When given an affirmation, he nods again, seemingly mulling over his words. There is no doubt as to what happened during the raid, and yet...his brain cannot help but think of young Squirrelpaw, of Leopardcloud. Of the boy who sought a horrible peace over war when he should've never been forced to make that decision.

"Blazestar, when you were a child, did you always think of every possible outcome, every possible odd or horrible variable that could affect what you wanted to accomplish?" It is an odd question to follow up, but seemingly rhetorical in its asking as Morningbird slowly goes on, a mild smile on his lips as he remembers his youth. "I know I wasn't. I knew I had a goal, and I tried my best to reach it, and it got me into more trouble than I can recount in a single night." He looks out at the camp through the entrance, at his wounds, and then simply forward with a heavy sigh. "Vulnerable we may appear, this was, as you stated, an inevitablity. Yet it is not because of the ill-prepared decisions of a child, it is because of the madness of the adults around him. We both know who told Windclan of our camp, but we both know through gatherings and horrible incidents that Sootstar is nothing but a deranged hornet's nest waiting to be poked."

"Fighting with her is going to happen, whether we want it to or not. It was never because of Coyotepaw, it was always going to be because of her. Riverclan obviously stands with us, and Thunderclan, despite our equal misfortunes again at the paw of children just trying to protect themselves and those close to them, will not stand with Windclan in the face of injustice. You and your children have taught me that much." He turns to look the leader in the eye, the same sorrowful look on his face that he held when he first arrived. "I may just be an old man rambling, perhaps I worry too much, but please, if the day ever comes where Coyotepaw wishes to come home, remember who it is you must truly fight. He is only a boy, barely even close to a warrior's age or a warrior's wisdom. She is a monster."​

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