camp MY SOUL IS EVER CLEAR [✦] return from moonstone

[Starlingheart]

After her talk with Ravensong, she had quickly caught back up with Magpiepaw and they had made their way back to camp together, slipping into the thorn barrier as the first rays of morning sun had just begun to peek through the pines, bathing the camp in a warm golden glow that was indicative of the dawn. The whole way home she had been troubled by what Dawnglare had said, what he had told them. A cat had fallen ill and no amount of herbs seemed to be working. It wasn't green-cough but something else. Some other terrible sort of beast. Illness frightened her in ways that wounds did not. A wound she could see, could treat confidently. Sickness was an invisible enemy, a fickle thing. A cat could be feeling fin one moment then be on deaths door the next for no discernable reason.

Usually, when she returns home from their journey she goes right to sleep But today she is too worried. Thoughts race through her head and she looks to the leaders den. Perhaps Chilledstar or Smogmaw were awake already.. Either way she needed to relay the news to one of them soon. "You c-c-can go to uh go to sleep if you want Magpiepaw" she tells her apprentice, her voice soft. She does not want him to see how concerned she truly is, does not want to scare him or any of their clanmates with the depth of her worry. "Or you can- you can stay and-and talk to Chilledstar or Smogmaw with me" it was his choice. She would not keep him if he was tired.

Her eyes scan the clearing, searching for a sign of either a familiar black or gray striped pelt.

// @CHILLEDSTAR. and @Magpiepaw but no need to wait!

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[CHILLEDSTAR.]

DON'T YOU GIVE ME UP, PLEASE DON'T GIVE UP​

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the medicine cat usually goes to sleep after returning from a journey, it reasonably taking a toll on her, and yet she has yet to retreat to her confined space with her mate and kits, and her apprentice. it certainly makes them concerned to see her to anxiously waiting, standing from the opening of their den and strolling near their predecessor's younger sibling. they offer her a nod of their head, flicking their tail towards magpiepaw before turning their gaze to starlingheart.

"i heard my name. you seem a bit antsy, hun. what's up? do we need to retreat to my den?"

they ask carefully, ears swiveling back and forth as they tried to figure out what was wrong. if the medicine cat was skipping sleep to talk to them, it clearly was something.
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[hitch]

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────── R O S E M I R E ──────
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It's never comforting to see a medicine cat worried, even one a little more prone to timidity like Starlingheart. Especially when they are not very many moons away from leafbare, which Rosemire has been steadily bracing himself for. He doesn't want to be completely blindsided like last time, and he's certain he isn't alone in that. They have so many younger ShadowClanners who didn't experience that particularly shitty period of their lives here, and he hopes against hope that they won't have to.

"Either of you hungry?" He asks after Chilledstar has offered to relocate to their den. Rosemire would like there to be some transparency about what has Starlingheart on edge, but keeping the masses calm etcetera etcetera. "Night patrol came back not too long ago, so there'll be something fresh."
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[GRANITEPELT]

Granitepelt does not like Starlingheart traveling to the Moonstone. Though he despises Bonejaw, he remembers well her return from convening with the other medicine cat’s, fur torn and bleeding, and he knows there are Clans with little love for ShadowClan. He would have felt better after she’d taken an apprentice if Magpiepaw hadn’t been such a weak, weird little failure of a cat. His wobbling dance is certainly not threatening to a cat who wants to harm his mate. When dawn breaks, Granitepelt leaves her den, peaceful and too-quiet with her, Magpiepaw, and the kits all gone from its inside. He’s glad for the peace, but he misses her presence immensely when he’s gone from his side, and at her return, he goes to press his cheek to hers.

But it’s Chilledstar she wants, for some StarClan-forsaken reason. He gives their leader a cool look at their approach, but gives the slightest dip of his head in a false show of respect. “You do look worried about something,” he says, feeling the beat of her heart under her ribcage. He looks up at Rosemire’s approach, irate all over again that Chilledstar wants to keep whatever has happened away from him. He deserves to know—she is his mate, the mother of his kits. If something has happened to her, he should know.

But he says nothing, only growing more discontent by the second.

✧ INFO.

•  
• 
  — granitekit . granitepaw . granitepelt
  — he/him ; warrior of shadowclan
  — heterosexual ; taken by Starlingheart
  — short-haired gray tom with white and green eyes
  — “speech”, thoughts, attack
  — penned by Marquette
  — chibi by Meg

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[Magpiepaw]

The walk back is less enjoyable than the walk to the Moonstone, there is no Berryheart or Lichenpaw to accompany them this last stretch though he rather likes having the company from Fourtrees onward; he hopes it is something they do more often. Magpiepaw has nothing much to add to the discussion on the illness, still learning and not informed enough or experimental enough to understand it beyond it is something to be worried over, but he shakes his head no when Starlingheart asks if he'd like to go to bed. The black and white apprentice is tired, but he's also curious and is eager to be part of the discussion all the same. He doubts their clanmates have much to offer than their fear, but he is willing to be present despite this.
"Will you be telling them of what Dawnglare said?"
Chilledstar arrives as though summoned by their very name and offers the quiet of the leader's den, his gaze darts to his mentor and then back to the leader skeptically; something this dire ought to be public, but that's not for him to decide.
Their clanmates begin to gather at their return, not a normal sight but perhaps they sensed the unease in the air and the offer of fresh prey is met with a thankful nod to the pale tom; he would grab something for him and Starlingheart before they went back to the den - if Granitepelt did not do so before him, given the tom's concern he can only grasp as being specifically for his mate and not the situation at hand.
"SkyClan's medicine cat had dire news.." He states cryptically, allowing the older healer to take over actually explaining anything.
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[Starlingheart]

When Granitepelt comes to her side she immediately feels relief. She is so tired and her journey, as always, had been long. When she sees him she wants to buckle in on herself, let him curl around her and drift off into the ocean of sleep. She misses the jealous look in his eyes as she leans into his embrace, letting a purr rumble in her throat. Soon she tells herself. Soon she would allow herself to rest but right now... "N-no that's alright Rosemire. I need to- I need to deliver my news and then I- then I need sleep. Perhaps after though." she flashes the pale furred tom a grateful smile before she turns her attention to their leader.

Alarm runs hot through her veins as she remembers the last time she had been called to their den. The way she had watched Chilledstar lose it at Smogmaw, they had looked more rabid in that moment then a snarling dog and something in their eyes had frightened her, made her afraid. No. She did not want to be alone with Chilledstar. She shuffles her feet uncomfortably. "No- no need" she says, taking great care to keep her voice even "What I uh what I have to say will only take a moment" and besides, everyone should just hear it she thinks. Magpiepaw asks if she is going to tell them what Dawnglare said and it makes the perfect transition for her news. "Y-yes SkyClan had- had said some-something most troubling..." she says in affirmation "There is a cat who is-who is sick and Dawnglare said its-its like green cough but worse. We should- should just be uh be wary is all. Perhaps more frequent grooming for some hmm?" she has a couple of cats who come to mind when she says this. Cats who could use any grooming at all.
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[mottlefox]

Having sidled up quietly Mottlepaw frowns from his place next to Rosemire, expression puckering as if he's eaten something sour. Trouble with the medicine cats? That's never good. Magpiepaw's ominous warning makes the fur at the back of his neck prickle; but Starlingheart seems far less sombre, only her usual sort of serious, when she tells the gathering ShadowClanners of an illness starting to spread in the pines. Perhaps more frequent grooming for some, hmm? Mottlepaw averts his eyes immediately, shuffling back slightly so that he's moreso in Rosemire's shadow. Ooh, uh oh. Best not to let Wheatpaw get a hold of that suggestion.

"Good thing we don't share a border with 'em." He pipes up in a thin facade of cheer, hoping desperately that the angle at which they're standing would make it seem entirely like Rosemire had suddenly become very good at mimicking other ShadowClanners, and that he wouldn't step back to reveal the notoriously scruffy apprentice.

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