- May 14, 2023
- 38
- 5
- 8
Her mind was rarely empty now, a sharp contrast to the joyful quiet of her youth. Emberkit had no worries. She had a siblings, a parent, and a home. It wasn’t the life she’d been born into, but who could worry about that when Shadowclan were her only memories. Emberkit was blessed. Emberpaw felt cursed. Cursed to watch her only parent die again and again. Cursed to watch her clan mates go missing or die for real. Cursed to know that the last remnants of her childhood were fleeting. She would be a warrior soon. I’m not ready. I’ll never be ready.
She’d been seeking distractions lately, comfort in looking to others rather than herself. She’d been thinking of Ribbitleap often, and the relationship that had been woven between them. He’d used to hate her, or as close to hate as he’d been capable of. At the time she couldn’t comprehend what, what it was that she’d ever done to him. It was so clear now. She’d swooped in, a cascading storm that had blocked out Ribbitleap’s sunny skies. Chilledstar was not often affectionate, and Emberkit had soaked up every spare drop.
I thought he’d leave me in the woods some days. The memory made her smile now. Mentor to the little kit that had burst into his family. How difficult that must’ve been. How healing it had become, for her at least. They were friends now, or not enemies. She enjoyed spending time with him. It made her feel like they were a real family. Then Geckoscreech went missing, and the storm clouds returned.
This time Emberpaw had withdrawn. A difficult feat considering he was her mentor. But she’d managed all the same, a sprout regressing to a seedling to a seed and burying herself in the dirt of silence. What could she say to him now? She’d never been close with Chilledstar’s mate. Her inability to grieve as he must have felt like a betrayal, one she was clueless to navigate. But the discomfort of avoiding him was overtaking hee fear. It wasn’t natural for seeds to remain closed forever. Eventually, they grew the roots necessary for reaching out.
“[color=#]Ribbitleap?[/color]”She’d sought him out today, the first time in awhile. “[color=#]Hey, how, how’ve you been?[/color]” Her words were clumsy, unpracticed. What’ll it be next, captain obvious? How’s the prey running? Surface questions, obvious answers. She was skipping rocks across a lake’s surface, afraid to lash at the depths.
“[color=#]I… I’m sorry I haven’t been around lately.[/color]”
// @RIBBITLEAP