camp send me away with the words of a love song (morningpaw's vigil)

[HOWLINGSTAR]

// This takes place the day of her death - Howling Wind and Little Wolf brought her body back to ThunderClan camp to have a vigil and be buried after. It can be assumed that any current elders and queens prepared her body with the necessary herbs, and the elders will be responsible for burying her after vigil


The tabby remains crouching beside the pale body of Morningpaw, her nose pressed into her fur. All she can smell is the mint that has been rubbed into her fur by Sunfreckle and the others, but all she wants to smell is Morningpaw's scent. She knows it's gone, fleeting with the warmth of her blood. The scent of death is swiftly replacing it and she knows that's why Berryheart gave the red-furred queen the herbs to mask it. But still, she just wants to smell the maple leaves and morning dew that often clung to her fur.

The rest of her family is gathered around. Clanmates come and pay their respects and then step back. Everyone is saying their goodbyes and it's horrible. They're all saying goodbye to a child who has left this world too soon, and as the sun dips further towards the horizon, they all know the time of burial is near. Soon, the clan's elders will be by to carry the body outside of camp to put her to rest, but Howling Wind isn't ready for that. She continues to press her muzzle into the apprentice's fur, tears dried up but the sorrow and grief twisting her features is unmistakable.​

 

[BURNSTORM]

He watches with sad, vacant, eyes as they drag his sisters body into the camp, watches as they rub herbs into her fur and he wonders, what use would those herbs be? She was already gone. His mom had told him she was in Star Clan but he had thought Star Clan was only for old cats. Morningpaw was too young to be there, she should be here with them. "It's not fair!" He grumbles to no one in particular, his claws sinking into the snow that he crouches on. Tears sting his eyes but he stubbornly wipes them away. He wants his sister back.

He squeezes in next to his grandmother and his mother, their familiar pelts both bent over as they mourn their loss and he mimics them, pushing his nose into his sister's pale pelt and he inhales. Her scent is no longer familiar, instead of smelling like the cat he had shared a den with his entire life she smells like death. Death mixed with mint. He stumbles backward in surprise, it was like she was a stranger. He examines her face. It is still the same but its missing the warm light she gave off in life and that's when he realized, that's because it's not her. Not really. She was in Star Clan now. He tilts his head up to the Sky, squinting as if he can see her in the twilight.

"Goodbye Morningpaw, may we meet again" he murmurs softly ​

 

[BLACKMOON]

I AM THE DEVIL THAT YOU FORGOT​

---

The fight should have never been allowed to happen. Morningpaw should have never been killed.
Blackmoon hadn't been able to cease reliving the events in his head, questioning whether he could have done something to change the final outcome. The tom let a quiet sigh pass as he sat nearby as he joined the vigil. However, he kept a distance so that the closest family to Morningpaw would have plenty of room to say their goodbyes.

"Run with the stars, kid. May you watch over your family from above, and may you find peace." Blackmoon uttered the words as a private prayer as he looked towards the sky before lowering his head and closing his eyes as he returned to silence. Soon enough Morningpaw would be buried, but how long would it be before they would have to dig another grave? Tensions between the clans were getting worse, even between allies. More families were doomed to suffer, he feared.
​

 

[Sunfreckle]

He almost didn't want to look at the motionless apprentices body, still so small and delicate with soft paw pads not even calloused for anything more than simple walks yet; but when Howling Wind had come to him he could not find it in him to refuse. Duty or not, if he could do anything to help he would. The clan had dressed up Dovekit and helped him bury her when he lost her so young and he owed them for carrying the despair he could not; but something about this hurt more. He had known Morningpaw longer, his kit had gone so quickly for something entirely out of their paws yet the little tortie in the middle of the camp could have been kept safer, could have been protected. It was not illness that took her but the cruelty of claws she never wanted to face.
Sunfreckle still smelled of mint and cold soil, wanted to crawl back into the warmth of the nursery and cry into his nest, but he remained sitting there rigidly with his head bowed and no energy to even offer any words just yet. A life for a squirrel-it wasn't fair. From what he'd heard it had been a ThunderClan squirrel and a case of poor assumptions made by hunger and desperation. His heart shattered for Little Wolf, for Howling Wind, for the entire family and he wondered if the mornings would ever be as bright again...

​

 

[Flycatcher]

Flycatcher had not been on that fateful patrol. In some ways, he is glad he wasn't, for he did not wish to fight with their allies over something such as a squirrel, nor did he wish to have seen Morningpaw receive her fatal wounds.

The lead warrior joins the throng of ThunderClan cats in mourning for the fallen apprentice. They are all united in their shared grief for the loss of one of their own, a young life snuffed out before she had time to grow. Although he grieves for Morningpaw like many of their clanmates, he can only begin to imagine how her family must feel. His heart breaks especially for Little Wolf who now has to bury her child. Losing family was hard enough but to lose a child? That was a pain Flycatcher hoped he would not experience anytime soon.​

 

[emberstar]

IT WENT FROM A SPARK TO AN OPEN FLAME ⋆⁺₊⋆ "May she find happiness in the company of our friends in the stars." Emberstar offered simply, dipping her head and stepping back. She could not find the heart for the words though. There was no doubt in her mind that Morningpaw would be welcomed into Starclan with all the kindnesses that they could afford, and that they would be like a second family to her.

But the girl had deserved more than that. She had deserved a life.

The whole clan was overcome by mourning. This was a senseless tragedy. A child's life stolen and for what? Over a squirrel chased onto the wrong side of a border? It was unbearable cruel. ​

 

[Flamewhisker]

Flamewhisker — I'll sleep when I'm dead

Her heart was heavy as she sat beside Flycatcher. She pressed as close as she could against him, glad she had his comfort now. Seeing Morningpaw's innocent body laying there...it was almost too much. Such a sweet life...stolen by greed. No matter how many times her clanmates may disagree, she knew it was her fault. When she had received her warrior name, she had taken a vow. A vow to protect her clanmates even at the cost of her life. She would give anything to switch places with Little Wolf's child. It would be her laying there...Morningpaw should still be here with her family. She wasn't clan born...if she had died, it wouldn't have affected the clan like this.

Starclan. Her clanmates had brought up the star based clan where deceased warriors went to live. How did they know that it was real? Or was it just something they had made up themselves to just feel better when one of their friends died? She wanted to leave, she wanted to hide away....away from Morningpaw's family. She felt like a murderer, even though she hadn't been the one to shed the apprentice's blood.

"I'm...I'm so s-sorry Morningp-paw.." she murmured quietly.
​

 

[BERRYHEART]

Foolishly Berryheart had thought that refraining from setting eyes upon his niece's body would never wizen him to the fact that she was dead. It was a childish thought at its basest level, but it became even more ridiculous and pathetic when he realised who it was that would be preparing the herbs for her funeral. Fire-freckled head bowed, he had tried and tried not to spare Wisps a glance. But the blood was too overwhelming a stench, and the loss was too overwhelming an abyss. Deadened eyes had watched the preparation, watched Big Mama bow over sobbing, watched the rest of the warriors speak their prayers.

He could not bear to let any words take flight. Nothing left his maw if he was unsure of it, and in this situation everything was unfamiliar. Every step brought with it flooding uncertainty, and what could he say now that was correct? Not a thing. Right did not exist in this battlefield of grief, and Berryheart supposed he would have to let what left his maw leave with little filter.

Ashamed as he was for not being able to get closer, he could at least offer her words. Who knew if the veil of the stars could hear him, all the way down here and so far from the moonstone? "I'll see you around." Quiet hope, pushing past the lump in his throat. Be it next moon through a prophecy or on the day he died, he would see her again. The soft stammer of her voice. The cloud-fibre fur he had nicknamed her for. The gentle blue of her eyes. He hoped that, in the hunting-grounds of StarClan, she knew her family loved her dearly. Never again would he offer her quiet encouragement, share a lunch, ask her how her day had been- but he knew he would see her again. ​

[ PENNED BY PIN ]​

 

[RACCOONSTRIPE]

( ☄. *. ⋆ ) Raccoonstripe's heart twists to see his mother so emotionally battered. Howling Wind is a kind she-cat, but she's firm, strong, had raised all three litters of her kits with a stone-firm paw. He can see the sorrow darkening the shadows beneath her apple-green eyes. A granddaughter lost, one who'd only just joined their family four moons ago.

The kits' sister, little Burnpaw, sits with his head bowed low. Raccoonstripe's jaw clenches. Black-pelted like his mother, but there's undeniable kittypet blood, the big paws and the soft, long fur, easily tangled, and he thinks about Little Wolf's mate. A foolish cat, a cat who'd allowed his family to be hurt.

He looks at the soft-pawed half-kittypet who'd died saving a ThunderClan apprentice. She'd known where she truly belonged, in her heart. That much is clear. "StarClan bless you, little one. ThunderClan will honor you."

He looks away, sees the haunted expression on his brother's face, and goes to his side.

He brushes his flank against Berryheart's, a brief gesture of comfort that he expects neither tom to acknowledge. His littermate had been denied the chance to save their sister. It infuriates him, that SkyClan, the cause of her death, had brought his niece's body to that bee-brain instead of her own kin.

While his family grieves, anger and prejudice flare small and hot in Raccoonstripe's chest.​

( I CAN SEE THE SKY LIGHT UP , AND THE GROUND EXPLODE )

 

[Hollow Tree]

Her heart beats with sorrow like the rest of the cats. As they gathered around Morningpaw she stayed in the background. There was so much still left unsaid and now the words died before ever leaving her maw. Hollow Tree hadn’t gotten to spend nearly enough time with Morningpaw. She couldn’t imagine the pain Little Wolf was going through. To lose a child. Her heart aches at the knowledge that it will be many many moons before any of her kin sees Morningpaw again. With the expectation of Berryheart.

She sucks in a deep breath before padding forward. Waiting for an opening before slipping beside her mother. Grief twisted onto her features as she got a look at the corpse before them. Her yellow hues looked over the young cat. Was this the fate of other apprentices throughout leaf bare? The idea of different territories was to protect themselves. But now it has gotten someone killed.

“Morningpaw…” her voice cracks under the sorrow. Hollow Tree has to suck in another deep breath to steady herself. She was one of the oldest in her family. The feline felt as if it was her duty to protect her younger kin. But she hadn’t even been there when the fight occurred. The feeling of guilt and uselessness dragged her down. Pressing her nose against the soft pelt of what was once Morningpaw. She breathes in the scent of mint.

She couldn’t find the words to speak outloud. But she hopes Morningpaw knows how proud she was of her. How she wanted to watch them grow into a fine warrior. How she wanted so many moments that were stolen by death. How she would make sure Little Wolf and her remaining children would be okay.

Morningpaw, watch over us.

Hollow Tree picks up her head, turning to try and give Howling Wind a quick lick on the ear. A silent way of offering some kind of strength. Before slipping back to the background. Allowing her other kin and clanmates a chance to get closer and say their goodbyes. As she continued to watch from the background, but clearly lost in thought once more. ​

[ well i didn't tell anyone, but a bird flew by . tags ]​