Time continues to press on even after the great battle. The cats having broken off like the creeper vine, their interpretation of what the dead cats had told them. She still remembers it as if it had happened yesterday, the pain in her chest when she had watched Cicada climb onto the rock to declare what he was taking from them. His eyes as they stared forward with no want to lock with her own. She's been attempting to sleep, well, been attempting for a while to at least get some sleep in since those days. Yet it seems to always elude her with the same dream over and over again. Every nap, every fitful stretch of her limbs in her nest. Startled awake by the sudden brightness of a large stone, sharp and splintering the light of the moon into starlight. Always this rock appears at the end of her dream, blazing and shocking her awake with how brightly it shines. She's kept it to herself, she hasn't said anything about it because at the end of the day she just thinks it is just a dream, nothing more but something fabricated up by her own mind. The end of the dream doesn't concern her, it's what happens before that that does. The way the fog swirls around her paws, moving out of her way as she walks along the territory that she has lived in for so long now.
It calls to her gently, soft wind tugging at her paws. She feels light as she walks along the marshes and there is nothing else. Looking in any direction that she steps the places is just the marshes. Pure and inviting, everything vibrant with ferns and algae in pools of standing water. The sounds of bird calls and rustling animals beneath. Yet it is concerning to her that even as long as she walks in either direction there is nothing else. Nothing but marsh. No moorlands, no oak forest, no riverbanks, no pine trees. She's racing through her dream trying her best to find them, find one other place but as she goes with her heart hammering in her chest she somehow finds this stone. Finds this large brilliance that almost blinds her, shocking her awake and she scrambles from her nest every time, every night.
Even now under the moon she breathes out harshly and looks up at the sky. Her tired eyes are almost pleading as she looks up at the stars, the only idea she has to put these strange dreams to rest is to try and ask them. Everyone else seems to think they are the best option for their problems. Spread like creeper vine they had told them but she hated the conclusion. "What is this dream? It has to mean something if I keep having the damn thing every night. I haven't slept a wink since the battle happened, since all of you dead cats decided to spring forth with stars in your pelts. Ruining my home...." She grits her jaw then before shaking her head and looking away from the dark sky, dotted with points of light.
There would be rustling behind the black and white she-cat and soon enough, a fiery pelt would push its way into the space, bright green eyes round and filled with concern. "Bone? Are you alright?" The Somali mix would walk over to stand beside her clanmate, her gaze looking her over as if worried she was injured. "You ran so fast out of camp I thought we were being attacked."
Fire would offer a humble smile as she took a seat and attempted to lightly touched her tail to the older she-cats side in a gesture of comfort, "Did you get another nightmare? Do you want to talk about it?" She was much younger than Bone, a mere thirteen moons to her thirty-two, and yet even if Bone decided to snap at her and send her away, Fire wanted to know she at least tried to help.
The great battle had been hard on every shadowclanner, no one's pain was more important than the next in her mind. So if Bone caved in and decided to share, she would listen without judgment.
So caught up in her thoughts she doesn't hear the other and when Fire speaks she jolts a little, tail whipping through the air as she rounds on the other feline. For a moment her fur bristles in shock before she shakes herself and forces what fur she can to lie flat. Ugh, she's been so on edge because of this constant nightmare and she huffs before looking away. "Sorry...." She mutters before she shifts her paws against the slightly dry ground, digging at the moistened soil. Questions come then and the woman is not sure if she does want to speak about it. It's been happening so frequently and over and over again that she's begun to think that she might be going mad. If she were then that would be the only comfort that she has in all of this. But telling someone doesn't sound so bad either and she sighs before curling her tail around her paws and looking back up at the sky. "I am fine, but....this dream keeps plaguing me. Ever since I got back home from that battle and after that whole ridiculous gathering it's only gotten worse."
Splitting things up as if anyone had a say in the lands that Hare Whiskers presided over for so long. Frowning she shuffles her paws before she glances at the other woman and then she finally decides to just come out with it. "I keep...I'm trapped in the marshes. No matter where I go there is only the marshes. And as the echoes of dead cats fade suddenly a blinding light from this large rock springs up. It looks like the stars themselves have come down from the sky and they splitter and break a part. Then I wake up panting like I've ran a whole field. I don't know what it means and it's driving me crazy," What if there is no meaning at all and she's putting too much stock into it just because there were were star pelted dead cats now.
Tantomile had always been a restless sleeper- the beat of paws heavy against dried marsh ground ruffled her awake soon enough, and deep blue eyes settled upon one of the mollies that had greeted her when she had joined- though she could not recall her name. Through shade she followed the low sound of voices, tattered ears tuning in to the explanation of the dream that had drawn her into the cold embrace of the night. Even in summer, the dark was biting- Tantomile should have known that no one would come out here for their own enjoyment.
Drawing up loudly, making her presence very much known, the fire-hued tabby flashed the two other mollies a grin before plopping herself down with fanfare beside them. Eager to help her new clanmates, her mind made blind grasps toward any ideas that might solve the light-streaked molly's problem. "Y'know- sometimes if I eat right before bed, I have funny dreams. You think that could be it?"
Still, that didn't really solve why the dream was so specific- and so recurring, too. Despite it, Tantomile still watched expectantly to see if her suggestion would be received ill or well.
Fire would listen silently, watching Bone's expression with patience and concern as the older molly described her nightmares. Her ears would flatten in sympathy, and she would move to try and gently lean against her clanmate in an effort to comfort them, "I'm sorry you've been having these nightmares, Bone. It must have been hard for you to face them on your own. I'm happy you told me."
Her ear would flick, a sure sign that she was deep in thought over this, but another figure would reach them before she could speak again. Tantomile would offer their own ideas of what could be causing the nightmares and Fire would nod along with their words, "It certainly is possible. But I don't think Bone would be eating just before sleep every night for so long." She would offer the ginger she-cat a warm smile of appreciation however before continuing, "Have you talked to Briar about these nightmares? Maybe the star cats are trying to tell you something important." She would look between her clanmates before meowing in a softer voice, "Maybe the rock in your dreams is a real place they want you to go?"
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