[META] Phase Three - TreeClan VS StoneClan

[PeterPan_da144]

Snowyowl is attacking Talonfang! She misses in her blind fury!

HP: 5

A mixture of emotions came from her. Branchtail appeared, slashing at Yarrowbloom, and Yarrowbloom reacted. Snowyowl's light eyes went wide with terror for a moment. She watched Branchtail slump to the ground. He had always been a mouthy tom, making himself seem bigger than he really was. But for him to fall so easily... In a silly fight that could have been avoided if someone had just talked to StoneClan...

And then Talonfang lashed out at Yarrowbloom. He missed, but Snowyowl jumped to action. With a screech, she threw herself at Talonfang, claws raking whatever part of his pelt she could reach.

@Blinded By Silence @NatiStorm

 

[NatiStorm]

@Blinded By Silence Yarrowbloom is attacking Talonfang! He hits for 5 damage!

As the brown tom fell, Yarrowbloom stared, wide eyed in horror. What had he done? Oh SunClan, what had he done?! All he'd ever wanted to do was bring pride to his mate and clan. This... this was a nightmare!

"I... I..." He wasn't sure what sort of apology would ever fix the mistakes he had just made. His breathing was heavy and rapid as he turned around to look at Snowyowl and the bicolored TreeClan tom. The tom was growling at him with a murderous fire in his bright green eyes that Yarrowbloom had never seen before and it sent a shiver of fear through him.

Though Yarrowbloom was absolutely hopeless when it came to finding his way around the territory or following directions, he had always excelled at fighting. As Snowyowl lashed at the TreeClan tom who had chased him down, Yarrowbloom's fighting instinct over powered his kind conscious and washed away the pang of fear.

"Back! Off!" He yowled as he pounced. His fangs clamped down, piercing fur and flesh, before he gave a violent shake of his head, as if he were ending the life of a mouse instead of a cat. The taste of blood filled his mouth but he didn't dare let go until the other tom stilled.

Once he finally released the TreeClan cat and took a step back, Yarrowbloom noticed that he was shaking. All of this violence, the wounds on these two cats, all of it because he wanted to show off. A hopeless wave of despair washed over him.

Was there any way to ever right this wrong? His one solace was that Snowyowl was okay. At least, she was still standing, which was better than many of the cats around them.

Yarrowbloom (Adult)
HP: 5
To Hit: 10+
Damage: 5

 

[Absolutiones]

HP: 0

With the damage she had sustained from the opposing cat, Rocksteady suddenly found it difficult for her to keep herself upright. She collapsed to the ground and soon lost consciousness despite her best efforts.

 

[Absolutiones]

HP: 0

As it turned out, Nightcall had been the one making the mistake. Though she still couldn't understand what the prompted the sudden attack on their camp, she had certainly gotten into a fight she couldn't win. Blood flowed freely from her many wounds and with it, the last of her strength. She collapsed, unable to continue.

 

[Blinded By Silence]

@belloblossom Errol is going to attempt to stabilize Mudripple! He's failed agian.

 

[Blinded By Silence]

Talonfang has gone down! I'll write up a dramatic post for him later lol

Talonfang (Adult) HP: 0 To Hit: 10+ Damage: 5

 

[belloblossom]

Sunflight had been so determined that she was doing the right thing when she came into this battle. She'd left the Nest with a number of strong warriors and while it had made her queasy to see some of her young daughters with her, she knew that they would fight in a smart way and that if StoneClan was still ruled by Sunseer, that his warriors wouldn't allow for apprentices to be killed in battle.

When she saw Thrushpaw go down her faith in Sunseer evaporated in an instant. Her blood ran hot through her body as someone she used to consider her kin in MountainClan had taught warriors of his Clan that killing youth was appropriate. Indeed, Sunseer had been something of an uncle to her growing up, though their relations were truly more distant than that in reality. Such ties to him were swiftly cut down as she made eye contact with Mudripple, who had picked up Thrushpaw and begun to push her way through the crowd.

Her attention had been divided then and as Sunflight moved through the fighting cats, she kept her attention searching for Mudripple and Thrushpaw. The next time she saw Mudripple, the brown she-cat was on the cliffs, struggling with her burden and shortly thereafter, before Sunflight could even call out a warning was taken down by another former Clanmate, Dandelionclaw. A warrior who had always been a traditionalist, but a protector of the small. Apparently that didn't include the small when it was from another Clan. What sort of Clan was Sunseer molding StoneClan to be? She flattened her ears and whipped her head around when she heard her name being called. The true enemy to TreeClan, it seemed, had finally revealed himself.

Pulling her features back into a hiss, she glowered up at him. Oh, he must feel so high and mighty on that pebble he stood upon. He must feel so important, while his cats stole prey from the mouths of those who would eat it and while his warriors gutted her children. A glance back towards where Mudripple had fallen and she spotted her medicine cat bending over Thrushpaw and then moving to Mudripple. She breathed a shaky sigh - did that mean that Errol had managed to stabilize Thrushpaw or that her kit had joined SunClan already?

Turning her attention back to the mewling tomcat on the tall rock, she took a deep breath and roared her defiance at him.
"Blood traitor!" She bellowed, but she wondered how many had heard her over the din of battle. She looked at him on his rock and sneered, before turning her attention to the path ahead of her. Mapping the path out in her mind, she began to leap across and jumped at the rock, claws digging out. She wished for the ease of soft wood and knurled lumps, but she'd been born in MountainClan and while rusty, she was able to climb up the face of the tall rock. Pulling herself up, she bared her fangs at Sunseer, leaning forward and growling at him fiercely, but pulled away to turn to the cats beneath her. She had to admit, she felt powerful on this rock - but power wasn't something she wanted to lord over her Clanmates. She desired understanding and connection.

"Cats of TreeClan - STOP!" She yowled down at the crowds below and turned to Sunseer, her tail lashing. "Your turn - call off your apprentice killers and your prey thieves, Sunseer. When they stop their carnage, you and I are due a very long conversation." She hissed at him and stepped only a few paw steps away, for him to call off his own Clanmates.

@Blinded By Silence - Sunflight is face to face with Sunseer!
@NatiStorm @PeterPan_da144 @Umbrefox @I--LiveWire--I @Absolutiones @Nym - Sunflight has called for the fighting to stop from TreeClan - will her warriors listen? What about the cats from StoneClan? It's up to y'all to decide!

 

[Blinded By Silence]

It was... Not funny. Interesting, maybe. When Sunseer lost his eyesight, he had to learn to lean on his other senses. His sensitivity had grown. The wind felt like fingers running through his fur. His paws felt the vibrations of cats slamming violently into each other. The air was heavy with the scent of pine and blood, so thick he could taste it.

But the worst of it was the sounds.

Claws raking through fur, flesh tearing. Cats screaming, crying. Dying.

Sunseer did not feel powerful as he stood on the Tall Stone. He felt cold.

So yes, Sunflight's words reached him. He stepped backward as they hit him, buried in his chest like claws. He heard her scramble up, rising to meet him. Challenge him. He felt her breath as she growled at him and the pain in her voice when she turned away and yelled her command.

He swallowed and pulled deep, summoning an air of stability and calm he did not feel.

"ENOUGH." He bellowed, his voice the rumbling of a rockfall, "That is enough! Skysong, take Duskpaw and help Littleflower gather the wounded." He turns to the younger leader, his head raised. He speaks to her now, no longer yelling but refusing to drop his voice below the din. "Then talk, Sunflight. You call this my carnage, but it seems to me you are here on my land, bringing warriors to fight my apprentices. So talk."

@belloblossom @NatiStorm @I--LiveWire--I @PeterPan_da144 @Absolutiones @Umbrefox @Nym The cease-fire has been issued and the peace(?) talks have begun!

 

[belloblossom]

Sunflight released a breath that she hadn't realized she'd been holding when Sunseer called his warriors off, but she still found herself casting weary glances down from the tall rock that she stood on. She could get a clear look at it now and she couldn't help a mournful cry that loosed itself from her when she noticed that her children Pinedapple and Sprucetail, were among the cats that were no longer moving. There were others, too many othrs of her Clan among her children who she could see now: Hawk and her daughter Viperfang, Lightningdash and her mate Strongclaw, Talonfang near Branchtail... She didn't mean for so much bloodshed and she wondered if she perhaps should not have taken the majority vote.

Leading by vote was something we did in MountainClan. She thought and then a growl built in her chest again as she turned her gaze to the StoneClan leader. It was something that HE used to do. I am my own leader. I will not follow in his pawsteps any longer. She thought. She trusted Errol to do his duty to heal the cats who had fallen and if Littleflower was among them... Oh SunClan, had Littleflower turned out like as cruel as the leader of StoneClan seemed to be? No, surely, Littleflower would nnever condone the murder of apprentices within her own Clan.

Turning her gaze firmly to Sunseer, she backed away from the edge of the tall rock they stood upon, wondering for a moment if he wouldn't just push her off if he got too close. Moving to stand a tail length away from him, her feelings tangled around her like roots.

"I used to look up to you. I thought you to be so kind and brave, to be able to lead us down the mountain and to allow myself and Deadeye to leave to go form our own Clans." She told him grief and anger fighting for dominance in her mew. "Now I look at you, Sunseer, and I see a cat I barely recognize, if not for the spots on your tail. Did you know what was happening, when your warriors and apprentices went to invade TreeClan's territory and steal our prey? It was a pawful of apprentices, the first time and because we are kin and because I held you in high esteem, I let it go. Just apprentices acting out, I told myself. Surely they won't do so again when leaf fall comes and prey gets harder to find, because Sunseer and his Clanmates are honorable cats." She sighed. "I don't know what's worse to think if you did know and you were sending your cats to hunt on my territory or if you didn't. If you did know then that's awful and I'm hurt that you would go straight to hunting rather than just talking to me. I would've helped you, if you need it.

If you didn't know, that's just as bad, really, because it means that StoneClan's leader has lost any connection to its cats. Cats who don't feel connected to their leader won't listen and will act unpredictably. Cats who act unpredictably are threats and I see that there are many more cats in StoneClan now than when I left it." She mewed. "I worry for you, Sunseer, if you have unpredictable cats in your Clan." She sighed and held her tail still, though it was an effort to control her emotions. Riversong had always been the more rational of them - but Riversong hadn't seen a StoneClan warrior kill one of her daughters that day. SunClan, please let Errol get to Thrushpaw and to all of my cats who had joined her, in time. Sunflight prayed.

"If it was a one-time offense, it could have been let go. But it happened earlier today, with a larger patrol of your cats. Not just apprentices this time, fully grown warriors were among them and when my border patrol went to chase the intruders, your cats attacked TreeClan." Admittedly, Sunflight was guessing at this point. She'd seen the blood splatters on her side of the territory, but in her hurry to follow Lightningdash and Branchtail over the border, she hadn't checked to see whose blood it belonged to. She hoped that it wasn't Lightningdash who made the first attack against StoneClan.

"I only have one name so far and we will find out who else was on that patrol, Sunseer. Your Snarlpaw claimed to be the head of the patrols, but my own warriors will be able to identify the cats who stole from our lands, if your apprentice will not speak up." Sunflight reflected. "Those of mine who are still with us." She added, softly, thinking of Branchtail's body. Would Lightningdash be aware enough to point out any others that she'd seen on the patrol?

Sunflight let out a long and weary sigh.
"I had intended for this attack to be a warning. Some scratched flanks and puffy tails. I didn't think that your warriors would be so merciless." She looked up to Sunseer, searching his blind white eyes for something. "One of your warriors, a split-face tomcat struck down one of my daughters today, Sunseer. She was only made an apprentice this moon." She stared at him, searching for anything redeemable: remorse, guilt, anger? "What has changed in you, or in StoneClan, that your warriors will strike down cats barely out of the Nursery!?" She asked him, her voice bordering between hysterical and incredulous.

Standing up a little taller, Sunflight pushed her grief a little deeper within her. She would have time to mourn later, but she would not allow Sunseer to think she was a weak-minded leader, no, not for a single moment!

"StoneClan has wronged TreeClan. Had this happened only once, then we would've waved if off, but you came to steal our prey on two occasions, you spilled blood on TreeClan's side of the border and you have killed a kit from our Clan. If you do not take action to remedy your actions, then you will force my claw into another battle with the full force of TreeClan - which is a battle I think we both want to avoid, after today. So, Sunseer," She asked the elder in front of her, "What will you do to fix this?" @Blinded By Silence

 

[Blinded By Silence]

He couldn't sit, as much as he wanted to. There was too much energy in his paws. Too much hammering in his chest. So he stood his ground, silently taking each of these word-shaped attacks, reminding himself that they didn't come from the little spotted kit he had watched grow up, but from a leader. His tail, however, lashed behind him. He had never been as good at hiding his emotions as Skysong had.

There were problems. He had been wrong, too optimistic to see them. And these two clans had paid for that. But he was not about to sit here and take the entirely of the blame here. Mistakes had clearly been made, but not all of them his.

He waited until she had, at last, fallen silent, his long black tail writhing, striking the stone like a snake.

"I watched you grow, little bird. How proud I was, to see my kin rise up in the face of adversity and take charge so young. Too young, many thought. I stood up for you, defended you, because I thought you had been taught well. You had the makings of greatness within you, Sunflight." He shakes his head in disappointment, "The cat before me is not who I expected you to be. If you stand here, looking over the wake of your decision and place the blame solely at my paws, then perhaps they were right. You are too young to know what it takes to be a leader."

"Do you know why we are given these nine lives, Sunflight? So that we may be the first into battle and the last to eat." He raises his voice, his eyes challenging as his tail sweeps across the scattered remains of this so-called warning, "I smell not a drop of blood on you. Just theirs. You are their leader, Sunflight. Those cats, your children, chose to follow you unflinchingly, yet here you stand and there they are. Fallen. Dead. Over prey."

He steps forward now, anger flashing in his eyes, "If you think I would allow such a blatant overstep of the Warrior Code, then clearly you do not know me. You are hurt? What about me? Why would you not think first to speak to me before you send in your warband, screaming for justice? Snarlpaw and the others will be dealt with. By me and their mentors, as is our duty. You disrespect us by removing the option to teach them from our paws. It is not your place to punish my cats."

Another step, "You call my warriors merciless. My warriors are defending their home, their nests, and their mates. We have kits here, Sunflight. Elders. Did you think of them when you made this decision, to rally your cats and draw blood over prey?" And another, "And what of you? You are so quick to lay judgement on my ability to run my clan, but you allowed apprentices to fight a battle that could have been avoided if you had simply chosen to talk to me. Did you even bother to talk to your deputy? Your Medicine Cat? To SunClan?"

He stops in front of her, pulls his eyes from the spot she stands and casts them over the cats below. There is no anger there anymore. Just guilt and sadness.

"I mourn for your losses, Sunflight. I do not know which is worse, to look over the remains of your decisions and see the bodies of those you are supposed to care for, or to see none of it and have to wait to be told who all paid this hefty price today. All I know is that the sun will rise heavy tomorrow for us all."

@belloblossom

 

[Blinded By Silence]

@belloblossom Errol is going to attempt to stabilize Mudripple!

 

[belloblossom]

For a moment, Sunflight wanted to scream at the old tom. She felt doubt twist in her heart and she wanted to cry to him Yes, of course I'm young! But you condoned it! Everyone who followed me knew that I'm young, but I'm doing it - I'm making it work! Try being my age and leading, you spineless old bag of bones! But she regained herself. She was young, yes, but she wasn't born yesterday.

"What a hypocrite you are, Sunseer." She told him, giving a little shake of her head. "You were hiding when your cats were fighting. The most you've done this fight is shout from a big rock and talk down to me. You're no leader, you're just an old tom who is holding onto the delusions. Maybe all the time looking into the sun for our kin has blinded your eyes and your heart to the real world down below. It's time to look around you and see the cats in front of you, not go searching for the ones you've lost." She cast her eyes over the rock, searching for a silver she-cat. "Maybe it's time for Skysong to step up. She's been waiting long enough, I'd say. But any cat can see that you'll never take my advice, not while you're this emotional." She sighed deeply, looking out at StoneClan and her fallen TreeClan members.

"I...am sorry." She mewed softly, turning her head towards Sunseer, she wished that they could be speaking in private, but that seemed so sneaky. Instead she just lowered her voice, hoping for the privacy that she wouldn't likely receive. "I really thought this would be a warning attack, nothing so large as this, but... You're condescending to me like I'm still the kit back on the Mountain. I am a leader now, Sunseer and it's time you start treating me like one. You've made mistakes in your lifetime as a leader - I should think you'd be able to hold some sympathy for others." She leveled her gaze to him. "I did speak to my Clan, to my deputy and my medicine cat, thank you very much. We came to this choice like we would have in MountainClan - maybe like how you still lead StoneClan, even. This, I think was my mistake, trying to lead like you." She stepped over to the tomcat and raised a paw, before putting it back down and instead extending the tip of her tail to rest briefly on his shoulder. "TreeClan will change, after today. I won't try to lead by your example any longer." She told him. "This change was needed, I think. So I suppose, whatever may come next, you can thank yourself Sunseer, for the change your actions," Or lack there of, Sunflight thought. "brought to TreeClan, for better or worse."

Clearing her throat, she raised her chin and spoke normally to him.
"StoneClan will not trespass on TreeClan's camp again, Sunseer." It wasn't a question. "I want to see the punishment exacted on the trespassers who came into TreeClan today, to see with my own eyes that your promise deal with them is kept. After that is concluded to satisfaction, my cats and I will leave and we shall not make trouble for you again." She inclined her head to the rock. "Will you accept this request I make, Sunseer?" She asked him. She would have to leave either way, of course - she couldn't keep her cats here when so many were downed, but she had asked some allowance for sympathy and she hoped that he might put in a show of trust - in letting her see the punishment that he intended for the trespassers who had caused all of this, then maybe... maybe she could see him as more than an enemy of her Clan.

Her emotions and decisions seemed to be in a whir, but she swallowed them down. She had to believe that she was doing the right in thing in this moment. She could doubt herself later, but right now, she had to provide a strong face, while she stared down Sunseer, for the sake of both Clans watching her. @Blinded By Silence

 

[PeterPan_da144]

Poppyheart had been quiet in the back during all of the talk between the leaders. She was grateful the battle was brought to an end, but the two of them just shouting back and forth....

"You are right, Sunflight." The young she-cat stepped forward. She was roughly the same age as the leader of TreeClan, and had made the trek down the mountain as well.

"For clan cats - once outsiders or otherwise - to so brazenly cross the border into TreeClan with whatever inane thoughts in their head, for Sunseer and Skysong both to miss this and not be aware of it, we should be held accountable. As should the cats that did this prey stealing. But do not, for one moment, dare say it is our or even just Sunseer's fault, that apprentices have been injured in this. Let alone adult cats! You are the one who crashed into our campsite with not a word before hand. YOU are the one who came into OUR HOME, with reckless abandon, and forced us to act! How else should we act but to protect ourselves in what seems to be a very hostile heat of the moment?!"

Her fur was bristling as she stalked closer and closer to the rocks. Tail lashing. "What has happened to BOTH of our clans today is in part, yes, to StoneClan cats disregarding rules. But it is also, largely in part, due to you. If anything, you have taken more from both clans than StoneClan has taken from TreeClan. I won't hop to defend my clanmates that have gone over your borders. It was wrong. But this supposed carnage and bloodshed that was brought upon both our clans is because of YOU. Not that StoneClan business is any of yours, Sunseer wasn't even here when you and your clanmates crashed into our home! OUR HOME, SUNFLIGHT. He was not hiding. No. He was simply minding his own business in his own territory! As you said, there were apprentices in this fight. Well, we also have elders and kits here!" Poppyheart's voice was shrill now. Ear piercing.

She was seething now, lips drawn back into a snarl. Something that was incredibly rare to see on her, if having ever been seen before. Her eyes were ablaze as she stared the other she-cat down. Claws digging into the slightly packed earth beneath her. Unblinking, challenging. Tail tip twitching, ears back. Snarl still prevalent. Her chest heaving with effort to hold herself from slashing this mouse-brained cat across the face!

@belloblossom @Blinded By Silence

 

[PeterPan_da144]

"She's right, mom." Birchleaf spoke up, stepping forward. She had managed to come out unscathed, but she glanced back towards her younger sibling - Thrushpaw - and prayed that the young blue she-cat was okay.

"This was stupid. I wish I hadn't followed you here." Her voice was filled with pain as she spoke. Surely, her mother would be upset afterwards. But Birchleaf couldn't hide it any longer. "There was no reason to escalate this so quickly. We are all new to this place. We share a singular border. We could have directed those who came onto our land towards another, more open spot. We could have spoken with leadership about what was happening. We could have done so many things before we came running into their camp."

Birchleaf looked towards Poppyheart, sliding slowly towards her. In an effort to soothe the other she-cat somehow.

"If it had been the other way around... If TreeClan apprentices and warriors had come onto StoneClan land... Once, twice, however many times... Would you think that justifies StoneClan storming our camp?"

@Blinded By Silence @belloblossom

 

[Blinded By Silence]

@belloblossom There is nothing more Errol can do for Mudripple, it will be up to the Death Raffle to decide her fate. He's moving on to Lightningdash. He failed

 

[Blinded By Silence]

"Defending," He corrected her coldly, "To defend their clan, even at the cost of their life, it is the first creed of the Warrior Code. They have done as they are expected to and will not be villified for doing so." Sunseer sighed heavily and, without looking away from where Sunflight stood, he addressed his deputy, "Skysong, tell me, what is the tally." It wasn't a question, nor just a command. It was a death toll, a heavy tone that brought the reality of this situation past the anger, past the placing of blame.

Skysong had torn herself away from all this nonsense about prey-stealing. Surely her cats wouldn't be birdbrained enough to... Her lip twitched at Snarlpaw's name. Alright. Some cats could be. She moved to do as she was told, gathering the wounded and moving them out of the paths of angry cats. Each wound she saw made her blood boil more. Once she had finished, she raised her voice to call up to her leader.

"Of ours, I've counted five so far, badly injured. And one.. One dead." She looked down at Snarlpaw's limp body. Stupid, all of this. Snarlpaw had always been a problem but to die for something like this... She shook her head and continued, "Two dead for TreeClan, so far. Nine more wounded."

Sunseer did not drop his voice. He did not yell, but commanded a clear tone so that all involved may hear him. Sunflight had chosen to deal with things publically when privacy would have resulted in far, far less. So be it.

"It is not me you should be apologizing to, Sunflight. You made a decision and now everyone suffers for it." To Skysong, he says, "Say their names, Skysong. I cannot see them for myself."

She swallows. Despite her voice being thick with anger, she manages to keep her words steady and clear, "Gullscreech. Dapplepaw. Thornstrike. Rocksteady. Nightcall. And Snarlpaw, she is dead." Her blue eyes look over the TreeClan invaders and her lips form a hard line. "Their dead are Branchtail," She frowns at the limp body of the old tom. She had known him back in the mountains. "And.. A spotted tom, I'm sorry, I don't know his name." She turns her frown to the leaders up on their rock. To Sunflight. Her eyes narrow, "You know their names better than I do."

Sunseer closes his eyes, lowering his head in a silent, painful moment. He shakes his head slowly. So much loss.

"If you want to be treated like a leader, Sunflight, then you need to start acting like one. Realize that these cats will follow your every word. They will fight for you, die for you, regardless of how they feel. All this blood? It is on our paws." Another sigh, "Your Medicine Cat, Errol, I believe? He is welcome to our supplies, once my cats are taken care of. You can trade us some of yours in exchange at the border, once this is all said and done with. Your wounded are free to remain here with him until they are safe to move."

"In regards to punishment... I will hear the entire story, from both sides. I want the names of everyone involved. Once they are healed, we will reconvene at the border and discuss this properly."

 

[belloblossom]

Sunflight was emotional, but she was trying to keep herself shut in, for all the good it seemed to do her. When Poppyheart shrieked at her, she swallowed hard and kept her gaze turned away, glancing at her paws, or at Sunseer. When Birchleaf raised her voice to scold her, however, Sunflight's head whipped around to look at her daughter, a look of betrayal clear on her face. A moment later and her eyes narrowed, a deep growl worming its way out of her chest.

"This is not a meeting where you can voice your opinions, Birchleaf. You had that chance a moon ago through to this very day, yet you never brought anything forward. Now you will hold your tongue, while the leaders speak. We will discuss your points when we have returned home." She told her daughter who seemed to be forgetting her place - Birchleaf was still a warrior of TreeClan and while she was clear that she didn't condone what her leader had done, as a warrior of TreeClan, she was still expected to act accordingly.

With a flick of her tail, she tried to dismiss the hurt that was turning her body to ice. She couldn't feel her paws and the sensation of numbness was working itself up her legs. Would it reach her heart and stifle all of her emotions together? She was frightened of that happening, but everything was too much. Her chest rose and fell rapidly, her breaths coming short. Her claws kept flexing and scratching atop the rock she and Sunseer were sat upon. She couldn't feel it, but she could hear the scritch, scritch, scritch on the rock. It sounded loud, whereas she had to strain to hear what Sunseer was saying.

When Skysong spoke the names of the wounded and the dead, their names seemed to echo in Sunflight's ears. Now she couldn't feel her legs. Couldn't feel her chest. Couldn't feel her body. What did they want her to do now? What would Birchleaf have her do, now that they'd already come to the battle? Did they want her to apologize and cry out and beg for their forgiveness? That wouldn't bring anyone back! Or did they just want her to carry all the blame for everything? Was she the only one who'd ever made a bad choice in the history of all Clans?

I messed up, but cats mess up. Leaders mess up. I deserve a second chance, to prove that I'm not like this all the time. They need to give me a second chance. She thought, her mind racing and her body still. She felt like she was going to hack up bile. Scritch, scritch, scritch. Wait - she'd missed what Sunseer had said. She looked up at him, feeling effort in the movement. For a long moment, she could only stare, trying to recall what he'd told her.

"Trading herbs at the border." She echoed. "Yes, we - I can do that. Thank you, Sunseer. I..." She looked out across her cats, her eyes grazing over those of her Clan who still stood with them. At her daughter, Birchleaf and to Branchtail and her gaze fell upon Pinedapple, her son, the spotted tomcat Skysong surely meant and she felt something splinter apart within her. Tears came to her eyes and heat flooded back into her body, pushing back at the icy numbness that threatened to consume her.

"I'm sorry." She called out to the cats below the rock. "I didn't mean for this to happen, but it has and no amount of me apologizing will replace the hurt that has happened today." She took a shuddering breath. "I can't suddenly fix what has happened today, but I can try - no, I will - do better in the future. Nothing like what happened today should ever happen again. Not while I'm in charge."

Sunflight turned to Sunseer. "You are gracious to offer my wounded a place in your territory with the aid of your herbs after what has taken place today. I will take my wounded who can walk and the fallen who can't, but any who are in too precarious a place to move them immediately, I will take your offer to let them rest here a little longer." She scanned the group below the rock. "My warrior, Dustfeather, will remain here to aid Errol and act as our go-between." She decided. "When Errol's TreeClan patients are safe to move, send Dustfeather over the border and I'll send a small patrol to retrieve them at the border. I will be among them, to hear the full story alongside you." She mewed. "If this plan meets your approval, I'll begin to collect my cats to leave."

@Blinded By Silence - Addressing Sunseer.
@PeterPan_da144 - Addressing Birchleaf.
@Absolutiones @Umbrefox @I--LiveWire--I @NatiStorm @Nym - Addressing the onlookers, as a whole.

 

[Umbrefox]

Hearing his mother's name, Nightcall, Puddelpaw snaps out of his haziness and rushes to look for her amongst the injured. Crying out when he finds her collapsed form, him and his siblings had only recently been apprentices, so seeing her hurt like this is incredibly distressing.
@Absolutiones Earthpaw's reaction
@belloblossom Siltwater's reaction

 

[PeterPan_da144]

As her mother scolded her, Birchleaf kept her mouth shut. But she could not help how her tail quivered, nor how her eyes slitted so far that they were practically closed. Her ears tilted back against her head. But she did not lower herself. Her tail was still out, not tucked, and she would not bow her head.

She had thought her mother more level headed. She had thought she could trust her mother to make the right decision, and that she didn't need to speak out against her. How foolish she was to think such. Her mother would take in the words of others, most of whom cautioned her against outright attacking, and then do what she pleased anyway. Who was she to scold Birchleaf?!

Never once before this had Birchleaf thought it a bad thing to lead with your heart. Now, however, she wished that her mother listened more to her clanmates. And was more level headed, like her other mother, whom had been dealing with the aftermath of kitting still.

Yes, there was a clear imbalance in how StoneClan treated their newfound apprentices from outside the clan. It was obvious now that they had to be more vigilant, and more thorough, on training these loners in the clan ways. Birchleaf couldn't tell them how to govern themselves, just as much as she couldn't tell her mother how to govern TreeClan. But she could, and would, stand up to her mother.

If she was so determined for it to not be now, so be it. Birchleaf could talk to her later.

 

[Blinded By Silence]

@PeterPan_da144 Errol is trying to stabilize Hawk!