〘 ➊ ʟɪᴠɪɴɢ ɪɴ ʀᴜɪɴs event 〙 whispers on the horizon

Instructions

»────── « ⋅ʚ♡ɞ⋅ » ─────« A hushed wind swept over the moor, conveying a sense of calm as light flurries continued to descend from the grey sky. Even with the peace, something still felt wrong. The snow was blanketing on a familiar grey pelt, speckled with darker grey, and highlighted with white. Dark red mixed in with the soft hues of grey, and unfortunately, the snow couldn’t even cover that up. »────── « ⋅ʚ♡ɞ⋅ » ─────« Stormclan’s territory had never seemed so lifeless… and Fawnstar couldn’t believe what she was seeing. Cobwebwhisper. The Poolclan warrior was on her territory, gravely hurt. Why was he here? She’d barely even interacted with him, yet here he was, in the middle of the moor, clearly attacked by dogs. What had made him journey so far? As she padded closer, she noticed he was curled around something, as if protecting it. Three frozen kits. Her heart nearly stopped as she looked at the tiny bodies, thankfully free of injury. Hurrying over to nudge them, she heard a quiet mew, sighing with relief they were alive. Poking Cobwebwhisper with a paw, she heaved a great sigh, realizing the tom was not alive. Gently clearing the snow off his pelt, she looked down sadly at his body. What to do with the kits? Cobwebwhisper had protected them, at least, but died in the process – and he’d clearly been attacked by a dog. Wait– Fawnstar froze, glancing around at the scene again. The snow had covered up any pawprints, and she silently cursed herself for not checking that sooner. Gripping the kits by the scruff, she carried each one to a sheltered bramblebush, which snow had not covered yet. Journeying back to the moor, she gently grabbed Cobwebwhisper and began to drag his body through the cold, white slush. It was early morning, and she was horrified that this had happened on her territory, when everyone was asleep, when nobody could’ve helped him. She didn’t understand why he was even there. And with kits? Traveling back to camp, she carried one of the kits, the dark one, in her jaws, but the two sandy ones were managing to make the trek with her. Bursting through the camp entrance with a last spark of energy, she pushed them forwards. Spotting a familiar apprentice, she nodded at him. “Phantompaw, get these kits a nest, and make sure they’re okay. I have some more business I need to take care of,” »────── « ⋅ʚ♡ɞ⋅ » ─────« Now unhindered by kits, Fawnstar raced across her territory, back to Cobwebwhisper. Grabbing him, she slowly moved back to camp, noticing with a small note of pleasure that Phantompaw had done as she asked, and the kits seemed okay. Cats were now gathering in the center of the hollow, staring open-mouthed at their leader and the dead warrior she held. “I’m going to Poolclan, to let them know what happened. ALL of you, please be careful. He was attacked by a dog,” »────── « ⋅ʚ♡ɞ⋅ » ─────« Exhausted by the long morning, Fawnstar’s journey to neutral territory took much longer than it should’ve. She finally made it to the edge of Stormclan’s territory, and gazed at the expanse of neutral territory, not wanting to go any further, but knowing she had to. Squinting across the sandy land, she saw Marshstar. Oh, this was great, she didn’t actually have to travel too far. Good. “Marshstar!” She called loudly, getting it’s attention, and waving her tail as high as she could. As they came closer, she looked at it apologetically. “Cobwebwhisper was found dead on Stormclan territory. With kits. Do you want to name them? And come see them?” Her voice came out soft, and her expression was full of both terror and regret. “He was attacked by a dog,” Marshstar’s face crumbled, and they followed her wordlessly back to Stormclan’s camp. The three kits were now warmly curled up in the medicine den, under the watch of Phantompaw and Bluespirit. Cobwebwhisper’s body lay in the middle of the clearing, pelt smoothed and now covered in small blossoms, which still managed to grow in the dead of leafbare. Marshstar was looking down at the kits with a forlorn expression. It placed it’s tail on the head of each kit. “This one shall be Melancholykit. This one, Oniriquekit. And this one, Whisperkit, in honor of the brave warrior who died for her.” Fawnstar nodded, her eyes threatening to spill over with tears for a warrior she hadn’t known, a warrior she wished she’d been able to meet – but Poolclan and Stormclan had been separate for years. It was probably a surprise to many of the cats gathered in camp right now that Marshstar was even there. “Please stay as long as you need, and a patrol of my cats will help you bring the kits back to your camp, with his body,” she mewed diplomatically. “And– I think we’ll need to talk a lot more now, interact with each other, work together, anything. To prevent this from happening in the future…” Marshstar nodded their head in assent, still clearly mourning the young warrior. “Yes. Thank you, Fawnstar.” »────── « ⋅ʚ♡ɞ⋅ » ─────«