Acornfall had Sunrisepaw help him set the body down outside the den. He dismissed the -paw, who was clearly more traumatized than she'd let on about this, and stepped towards the leader's den. The dilute tortie left the leaf bundle behind and complied wordlessly, leaving the brown tabby to the task alone. Oh stars, how was he supposed to do this? He cleared his throat, bad news was never his forté. He liked delivering
good news. Everycat
loves good news!
"H-Hey um...Spiderstar? He called into the den, sighing as he realized the waver in his voice probably gave away the nature of his news.
"So...I was out teaching Sunrisepaw some basics about hunting and we...well we stumbled on Raccoonhowl's body." Well, there was part one of the story.
"And well...it looks like...well it looks like she didn't die from natural causes..." At this, Acornfall lifted the bundle with the fur inside it, and stepped into the den further. Wanting to keep this from prying eyes, he didn't want the clan panicking with speculation about who killed Raccoonhowl. He unfolded the leaf, revealed the fur he'd pried from the warrior's claws.
"I found this clutched in her claws...it looks like she tried to grab evidence of whoever killed her, but it's too generic and old to know for sure." He explained, sighing heavily. More things ThunderClan
didn't need right now.
"All I could tell from it was that...it looks like cat fur. But the body is at least a couple sunrises old." The only scent he could grab from it was the scent of death.
He looked up at Spiderstar, eyes glittering with grief. Not necessarily for Racoonhowl, he didn't know her well. Yes, she was a clanmate, and he grieved that loss. But he also grieved for the trauma Sunrisepaw now would have to deal with from having found the body in that...state. Not to mention the grief he felt for the clan as a whole. Why now? Everycat was so focused on the otters...it was almost like...but no. Now was
not the time to be pointing paws and suspicions at clanmates. Now more than ever, the clan needed to band together. And there was no evidence that a cat from another clan committed the act either, so no point pointing claws and fangs across their borders. It was...a mystery.
"I couldn't find any evidence pointing to another clan, but scavengers have already started at the body..." He let his voice trail off, expecting the experienced cat before him to understand what that meant when it came to a corpse.
"I can take the body and bury it, but I just wanted to check in with you first. And...and bring the -paw back home." Sunrisepaw. One of Larkswoop's kits. Of all the -paws, it had to be
her. Stars, hadn't that litter suffered enough? He'd need to take another warrior to help him bury Racoonhowl, and he'd get right to that. The less time the body sat in the camp, the better. He just...didn't know what else to do. Getting Sunrisepaw home and reporting this incident to Spiderstar seemed like the most important thing, and he didn't want to just
leave the body there to be picked off from more like carrion. The fact that she was left out there as long as she was...well it filled his heart with rage and even more grief. No clanmate deserved that. He just hoped he prioritized things correctly here...and patiently waited for Spiderstar to take it all in and issue orders.
{ @
Starfall - Spiderthroat/star }