Berrypaw listened along as Fawnlight dutifully answered all of her rambling questions, getting a clearer idea of what each of the herbs did and how to use them. She continued to paw them around and sniff them as her ears stayed perked to listen. When the former medicine cat spoke about asking other Clans for help, Berrypaw hummed in thought, looking a bit worried for a moment. They'd been civil at the Gathering, but would any medicine cat actually want to deal with RiverClan? Even if she'd done them no wrong herself? She didn't speak these thoughts aloud, not wanting Fawnlight to think she was fretting too much — because StarClan knows (hah) that she always did.
Flash-freezing was very interesting, and Berrypaw listened attentively, picturing the process in her head. A way to preserve herbs, even in leaf-bare! That was good to know; the 'paw was still young, and hadn't fully experienced her first leaf-bare except as a very young kit where she could hardly remember things, or spent most of her time in the warm nursery (even if she'd mostly been on her own). But she knew they could get harsh... the early leaf-fall chill on the breeze back home told her all she needed to know.
Then Fawnlight moved on to showing her about the splint, and Berrypaw's eyes widened. Oh, there were a few cats that had broken limbs during the raid... Mistyshard had handled them all, so Berry still didn't have a clue. Oh, and burnet and juniper helping with shock was good to know!
"Ooh... okay, okay..." Berrypaw mewed, watching carefully and pawing over a large stick, clumsily lining it up to her own leg. It was the same difficulty on trying to do it herself, but she was getting the idea. Tilting her head, she asked, "For the actual, uh, broken bone itself... h-how exactly do I put it back to where it was? Just... push it? A-And how much, how hard... what if I just make it worse?"
It sounded like a dumb question, and she felt awfully sheepish asking it, but Fawnlight was nothing if not approachable and warm. So it felt a little less silly, especially when maintaining limbs was at stake.
She wasn't going to spend all her time going in circles. So if she couldn't find the cats she sought, she would make them find her. It had taken Lark a good long while to reach the edge of StarClan's territory. Her limbs ached - specifically her back right leg. It pulsed with pain, throbbing in time with her rapid heartbeat. Oh, that was right. Lark was panting, chest heaving as she drew in ragged breaths.
But she'd found a landmark. A lake, it appeared, though Lark was unhappy to admit how wary she was, standing by the edge of it. Murky water, too much blood, being pulled under, searing pain. Dragged into the depths. Released. Limbs being torn apart. She could still see it. That gruesome sight, blood everywhere, filling her line of sight until she was swimming in it. It had felt surreal then, and it felt surreal still. Ragged gasps escaped Lark as she stood by the edge of Moonfall Lake, amber hues glazed over, nicked ear flicking.
For now, she'd set her own personal camp here. Tomorrow, she'd start digging. Physically, and otherwise. Lark needed to know what mother dearest was doing.
Lark had spent a good portion of the day digging small holes into the ground. Sure, just a pawful of dirt, upturned every multiple pawtails, but it was easy to tell that. . . well, it was a trail. Leading straight back to her post by Moonfall Lake. Now to wait for her intended prey to take the bait and bring themselves to her, because Lark's body was aching with exhaustion, specifically her backleg. The hideous scar stretching across it burned, dully throbbing with a lingering pain that never seemed to go away. She'd play the waiting game, alright? No matter how long it took. She needed to find the kit who'd passed on too early, to know if Sorrelkit had ever made it either, or if he was still alive. Somewhere below.
The lake's water lapped at her paws as she stared at it intently, curled up at the shore. But Lark couldn't bring herself to go in any further. It haunted her, mocked her, brought back memories she was still attempting to bury.
╔══ ≪ °❈° ≫ ══╗ Daykit
A small, brown kit with darker brown patches and white underbelly and paws. He has glassy orange and green eyes.
He/They | ??? Moons | StarClan Kit | Curious and honest to a fault
. 。・゜✭・.・✫゜・。.
. 。・゜✭・.・✫゜・。.
It wasn't everyday Daykit walked up to random cats to spark up a conversation. But when he saw this particular grey-furred feline, something within him wanted to talk. But, would she appreciate it? She looked... Not at all like someone waiting for someone to talk to her. If anything, she looked... Lost. Was that how she always looked? He'd never seen her before. Could this be a newly deceased cat? What was she doing near the water? Was she waiting for something - or someone - to emerge from the waters? When would she leave? Since when had she been here?
So many questions, yet so little answers.
Forcing himself to move forward, Daykit hesitantly moved his paws, making his way towards the unfamiliar (unfamiliar?) cat. Hm. How would he approach this conversation? He shouldn't start asking a whole lot of questions immediately, should he?
He walked along the shore, refusing to get his starry fur wet, and slowed once he believed to be near enough to the cat. Should he even speak? Or would she speak first? How would he know what to say to her? He didn't even know her! He was a clueless kit. He couldn't possibly know anything.
Daykit finally made his way beside the long-furred cat, and without saying anything, sat next to her, staring at the water she was staring at. Whatever she was waiting for, he'd wait for, too.
There is was. The fruit of her labor. Whether drawn to her by an unseen force, or brought to her because of the trail she'd left. Either way, as another face joined her reflection in the lake's water, Lark felt like... like she would cry. One eye amber, an echo of what hers had been once. The other eye green. Prince's. The name sent a phantom pang of pain through her chest, like an invisible vice squeezing around her heart. What was sadder was that the feeling was all-too-familiar to Lark. Another constant in her life where nothing else lasted.
"Hello." A long pause. Millions of sentences whizzed through her mind in that moment, tumbling one after the other. Eventually, she settled on a random. "I knew your mother, you know?" The words were a soft rasp. Lark kept her sight straight ahead, meeting the small kit's gaze in the water. She swallowed roughly. "...And your father." A slow exhale as she forced back the tears, the pain, behind a stoic, unbreakable mask. "You look like him."
╔══ ≪ °❈° ≫ ══╗ Daykit
A small, brown kit with darker brown patches and white underbelly and paws. He has glassy orange and green eyes.
He/They | ??? Moons | StarClan Kit | Curious and honest to a fault
. 。・゜✭・.・✫゜・。.
. 。・゜✭・.・✫゜・。.
As the unfamiliar cat murmured a greeting, Daykit blinked once slowly at her reflection. But when the cat did not say anything, he couldn't help but wonder if he should say something back. A greeting was necessary, in this case. But was it required?
Well, nothing was required. At least, not in his life. So should he return the greeting?
As the small brown kit opened his mouth to say something back, the grey-furred she-cat finally spoke.
His mouth stayed open.
His mother?
She knew his mother.
The questions he had been asking constantly would finally be answered today. After... So long. He'd waited so long for this moment. And now that it came, he didn't know what to say.
And she knew his father, too.
Daykit turned his head to look at the cat's physical form rather than her reflection, blinking. He wasn't sure how he felt. The question that left him wandering cluelessly, the question that left him thinking... What went wrong? Would finally be answered. But he could tell the older feline was holding back. Holding back from what? From telling him everything he needed wanted to know?
"... Really?" He breathed. "Do you really?" He wanted to ask hundreds and hundreds of questions. There were just so many. But he held his tongue. But... Just one more question wouldn't hurt, would it? Who was she? Who was his mother, who was his father, and why did this cat know her?
Lark's gaze drifted to Daykit, her head turning in the same motion that his had, to look at the real him instead of his reflection. She wanted to tell him. To blurt out the words on the tip of her tongue, that she was his mother, that he'd been stolen away from her moments after birth, that there wasn't a single moment where her heart hurt for all the kin she'd lost. But she kept silent. She held her tongue in favor of drinking the sight of him in.
The truth was lodged in her throat. Fear held her back. Fear of being rejected, of being unwanted, of Daykit seeing all her flaws. She had to answer, though. "Yes, I know her." A lengthy pause. "I am her." The words hovered in the air between them, and then Lark exhaled. "Do you think... do you think it's too late to start over?" A question. Another thing the answer to which she feared. Yet she would ask all her family members this question all the same. Eventually.
╔══ ≪ °❈° ≫ ══╗ Daykit
A small, brown kit with darker brown patches and white underbelly and paws. He has glassy orange and green eyes.
He/They | ??? Moons | StarClan Kit | Curious and honest to a fault
. 。・゜✭・.・✫゜・。.
. 。・゜✭・.・✫゜・。.
What?
...
Daykit blinked, unable to believe something that was just said.
But it had to be true, did it not?
If it wasn't true, what was it?
"... You are?" The tiny kit breathed. He couldn't believe it. But he had to. He'd finally found his purpose. Now he wanted to stay here, with his mama. Forever. He shook his head lightly at the cat's - his mother's - next questions, eyes widened and jaws slightly parted. When he finally got the willpower to start speaking again, he had to keep his voice from shaking. "No. Heavens, no. It's never too late," he smiled, inching closer to his mother. "I never knew you before anyways. Anything you say or do will forever be perfect in my mind. No matter what it is."
Was that... The right thing to say? He didn't really know anything anymore. But it wasn't like he knew anything in the first place.
╔══ ≪ °❈° ≫ ══╗ Daykit
A small, brown kit with darker brown patches and white underbelly and paws. He has glassy orange and green eyes.
He/They | ??? Moons | StarClan Kit | Curious and honest to a fault
. 。・゜✭・.・✫゜・。.
. 。・゜✭・.・✫゜・。.
What?
...
Daykit blinked, unable to believe something that was just said.
But it had to be true, did it not?
If it wasn't true, what was it?
"... You are?" The tiny kit breathed. He couldn't believe it. But he had to. He'd finally found his purpose. Now he wanted to stay here, with his mama. Forever. He shook his head lightly at the cat's - his mother's - next questions, eyes widened and jaws slightly parted. When he finally got the willpower to start speaking again, he had to keep his voice from shaking. "No. Heavens, no. It's never too late," he smiled, inching closer to his mother. "I never knew you before anyways. Anything you say or do will forever be perfect in my mind. No matter what it is."
Was that... The right thing to say? He didn't really know anything anymore. But it wasn't like he knew anything in the first place.
Amber eyes gaze down at the young fluff of perfection sitting inches from her. Her son. Daykit, who had been snatched from her too soon. He was here now, with her. He was here, up in the stars. He'd waited for so long, lost and clueless and alone. "I am," she whispers, just as awed as the starry-eyed kitten in front of her. Her lips twist into a wry, sad smile at his next words. "I'm not perfect at all, Daykit. Nowhere near it. No matter how you see me, I'll always love you, always have a place for you in my heart, in my arms."
Re: Moonfall Lake
achy breaky leg ]
Berryshine is one of RiverClan's medicine cats! 
