[Phoenix]

Had he not become as familiar with the area as an apprentice, he might have had a harder time recognizing the tree for what it was. However, the thick trunk with its low hanging branches stood out from the somewhat thinner trees and made it identifiable. It was a sobering sight, even without the memories that threatened to flood his consciousness. The fire had destroyed a sizable amount of TreeClan territory, as he had discovered upon further investigation, but the Great Maple seemed to have taken a considerable amount of damage. Instead of being cloaked in lush, green leaves, the naked, gnarled branches resembled those of a tree in the middle of leaf-bare, though they were blackened considerably by the ash and soot from the flames. The surrounding trees were in no better condition, but his heart lurched at the sight of this one stripped bare.

During leaf-fall, its leaves adopted the bright, fiery hues of the flames that had consumed them, and he remembered pleasant afternoons spent lounging among them, admiring the brilliant colors. She had joined him occasionally, though he had always tolerated her presence with the air of someone grudgingly doing someone else a favor. He was not sure when that had changed exactly, though he felt it safe to hazard a guess that his perception of her had changed around the time when Demon had attacked them. Now, however, he mourned the lost time, and guilt coiled in his gut at her persistent companionship, even after the less-than-cordial way he had treated her. Swallowing, he blinked and shoved the unwelcome emotion away.

In a practiced motion, the warrior unsheathed his claws and leaped at the tree, pulling himself onto the lowest branch with ease. He settled himself atop the bough, a breath escaping him in a heavy sigh as he realized belatedly that climbing a tree that had sustained this much damage was not the smartest decision he had made. But even with the danger looming, he could not muster the will to move and force his limbs back into motion. With all the work required of all of them in rebuilding the camp, he had had little time to rest, and having slipped away, he was willing to take every opportunity he could to relax. Even if doing so included an unnecessary risk. Appeasing his self-preservation instinct, he vowed to leave if he heard any sign of a breaking branch.

Coming here had been a mistake, he acknowledged, regretting the decision. The sight of one of his favorite places nearly burnt to a crisp and the rush of memories that he forced away had put him in a sullen mood, one he knew from experience would be hard to shake. Birdsong split the silent air, and an ear flicked. It felt almost surreal, Nobleheart mused, as he listened to the trill and marveled at the odd juxtaposition of such a carefree sound drifting through a sight so devastating that it seemed to demand a silent respect.

[Deleted]

SPARROWFALL||

---

Soft white paws were blackened as the young warrior made her way to undeniably the most scorched part of TreeClan territory. Sparrowfall was not quite sure why she had chosen this spot out of all her options in the territory to spend her day. Perhaps her somber mood had something to do with it -- perhaps she had been so foolish as to think that she could find something to catch amid all of the ash. Whatever the reason might be, Sparrowfall took no hesitations in making her way to the largest, most notable oak in all of TreeClan. 

Certainly, the flames of a drought-driven wildfire had not been forgiving. The fire's tendrils had lapped their way from the wide base of the tree up to the lowest lying tree limbs. In their wake, all that was beautiful about the tree was replaced by crispy obsidian sheets. When the fire struck, most of the tree's leaves had still been in bud form and had been disintegrated before they had even gotten a chance at life. Sparrowfall yearned for the colorful Greenleaf that strung its way along the tree's limbs, but instead found only a world in grayscale. As the warrioress curled up under the base of the tree, the shade that usually came along with the tall oak was sorely missed. As she lay, the black and white she-cat's mind buzzed further, to times long past.

The past few moons had been kind to the newly made warrior -- well, physically anyways. As an apprentice, she had always been self conscious of her looks and had been made fun of nonstop. She had been born with a boyish face, sharply defined with a broad forehead and limbs that seemed to stretch on into eternity. The gangly creature once learning to hunt and fight was now a shadow of the figure curled beneath the oak. Sparrowfall was as slim as she had always been, but her legs seemed slender and graceful with age, rather than edgy and angular, and her beautiful emerald gaze caught the attention of any passerby. With age, she had become quite a beauty. If only her attitude had gone with it. Her relationship with the now deceased Duskflower had success in changing  Sparrowfall's dark, self-depricating personality to a more positive one. If anything, the warrior looked upon herself less fondly than she had when she first met Duskflower. As apprentices, Duskflower had been Sparrowfall's only friend. She encouraged Sparrowfall to have confidence in herself and made the warrior as happy as she had ever been. Sparrowfall had looked upon her friend with wonder and respect for her upbeat look on life. Now that she was gone, Sparrowfall was left with no one to fill the void in her heart left behind. 

The high-pitched trill of a sparrow overhead dislodged her from her reverie and alerted her to the presence of another. Tilting her head slightly upwards, Sparrowfall spied the familiar features of a gray and white tom. In seeing him, her heart sank. Duskflower had been very insistent on Sparrowfall and Nobleheart becoming friends and she had with each of them. Nobleheart's obtuse personality had proven too much for the warrior to combat with and rather than enjoying the tom's presence, she found herself intimidated.

Continuing to eye her fellow warrior silently, Sparrowfall toyed with the idea of greeting the tom as a friend. Duskpaw would've wanted this, she reminded herself as she watched him unaware. "Is that safe?" the pretty black and white she-cat queried with mild concern from her place at the base of the tree.

---

And a song I was writing is left undone

I don't know why I spend my time

Writing songs I can't believe

With words that tear and strain to rhyme.
I stand alone without beliefs
_{The only truth I know is you.}

[Phoenix]

A familiar voice snapped him out of his reverie, and having used that to identify the speaker, he took a moment to collected his wandering thoughts before turning his scarred features down toward Sparrowfall. Was it safe? He had wondered that himself moments ago, had he not? Was it safe? "Probably not," He conceded, even as he made no effort to move from his perch. Something akin to indifference at the potential danger of his decisions had claimed his mind, muted whatever worries he had that echoed the she-cat's. Had he the desire to investigate it further, this near-apathy, which had attacked him rather frequently since that day, might have worried him. He could not describe it, but he had learned from experience that when it struck, the chance of accomplishing anything productive was next to nothing. He became caught up in the desire reminisce, dream of better days.

Of everything that could have gone differently. If he had gotten there earlier. If he had scented the badger faster. If he had not wasted precious time during the fight on the defensive, fighting both real and mental adversaries. He brushed the thoughts away, very conscious that he was getting into dangerous territory again. Long moons had caused the wounds to start to heal, but if he picked at the scab, it would not be long until he was left raw once more.

Is that safe? Shoving away his thoughts on the matter or resting on a branch which could very easily break beneath his weight? Probably not, but he did it anyway. Accepting his actions for what they were, he turned his mind to other topics, namely the reason behind Sparrowfall's sudden appearance. Was he to rejoin the recovery effort? He found himself hoping that that was not the case; he had come out here, to an area that most of his clan avoided, to be alone with his thoughts. "Why are you here, Sparrowfall?" While not exactly accusatory, his tone lacked most of the warmth it would have had had he asked a certain other she-cat the same question. It was only through that other cat that he really knew his fellow warrior, and even if the beginnings of a friendship had started to form, any bond between them had remained relatively stagnant. Perhaps he was to blame for that too.

Green eyes analyzed his new companion, even as she did the same to him. How had she held up for the past moons? Physically, very well, he admitted. Unbidden, he found himself admiring her slender form. A moment later he blinked and snapped himself out of it, realizing somewhat ruefully that he forgot his initial reason for eyeing her. Blood rushed to his face, and he glanced away, grooming his chest fur in an effort to compose himself once more. Casting his mind around for something to fill the silence - was it just him, or had it suddenly become rather uncomfortable? - he flicked his gaze back toward her, awkwardly offering, "Would it, ah, make you feel better if I got down from here? You know, because it might not be safe."

[Deleted]

SPARROWFALL||

---

The instant the lithe black and white warrior spoke, she instantly wished she could grasp her words and pull them back from the air. All Sparrowfall had spoken of was concern for her fellow TreeClanner, but from the way Nobleheart hesitated in responding made her feeling uneasy about the situation. Since Duskflower is gone, does he not want to speak to me anymore? What if he blames me for what happened? she wondered as she eyed him, her young heart's tempo picking up. Sparrowfall had barely spoken two words to Nobleheart after their mutual friend's death. They both had grieved separately. Not that Sparrowfall had particularly wanted to talk about the fresh wound of her friend's death, but she now realized that her presence around the older tom might not be as welcome as she initially thought.

"Probably not,"

Nobleheart's quiet tones from up above made Sparrowfall's rounded ears flick back. The apathy in Nobleheart's tone was as plain as day and though the tom had agreed with her concern, she was not at all surprised to see him still clinging to the branch above. Are you mousebrained? she thought, fluffing up slightly as anxiety spread in the pit of her belly like poison. Though the she-cat still remained firmly planted underneath the base of the tree, she had half a mind to go up the tree and pull Nobleheart down herself, no matter the fragility of the dying tree. Faint muscles bunched up underneath her skinny frame, some aching for her to go up after him and the rest urging her to stay where she was. I've already lost one of my fellow TreeClanners under my watch. I can't let Nobleheart do something so stupid, she thought, her inner monologue still pulling at her heart strings as her instinct for survival kept her stationary.

"Why are you here, Sparrowfall?"

Ignoring the tomcat's question all together, Sparrowfall's protective will was only strengthened further. Green eyes narrowed slightly and her claws unsheathed to pull at the grassless ground. She was ready to climb up the tree now and any previous sense she had to stay grounded was like a distant memory. Had Nobleheart's words not calmed her, the TreeClanner certainly would've gone up the tree.

"Would it, ah, make you feel better if I got down from here? You know, because it might not be safe."

Sparrowfall felt undeniable relief when Nobleheart's question came. Her fur lay flat again and her heartbeat returned to normal. Feeling the adrenaline leave her, she was left quivering slightly. Seeking Nobleheart's gaze on an upper branch, she grasped at the air for something to say. "Yes," she mewed in a somewhat reproachfully as she eyed him. Though her voice suggested a definitive answer, the air surrounding the two of them was on edge as Sparrowfall formulated what she was going to say next. Her tone was stern as she stepped back to give Nobleheart some room to climb down the tree, "Your life isn't a toy, you know. Duskpaw didn't risk her life so you could throw yours away."

The slender black and white she-cat turned away from her companion, eying the surrounding smaller trees and inspecting their health. With her back turned, Sparrowfall answered his previous question in still irritated tones. "I could hardly believe the rumors I've been hearing about the fire, so I came to check it out myself." The colorless warrior padded a few steps forward to the nearest maple tree and looked up at its looming black branches. "It's a tragedy. The place where I first learned to hunt is all up in ashes. If I get an apprentice, I won't be able to take them hunting here ... No prey will be around here for quite some time," she meowed, the anger falling from her voice as she recalled the happy times she had had training with the patient Briarshade.

---

And a song I was writing is left undone

I don't know why I spend my time

Writing songs I can't believe

With words that tear and strain to rhyme.
I stand alone without beliefs
_{The only truth I know is you.}

[Phoenix]

It appeared as though the awkwardness that seemed to have laced the air was one-sided, and he could not decide if it was for better or for worse. Green eyes flicked from her to his paws as he tried to avoid staring at her for too long – or something; he wasn’t sure. Suddenly he seemed to be reconsidering everything he was doing before he did it, rethinking and reassessing his actions. Why? He had never felt the need to do so before, and in any case, this was the first real conversation between the two of them since the day the third member of their trio met her untimely end. Abruptly he cut off that train of thought. It was dangerous.

Despite having all of her paws firmly on the ground, the she-cat seemed agitated, and he could only think of one reason behind the anxiety: his lofty perch in the tree. As the issue was something he could address and fix, he saw little reason to continue antagonizing his fellow warrior; after all, they were supposed to be friends, though that seemed to have dwindled into nothingness during these past few moons. Regardless, by the time Sparrowfall’s answer reached his ears, the gray and white tom was already rising to his paws. Having correctly interpreted her apprehension, he was partially down the tree when she stepped aside to give him room. Unsheathed claws scratched at the blackened bark, leaving marks as he leapt from the trunk, landing lightly.

He wished that her words had hit him just as lightly. Even though the sensible part of him recognized the truth, his pride did not appreciate their lecturing nature. It was almost condescending, and even as unbidden shame spread through him, he could not wholly ignore the spark of irritation. Refraining from following his first impulse and consequently biting back harsher words, he flicked his tail and managed to snap, ”I know, alright? I know,” before the blood rushing to his face and fire churning in his gut made him do something he would regret even more. They came out more callous than he intended, and immediately after they left his mouth, he wished he could pull them back, swallow them and forget about them. Green eyes widened imperceptibly, and he offered a hasty, ”Sorry, I didn’t mean that.”

Searching for something to fill the silence that followed his apology, he grasped at her subject change with the air of a drowning man clinging to a piece of drift wood. Though it wasn’t a particularly cheerful subject to discuss, he would take it over the alternative. The fire, though devastating, was safer. ”It is,” Nobleheart found himself agreeing, voice softer than he had intended – did he have no control over his mouth today? He cast a long glance around the area. ”I would never have thought it possible if I hadn’t seen it. The forest seems so indestructible sometimes, and in particular…” His voice trailed off as green eyes rested on the burnt skeleton of the Great Maple. ”It’s a shame though, because you think about how many apprentices have learned to hunt here, and you think about how long it will take for the prey to come back, especially with Leaf-Fall coming. There’ll be a whole group of them who will miss out on it, I think.”