[Hellion]

Swanfeather

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Those loyal to her cause and ultimately her, had adjusted well to living away from the camp. She realized however, that most of those that supported her were from the elder stock of RainClan. Not that she minded, but was perhaps a unwanted reminder that RainClan was changing. Hunting for the band of purists was difficult. They avoided confronting their former clanmates at any cost resulting either in early pre-dawn hunting or post-dusk hunting. This carried over to Swanfeather's ability to gather herbs. They had all been lucky enough not to be attacked and it felt more like they were ignored. Swanfeather however still remained weary of venturing too far from their claimed sanctuary. She insisted on a younger warrior by the name of Salmonclaw to join her as she gathered herbs. He was much like his father and likely over zealous when it came to protecting the medicine cat. But as the two left their small camp in the early dawn hours and carefully wandered in search of important herbs they remained silent.

From time to time her attention would drift toward the old RainClan camp and to Ottersplash. She had hoped her apprentice would have joined her. But she had a feeling that deep within his timid frame was a cat loyal to RainClan's new ways. "Go on and scout ahead, I'm going to work on pulling up some of this plant here," She told the tom. Her tail flicked to point out the few quickly growing flowers of marigold. The tom gave a quick nod before wandering with his maw open to taste the wind. Swanfeather took he time, moving the dirt away to loosen the flower and tug up that and its roots.
SPEECH

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all the lights are misty in the river
In the darkness, the trees are full of starlight
And all I see is him and me forever and forever
And I know it's only in my mind

Word Count:: ---
Tag::Amber
Notes:: I made it so it happens correctly in the timeline & Ottersplash can still be made a full meddie.

[Deleted]

Ottersplash shivered violently, waking himself from yet another nightmare. It was the same one it had been since the flood, the memory of the raging water still burning his mind. The water had come swiftly, filling his nest and soaking his fur in a matter of minutes. He had practically flown from his den, screeching like a banshee as the water continued to flood the camp. He had panicked, and in his panic, had completely abandoned everything in leiu of self-preservation. Fear of the water meant he had never learned to swim, and he wasn't keen on learning just yet. Before the water could get much higher, he was out of camp and racing for higher ground.

Looking back, he could see how his actions could be seen as selfish and cowardly, but he couldn't find a good enough reason to change his response to the situation. He had been driven by panic, and there was nothing he or anyone could have done to change his actions that day.

He sighed, pulling himself from his nest. He stretched, then glanced around his den. The flood had washed away all his herbs, and though he had started to rebuild his stock, he had nowhere near enough. With another sigh, he exited his den.

The dawn patrol had yet to depart, currently in the process of gathering themselves in the center of the camp. Ottersplash ducked his head as he passed them, flicking his ear and waving his tail weakly in greeting. He stepped through camp quickly until he reached the spot where the distance between the edge of camp and the opposite shore was shortest. With an agile leap, he cleared the water easily, unable to suppress a shudder once he landed. Not sparing a look back at RainClan's camp, the silver and black tabby trotted away, his movements smooth and agile now that he was alone.

The flood had not only washed his herbs away from his den, but it had also wreaked havoc on the ones still rooted in the earth. Nothing was as abundant as it had been, and it would probably remain so for a while. He angled his paws toward one of the few places he knew herbs still lingered, mentally running through the few herbs he had been able to return to his stock. With the border patrols coming back with injury more often than not, his marigold was in short supply, and the wooded cove still had some that had survived the flooding.

It didn't take him long to reach the small wood, and as he drew nearer, his steps faltered. Downwind from the trees, his scent was hidden, but he could smell one very familiar scent blown toward him. Swanfeather.

Ottersplash wasn't certain how interaction with his mentor would go. It could go well, or, with the tensions so high dividing their Clan, it could go south very quickly. He swallowed hard. She was standing in the patch of marigold, efficiently working to loosen the roots of the yellow flowers. Approaching slowly, he cleared his throat to announce his presence. "H-hi." He lowered his body defensively, staying at the edge of the flower patch as far away from her as he could. He wasn't exactly worried she would attack him; he was just uncertain what her reaction would be, and his response to uncertainty was always extreme caution mixed with a fair dose of fear.

Avoiding direct eye contact with her, he began to pull up his own flowers, using the technique she had taught him: loosen the dirt and clip close to the roots. As he began work on his first flower, he glanced up cautiously before returning his eyes to his paws, only to repeat the actions later. He knew his constant glances would eventually attract her attention, but his fear-based caution couldn't let himself be caught off guard if something were to go down.

eek, sorry for the length! x.x
Hellion

[Hellion]

She saw him just before he arrived and for a second so thought of just ignoring her young apprentices in favor of finding herbs later. However, option was taking from when he spoke to her. Swanfeather's attention moved from the herb to the cat in front of her, dipping her head a little to greet him.

There was a tension that always seemed to linger on Ottersplash, but this was different. Something else had happened and likely made his duties as a solo medicine cat more difficult.

"How are you holding up?" She asked. It wasn't out of common affection from the cat but instead a subtle way of finding out what was going on. Swanfeather had been his mentor long enough to relaize the tom cat did not do well with water. Why StarClan put him him into RainClan was lost on her. They must have saw it as a cruel joke. Her small band of exiles were not saved from the flood. Leopardyowl had broken his jaw attempting to leave their makeshift camp as the water rose. She hadn't been storing many herbs so there was no loss there, but perhaps Ottersplash had lost the herbs. She doubted the tom had went back to save anything.

Her loyalty was to RainClan as a whole, not to Timberstar. She knew that if RainClan was going to continue long enough to usurp Timberstar they had to remain strong. Glancing downward at her pile of marigold the she-cat gathered it up.

The distances between mentor and apprentice was short and as a sign of food faith Swanfeather placed the herbs before the apprentice. "Take these, you'll need them more than me," She told him. Giving a final nod she waited for him to either accept or decline them.