[KARAZHAL]

The chill in the air never ceased since the deaths of Hawkstar and Frozenrain. So many StoneClanners seemed like rocks, standing motionlessly while the wind blew through their pelts and past their ears. Smokestorm had already left for the Moon Tree with a squad of warriors. Valiantstride, the oldest warrior among them, had kept up vigilant patrols to keep the Clan safe while they were leaderless. The whole Clan was mourning, and Birdtalon felt the weight of it on his shoulders.

He ate a crow he'd caught earlier. The food put warmth in his belly. The sleek, splayed feathers concealed the wetness in his eyes as he ate and tried not to make much sound. It was mourning Redpaw all over again. He suddenly felt exposed sitting in the shadow of a big rock next to the fresh-kill pile. Picking up the crow by its black clawed feet, he took it to the jumble of fallen rocks that made up StoneClan's dens. He slipped through the opening, his eyes quickly acclimating to the dark. It was warm and comforting in here.

His emerald eyes caught a glimpse of pale fur, a coat belonging to such a small cat she looked out of place in the warrior's den.

"Snowfeather?" Birdtalon mewed quietly. He chirruped to get her attention and slowly padded to her side. He lay the partially eaten prey beside her. Tucking his paws in, he laid on the bare stone beside the sad she-cat's nest. "Would you like to share this with me?" Birdtalon didn't know how well she was coping with this, what with Minkfire missing and her parents hunting proudly in StarClan.

Taxx

[Taxx]

Snowfeather

T e l l m e, who wants to look back on their years and w o n d e r
where those years have g o n e ?

Since she'd been led here, stumbling blindly with some cat's tail draped over her shoulders and guiding her along, Snowfeather hadn't moved. She still couldn't believe it, couldn't understand why. There wasn't much comfort in the dark of the den, because she was still locked in the torment of her mind, recalling over and over the sight of her mother and father curled around each other, eyes closed. Motionless. Still of any motion. Her cheery call as she'd entered the den as she always had, ready to chirp about the plans she'd had for the day, maybe to ask if they wanted to share a meal...

All of it was gone. She hadn't eaten since... well, who cared. Her stomach was empty but she ignored the pain of it. She lay with her head buried in her paws, and even when the voice spoke her name she hardly reacted; one eye slitted open and she recognized Birdtalon. At the same time, the scent of the prey he'd brought filled her nose. She buried it more firmly.

"No," she replied. "I'm not hungry-" refuting the hopeful grumble of her belly that it might be getting food. "Go away and leave me alone, Birdtalon."

warrior of stoneclan
KARAZHAL

[KARAZHAL]

He already knew her answer, for it was the same one he'd given Icepaw when it'd been he who buried his face in his forelegs and tried to forget the bone crunching sound that'd been louder than any rock-fall. He was grateful to her, and his mother, and of course the elder Frozenrain for teaching him what was needed to help someone who had felt loss.

"I'll leave it for you just in case you change your mind," Birdtalon replied. He held down the bird's keel and bit down to tug aside the dusty feathers for her. Straightening, he looked over her disheveled appearance. He bent over to pull stray pieces of dried-out moss out of her pelt with his teeth. How long had she been lying here?

He moved away and left her side. The sound of his claws scratching on stone faded away once he was outside. Birdtalon hoped that she would at least take a few bites while he was out here. He glanced up at the sky, gray clouds drifting by, and dashed off in the direction of Sky Springs. Moss was easy to find in such a wet environment. Birdtalon wasn't eager to feel how cold that water was, though. He tore a green-brown slab off the side of a rock and slung it into a pool. The moss floated in a slow circle, wobbling in the ripples he'd caused. With a grimace, Birdtalon carefully balanced to bite it and haul it up out of the water. It tasted like dirt; he'd grabbed the brown side and several times on the way back, he had to readjust his bite so he could breathe.

Birdtalon returned with the dripping moss seeping down his front. He presented it to his clanmate. "Can you try drinking?" he offered gently. "I know it feels like nothing in the world will be the same again. Not until you're in StarClan with them will it go back to normal."

Taxx

[Taxx]

Snowfeather

T e l l m e, who wants to look back on their years and w o n d e r
where those years have g o n e ?

Snowfeather couldn't help but blink her eyes open again at the light tug on her fur, watching mutely as the tom peeled bits of moss from her creamy pelt. She didn't say anything, didn't lift her head or do more than stare at the crow sitting in a heap of night-black feathers beside her nest, her eyes sliding closed after a moment.

Not until the soft pad of paws returned, the fresh, clear scent of water and moss flooding the den and the tom's voice came again did she do anything, and it was his words that stirred her into a more expressive reply. "Shut up!" she snapped at him, her chin coming off her chest and her lips peeling back, ears folding backwards. "It won't ever go back to normal! I don't want to eat, I don't want to drink! I want you to go away and get out of my fur!" She lashed out at the ball of moss, slinging it away to land with a soft splat in some other unfortunate cat's nest, and leveled Birdtalon with a narrowed glare- and even then, the weight of her grief was obvious in the shine of her eyes.

warrior of stoneclan
KARAZHAL

[KARAZHAL]

The gray tom's ears swung backward, and his fur stood up briefly on his neck at Snowfeather's snarl. The moss was shredded out of his mouth and sent flying with a wet splat in someone else's bed. Birdtalon remained still. His tail twitched tensely, but he didn't back away.

"Following their legacy helps making it normal. It lives on you, Snowfeather, in... all of us." He gestured to their surroundings. Squinting slightly as a tear fell down his face, he scrunched his muzzle and turned away from Snowfeather. "It's StoneClan's way." An audible swallow moved his throat. Inhaling, then sharply exhaling, Birdtalon returned to face his clanmate.

"Fine." He ducked his head submissively to her, to say he understood what she was going through. "I'll be over there, out of your way. You need anything, just yowl, got it?" His head tilted.

With a twitch of his tail, he swung about to deal with the wet moss. He dutifully fetched it back, but batted it back at her from a distance so that it wobbled like a flat tire. He patched over the wet spot with some dry grass from a musty unused one, kicking the lot into the bowl. He stamped on it until he couldn't feel the moisture anymore and curled down in it. The combined nests meant a ridiculous amount of straw and dry leaves bunched up around Birdtalon's orb shape.

Taxx