The day felt bleak. It was cold, and the wind blew the wrong way occasionally. Sometimes, the sand on the ground would shift and get deep into Sassafrasfire's pelt, and maybe a bird would screech too loudly at an inconvenient time of the morning or evening. Little things that never stood out before suddenly felt enormous. The smallest irritant or mishap felt drastic. First, it was Petuniapaw. And the struggle to get over her was still relevant to the warrior's daily life, albeit less and less with the passing of time.
If only the feline had realized sooner, so that they could have done something more than what they did. If only they weren't so DAMN distant and spaced out and disconnected. Ternsky was gone, and for how long? Ternsky, their Ternsky.
Sassafrasfire hadn't had the slightest clue what grief was, or how to move through it. They didn't know what to say to who, what to do and when, they just... Kept trying to trudge through the mud like they always did. Who would see anything different when looking their way?
The feline sat in the far edge of camp overlooking a clear sandy patch, where one could sniff around for lost beetles trying to find grass again, or feathers shed from passing birds, and the occasional pebble or shell (though most of those probably disappeared to the nursery and apprentice's den by now...). Their sapphire hues were distant and blank.
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