Moonlit Grove

[BEAR.]

Moonlit Grove is a small circular clearing located
in the cliffs by the Mourning Ruins, surrounded by a forest
so dense it's nearly impossible to see.
At night, the moon shines its light into the clearing,
making all the plants gleam.

Now a place to lay to rest ShadowClan's honored dead,
hunting here is frowned upon without the permission of the Clan leader,
as it can be seen as being disrespectful to those who are buried here.
Herbs often grow abundant over the graves of the deceased,
as they flourish in the nutritious ground.

[Undertaker]

Dawnstripe's muscles ached and her paw pads were ripped a slightly bloody. It wasn't freezing yet, but leaf-fall was making its presence's known. The ground was still soft enough for digging, but the deeper she dug the more small rocks she found and cuts she gained on her pads. After it was deep enough, she laid Icestar's body to rest and begun burying it.

It was a job that Elders were tasked with, but felt the task to honorable for someone like Owlfeather to handle. She didn't care what blood ties the elder cat thought she had, Dawnstripe wouldn't allow it. Once the body was buried, Dawnstripe let her legs collapse underneath her as she laid down, resting her crossed forepaws on the fresh dirt heap and her chin atop her forepaw.

"How could this had happened?" She muttered to the forest.

"When you finally come to your sense and make me your rightful deputy, damn Hailstorm had to ruin it. We don't understand why you needed to go." Her tail brushed crossed the grass, flattening it with its angry lashes.

"How did I not see it coming?”

She asked herself the same question repeatedly, seeking for the logical part of the answer that she must have missed the first time. The cruel cycle of recalling every recollection and replaying it back begins.

Over time the crisp memories would blur, and the question would remain: “Why?”

It was a question she knew she'd never get the answer to, so she wasn't going to try and find it. This grief surged with every expelled breath, always reaching higher peaks, never sufficiently soothed by her long intakes of the damp spring air. Tears began to spill from her helpless eyes onto the newly growing grass. The emptiness in her heart, the numbness pounding her brain, the sheer nothingness that now took hold of her soul threatened to engulf her. Dawnstripe knew then and there that she was truly alone in this world. Mother had been all she had, and now there was no one.

"Why'd you have to go, mother, we don't want to be alone. They all hate me and want me dead, I don't know what we did wrong, but I don't want to die. It's scary all alone." The she-cat weeps all her worries and insecurities to the dead and the trees until her eyes stung and her nose burned from her paw rubbing at it.

'Don't be blue, we're with you. We'll take a vow, and stay for as long as we allow. Survive we must, to give mother's memories just.'

'If we kiww dem we don't have to wowwy about dead. We won't be sad. We won't be scawed. Piwe up de bodies! piwe! piwe! piwe!'

Dawnstripe growled to herself as she slowly stood up and shook out her pelt. Survive, alright, she could do that. She didn't need anyone but herself to do that. Mother wanted ShadowClan to be strong, considering they got their asses handed to them by WindClan, ShadowClan was far from that. Dawnstripe would have to make the strong again, she'd focus on doing that. Madness needed to be appeased too, the traitors, the rebels, the rats. Madness can play with them. Everyone was happy, everyone. Dawnstripe slowly padded out of the grove, a tear trickling down her face and a manic grin stretched ear to ear. This would be fun.

[Madelaine]

[ @Willowfern; ]

Ebonyfang lead the apprentice Pumpkinpaw to Moonlit grove. Hee remembered Dawnstripes words when she said not to go near Icestar's grave.Why on earth would he want to anyway? He could care less about visiting her. The only cat he would like to visit would be his mother whereever she may be. "We're looking for cobwebs and some marigold flowers. Oh and possibly some honeycomb, but only if we find some." , he meowed. The medicine cat apprentice lead the apprentice away from the burial place. It looked more promising away from it anyway.

[Willowfern]

Originally Posted by Handsome Lion

[ @Willowfern; ]

Ebonyfang lead the apprentice Pumpkinpaw to Moonlit grove. Hee remembered Dawnstripes words when she said not to go near Icestar's grave.Why on earth would he want to anyway? He could care less about visiting her. The only cat he would like to visit would be his mother whereever she may be. "We're looking for cobwebs and some marigold flowers. Oh and possibly some honeycomb, but only if we find some." , he meowed. The medicine cat apprentice lead the apprentice away from the burial place. It looked more promising away from it anyway.

Pumpkinpaw nodded, suddenly, a kit-like curiosity took over him (he was 6 moons old after all) as he asked,
“So, what do we use Marigold and Honeycomb for anyway? I know what cobwebs are for since I see cats with them on wounds sometimes to stop blood, but never honeycomb and mari-marigold.”

[Madelaine]

Originally Posted by Willowfern

Pumpkinpaw nodded, suddenly, a kit-like curiosity took over him (he was 6 moons old after all) as he asked,
“So, what do we use Marigold and Honeycomb for anyway? I know what cobwebs are for since I see cats with them on wounds sometimes to stop blood, but never honeycomb and mari-marigold.”

Ebonyfang listened to all of her questions. He guessed he could give some exclusive lessons on the two herbs. He usually did lessons when looking for herbs with other cats. "Marigold is used to treat infection and honeycomb soothes sore throats." , he meowed. The medicine cat apprentice remembered the lesson. He had an excellent memory. " Marigold is a orange and yellow flower and usually bees leave honey. ", Ebonyfang added.

[nocturnal]

// @Lynxpaw

The trek to the grove was swift, quiet, and quite uneventful. It was strange to be near an apprentice who was capable of keeping their mouths shut, Talonstone noted. Then again, he had also rarely spoken during his apprentice days, so perhaps he wasn't in the position to judge. The large tom believed that he had matured a good amount in the last moon, now that he was looking back.

As the trees thickened before giving way to a hidden clearing, Talonstone flicked an ear and quickly scanned his surroundings. The grass grew curiously high in this area, and the pines blocked out a good part of the daylight. As Ebonyfang had claimed, herbs were overly abundant. Marigolds grew in clusters and small, red-petaled plants were lying sparingly beneath the shade. They were poppies, and the seeds were inside there.

Sensing Russetpaw's presence near him, Talonstone commanded, "Go gather the marigolds. Use your claws to slices at the stems, and do not carry them in your maw - search for a wide-based leaf to place them on if necessary."

He wanted to avoid sending the apprentice near the poppies. The seeds of the plant could prove to be fatal if too many were ingested, especially for kittens, and while Russetpaw wasn't that young, Talonstone was surely older than the red-furred molly.

[Confuzzled.Lynx]

[ @bmkmb ]

Russetpaw

Dark ginger trailed behind the red figure. She stopped to listen, nodded and headed off. She preferred not to talk to strangers. No cat was trust-worthy in her eyes. She had taught herself that no one could be trusted. That there was no such thing as being safe and it was just some stupid fantasy. But being in a clan, brought that fantasy to life. There were cats to protect her and others she needed to protect. It was all so weird. Russetpaw went off to find a big leaf first and returned back to the grove by a patch of marigold. She started to put herself to work, slicing the stems with her claws and putting them onto her big leaf.

[nocturnal]

// @Lynxpaw

Then, there was silence. It was a bit concerning, to be honest. Even the quietest apprentices usually showed some bit of emotion. Russetpaw just did as she was told without giving anything away. (Like him. In the past.) The similarities made the frosty tom's pelt prickle. Was this the stars' way of punishing him for no reason? How come no cats had ever approached him back then? Surely, they would be curious. But unlike Russetpaw's emotionless expression, as an apprentice, Talonstone had the aura of a frigid blast of wind, making cats think twice before stepping a paw near him. Alright. So he had been even less approachable back then. The tom stalked over beneath a tree where poppies grew, prodded at a large, dry leaf that was on the ground, then unsheathed his claws and scraped at the inner bulb of the bright red flower. Little black seeds stuck like burrs to his claws, and he deposited them the best he could onto the leaf.

[Confuzzled.Lynx]

[ @bmkmb ]

Russetpaw

After the molly had finished clawing away at the now flowerless patch where the too joyful yellow used to be, she stood up and moved to another bunch. The sight of the happy yellow color made Russetpaw flinch. She let herself inhale and continued to slice at the plants, depositing them into her big leaf. The apprentice worked in silence, not wanting to talk unless the warrior started up a conversation first. The fox-like cat wasn't in the mood to quickly give in and trust her older companion and strike up some small talk. It was rare for her to be the one to talk first. She just had to get through this, but something had been bugging her since she first joined the clan. Now was probably the best time to ask. A few moments passed as black paws kept slicing the herbs. The she-cat's mouth opened, quiet for an instant. "What is StarClan? Sorry for asking, but a former rouge like me wouldn't know" she questioned, adding an apology. Done. If the tom answered, then that was one less thought irritating her.

[nocturnal]

// @Lynxpaw

He was almost done. The small yellow things that gathered in the center of the flower simply refused to leave his claws, however, and parts of crushed seeds stuck determinedly to them. About half the bounty had been destroyed in the process, yet Talonstone wasn't concerned about that in the slightest. Their supply of poppy seeds would be restored enough to last a moon with what he had already gathered. Perhaps that was an exaggeration, though. He was a warrior, not a medicine cat, and his herbal knowledge wasn't all that reliable.

His ears swiveled around in the direction of her voice as Russetpaw began speaking, and he paused his gathering to allow all his attention onto the young molly. What were the stars? Russetpaw was asking the wrong cat. Talonstone had a rocky relationship with the cats up high, but he would do his best to present unbiased information. Just like he had done for Lionpaw all those moons ago... He had forgotten about that. If he had done it before, then this shouldn't be too difficult.

"Do not apologize," the frosty warrior meowed, his tail sweeping slightly. "Questions are good - and healthy." Now, to answer her inquiry. "StarClan is where clan cats go after they die, assuming that they were not villainous during their lifetime. Medicine cats have a special connection with the stars and are able to communicate with them easily. Cats who are in StarClan are capable of visiting mortals through dreams. The opposite of StarClan is the Dark Forest, where the cruel clan cats stay after death. It takes an extreme fault to be banished to the Dark Forest; murder and abuse will land a feline there. At times, a Dark Forest cat will enter a mortal's dreams and attempt to lure them into performing bad deeds through lies and manipulation. Never believe the words of the deceased unless they have stars in their semi-corporeal pelt, which is the mark of StarClan."

Talonstone would have furrowed his brows had he not had his amount of self-control. That was possibly the longest that he had spoken for in moons. The warrior stayed silent, yet he flicked his tail at Russetpaw, inviting the molly to ask any more questions that she might have.