**Petalflight**
The calico she-cat moved silently, her head held up and her pace even but her mind mercifully blank. She knew what she was potentially walking into beside the warriors escorting her along with her friend’s body, her friend whose death, she was sure, would weigh on her for the future moons in much the same way Beetle’s death still plagued her nightmares sometimes. Her claws had been clean in both deaths and they’d been the last cats she’d ever want to see as they’d become but she couldn’t deny her existence, her presence and her active choices, were what had led them to their untimely deaths. Maybe that all gave her the peace she was feeling, or maybe it was the void of numbness, the void she’d developed to distance herself from everything she could’ve felt toward her life. Feelings were an unnecessary liability, they hindered the goal she’d always held for herself: survive. But three times now she’d let cats mean something to her, and now she was sure it’d be those three mistakes that’d mean failure in her goal.
She kept her green eyes facing forward, not daring nor caring to watch her surroundings or the warriors leading her to her fate. She was blind to what was going on in the clearing as she moved in with her escorts, a blessing she was not too numb to recognize. She’d always been observant and intuitive, sometimes more than she wished, but now it was the opposite. Until something in her mind told her Bumblestar was approaching and she realized she wasn’t blind at all, just numb after all. Petalflight let her green eyes move to meet Bumblestar’s eyes, eyes sparking with fury, and Petalflight became suddenly starkly aware of her situation, of where she’d been, of Blackfir’s body, of her own lack of injury, but she’d already resigned herself to what she had to do.
She still knew little of the clan’s ways and shows of respect, though she knew to respect the leader. Not wanting the hesitation to be taken as indecision on her following words, Petalflight conducted no preamble and simply met Bumblestar’s stare and began,
”I went to the border, to meet a Windclanner. Blackfir followed me, I did not realize that he had. He saw the Windclanner and I guess thought he was a threat.” Petalflight knew there had been no perceived threats and she quickly had realized Blackfir’s true motives and heated emotions but none of it seemed relevant or necessary now, besides in the end it was only her guessing anyway.
”Blackfir attacked the Windclanner and the Windclanner fought back, and killed him.” Petalflight risked a glance back toward where Blackfir’s body lay, his clanmates mourning him, as she admitted aloud for the first time that Blackfir had indeed been killed. Her eyes quickly moved back to Bumblestar,
”It happened so quickly,” but how truthful was that? It had been fast but Petalflight had made it this far in life making quick decisions in stressful, deadly situations. But this had been different.