[poppy]

Dovefluff

The young queen glanced over at Sootfur as he was announced as one of the four newest keepers. The molly nodded to him, happy for her friend, cracking a small, congratulatory smile before sinking back in her seat. The next announcement, surely, would be the last. And the last would be the deputy and healer roles, and she could think of quite a few good candidates for the job. But the majority had just been reassigned a mentor, given an apprentice or promoted to Keeper. So surely Bumblestar wouldn't give a mentor an apprentice or vice versa, or a warrior a role as Keeper, just to take it away in a few minutes? No. That wouldn't make much sense. The molly looked over, slightly surprised, as Springpaw approached her, purring limply in greeting, wishing she had taken time to clean herself up. Or at least cover the damn dark circles under her eyes and the tearstains that marked her cheeks. God, she had to look presentable. She couldn't look like a mess. She didn't want everyone to think she was a burden. That was the last thing she needed- more haters.

"Of course it's okay, dearest. You're always welcome." She purred softly, weakly, like she was being strangled. Not because of Springpaw, of course. Just because of it all. It was a weight that pressed on her, choked her. Shuffling over so that the calico could settle in beside her, and Dovefluff felt the boulder that had anchored to her heart ease a bit. Like a flower in a barren wasteland, the appearance of the apprentice that was like a daughter, loosened the heavy weight in her soul slightly. Like hopelessness and deep sorrow didn't seem so suffocating anymore. Something like determined resolve tightened in her chest, and she made a mental note to set the plan whirling in her head into motion after the meeting was done.

She didn't want to say anything about what had happened, so her head dipped slightly and turned, almost magnetically, to a certain large golden warrior. Yeah. She didn't know why she was looking at him, but if he looked at her, she would dip her head in gratitude to the kind tom, her best friend's cousin. She was just looking at him to show him an ounce of the gratitude he deserved for comforting her when no one else could in the hours after her daughter's death. Yeah. That was all. She wasn't looking at him for any other reason. Turning her attention back to Springpaw with a warm look, she would then inquire something... simple. Easy. "How've you been doing, with everything? Just in general, with recent... events, and training and such?" Yes. No references towards death. No heavy stuff- she couldn't handle any more of that. That was good. Ish.

[ @Jayvines @Wingnettle - for her nod to soot and glance at Lioncrest || @ares ]