Skyfall padded quickly through ThunderClan's icy forest, Hawkspirit at her heels. The forest was lightening up by the moment, the sun beginning to raise up through the canopied forest ceiling.

Almost as soon as Flowermoon had gone to StarClan, Skyfall had to usher Hawkspirit out of the nursery. With dawn quickly approaching, she knew her Clanmates would begin to stir. Hostilities would rise among Sunstar and a few of her anti-ShadowClan Clanmates if they awoke to find Hawkspirit in camp. Skyfall was unsure what Sunstar would do in the event that he had a defenseless ShadowClan medicine cat in his paws, and she did not want to find out.

Willowleaf still hadn't returned. Skyfall imagined that she was stirring from her starry sleep when they departed from camp, and was probably on her way back now. She wasn't sure how she would explain the night's events to her or to her Clan, but her primary focus was getting Hawkspirit safely across the ShadowClan border.

Her paws weighed heavy, with both exhaustion and with heartache. Flowermoon's passing disturbed her deeply. Flowermoon was never particularly kind to Skyfall or her siblings, but she was a Clanmate nonetheless. Her surviving mewling kits would be left without their mother, and whoever her mate was, would learn of her death once they awoke from peaceful dreams this morning. Hawkspirit wasn't sure if the two kits he had pulled aside would survive, but he gave Amberpaw strict instructions on how to care for them until Willowleaf returned to camp. Amberpaw had listened intently, but Skyfall knew the new medicine cat apprentice was scared out of her mind at the thought of taking care of two critically ill kits when her knowledge of medicine was only what Hawkspirit had taught her. It was just an all-around unpleasant situation that did a number on every cat that was involved.

They were almost to the border when a rustling was heard in the bushes. Skyfall's fur stuck up in weary surprise, and she prepared to defend Hawkspirit's presence in ThunderClan's territory. Much to her relief, Willowleaf's tortoiseshell pelt came into view, and her amber eyes looked pleased to see Skyfall - until they shifted to see Hawkspirit.

"Skyfall!" She hissed. "What are you doing? This is ThunderClan terri-" 

Skyfall knew that Willowleaf believed that Skyfall had brought Hawkspirit into ThunderClan territory for some reckless prophetical meeting. Or maybe she even suspected that Skyfall hadn't discontinued their then budding relationship like she had told her she had. Skyfall wasn't sure, but she braced herself for the conversation that was about to take place.

"Willowleaf," Hawkspirit murmured, dipping his head in respect. Skyfall knew that part of his head-bow was in condolences, but Willowleaf had no way of detecting that gesture.

"Willowleaf, we need to talk," Skyfall muttered softly. "But first, we need to get Hawkspirit over the border before cats begin to realize he was in camp."

"In camp?" Willowleaf echoed, her eyes wide saucers of worry. Willowleaf's tone reflected her uneasiness. There was no good reason why Hawkspirit could be in ThunderClan's camp, there were only reasons that were varying degrees of bad. "Why was he in camp?"

Hawkspirit and Skyfall began to continue on their way, and Skyfall flicked her tail, beckoning Willowleaf to follow. Their paws carried them at a brisk pace, as Hawkspirit glanced nervously up at the reddening sky as the sun began to climb through the sparse clouds.

"Flowermoon's kits came," Skyfall started, being sure to keep her voice low and soft. She heard Willowleaf's paws stop in their tracks behind her. 

Skyfall drew in a deep breath, looking at her paws as she slowed her own pace down, fully aware of the alarm coursing through Willowleaf's veins. She glanced at Hawkspirit. It appeared he could read her like one of StarClan's messages, as he flicked his tail and began to speak the second after looking at her.

"Four of the kits are healthy," Hawkspirit continued, sensing Skyfall's difficulty in pushing the conversation forward. "Two are unstable. I'm not sure if-"

"Two? Two more?" Willowleaf questioned, her voice quiet. "There was only supposed to be five."

"There was a small kit," Hawkspirit elaborated. "hidden between its littermates in the womb. I'm not surprised you missed it, as it was so much smaller than the other ones."

"A-and Flowermoon?" Willowleaf questioned. Skyfall turned her head to glance at the tortoiseshell she-cat. Just as she had suspected, she was standing a few tail-lengths behind them, her eyes wide and her tail drooping against the frosty bracken floor. Her eyes were amber pools of desperation, with a sheen of hope gleaming within them. Skyfall could barely stand to look at her, as she knew that they were about to rip her of any faith she had in her abilities as a medicine cat.

As an apprentice, Skyfall had wondered if Flowermoon was the third littermate of Willowleaf and Darkface. Willowleaf never spoke of any of her littermates, but she did care immensely for Flowermoon during her time as a queen, more so than she did Featherfur. Skyfall had always thought that the discrepancy in Willowleaf's attention was due to the fact that Flowermoon was expected to have a difficult birth. It became clear to Skyfall now, based on the look in Willowleaf's desperate and hopeful eyes, that her original suspicion had been correct - the two tortoiseshell she-cats were sisters. This nearly ripped Skyfall's heart in two, and she turned away once she heard Hawkspirit begin to speak once more.

"I'm sorry Willowleaf," Hawkspirit began, "but Flowermoon has joined StarClan's ranks."

"No!" Willowleaf immediately wailed, her voice ringing through the quiet forest. Skyfall cringed, as Hawkspirit was not safe yet, and her outburst was undoubtably audible from camp. This concern for her mate was only a throbbing pain in the back of her mind, however, since she could practically hear Willowleaf's heart shattering into pieces, their glass fragments falling to the frosted floor.

"There's nothing that could be done, Willowleaf," Hawkspirit murmured. "She wouldn't have made it, even if you had been there for her. You anticipated this."

"I left!" Willowleaf exclaimed. "I had a cat that needed my care and I left! I left her!"

Hawkspirit shot Skyfall a glance. Skyfall mustered up some words of comfort. "There's no way you could've known, Willo-"

"I knew it would be any day now!" Willowleaf retorted. "It didn't even cross my mind when I left. I was just so focused on this stupid prophecy, and now Flowermoon's dead!"

"She wouldn't have made it even if you were there," Hawkspirit repeated, an edge of assertiveness in his voice. Skyfall knew that Hawkspirit was trying to get Willowleaf to understand that Flowermoon's death was not her fault. She also knew that nothing her or Hawkspirit said would convince Willowleaf otherwise.

"Don't you get it?" Willowleaf screeched. A few dollops of snow fell from above, a bird having scattered from its spot on a branch, alarmed from Willowleaf's outburst. "I should have been there for her, whether she made it or not! She was my littermate, and above all, my Clanmate! It is my duty to be there for her, and I failed!"

Skyfall shifted on her paws. She desperately wanted to comfort Willowleaf, but she knew that nothing she could say or do would bring solace to the heartbroken medicine cat. Flowermoon's fate created a heavy weight of guilt and regret that Willowleaf would carry on her shoulders until she herself walked with the stars.

Hawkspirit's nose lifted to the sky, either out of concern for the brightening pink sky or in a prayer for Willowleaf. Whichever it was, it refocused Skyfall on the urgent task of getting Hawkspirit back to ShadowClan territory. 

Skyfall shot Willowleaf a worried glance. The tortoiseshell she-cat, having not received a response, had lowered her head in a whirlwind of shame, guilt, regret, and self-pity. Her shoulders slumped, seemingly unable to lift her strong frame under the weight of the night's events. Skyfall drew in a breath, nervous to disrupt the grieving medicine cat, but she knew they could not afford to stand there any longer.

"Willowleaf," Skyfall murmured softly. "If you want to wait here, I can walk back to camp with you once I get Hawkspirit back to ShadowClan territory."

Willowleaf lifted her gaze to meet Skyfall's briefly. "No, I need to get back to camp before anyone notices I was gone. No one knows, right?"

"Rainpetal, Shadepool and I were doing our silent vigils," Skyfall replied. Willowleaf's eyes widened in alarm but before she could say anything, Skyfall continued. "They know the gravity of the situation, they won't tell anyone."

Willowleaf nodded, relief flooding her amber eyes. With a flick of her tail and a duck of gratitude to Hawkspirit, Willowleaf began her trek back to camp. Skyfall's eyes followed the ThunderClan medicine cat for a few moments, and she couldn't help but notice her tail dragging in the frosted undergrowth.

Turning back to Hawkspirit, whose own eyes were flooded with nervousness as the sunlight became brighter and more intense, Skyfall flicked her tail. "We have to hurry," She meowed, bounding past her mate. "Let's go!"

By the time the two companions made their way to the ShadowClan border, Skyfall was sure that dawn patrols would be en route. Hawkspirit turned to her, a soft expression clouding his lake blue eyes.

"It always pains me to part from you," he murmured. He glanced at his paws before bringing his gaze up to meet hers once more.

"It pains me too," Skyfall meowed. 

"It felt as though we were in the same Clan," Hawkspirit continued. "It came so naturally to me. To be by your side doing my duty to 'my' Clan, you know?"

Skyfall nodded. She couldn't help but notice the irony in Hawkspirit's words. Even if they were from the same Clan, their union still would not be acknowledged by StarClan. Regardless of Hawkspirt's Clan, he was still a medicine cat. It was still forbidden.

"You should get back to camp," Skyfall meowed, touching her nose to his in farewell. "I have to return as well, before anyone notices I'm missing."

Her gaze held on to his for a few moments longer than what was necessary. She wanted to hold onto this image in front of her, because as Hawkspirit had just pointed out, the time of their next meeting was uncertain.

As Hawkspirit was padding away, Skyfall called out a thank-you for all his help. Hawskspirit waved his tail in acknowledgment. She stood there, watching his strong silhouette fade into the distance, his departure tearing at her heartstrings - an additional cloud of sadness raining over her. 

I feel like my author's notes are annoying and unneeded, so I'll keep this short - still working on the Instagram/email for the art submissions, will make an announcement on my page when it is up and running! Thanks for reading! <3

Kaylin