"Meadowpaw,"
Dimmingsun starts, and for once, he isn't quite sure what words to utter next. This... he had expected this to go easier, but then, he had expected to be way more successful than he ended up being. "Do you have a moment? We need to talk."
He knows how it all sounds, even when he turns tail and hopes to StarClan that Meadowpaw has it in her to follow. Dimmingsun presses rows of teeth together. He should say something—something to fill the silence between them, and to ease any worries that his apprentice might have. Hopefully she's too tired after all that work to get carried away with anxieties. But then... he's going to add more to it, won't he?
Still. This is something that needs to be said- something he needs to show her.
Dimmingsun picks the junction of the camp's edges and the outer walls of the medicine cat den for their impromptu meeting. They still have patients after all, and he wants this to be entirely private. He had been here a few hours prior, hiding away what he wishes to give to Meadowpaw now. It's better this way, he thinks; if she had come across it on her own, it might have been more painful.
"Listen, I... this won't be easy to hear, I don't think."
Dimmingsun sits across Meadowpaw, expression serious this time. He meets her gaze fully. "You can get angry at me, if that makes it better."
Why wouldn't she? He had messed up. This isn't something that can be fixed.A pause.
"During the flood, I saw how Gladebloom's nest got destroyed. I know it- she means a lot to you. That nest the only tie you have to her still."
He waits, in case Meadowpaw needs a second to recollect herself. Sudden mentions of her former (and first, he can never forget) mentor is like slashing her across the face. Gently, Dimmingsun uncovers something from behind him—bits of moss, haphazardly slapped together, coming apart at the seams. He knows she will recognize it as Gladebloom's nest in a heartbeat- the one that had been taking up space in their shared den for moons. "I tried to... salvage it. It's not much. I wasn't able to save all of it. And I wasn't able to give it to you earlier, but... it's time."
He pushes it towards her. "Here. It's yours."