This time, Quailstep hadn't waited for Brightnose to wake in the middle of the night. After an evening meal, the Sun Guard flicked her tail to the other warrior, padding just outside of camp.
As Brightnose approached, Quailstep heaved a sigh of relief and gently licked over her friend's rumpled fur, nosing softly around her wounds so as not to disturb Swallowbreeze's work.
"What in StarClan's name happened?" she meowed. She'd heard from the others, bits and pieces, but she was specifically concerned with the state of the younger Sun Guard. "Who did this to you?"
BRIGHTNOSE | SUN GUARD "ALWAYS CONFUSING THE THOUGHTS IN MY HEAD"
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Despite the exhaustion that's settled deep into her bones, Brightnose can hardly eat. She manages to get a small mouse down, but not any more than that - it feels like every sound is putting her on edge, the post-battle paranoia setting in even worse than last time.Are we safe? Did they follow us? She knows, logically, that they certainly didn't and would have been incredibly mouse-brained to do so after freshly losing their leader. But that doesn't stop Brightnose from keeping near the entrance of camp, gaze constantly flicking over just in casea WindClan warrior comes near.
When Quailstep signals for her to follow, she does so quickly; now that the camp-wide panic has settled slightly, the heavily injured in the medicine den and the others staying close to their loved ones, Brightnose wants nothing more than to find comfort in her close friend. She allows herself a small smile when Quailstep takes the time to straighten out her still-ruffled pelt. "Thanks." It's a quiet acknowledgement, but one that she is sure to voice nonetheless.
Brightnose meets the other Sun Guard's gaze for a moment as they ask what happened, and who did this? The fresh scars on her shoulder sting, and she shifts uncomfortably. "It was WindClan," she explains. "They thought they could get away with trespassing. With shamelesslystealing prey." Her ears pin back as she says it, brow furrowed with frustration. "And as if that wasn't enough, they had the gall to call us murderers. On our own territory!!" Even as her tail lashes, there is a sliver of doubt behind her eyes… She has unshakable faith in her Clan and nothing will change that, but the WindClan warrior she had fought seemed so confident that it was, in fact, a SkyClan warrior who had taken the life of - what had she said his name was? Molewhisker? Brightnose hates feeling torn like this. Perhaps there is some kind of mistake, someone wanting to sabotage SkyClan by making them seem like the perpetrators of something so heinous. "Even if such an outlandish claim was true, I can't believe Dustystar led her warriors straight into a bloodbath…" Brightnose shakes her head. That's what the late leader will be known for, now.. Her final, most reckless act of war. "We're lucky there were no other casualties, but I know Hawkstar losing a life is hitting the Clan hard right now… and… probably will for a while." Brightnose swallows thickly, the image of Quailstep's nose pressed into the leader's bloodied fur still burning in her mind. She knows how much the other Sun Guard cares for their king -it must have been so painful for her to see. I'm sorry, Quailstep… I wish I could have stopped it.
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