#pipitmoons

[those-we-forgot]

MOON 00; LEAFBARE

Burnjumble paced the camp with a beady, narrowed eye. She was focused, troubled, and in many ways her demeanor reflected the emotions that ran throughout the entire clan. She knew that each of her clanmates was feeling just as uneasy - just as fidgety. She knew because their hearts beat as one. What other feeling could anyone have when an apprentice and their mentor goes missing in the middle of the night?

Burnjumble replayed the previous day as many times as she could muster. Looking for signs of trouble, trying to pinpoint the exact moment that Fallenflick and Pinepaw must have left camp. No matter how many times she agonized over it, she couldn't place it.

Left instead to wallow, Burnjumble made the decision that any good deputy would and arranged for a search party to go out to find the missing cats. Everyone was eager to volunteer, but in the end she chose Fuzzdapple and Clayrip for the job. Clayrip was always a responsible warrior, and Fuzzdapple was known for her keen eye.

She wanted to arrange for more - maybe even the whole clan were it fully up to her. But Badgerstar could feel the growing panic in the underbelly of the clan and felt it necessary to avoid that panic from spreading. Keep it as casual as one can when issuing a search.

Burnjumble gathered her warriors and made her way out into the rest of the territory. Somehow, Pipitclan felt so vast and unknown despite it being her home for as long as she had lived. Something felt wrong, deep in the pit of her belly.

Burnjumble paced the camp with a beady, narrowed eye. She was focused, troubled, and in many ways her demeanor reflected the emotions that ran throughout the entire clan. She knew that each of her clanmates was feeling just as uneasy - just as fidgety. She knew because their hearts beat as one. What other feeling could anyone have when an apprentice and their mentor goes missing in the middle of the night?

Burnjumble replayed the previous day as many times as she could muster. Looking for signs of trouble, trying to pinpoint the exact moment that Fallenflick and Pinepaw must have left camp. No matter how many times she agonized over it, she couldn't place it.

Left instead to wallow, Burnjumble made the decision that any good deputy would and arranged for a search party to go out to find the missing cats. Everyone was eager to volunteer, but in the end she chose Fuzzdapple and Clayrip for the job. Clayrip was always a responsible warrior, and Fuzzdapple was known for her keen eye.

She wanted to arrange for more - maybe even the whole clan were it fully up to her. But Badgerstar could feel the growing panic in the underbelly of the clan and felt it necessary to avoid that panic from spreading. Keep it as casual as one can when issuing a search.

Burnjumble gathered her warriors and made her way out into the rest of the territory. Somehow, Pipitclan felt so vast and unknown despite it being her home for as long as she had lived. Something felt wrong, deep in the pit of her belly.

"Prints." Fuzzdapple's voice was low and clipped. Simple, to the point. His observation brought the rest of the patrol to their side.

"Should we follow?" Clayrip asked, glancing towards the deputy with an uneasy expression. "There's only one set, but..."

Clayrip didn't have to finish the sentiment. Burnjumble could see the obvious concern, laid out plain in front of her. One set of paw prints in the dirt, barely visible... and with it, a long indent in the soil as if something had dragged alongside it.

She silently prayed to Starclan that it was just a very large piece of prey.

Burnjumble didn't answer verbally, but rather began to make her way down the pathway that the pawprints were leading. With each step, she could feel the pit in her stomach digging deeper and deeper.

Soon, she reached the end of the prints. And with it, she found not one - but both of the missing cats.

Just not in the way that she wanted.

Stinking of death, the still corpse of Fallenflick lay as a heap on the ground. Sticky, dried brownish red blood stained and clumped his long cold fur together. He had been slashed clean across the throat and bled messily all the way down his stomach. His white fur almost blended in with the snow were it not for the red contrasting against him.

And lying in front of the lump of fur that once was Fallenflick was Pinepaw, unblinking and wide-eyed, with blood staining his paws. His claws were still out, drenched in the drained life of his own mentor.

Burnjumble felt like fainting. Pinepaw had killed his own mentor. A thousand questions ran through her head all at once.

How did the young apprentice fell a fully grown warrior? Why had he done it? Why was he still here? What were they going to do now?

... What were they going to do now?

The question of what to do was answered by Badgerstar soon thereafter. The process of figuring things out had gone... confusingly. Pinepaw admitted to her wrongdoing. He confessed to the murder without hesitation. He had been completely devoid of emotion, negative or positive.

When asked why, he just whispered; "I don't know."

And so, like with any murder, Badgerstar exiled the young apprentice from the clan.

Not even three sunrises later, Pinepaw was found dead on the edge of the border to Hickoryclan.