Hush little darling [shiny]

Time. It faded in and out of awareness, making small appearances either in thought or wondering through a day, but its presence was always a quiet thing. Unassuming and silent in the background, but always in the background. There were times it stilled; in the moments between a warrior's jaws closing in the scruff of another, or the hover of a heartbeat as a hunter's claws struck a bird from the sky. Slow, crawling almost, but still moving. Always it moved, pulling something beautiful further and further away while always drawing nearer the fate of something darker. Time. What a curious thing it was. What a cruel thing it was.

But perhaps cruel is too harsh of a word. Was it time that had sent her father from the nest of his mate into that of another? Was it time that had struck the chord of resentment and hatred in Thistleleap's heart when she was forced to foster the products of her mate's infidelity? Was it time that shattered her family? No, cruel was not a word she should use to explain the indifferent involvement of time. Time was careless and apathetic, it moved to its own scheme and own rhythm without a thought or care for the lives being ruined in its wake. What did the sun care for the cats beneath it as it made its way across the sky? What did the cat care for the ant squashed beneath its paw while wandering through camp?

No, cruel was not a word for time. Cruel was a word for Mapleclaw who had become all but a shade of her former self. Who was the ginger she-cat that had tumbled through the nest during their kithood? Who was the determined apprentice that would have done anything for her sister? Tawnygaze didn't know, but it was not the fae that claimed blood to her now. Mapleclaw was someone else entirely. She was heartlessly cold, and even when injury brought her into the Tawnygaze's den she regarded her sister with an icy distance and a vague air of disapproval. Was there nothing between them any longer?

These were the thoughts that had plagued the gradient tabby, keeping her restlessly awake throughout the night. It had been almost a moon since she had become the official medicine cat; almost a moon since her mother had once again warned her of Mapleclaw's darkening future. "Darkness grows in her heart..." The heavenly Applefur had warned, her own ginger fur dazzling with starlight and otherworldly frost. "Hatred and anger will consume her..." Chills ran down the medicine cat's spine, her fur bristling and laying flat in a rippling effect like wind blowing over long grass. She would no sleep that morning, might as well get up and do something useful with the day then.

Tawnygaze rose quietly from her nest, carefully stretching the tightened and twisted muscles of her marred hind leg before daring to place any weight on it. She yawned toothily before casting about for her young apprentice. Tigerpaw was sleeping soundly in her nest, a fluffy bundle of feather soft ginger fur. The elder she-cat smiled in the way a mother might smile when gazing upon her kit, and padded from the den on dainty paws muted by pine needles and loamy soil. Perhaps she would go and find some breakfast and then busy herself by hunting for herbs? One could never be too prepared after all.

Sunlight met her burning gaze as the meddie found herself in the center of camp, padding toward the fresh-kill pile as smoothly as was possible. Her gait was a unique one, her bones twisted and knobled as they were, and her hind end bucked and tipped with each step as if threatening to give way completely. Tawnygaze was not alone in the camp, though, the dawn patrol had already left and it seemed a few early risers already stirring about. Her gaze landed on a familiar pelt, and a smile curled her maw. It had been days since she had seen the young 'paw, and the medicine cat approached her with a kind smile.

"Ah, Pollenpaw, how are you dear?" The she-cat's voice was gentle and soft as she slowly eased herself into a sitting position beside the young apprentice's side. A grimace crossed her maw at a twinge of pain, but it vanished as quickly as it came, the discomfort alleviated by a shift in her weight. "I didn't think I would find you up so early. Eager to start the day's training perhaps?" Her tone was light and airy, the femme at ease in the company of the younger cat.