Shadowpaw woke up to the sound of panicked murmuring. She had fallen asleep early in the apprentice den so she could wake up early tomorrow to be ready for training, but when she heard the sound of Deepvine’s worried meows, she knew something was wrong. She got up and nosed away the vines covering the entrance to the cave, and to her horror, in front of Deepvine she saw a little bundle of soaked white fur in the middle of camp. She raced out into the open, crumpling to the ground when she realized the bundle wasn’t breathing.

“I... I tried my best to save her, I lost sight of her all of a sudden and followed her scent trail to the river. I saw her thrashing as her head went under, but by the time I jumped in and pulled her out, she wasn’t responding.”

Deepvine soaked the ground under him, as it didn’t look like he even shook the water from his fur before he raced back into camp, and his sides were heaving like he hadn’t taken a full breath since he had pulled her body out of the river.

Softstar gave her head a lick to briefly mourn, her eyes cloudy with masked sadness.

“I honor your courage, Deepvine.” She said softly, before raising her voice to address the whole clan. “Dovepaw will be buried at dawn. For now, all cats who wish to share tongues with her for the last time will be able to. Cats closest to her will spend the night saying goodbye. May she rest peacefully in Starclan.”

Shadowpaw hardly heard any of the conversation as she held back a yowl of agony. She buried her muzzle into her sister’s cold, soaked fur, and barely noticed when her siblings went to do the same. Cats briefly shared tongues with Dovekit’s body throughout the night, but the five kits stayed all night. They huddled closer together when the night got cold, and Shadowpaw slipped into a restless sleep as she was reminded of the first night they set foot into the forest. All six of them.