Help comes

Fireflight's ears twitched thoughtfully, and he lifted his chin to gaze at the wide sky above them.
"I've missed being able to see the stars." He told Wingfoot with a very soft sigh. "I don't know how Thunderclan do it, always hemmed in by all those trees."

Wingfoot mewed in agreement. "That was one of the hardest things for sure." He mewed, licking his shoulder, his dark eyes gazing thoughtfully across the moor. They sparkled with a new hope and excitment as he thought of the prospect of WindClan finally returning to their much loved home. The moors seemed so silent now, with only a few cats there to hear. Soon, everyone would be back and it would be the home of a clan again. It seems silly to think - but what if the land missed us as much as we missed it? Wingfoot thought to himself. It seemed cheery, like it was greeting them back. He could notice all these thing now, now that the battle was over.

<blockquote>[size=1]Ambrosiapaw dipped her head in a silent tribute. Fire, death's bringer, in this case, had destroyed much of what the she-kit at the time held dearest. It was inexpressible to sit here, watched by the stars, peace finally reigning her mind as well as majority. "The stars have much to tell us tonight.." she whispered softly, "And I believe they're saying welcome home." It's not as if a cat had come and spoken into her ear; nay, it was the feel in the air and the dream that had been brought to her the previous night. [/size]</blockquote>

Wingfoot glanced over at Ambrosiapaw happily, his eyes glinting. "That sounds cheery." He muttered, laying his head down on his front paws and closing his eyes briefly. Then he rolled onto his back and looked up at the sky. "I'd like to think that's what they are saying." He said with a sigh. The smells of the moor over took his senses and he sniffed it in tenderly, as if afraid it would be banished and burned away from him again, with another fire. He glanced back at Ambrosiapaw. The longing for the home land was finally over, now was only the longing for the clan to soon be at work again in this land.

Lunecry sat back down again. "I have to wonder where, in all this time and in all our conflict, where in the dark forest our deputy's been. Has ANYONE seen him at all? Not even just this disaster but over the entire leafbare?" She looked around to see what they had to say. "Dreamstar was CAPTURED and held hostage by another clan, and as far as I know, he never even showed up."

Wingfoot dropped his head to the ground and nodded remorsfully, "What if Dreamstar and us had never come back? If the deputy wasn't around. . ." He trailed off, clearly troubled by this new thought. "what would happen to our clan?" He whispered to the wind. So glad to be back. . . but what if something happened to Dreamstar before they left. . . and the clan fell apart with no deputy? It was unlikely of course, but there was always a possibility. He might have been angry, like it seemed that Lunecry was, but he was just too tired to think very hard about anything, though he doubted he could sleep now with this troubling thought.

"That's what I'm saying, do you realise what would've happened then? If those barbarians had killed her for good?" Lunecry didn't want to even think about it. "No deputy. So THEN what would we do?"

Wingfoot didn't want to think about it. "Yes, I think we can come to the conclusion that it would have been terrible - I'd hate it, watching from StarClan. . ." He sighed, turning to look at the night sky, "What do you want us to do then?" He asked Lunecry, turning back to stare at her, blinking his dark eyes slowly in thought.

[size=1]<blockquote>Ambrosiapaw pondered the warriors' words, though not without detachment. Every cat knew of StarClan, but no one really knew as she did, perhaps the other medicine cats being the exception. Dreamstar, as one of the cats that spoke to her of secrets.. well, even thinking of it was hard. Her leader was flesh; she was well-respected, intelligent, easily spoken, but she was bound to the earth as any other cat was. Just like Ambrosipaw. Only in dreams were they out of the earth's realm; an entirely different world, it was, and the young feline was sure that Dreamstar had experienced her share of it.

"We would look to them for guidance, and then we would run.." She murmured. "There would be nothing else to do lest a miracle came."</blockquote>[/size]

"Nothing we can really do about it ourselves except to just ask Dreamstar what's going on," said Lunecry. "Maybe she's had a good reason why she hasn't seen a need for a deputy who's present. I take it then that no one's seen Abyssfang in almost a year or however long?"

"He's our deputy...or he was the last one who was, I don't know if there was another one after him." Lunecry was reminded of how much younger Ochrepaw was than she was. "If there was another one I never met them."

Fireflight, restless, had stood up and started a short patrol, encircling the little group of his clanmates as he paced along. He frowned slightly, his thick bushy tail flicking as he tried to remember when he'd last seen Abyssfang. The usual guilt at having locked himself off from his clanmates since his brother's death resurfaced. He couldn't remember. All he could remember was he and Robinwing laughing and trying to creep past the deputy back when they were apprentices, Robinpaw and Firepaw. A slight smile lifted his spirits at the trouble they used to get into.
He didn't realize it, but it was one of the first times he'd remembered his brother without brooding over his death.

He passed Bluebell and glanced down to check she was still sleeping before continuing. He paused beside Ambroisiapaw, listening to her words. "We're a strong clan, despite what the others may believe. Together, we can pull through anything." He carried on, looping around Orchepaw and Lunecry. "I'm sure Dreamstar will name a new deputy soon. She needs the help. Besides, it isn't like she hasn't had a lot on her mind of late."

"Of course we're a strong clan, I never gave up on us and I never will," said Lunecry. "All the same, I think we're more than justified in at least just asking her what's going on with the deputy. It's weird, and it's unsettling, and...there's something REALLY not right with it."

"I'm sure she's been thinking about it." Assured Fireflight to the she-cat. "It's probably contributed to her worries, actually. She must be as unsettled as we are by our lack of deputy, and she'll have twice as much to do because of it." He carried on striding around the group. "Give her a few days, once we've all settled back in here." He raised his tail, contentment unexpectedly washing over him. Home again! "She'll pick a new one, you'll see." Temper or no temper, Fireflight would always back up his leader.

"You're probably right," said Lunecry. "But I just want to know. I want answers. We would all feel a lot better knowing for certain that she's got everything under control. A clan's incomplete without a deputy, and if none of us even know who ours even is at this point...it means something's wrong, regardless of what her plans or situation is."

Wingfoot nodded slowly in agreement to Lunecry's words. "It's been so long. . . I begin to wonder if she thinks she can handle the clan without one." He said out loud, but it was quiet and meant mostly for himself. "Even if she is worried - I want answers. It's been a long time - a very long time, so I don't think that worries can excuse it." He mewed, louder this time. Again he got to his paws, anxiety making him want to push recovery. But it had changed little in a matter of minutes, and he quickly sank back to the grass again.

ooc: I accidentally made a triple, dleted two and when I refreshed the third one was gone too. It took me an hour to make that post!

IC: "I dout she would withhold the answer from us if we just came out and asked," said Lunecry. "I think that's what people are afraid to do--confront her about it. But there's no harm in just asking a question especially if it concerns all of us, and it does."

The WindClan warrior opened her eyes. "Yeah, I wonder if Dreamstar'll pick a new deputy," she mewed. She was too tired and hurting to think about much.

"Since we really dont have a deputy at all right now I'd say it would be picking A deputy, straight out." Lunecry sighed. How had their clan come to this? "At least we finally have a medicine cat again. I guess one thing at a time."