It was desperation that brought Heatherbloom to the roots of the Great Sycamore.
She could barely stand to be in camp anymore, the rocks cold despite the meager warmth that they absorbed during the daytime. This was her second leafbare of being alive, and while she couldn't remember the last outside of her early apprenticeship days, a part of the young medicine cat knew that this one would be worse. Four deaths in the first moon, one that hadn't even completely passed them by yet. Nettlekit, Stonekit, Greypebble, Sootkit. She'd known all of them. Not well enough to call them friends, but they'd been her Clanmates. With the lingering mist that came with the rising sun, the lilac tabby had told the night guard that she intended to go on a walk, that she would be back before sunhigh, and if something went wrong they could find her.
She closed her eyes, took a breath, and allowed her instincts to pull her in the direction that she needed to go.
The lilac tabby stepped carefully over the charred roots of their abandoned territory, her green eyes wide and calculating, her pointed ears pricked and wary for any sound that might send her scurrying into the sparse foliage. Heatherbloom had been a proud hunter, taught by the best, on track to be among the most skilled huntresses of ThunderClan. Habitually, she listened for the noises of prey. It made her feel ill to know that the telltale scurry of prey was absent, and would be for a long while. She left a trail of tracks behind her, faint indents into the snow that had fallen the night before. The sun had crept over the horizon by the time she found the Great Sycamore, still standing proud in what little of their territory remained uncharred.
A faint feline smile curled at Heatherbloom's maw as she dipped her head silently, paying silent respects to Dapplestar and Nightstar, who were buried here. Upon turning around she could see Snakerocks in the distance, and the fur along her spine rose; any closer, and things could go very wrong. But as she looked around, sensing no danger, her mind began to superimpose an image over the top of what she saw facing inward.
She saw more shrubbery gathered around a clearing, space enough for a Clan to live ... and to thrive. Something clicked. Had she just found them a new camp?
The curled roots of the Great Sycamore, lively and bustling, a safe nursery extended into the dip in the earth beneath an adjacent bush. A home to kits, ones that she didn't know the names of yet, and their watchful mothers. There was even room for moss nests! One of the roots rose higher than the others, sturdy and commanding, stretching into the center of the clearing before it disappeared underground. She didn't recognise the voice as her imagination allowed a figure to leap onto the root, but something seemed to murmur in her mind, the potential of a Meeting-root.
Casting her head to the left, she saw a small, secluded den, pressed up against the side of the Great Sycamore, barely noticeable but certainly there. In going to investigate, Heatherbloom's paws stalled, the telltale sign of a forced reverence. A ... a leader's den? It had to be. There was no other reason.
She wandered along the clearing, peeking into bushes, her mind ticking into overtime as she figured out what could possibly suits each rank if this were to be a new camp. Delight thrilled down her spine as she discovered a potential den nearby the nursery, one that was set against a boulder jutting from the ground. The soil near the stone was soft and springy, and easily moved; Heatherbloom barely had to unsheathe her claws to shift it away, creating what she thought might be a perfect store for herbs.
Exiting from under that shrub, the skinny she-cat noticed haphazard bushes, overgrown and difficult for even Heatherbloom to get under, scattered around the clearing. Perfect for warriors and apprentices, especially if somecat large came through and made it a bit more accessible.
Excitement shone in her eyes as she turned to head back to camp. She needed to find Blackstar. He needed to know about this stroke of good fortune.