.ೃ࿐  𝐄ven after a day had gone by, Flurrygrace's chest hurt and her throat still felt tight, tears threatening to gather at her waterline. Every minute she managed to remind herself that her mother wasn't here, taken among the stars, and she would never see her face or hear her voice again until she met her own end's meet. It felt so odd to process the fact that this warm, beautiful cat she'd known all her life was just... completely gone. Someday, among generations, even her memory might fade entirely.

"Flurrygrace?"

The white she-cat turned and her movements felt sluggish. It was Graycedar, the Clan's deputy and her old mentor, waiting for her expectantly.

Graycedar's expression was not sad or sympathetic, without a flicker of pity in her olive-green gaze, and in response, Flurrygrace swallowed and tried to relegate her sadness far back in her mind. Awkwardly straightening her posture, she met the deputy's eyes with a level expression.

"Yes, Graycedar?" She meowed. She tried to make her feeble voice sound sturdy and respectable, to the point where it seemed like she had overcompensated.

Graycedar beckoned with her tail and began to walk, guiding Flurrygrace somewhere around camp. The taller warrior followed without question.

The deputy walked notoriously briskly, as if she were just several increments away from taking off on a run, but after moons of training under her wing, Flurrygrace knew how to keep up despite the heaviness in each of her steps.

"Where are we going?" The white she-cat asked eventually. Graycedar merely flicked an ear. "Moonwater's Garden," She responded.

Flurrygrace almost stumbled over her own feet. Moonwater's Garden was a place she had heard plenty of talk about since the Sickness began to infect the Clans. It was along the edge of UmbraClan's territory, a beautiful, well-cultivated area with almost all of the herbs a medicine cat could desire.

'If only we had Moonwater's garden,' was a phrase she heard often, spoken tiredly, by her Clanmates exhausted from battling the cases of the Sickness within camp. The colder seasons of leaf-fall and leaf-bare already made it difficult to find freshly growing herbs, especially when the VerdantClan medicine cats relied on scrounging the territory for them.

To Graycedar's statement, Flurrygrace repeated a common response she'd heard to her Clanmate's fatigued wish. "UmbraClan hearts are as dark as shadows," The warrior mewed. Then, trying to keep nervousness out of her voice, she added, "Why are we going? We can't possibly enter their territory."

Graycedar shook her head, ducking through the camp entrance. "We're only going to observe from our side. Juniperstar is curious about whether or not the plants have been prospering. He has a plan," She meowed, somewhat cryptically. "And if we see any UmbraClan cats, that's why I brought you — as my apprentice and the leader's daughter, you've been trained in diplomacy."

Flurrygrace knew she'd been 'trained in diplomacy', a strange status that was built up by her father and Graycedar. Perhaps just wanting to foster significance in his own daughter, Juniperstar was adamant about her being the chip that helped keep good relations between the two Clans, and UmbraClan tended to like her, always at least offering her respectful hellos when they met at Gatherings.

A 'plan' was a strange thing for the deputy to mention. Tentatively, Flurrygrace inquired. "What's the plan?"

The gray she-cat hesitated before responding, clambering over a fallen trunk in their path. Eventually she sighed. "It's more of a concept. If it's enacted, you'll see."

Brow furrowing briefly, Flurrygrace nodded and followed.