Pleased that Duskwing seemed to agree with her suggestion, the other she-cat let out a small, quiet purr and mumbled a "good luck" to the patrol leader and her apprentice, before she turned and trotted carefully over the top of the snow to try and find Sunfur. Spidernose headed in the vague direction that they'd seen the tom scurry off in, pausing and opening her jaws to draw in the scents from around them. The she-cat picked up a cocktail of prey scent, mostly the mouse and squirrel Duskwing and Moosepaw had already caught, but further along towards the stream, she did catch the trail of her remaining Clanmate and hurried as fast as she could whilst still keeping her steps light so she wouldn't startle any prey, to catch up with him.

Spidernose emerged just as Sunfur missed the fish, grimacing sympathetically as she floated across the powdery ground to join him. "Bad luck." she mewed, her whiskers twitching. "You're braver than me though, fish are so slippery I can never get half that close to getting my paws on them." she raised her tail to point back in the direction she came, explaining. "Duskwing and Moosepaw are back there, we thought we might have better luck if we split into pairs and fanned out. Any sign of that groundhog, or something else similar? Maybe if we team up we can grab it. I could drive it towards you and you could nab it?" she suggested.

Hawkpaw: Border Patrol

---

Hawkpaw hop along with Brambletail and Stormheart as the three walk into the forest, as she walk around, her eyes were really fascinated toward the small snowflakes as they fall towards the ground. When a snowflake fall to her nose, Hawkpaw let a small sneeze and then rushing to compose herself, she hopes that the two warriors didn't hear her, this is her chance to impress the two warriors and there is no way a sneeze will not make her look like a fool!

When Stormheart mentions, Hawkpaw face lit up from excitement, this could be time they show her some new fighting techniques! But then, that short hunting was cut short when Stormheart told her and Brambletail that a fox was here. Hawkpaw hear foxes before, her mother, Deertail, told her and her sister that she was almost killed by one but thank starclan that her mother made it out safe. "But we are going to chase it away, right?" Hawkeye ask Stormheart as she try to hide her nervousness

The she-cat's ears drooped slightly as Sunfur relayed that he hadn't been able to scent much prey at all, her shoulders sagging in disappointment as she nodded and fell into step with the older warrior to head back towards the rest of the patrol. On the way, she kept her senses alert for any scents or sounds that might indicate prey and, upon hearing the scuttling of tiny pawsteps, angled her ears towards it to let Sunfur know before she dropped into a crouch and crept towards the clump of bushes at the base of a tree. There in the center lay a vole, picking at the dried out husk of a berry to try and get at the seeds that may still be inside. When she was close enough, Spidernose exploded forward, claws outstretched to slam into the small creature and hold it in place whilst her teeth sank into the back of its neck to deliver a killing bite.

Just as Spidernose turned to trot proudly back to Sunfur, however, he had disturbed the snake, and she let out a muffled, concerned meow as she dashed over to the tom once more, setting the vole down between her paws so she could better speak. "Oh, dear StarClan! Sunfur, did...did it bite you?! Oh, it did didn't it? This is bad. This is bad..." she was trying not to panic, but she knew how serious this could be. If it was an adder, or something else poisonous...
"You should go back to camp. Can you make it on your own?" she wasn't so sure it was a good idea to leave him to hobble slash stumble back to camp by himself. But someone had to tell Duskwing and Moosepaw where he had gone. "O-Or I could run and tell Duskwing and come back and help you get back to camp?" she fretted, her tail lashing anxiously.

He chuckles, and nods. "Sure. Gimme a bit. I'll be over when I finish with what I'm working on." He finishes wrapping up the traveling herbs, then yawns. He checks that everything is well stocked, and sorts out a few extra herbs, making sure to hide his small stash of Foxglove, a rare, useful, but potentially deadly herb, with the other....poisons he's found. He frowns, tucking them up as high as he can, hidden on a shelf with the mystery herbs he's found. He sighs at the secrets he's hiding from everyone, including his leader. I can't let anyone know I have these. Not even Fernstar. He sighs again. I guess I'm just paranoid. But something feels....off.

He sets the traveling herbs to one side, and lightly hops out of his cave, walking to the middle of the camp to stretch his tired limbs. He sits down in a patch of light, and purrs, letting the light and warmth soak into his fur. This feels so....relaxing. He looks around, with a vague sense of unease. Why do I feel so jumpy?

Cinderpaw : WillowClan Camp

---

Cinderpaw sighs as she pad the den to the next, she rather go patrolling with Hawkpaw and Moosepaw, looking around the forest and catching my prey but what she doing? Staying at camp and padding some den. When Cinderpaw walk out of a den, she can see her parents in the warrior den with the other warriors, just talking, Deertail and Silverstorm spot their silver daughter and wave at her with smiles on their faces, Cinderpaw wave back but she wonder what are they talking about, probably talking about who is a great apprentice and Cinderpaw feel like it not her, she wish she was like Hawkpaw, eager, optimistic and ready to face danger and Moosepaw, very silent and observant hunter, which Cinderpaw is none of those things.

Cinderpaw was about to head inside the medicine den but then see Fernstar inside, talking to Blackpelt, she shrug, probably talking about warrior and medicine stuff. Cinderpaw was about to walk away but then, Blackpelt talk a glowing pool, filled with stars and seeing cats made of stars, Cinderpaw slowing lean to the side of den entrance, she want to learn more. Blackpelt mention some warrior names from some stories that her mother use to tell to her and her sister, Firestar, Bluestar, Yellowfang, every warrior and medicine cat were there, Cinderpaw can feel her heart racing, Blackpelt was talking to Starclan members!

Cinderpaw can hear Fernstar walking toward the medicine den entrance and with no hesitation, she quietly rush toward some den and watch Fernstar walking away from the medicine den. Cinderpaw heart is still racing, Hawkpaw and Moosepaw need to hear about this when they come back.

He shakes himself awake. How long have I been asleep for? He looks around, and rushes back to his den, checking that no one has touched his herbs. Did anyone try to self treat themselves? He sighs in relief when he sees that everything is as it should be. Why am I so paranoid? He yawns, feeling tired still, and curls up in a small black ball, falling asleep. He looks around in his dream, and sees...nothing. Nothing but dark trees. No stars, no light. He whimpers, and hides behind a tree. He sees a few cats, but they feel.....dark and cold. Dangerous. He bites himself hard to wake himself up. He wakes with a jolt, and laps at his bleeding paw. Where on earth was that?

Spidernose nodded, still looking worried, but at least now she had a course of action that she could focus on and that helped her to not panic. Offering the tom her shoulder to lean on, she took his weight onto it to support him and began to stumble carefully along back towards camp. "Don't worry, as soon as we get you back to camp I'll get someone to help me come back for it. I'll have to come back for the vole, too." she promised, agreeing that they shouldn't waste any prey. The Clan needed everything they could get right now...The two hunters had made it a little way on, camp was still far enough away, when they heard the sound of the yowl. Spidernose did not scare easily, but even she jumped a little at how unexpected and loud the sound was. "Eeeek!" her dark ears flattened and her nostrils flared slightly as she and Sunfur stopped to locate the direction of the sound. "Is that...is that one of the Clan? They sound like they could be in trouble." she muttered, knowing that they should go and check it out. "We definitely should try and help them, but I don't know if you should over-exert yourself with that snake bite..."

Spidernose was no medicine cat, of course, but she had a bad feeling that Sunfur trying to run or fight after being bitten by a snake was not a good idea. "But if they are in trouble....we can't just leave them. C-Come on, we've gotta. Do you think you can manage? Wh-Why don't you try and call Duskwing and Moosepaw and then catch up, I'll run a little ahead and see what's going on" she decided with a nod. Only when she was sure Sunfur wasn't going to collapse or fall over without her to lean on did she push away from the golden-pelted tom, darting through the underbrush and keeping herself somewhat low to the ground, she headed towards Maplestream's screech. StarClan, please let us be on time...don't let them be hurt... they couldn't afford any more injuries.

He tsx softly. "What'd you do this time?" He sniffs the wound softly, and nods. "I'll be right back. Don't move." He walks into the back, where he stores his herbs, and picks out marigold, oak leaves, horsetail, and cobwebs. He comes back, and gently applies the cobweb to the wound to soak up the blood, then chews the rest into a poultice, gently pressing it into the wound. "Leave it there until it either feels better, or until I take it off. Don't touch any of my herbs. You could make yourself even sicker." He sits down, and waits, his tail twitching, hiding his own bloodied paw, wrapped in herbs.

Brambletail: Border Patrol Outside WillowClan Camp

Brambletail could smell the fox before Stormheart but didn't see anything, in a few moments the temporary lead cat spoke up anyway. Hawkpaw piped up afterwards, expressing their hope that they could drive it off. Brambletail nodded, "Of course if we run into it we'll make sure to drive it off, it'd have to be pretty foolish to have not run off already." Despite his words Brambletail's every sense was perked for any sign of the fox in question. He'd tangled with most forest creatures in his life, and foxes were no exception.

Stormheart turned towards a bush for a moment; it was then that Brambletail locked eyes with the fox. In the next instant it burst out in a flurry of claws and teeth. Brambletail had already stepped forward and was circling it, looking for a chance to strike while also pressuring it to keep it from attacking. However the next event was out of both the fox's and Brambletail's predictions. Maplestream came out of nowhere, pulling off a series of damaging acrobatic maneuvers, that admittedly left little room for the rest of them to help.

Personally Brambletail thought she was being a bit dramatic. The fox should've already run away facing four cats, even if one of them was little more than a kit. That it hadn't probably just meant that it was stupid. The fox barely had a chance to recover from Stormheart's antics before Duskwing appeared with a sneaking strike of their own. Between the fox getting desperate and being whipped back and forth Brambetail suddenly surged forward, nearly shoulder to shoulder with the fox, just as it had lunged towards Stormheart. His left paw swept the fox's front legs, sending it crashing to the ground. Brambletail brought the same paw back down in a vicious swipe at the fox's neck, retracting it with blood and fur as he nimbly retreated. The fox would practically have to be suicidal to not flee now with such severe wounds and facing such numbers. Normally Brambletail would let such a foe get away, or perhaps track it down later, lest it strike a deadly blow in its death throes, but it might be better to kill it here and now...

Merl: Willowclan Camp, Elder Den

Merl let out a massive yawn and an equally sized stretch as she slowly got up. As she got older she slept in just a bit more, but she still could never lay in one spot all day. After a quick circle she plodded outside her den, her one eye blinking rapidly a few times with the change in light. It was a bit brisk out, but the warm sunlight was more than sufficient to make up for it. That and Merl was no stranger to the a biting cold night or few. It seemed she was in time to see Fernstar heading over. "Oh dearie is that moss for me? You're so sweet, let me get that old stuff out of the way for you." Merl said, and headed back into her den to do just that. Their young, ambitious leader always seemed to be trying her best to get something down. While Merl may have a few years on her but she was far from considering herself useless or entirely dependent.