The sky - was it dark? It seemed dark now, darker than it had ever been. Maudlinlament hadn't been sure why until they had awoken the next morning to a yowl signalling the start of a clan ceremony. They trotted leisurely to the centre of the camp where the majority of cats had gathered. It was there that they had become an apprentice, become a warrior, had an apprentice - two, even - assigned to them. Though, all those happy memories meant nothing as the announcement was made. Not any other elder like it usually was. At first, Maudlin wasn't sure whether they had heard properly. Their father was hardly old, and had many moons ahead of him in his life! There was a sharp prickling in their heart as they did come to the realisation that it was in fact Deepmaelstrom, the medic, the artist, the father, the one whose name had been called out with grief far too early. "No..." They murmured under their breath, though it might as well have been a yell for all they would care. "Father..." The young warrior had to fight back tears. Cats around them saw the despair written on their face and neared, their mouths forming words of reassurance that fell deaf on Maudlinlament's ears. They had to get out of here. Out of camp. The thought had barely flickered into their mind before Linny found their paws carrying them out onto the territory of Urchinclan, away from prying eyes and looks of sorrow. ➽ ──────── :✦➤ The words echoed in their head as their paws carried them to not the last place they had talked, but instead to the second to last place Lin and Deepmaelstrom had talked together, as father and son. They would simply sit beside one of the rock pools, tail half-dipped into the water, seeing their father painting a figure of someone on a nearby wall. This day, Maudlinlament faced the wall, where by now most of the dye and pigments had worn away, leaving only a faint trace of burgundy orange behind on the rocky wall. Silence stretched. However long they had been sitting there for, nothing felt as though it had changed. The sky was still the same shade of blue, the sound of the ocean waves and cawing of gulls in the distance never ceased, and neither did Lin’s will to do something. That was when they spotted it. A small pile of herbs. They must have been left over from the last time Deepmaelstrom had been in the caves, as Maudlin detected a stale scent as they neared them. Assorted herbs and berries in the colour of blue, pink, and purple tinted white sat by Maudlinlament’s paws, and though they seemed to have dried out over the moons, they didn’t crumble as they carefully nudged at them with a forepaw. A memory came back to them of their father sitting right where they were now, quietly telling a younger version of Linny of paintings past and possibly paintings future as well. Paintings future that their father had suggested Lin gave a go, though had never really happened as Maudlinlament spent their days hunting, fishing, and keeping occupied. Guilt - was it guilt? - crept up on them as the warrior now thought it would have been better to spend more time with their father before… Hm. An idea came to them. It felt sudden, but it seemed they had it stored in the back of their mind since they had entered the caves and seen the herbs. Now all to do was take the action. Scooping up some water from the rockpools in a leaf, Maudle carried it over to where the herbs sat by the edge of the cave, taking a dark blue-grey berry of some sort and mixing it in with the water, where the colour from the skin seeped into the liquid, making it into a paint. They took a paw and dipped it into the paint, taking a breath to calm themself before swiping their paw over the more smooth patch of the wall, starting off with a circle before adding ears, and eyes, switching colours for both a nose, and the pale purple for the pearls. It took a while, but eventually Maudlinlament stepped back to examine their work. It was far from the best drawing - only their first, after all. Hopefully the first of many. But still they felt a swirl of pride, grief, and leftover shock as the paints dried under their gaze. There. It was complete. Lin smiled to themself. It wasn’t their usual smile though, now there was a slightly lesser look to it, not quite reaching their eyes. They used the last watery traces of the dark blue paint to hastily smudge the outline of a crow beside the painting they had just completed. A promise to come back later, but one fuelled by anger rather than care. Why was that? _______________________________________ All art and writing by me/, and I do not condone stealing, tracing, or feeding any of it to AI <3 /srs for the character Deepremedy (Deepmaelstrom) depicted in the art and mentioned in the writing The song is Flight of the crows by Jhariah Maudlin finally starting his matrix arc ????
