Excerpt from half-moonshine, full eclipse, for the WIP poll:
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Sandstorm touched her tail to Hollyleaf's shoulder. “Sorreltail was my first apprentice. She was Leafpool’s closest friend, and she was a mate and a mother and a loyal friend to all of us. Her death leaves a gaping hole in ThunderClan.”
“I’ll miss her,” Hollyleaf replied. “But there’s still so much work to be done! We don’t have time to lie around feeling sorry for ourselves all day!”
She hadn’t meant to raise her voice, but slowly, Hollyleaf became aware of her Clanmates’ stares. Underneath their gazes, Hollyleaf’s pelt suddenly felt too hot. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to-”
“To disrespect my mother’s memory?”
Out of all of her littermates, Poppyfrost had always been the most mild-mannered. But now, as she shook Berrynose off and stood to her paws, her amber eyes burned.
Hollyleaf strengthened her resolve. “I’m not trying to disrespect anyone, but the camp--”
“The camp is fine, Hollyleaf!” Poppyfrost hissed. “So what if it needs some work? At least we still have a camp! Brackenfur doesn’t have his mate, Cinderheart and I don’t have our mother, and Lilykit and Seedkit will grow up without her!”
Her resolve quickly faltered. Everyone was staring at her now; no one was defending her, not even Dustpelt, who understood working through grief. She looked back at Sandstorm for help, but her grandmother just shook her head.
“All you think about is work, work, work,” Poppyfrost went on, her voice rising with every word. “Hunting patrols and border patrols and rebuilding; our paws are about to fall off, Hollyleaf!”
“I understand you’re tired. I’m tired too, but--”
“You do not understand!” Poppyfrost hissed. “You think you’re so wise because you disappeared for a while, but while you were gone, all of your relationships crumbled! You didn’t lose anyone in the Battle because you didn’t have anyone to lose!”
A fire sparked in Hollyleaf’s stomach. “My brother died, too!” she snapped.
“You didn’t even grieve for him!” Poppyfrost shouted. “You disappeared that night without ever touching his body, and you returned the next day just in time to sort the dawn patrols, because cats don’t mean a thing to you unless they can work!”
A fire roared inside of Hollyleaf and she was prepared to burn everyone down with it--
But then she saw Daisy ushering Lilykit and Seedkit inside the Nursery, and it dimmed a little bit; then she noticed Cinderheart standing behind Poppyfrost, and her childhood best friend was staring at her like she was showing her face for the first time since the tunnels; the entire camp was dead silent, because there was no point in defending Hollyleaf when they all agreed with Poppyfrost.
“Hollyleaf,” Whitewing stepped towards her. “We just need a day to rest--”
Fire consumed her. “Then rest!” Hollyleaf shrieked. She shoved off Sandstorm and streaked past Poppyfrost and Cinderheart and all of the cats who just stared at her until she was underneath the thorn barrier.
And then she ran.
