tumbling into the sky

[attr="class","itsover"]A gentle breeze pressed Stormwing further into RiverClan territory. Water dripped off him, the sounds his only companion. The lush grass crumpled underneath his pawsteps, the morning dew cooling his warm and cracked pads. Early morning was the best time of day, Stormwing decided in that moment.[break][break]
It felt nice to get out of the camp, after staying there for so long. His father had thrown himself into more work around camp, when Thrushsong had died, leaving Spottedthroat to check in on how Stormwing and Aloepaw were doing. Stormwing understood why Salmonstrike decided to do this, but it still hurt; it now felt like he had lost two dads in the raid.[break][break]
It had been a while since he had tried to find different places around the territory. He didn’t have a specific place in mind, but, instead, he let his paws take him wherever, without a second look. Some of the best places he had found were on accident. The best things come to those who wait, after all.[break][break]
Birds chirped to each other, breaking him out of his thoughts. If he could hear birds, then that meant…[break][break]
He could already feel Thistletail’s glare on his back, despite the fact that she was nowhere to be seen – and yes, he did check; stormwing could never be too careful around that molly.[break][break]
The ThunderClan border loomed with trees and, if he stared hard enough, some of the morning shadows began to move, undulating, as if beckoning him closer. He never felt compelled to defect to ThunderClan – even if he wasn’t as much of a zealot as Salmonstrike –, he still loved RiverClan with his whole heart.[break][break]
But nobody could say that the forest was uninteresting. What happened in there, what did they do in the shadows?[break][break]
Questions boiled in his mouth, but he kept his twitching tail pressed underneath his paws. Maybe today would be the day that he finally met a ThunderClan cat face to face outside of the Gathering.[break][break]
He could barely contain his excitement as a scent of a cat came closer. “Hello? Wonderful weather we’re having, huh?” Mentally, he berated himself. Talking about the weather, really? That’s the best he could do?

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