#minnowtail

The air was cold, the light harsh. Frostpaw began to make out Mothwing’s “face. Behind her trembling mentor, she saw Sunbeam and Duskfur and Mistpaw. They were all here. She struggled to lift her head and saw Nightheart and Graypaw and, crowding the entrance, Nightsky and Minnowtail. Outside, her clanmates were jostling to see in. Their eyes were fixed on her, wide and shining with joy as she looked back at them. Her heart skipped a beat. They were waiting for me. They wanted me to come back. The realization filled Frostpaw with an emotion so strong, her throat tightened. She couldn’t speak. She felt a rough tongue lapping her head.

“Don’t rush to sit up.” Mothwing was washing her like a queen washing her kit. She sat back, her eyes bright with joy. “Take as much time as you need. We’re just glad you’re with us again.”

Frostpaw was suddenly aware of how weak she felt, but the deathly heaviness had gone. And she was hungry. Then she saw Tree.

The SkyClan tom was outside, blinking at her from among her Clanmates. “You heard the singing.” He pushed his way into the den. “It brought you back.”

“I was in StarClan,” she told him breathlessly. “Then I heard voices. They carried me here.”

“I’ve seen the Sisters do it,” he told her. “I wondered if it would work for you, so I fetched everyone I could think of. All the she-cats who love you.”

Frostpaw looked around once more at the faces of her Clanmates, and at Nightheart and Sunbeam. They really were shining with love for her. Her heart quickened. For the first time in moons, she didn’t feel alone.

I can't tell you how many hours I've spent tweaking the lighting and color filters on this. It's been multiple days of the drawing itself being done and just doing countless tweaking. I'm still not happy with it but I'm just. Done. I'm proud of how the poses and shading on the cats turned out and the composition of the piece, and I'm sure I'll be happier with it in a few months looking back on it, but right now I'm just. Blah.

Frostpaw is of course in the nest with a slathering of cobwebs over her throat wound, Mothwing is licking her head while Duskfur is leaning over her. Then in the middle row we have from left to right Sunbeam, Mistpaw, Tree, Nightheart, and Graypaw, then in the front on the left is Nightsky, then Icewing in the very corner of the image, with Minnowtail (who needs a new ref sheet but the new TEQ kiddies will probably get theirs first) just behind her.