Paradise

Yikes. It was true that her entire clan was names after it, but the wind that blew over their fields wasn't always so pleasant. Whereas she could appreciate a faint breeze on a bright summer day, the freezing air that rustled her short fur wasn't quite as enjoyable. Shivering she looked for some shelter, but failed to find any between the rocky and barren landscape surrounding her. The young she-cat had gone out hoping to find some red pimpernel flowers. Normally they'd be used as a travelling herb, but since their stash was so low, she hoped they could be used to just give her clanmates some very much needed energy and strength. The small purple/red-ish flowers sure were a lot stronger than her, growing ever unbothered by the cold and unforgiving weather. Well, Rout was bothered by the cold and after picking a few of the small flowers close to the Riverclan border, she planned on returning home. That was, until a spotted Riverclan warrior made his appearance on the other side of their border. Curiously, but also a bit anxious, Routnose looked at him, since he was walking straight towards her. ”Hello” the strange tom greeted her. ”How lucky I am to encounter you here” Her ear twitched out of uneasy, after all the fuss between their clans, it was quite odd to see a Riverclanner being so... Friendly? "Oh, ehm, good afternoon!"she spoke, a bit flustered by his kind words and purring. "C-can I help you..?"

Curious, she eyed the spotted stranger. Perhaps she should have been on her guard, especially considering recent events, but the Riverclanner did not seem to have any ill interests. Besides, she was usually save as a medicine cat. From experiences and stories she had figured that Riverclan was quite religious and kept strictly to the warrior code, which forebode any warrior to bring harm to a Medicine cat like her. Nevertheless, she couldn't forget the hateful glare Butterstar had given Oceanstar and the rest of Windclan when she left. No, she very much did not want to be on the bad side of that cat, or her clan. ”You sure can”, Oh? She could? The young she-cat let her eyes inspect the stranger, who did not seem to have any physical injuries. He went on by saying how he admired her for her rank and her work, asking what it was like to save lives. It was awfully flattering, but made her feel slightly uncomfortable as well. Especially when the tom-cat decided to get even closer, completely invading her personal space, which gave her, well, war flashbacks to both Warhound and Dinspots. Geez, did none of these cats know about personal space? Or were they just awfully aware of the fact that it was such an easy way to fluster her? Either way she shook her head and took a step backwards, laughing nervously. ”So, I was curious, how does that feel?” Oh, right, he asked her a question. "Oh, erm, well," she stumbled over her own words, not quite knowing how to answer such a vague yet interesting question. "I... I don't know..?" again, she shook her head, thinking deeply about how to describe such a tender and deeply rooted feeling. "I-I'm sorry. It's hard... To put into words, really. Y-you know the relief you feel when, after a long and harsh Leafbare, the sun finally starts shining again? That feeling of bliss when you've been struggling all leafbare, working hard and hunting all you can to feed your clan and then suddenly, the sky clears up and you see small snowdrops everywhere, bathing in faint but warm sunlight and it gives you a promise of a beautiful Leafgeen? I-it's like that, in some ways," perhaps her explanation was a bit far fetched, but she hoped he could imagine himself laying on the warm rocks, bathing in the weak yet warming sunlight of the early Leafgreen. How you could enjoy something as mundane yet precious like that even more when you had to struggle in the time before it. Being a medicine cat could be terrible, the pictures of dying queens and kittens would always haunt her, but in return she could help others. Watch other grow and see them heal, that was worth a lot to her. "I'm sorry, i'm terrible at explaining it," she laughed softly.