Ivypool's Heart || Warriors ✔

Chapter 35

After what felt like an eternity of walking, Ivypool, Blossomfall, and Snowbush finally walk upon a familiar sight. ThunderClan territory. They're finally home, or very close to home, and soon they'll be able to sleep in their own nests. If everything goes as well as they're hoping it will.

"ThunderClan." Blossomfall sighs, as the three of them sit under the shade of a tree just a few tail lengths from the border separating ThunderClan territory to the unclaimed land beyond. "We're home."

"We're not quite home yet." Ivypool reminds her. "We still need to face the Clan and find out if we are in fact welcome home."

They've avoided speaking about the possibility that they may not be welcome back despite what Snowbush had said. Though they're almost positive that they have nothing to worry about, and that ThunderClan will be glad to have them back. None of the ThunderClan warriors seemed too bothered by the two of them being mates after all.

"You'll be welcomed back, Ivypool." Snowbush assures her, standing up and pacing near the two she-cats in anticipation of their return.

Both Ivypool and Blossomfall know how eager Snowbush is to return home, and they'd hate to keep him waiting. But, they're not so sure if they should just head on into ThunderClan territory just yet, or wait for a patrol to come along and find them. They're not sure what the best course of action to take is.

Do they wait for a bit, or just go on through?

"How're we going to do this?" Ivypool asks, turning to Blossomfall. "Wait for a patrol to come along and find us, or just go on in?"

Blossomfall shrugs. She truthfully doesn't know, just as Ivypool doesn't. She doesn't even think that either of them are as excited as Snowbush is to finally get to the ThunderClan camp. They really need make their decision quickly though.

"I'm not sure." She admits, looking out across the ThunderClan territory in front of them. "But we need to figure out how we're going to do this, and soon."

"I don't know about you both, but I think we should just head on through." Snowbush says, adding in his input to hopefully move things along. Though he understands that Ivypool and Blossomfall are nervous to return home. If he were in their place, he'd be nervous too. "We'd have a better chance of reaching camp before dark."

The she-cats know that Snowbush has a point with that. If they just head on in now they'll reach camp before dark, and that is ideally what they want to do, but since they're technically outside of the Clans, would it possibly be wiser to wait for a patrol to come along?

Truthfully, they're not sure. They're almost certain that Bramblestar wouldn't care if they just walked on into the camp on their own, as it was their home before all of this. But they haven't lived there for moons, so it might not be the best idea to just go walking on in.

Or maybe they're just over thinking things, and everything will be completely fine if they were to just walk on in....

"I'm not sure how long we'd be waiting here if we choose to wait for a patrol to come along." Blossomfall admits, beginning to feel like they should just head on in, even though she does still feel a little conflicted on the matter. She's just got to keep reminding herself that they need to make a decision sooner rather than later.

Ivypool knows that Blossomfall is right. They're not sure how long it would take for a patrol to come along and spot them. A patrol may not even come along at all, and they'd be more likely to come across one if they just head on through ThunderClan territory.

Looking over at ThunderClan territory, then to Blossomfall and Snowbush, Ivypool sighs, nodding her head. "Alright. Let's go."

And so the three of them make their way across the grass and through the scent marks that separate ThunderClan to the unclaimed land beyond.

A waft of familiar scents wash over the three cats, and they find themselves being glad to be back walking through familiar trees and undergrowth. Both Ivypool and Blossomfall have definitely missed walking through the forests of ThunderClan territory, and if it weren't for the fact that they're both nervous about what will happen once they return to camp, they'd find as much joy as Snowbush does to be back walking through these forests.

They're not sure how long they have been walking for when the scent of cat drifts along the air towards them. The sent easily identifiable as ThunderClan.

The three of them stop. There's a patrol coming their way. Though they can not see them, they can smell them, and both Ivypool and Blossomfall feel bad for not quite being able to pick up on which warriors the scents belong to. But they choose to blame that on the fact that they've been away from ThunderClan for moons now. Though they would've thought that they'd be able to recognize who the scents belong to.

"Oh my StarClan!"

The voice however, both Ivypool and Blossomfall do recognize as belonging to Cherryfall, and they're soon met with the ginger she-cat rushing over to them, followed closely behind by Cloudtail, Thornclaw, and Berrynose.

"You're back!" Berrynose exclaims, looking between the three of them, before sitting down, acting as though he's not excited by the fact that Ivypool and Blossomfall have returned and that he's on the patrol that has come across them. "Not that I didn't expect you to."

Cloudtail shoots the cream colored tom a look, before making his way over to them with Thornclaw at his side. "You both look well." He says, giving Ivypool and Blossomfall a once over. "Welcome home."

Ivypool never even realized that she was tense, until she begins to relax at Cloudtail's welcoming words. "Thank you, Cloudtail." She dips her head at the tom. "We're glad to be home."

"But how welcome are we to be back?" Blossomfall asks, saying exactly what Ivypool is thinking.

"We can't say much for the other Clans, but ThunderClan has missed you both dearly." Thornclaw says, looking between Ivypool and Blossomfall, then to Snowbush. "I must say, Snowbush. You did well in finding them."

"Thank you, Thornclaw." Snowbush ducks his head at the praise the older warrior gives him. He still feels a surge of pride that he managed to find them, and receiving praise for doing so from such a well respected warrior such as Thornclaw, well that just makes him even more proud of himself for managing to find Ivypool and Blossomfall on his own, despite how difficult it initially was for him to find them. "Though it wasn't easy."

"But you still managed to find them." Thornclaw purrs, before turning to Cherryfall. "I want you to head on back to camp before us." He instructs her. "Tell Bramblestar that our warriors have returned."

Cherryfall nods, before she's setting off in a run through the trees back to camp to tell Bramblestar the good news.

Ivypool and Blossomfall have returned to ThunderClan at last....