Dewclan Medicine Cat Position:
You have been sent on a journey to collect more ingredients, including olives and cherries. Finally, after an hour of searching, a lone olive tree sits in the middle of a crowd of trees. The problem is, the one clutch of olives you can see hangs over a clearing ten feet up the tree. Climbing the branch might be precarious, as the twig the fruits dangle from is thin and brittle. How will you decide to gather these elusive medicines?

Lithe legs and dainty footsteps had brought Sandflower almost to the edge of Dewclan territory. Even from within the boundaries, Sandflower could smell wafts of rogue cats. This was a dangerous place for most, but not for a warrior. They'd been trained to handle anything, including brazen strangers. However, Sandflower was not a warrior. He was a medicine cat, and his position as someone who didn't fight or hunt suddenly seemed particularly risky. Even now he might be stalked by rogues, desperate for the bounties of medicine their territory provided. If one of them attacked, what could he do? He'd been a healer his whole life. The worst he could do is throw some deathberries at them and hope they choked. He wasn't a fighter. His body was meant for anything but battle. Long legs, slender body, hardly a hint of muscle. A strong breeze could knock him over. Yet, here he was, on the border, like some mousebrained kit.

A soft sigh escaped Sandflower's mouth. He had to be brave. The clan's medical supplies were dwindling, and this was the only olive tree he knew of for miles. The only issue was where it was planted. The scattering of trees all bent over a large chasm, as if they were looking down on the animals lost below. Their branches spread like a canopy over the drop, but their shade never touched the bottom. The wind caused them to strain further and further over the cliff, their roots holding them in place like claws dug into the earth. One tree in particular seemed to be barely holding on. Its whole body swayed and staggered, lurching back when it strayed too far. Its branches stretched far over the cliff, and at the very ends of their twigs lay a small bounty of olives. Reason tugged at Sandflower, urging him to give up and head back, but he couldn't. He needed those tiny green fruits.

At first, Sandflower circled the tree, his paws pressing at the strained roots and watching as the tree buckled back towards him. It was barely hanging on. His yellow eyes turned skyward and crunched shut, offering a quick request for safety from Starclan. He sure hoped they'd heard him. After all, he wasn't a leader, he didn't have 9 lives, he only had this one. With deft paws, Sandflower bundled his gatherings together and stuffed them into a pile of rocks. In case worst came to worst, at least his findings wouldn't be lost to the gorge too. He found the largest rocks he could move and pushed them over onto the roots, weighing them down. The tree seemed to perk up, as if it could be rescued from its position.

Once he'd made a decent stack, Sandflower tested his paws against the trunk. It bent, but didn't sway. The rocks seemed to be holding it. Gently and carefully, he pressed his claws into the bark and began to climb. The higher he got, the more the tree bowed its limbs further out, but it held. Every part of him wanted to race up, but he knew that slowly would be best. He made his way to the first branch and followed its lead out over the drop. Looking down, the ground below seemed so very far away. Sandflower gulped and continued to edge his way out towards the olives. The branch clearly hadn't supported more than a sparrow, and it creaked more and more the further he went. Twigs snapped in his wake, falling down into the abyss. He tried not to think about alike his bones were to sticks. Eventually he was as far as he could safely go. The rest of the branch looked frail, but they held what he needed. He couldn't reach them, not without stretching and loosing his grip on the limb. He grit his teeth, irritated. The whole reason he was out here was because of these olives. Suddenly, an idea sparked. Leaning forward, he sharply brought his teeth together around the twig. He chomped and chewed until, finally, it snapped. He didn't need to get the olives if he could get the whole stick they grew on. He gave a proud wiggle and the tree groaned with protest. The branch he was on made a sharp cracking noise and he felt it move below his paws. Oh no. With the stick clasped in his teeth, he scampered back along the branch. It jerked to the left but he dug his claws in and held on. His wide eyes darted towards the trunk, watching as the roots began to brush away his rock pile. The tree was going down, and it was determined to take him with it. He abandoned his branch, leaping to a sturdier one. He heard the limb crash along the cliff's rocky sides. As he reached the trunk, the roots gave out, strained too far by the weight. They snapped, sending threads of fibre out like spores. Sandflower leapt, his legs sending the tree down to its doom. He landed sprawling on the dirt as the tree crunched and broke down its way to the earth far below. Though exhausted with fright, Sandflower quietly unburied his herbs and added the olive branch to the pile. He made a mental note to plant a new tree somewhere less dangerous. He wouldn't be alive to see it bare fruit, but very little of what he did was for himself. It was all for the good of the clan.

DEPUTY (Dewclan)

Palefang faced the brewing storm unflinchingly, his balance kept as torrential rain pelted his face and strong winds buffeted his narrow frame. A flash of lightning caught between the branches shielding them from the worst of the thunderstorm lit up the frightened faces of his Clanmates, warriors ushering apprentices and elders back to the safety of their dens as instructed. Sparrowstar was nowhere to be found, Palefang's dark blue gaze searching for her among the trees in vain. His claws sank deep into the thick branch beneath his paws as another gust of wind rushed toward him, threatening to knock the slim tom from his perch. "Palefang!" The voice of his mother Swantail beckoned, frantic and full of fear. "Come back with the rest of us! It's not safe out here!

Palefang was young, Young enough that many of the senior warriors privately questioned why Sparrowstar had chosen him over the more experienced warriors Dewclan had to offer, but not foolish enough to believe himself invincible. Careful pawsteps led him back to the warriors den, Swantail at his side, her own paws sliding on the slippery bark. A yowl of alarm escaped the colorpoint she-cat as she suddenly lurched sideways, nearly falling to her death before Palefang's teeth met in her scruff, pulling her back onto the branch with all his strength. She was reasonably shaken by the experience, her whole body trembling as they entered the den. Though Swantail had lived with the Clan longer than himself she had been born a kittypet and it seemed at times as if she would never adjust to life as a wild cat. She was Dewclan's clumsiest warrior.

His sister Feathercloud rushed to comfort her and Palefang's attention was once more captured by the fact Sparrowstar was not here. He padded to the den entrance, sitting back on his haunches as a cream colored tailed wrapped around his paws. They couldn't leave her to fend for herself in weather like this. She could be hurt or in danger, and though she had more lives than any other cat to spare what kind of deputy would he be to leave his leader to such a fate? Searching for her himself would put less cats at risk, but ultimately he concluded that option was the most foolish. He could just as easily become injured or lost in the forest by himself. It would likely prove wiser to utilize the skills and support of a patrol. "We must find Sparrowstar," he announced at last, rising to his paws. He met few mews of protest, only his mother's weak voice begging him to stay, and relief washed over him. He was in no mood for arguing tonight. "Feathercloud, Pebblesplash, Tigerstripe, let's go."

He stepped back outside, waiting for his chosen cats to assemble around him. Once everyone had gathered he led them deeper into their territory, the first to test every branch for any sign of weakness before allowing his Clanmates paws to touch it and ready to grab the scruff of any cat who slipped. Sparrowstar's scent, and any scent for that matter, was lost to them in the rain. They would have to rely on their senses of sight and hearing alone. Palefang hadn't been blessed with the sharpest sight, but his large ears could pick up even the slightest hint of movement, or so he claimed when convincing the kits he would hear them should they attempt sneaking out of the nursery. Straining to hear anything through the pounding rain, Palefang silently vowed he would not return to camp without Sparrowstar. Even if they had to search all night.

((Picked some random names from the character sheets for the patrol beyond Palefang's sister. Hope that was alright. Tried to be vague about what the rest of the patrol was up to.))