Silversong was having an off day. He wasn’t having a bad day, but he wasn’t having a good one, either. Just… off. He didn’t feel right. He didn’t feel like himself, but he knew it could be worse. At least he was aware of his surroundings today instead of being lost somewhere in his mind, but that thought didn’t make him feel any better. Silversong needed to do something. Anything. He just couldn’t endure feeling this way anymore. Making an effort to hide his anxious expression so as to avoid worrying any clanmates who might be looking his way, he rose to his paws and forced himself to casually move across the clearing. He hadn’t done much today due to this uncomfortable feeling. He hadn’t even gone on a patrol, but now, he wondered if getting out of camp was what he needed.

He hesitated to exit camp, unsure if leaving was what would actually help him, but Indigoblossom’s voice in his head encouraged him to take that step. As soon as he was out of camp, Silversong took a deep breath and… felt better. Not by a lot, of course, but he’d take any little bit he could get. He padded deeper into the pine forest and the farther away he got from camp, the better he felt. When he stumbled upon the scent trail of a shrew, he froze in his steps. Silversong wasn’t a full warrior, not really. He performed his duties on his good days, and on his off days, he either needed help with them or barely did anything at all, but on his bad days, he got absolutely nothing done. He owed his clan a shrew at least, because today was one of those days where he did barely anything at all.

The hunt was a success. As the sun slowly fell behind the horizon, Silversong made his way back to camp, but he didn’t feel like entering quite yet, so he hurried past the gap in the wall, Indigoblossom’s fresh scent settling on his tongue as he passed by. His paws carried him to the small ravine beside camp where he slowed to a halt. He didn’t intend on going far. He simply needed to prepare before he walked back into camp. Just as he placed his shrew on the ground, a chirp behind him caught his attention and Silversong turned around to find Indigoblossom approaching him. “Come join me in camp, will you?” The idea of entering camp already caused his heart to start racing and he had to rock back on his haunches to hide how shaky his legs were. He averted his eyes, too, in an attempt to conceal the increasing anxiety in their blue depths.

Surely Heronpaw and Snowpaw were back from training now. Would they glare at him as he walked in? Silversong knew he deserved to be hated by his own sons, if they’d even let him call them that, but knowing didn’t make it any easier to face. “I can’t,” he croaked, risking a glance at Indigoblossom to gauge his reaction, icy blue eyes shimmering with unshed tears. His anxiety displayed itself in the tension in his shoulders and how he tried to make himself look as small as possible, as well as his inability to look at Indigoblossom directly. At this point, Silversong wasn’t trying to hide from his friend. There was no hiding anymore, not when his anxiety was turning into panic. Hopefully Indigoblossom wouldn’t blame himself when all he’d done was ask an innocent question. It wasn’t his fault that Silversong was broken.