Lost Creek Hollow am i making you feel sick?

>:D EDITED, attn: @Shadowpaw and @Sparrow !! <3

tirelessly wren tracked the tiny clues left in the mud by her wife.
the soles of her feet ached, and her mouth had never felt so dry. wet mud covered her belly, her limbs. a thick band of tension squeezed at her temples; whether it was from hunger, thirst, sleeplessness, or the pure sense of fear that kept her moving, the songbird could not tell. she did not call or announce her presence even as the scent of her grew stronger — something told her she would regret doing such a thing.
balmy with the humidity, chest thudding so hard dark spots blot out the corners of her vision, she careens through the valley like a madman until she reaches the remnants of the hollow.
she had been here. and she hadn't been alone.

sparrow was nearly unrecognizable by the time he'd somehow managed to catch up to his ma. completely caked in mud up to his neck, he appeared more along the lines of a dirty gremlin than anything else.

he let out gasping breaths of air as he stumbled flat into the scene and took a face full of muck to complete his masterpiece of becoming a mud monster. a grumble escaped him as he plucked his face from the soil and looked up to catch the sight of his exhausted ma.

relief washed over him as he stood to his paws. "ma!" he let out as he treaded over to embrace her in a mucked hug only to pause and spin around in search of @Phoebe Aquilanera who shouldn't have been too far behind.

To say that Shadowpaw had a difficult time with the news that her kin would not return to Lost Creek Hollow was an understatment. She felt betrayed. Abandoned. The last torch-holder of Starclan’s word. Her single track mind could not see the new beauty and happiness that had bloomed within her family... She could only recognize the absence of everything that had once been.

To make matters worse, it felt like Silvertongue had taken her clan name hostage. Shadowpaw, the forever apprentice, looked to the night sky as she silently trudged back to the Hollow alone.

The feelings, so fresh and new, soured her. She took the long way, around the Bypass and through the Creusta. When Shadowpaw reached the comfort of the familiar river they once called home, it was only because of kismet she crossed paths with Wren. The woman looked a way the girl had never seen before - slavering, mad, and desperate. The small child at her side.

Her oily hackles prickled. “Wren – ” Shadowpaw announced, although she almost hadn’t said the name at all. Her round, yellow eyes peered at the hunter who Shadowpaw believed held no love for Starclan in her heart. That begged the question… why had she come back to this place?

sparrow.
wren did not think it possible to love any man the way she loved her son. when she turns around to see him, her heart nearly shatters; it climbs up her throat and melts on her tongue as she lets out a wavering cry.
sparrow, she sweeps him into her arms, uncaring toward the muck which now spread across her chest. baby, why did you come with me, sweetheart? you didn't--
her name is called. never in a million years would she have guessed who she now saw stood in front of her, spiny as always; her, in this place, it was as if time had not passed at all.
shadow, her lips purse into a fine line, though not out of malice. she moves to allow sparrow to see her himself. she straightens, blinking slowly. shadow, i-- look, i-- i know this must be really weird for you, but i can explain. this. why we're... here.
some little seed of hope begins to sprout inside of her. maybe this was — good. maybe she could help.

She was sopping with mud, pretty sure she had a crawfish in her neck fur, but she was determined, and she slopped behind Sparrow as he ran for ma. She kept her head on swivel at the new voice, her fur trying to spike but well.

Mud masks were supposed to be good for the skin, right?

We came to help, ma! Phoebe’s mud soaked tail wagged a few times, her grin toothy and perhaps the only part of her not stained brown.

Who's that? She tried to whisper to her brother, but Phoebe’s whisper was someone else’s talking.

he was tugged into a warm embrace with a mouth already parted to defend his reasoning for following after her. but before any words could even leave his lips to answer her half asked question, a voice he just barely recognized snatched away his attention.

that girl! the one everyone seemed to know except for him. even now he picked up on the subtle clues that there was more to this stranger, and more to this place than what he knew.

the sound of phoebe trekking into the scene caused the boy to go bounding over to her. there alongside her he sat while a he shot shadowpaw a judgmental look that would have condemned her to hell if possible.

The wan girl’s beady gaze passed between the young children. Without an ounce of maternal instinct, Shadow’s expression was absent of any love or kindness. If anything, she looked mildly perturbed.

Ma, chirped one. Shadowpaw shifted uncomfortably. Ironically, it was the female cub who resembled Shadowpaw with a back pelt, yellow eyes, and a faded diamond printed upon her forehead who had spoken.

The young wolf’s heart squeezed. She had come to terms with the idea that she had never been wanted by her birth mother… but seeing this child opened pandora’s trauma box.

“Shadowpaw,“ she reminded Wren in a curt tone. Her assumptions about Wren neither loving nor respecting Starclan were reaffirmed. If she didn’t love Starclan, how could she have ever loved Silvetongue in the whole?

I bet these children don’t even have clan names, Shadowpaw thought bitterly.

But Wren looked desperate. Despite Shadowpaw’s frostiness, she wasn’t cruel enough to slam the door closed.

She made a conforted face as if to intone, yes this is weird. Then she asked, “then why are you here?”