Foxbane was fast on her heels. Once the blood hit her nose, she only pressed on harder, but when she saw Tinypaw cross the border and begin to lose speed, she slowed, deciding it might be best to look for herbs for a few moments before approaching. They were both scratched up now, and those most definitely stung. There was no way she could continue on for much longer, so she set about searching the area. In the span of, oh, maybe ten minutes or so, she had a small wad of cobwebs. There wasn't too much in the way of herbs this season, but she had found a few burdock leaves that weren't frozen to oblivion.

With that, she took off at a more moderate pace, reaching her daughter shortly after. At least she'd been right that the apprentice wasn't far.

"Tinypaw."

Foxbane sighed, turning already to examine her daughter and pick the thorns out where she saw them. "At least wait until I get you patched up." The Senator stated, before beginning to chew on the leaves to make a poultice for the young she-cat's injuries. She allowed the silence for the few moments it took, before spitting the herbs onto a few dry leaves. "Are you worried about the tom?" That was rather dumb question, and she knew the answer to it. But the former Priestess was also terrible at the whole empathizing with others thing, and though she could understand where Tinypaw might be upset, it didn't quite make sense to her. Of all the outcomes, this was most certainly the best. All they had to do was convince Oakstorm to choose the Sun God over MoonClan, which was a lot better than, say, having killed him the moment she spotted him.

"Try me." The fox-furred feline answered, not letting the apprentice out of her grasp. These needed to come out, or they'd get infected. She hardly even noticed the blood seeping from her own pelt. It didn't matter, though the sting lingered in the far reaches of her mind. "You might be surprised."

It was only recently she realized she was in love with Glowstar. They'd even gone on a date, though their version of one really was just them nearly getting each other killed. Not that Foxbane minded. She preferred it, in fact. She hadn't actually told all her kits she was dating the DayClan leader, and noted that she should probably have a family gathering at some point to mention that. But either way, she probably understood now, what she wouldn't have before. At least some.

"I don't know how to care correctly, Tinypaw." Foxbane answered softly, sitting down after her daughter pushed her away, paws fidgeting with the webs and poultice that were laid before her. She couldn't blame the she-cat for her anger. She was right. She'd never cared, and then she disappeared, and only now, she seemed to have any opinion on Tinypaw's life, when she most certainly didn't deserve it. Sure, she'd pulled away thinking it would be better for her kits... partially. Largely, she'd been engaged in her own self-serving pity party instead of actually making things up to those she'd hurt. "I thought I was helping by avoiding you, but I can see that I messed that up too."

She rubbed her paw over her face, smearing blood and herbs across it. "I have no clue what I'm doing when it comes to any of you kids of mine. And you're correct, I have no right to be messing with things at all. But I wouldn't have pushed him into initiation if I didn't think he'd survive it. I could see it in his eyes, that he wouldn't just give you up, and so I figured that this chance at life was still better than a certain death. Because, and I know I've done a terrible job of it, I do want to see you happy." The Senator looked lost, trying to explain something that she wasn't even sure she should be telling Tinypaw. After all, who wanted to hear that their parent was lost as to what paths to take?

"I'm not going to kill you, Tinypaw. I'd never do that." She wouldn't, would she? For this one of her kits, that might be true. For others... Foxbane didn't actually see herself developing an attachment, as sad as that idea was. With Lastaffair and Timesquandor, for example, that ship had sailed long ago.

She gave a heavy sigh, turning over the situation in her mind. One one paw, she did feel guilty, for not being there for her daughter, for how she treated her as a kit. But, she didn't regret her choice with the tom. It was necessary, if they were ever to have a happy ending. Any and every other timeline she could come up with resulted in him, or both of them, dead. And Foxbane wouldn't allow her daughter to die like that.

Maybe this was one of those things she couldn't fix. Honestly, she didn't know. If there was one thing the former Priestess wasn't meant to be... it was a parent. And yet, she had seventy five kits to her name, including the adopted ones, though not nearly so many were still living, or among the clans, anymore. That, and the fact that her kits had so many different fathers, or in Pandora's case, a second mother, and had been born in such short order for some, didn't exactly point to someone who really understood what care, caution, or thought to the kits she bore. Funny, she'd never thought she was much like Deal, and she knew she still had less than a quarter of the children he did, less still if she only counted the biological ones, but one thing was clear. She was about as present in her kits lives as he was, most of the time. Other than knowing all their names on her end, she knew little else.

"I never asked you to lie, Tinypaw. And beyond the fact that I'm a Senator, and therefore responsible for teaching him, I didn't really intend to leave him floundering. I know that you care for him, and if I expected to have him as my son-in-law, then it would just be cruel of me to not try at all. I can't force belief, and you know him best. If there's anything that's useful to the situation, I'm here to listen, for once. There's no such thing as certainty, and I've no doubt with how arrogant the Sun God is, that he'll show himself to a former MoonClan cat in a heartbeat. He simply can't allow the tom to fail, he has to flaunt any success he can get, especially one such as this." I was a large gamble, but Foxbane knew the Sun God. He would show himself. She could guarantee it, and if he didn't want to, then she dared him to do it, to turn another MoonClan cat against their goddess and to him, unless he really thought his presence was so weak that he'd fail.

Even though she wasn't on SunClan land, she could feel uncomfortable warmth prickling beneath her pelt, and the ex-Priestess couldn't help the small smile on her features. She knew she'd been heard, she could practically feel the narrowed eyes, and knew that there would probably be a random tree burning down and 'coincidentally' falling towards her in the future. It never was wise to egg on a god. But oh well, for Tinypaw, it was worth it, even if she'd never know it.