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talonslockau · 5 months ago

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Forest of Secrets - Chapter 51

Chapter 50 || Index || Chapter 52

The nursery was warm as Fireheart entered, dimly lit by the sun filtering through tiny holes in the bramble that protected it. His sister was inside, looking down proudly on her kits as they nursed. She looked up at his entrance, breaking into a grin as she caught sight of her brother. “Fireheart! Is that squirrel for me?” Princess asked softly, careful not to disturb her kits.

“It is. Freshly caught.” Fireheart answered as he laid it down next to her, rubbing his cheek against hers in affection as he looked down at his niblings. They were still so small and precious, all of them. He didn’t know what he’d do without them. “Is everything alright? Do you need anything else from me?”

“No, that’s quite alright.” His sister answered, taking a small and delicate nibble out of the offered freshkill. “You best get going. Quickflash isn’t going to let you stay in the nursery all day fawning over us.” Princess winked at him as he spoke, her whiskers quivering as she watched his face screw up into a scowl. “Chin up, Fireheart! We can share a meal when you come back from patrol.”

“Of course.” Fireheart purred, even as he turned away with a bitter sigh. If it were up to him, he would stay in this moment forever. Life was good and well and right - going on patrol along the stinky Thunderpath was the last thing he wanted. But he was a good warrior, loyal to Thunderclan, and if that meant taking a trek along the Shadowclan border to make sure everything was safe then it was hardly much of a sacrifice on his part.

He stepped out of the nursery, stretching as the sunlight warmed his fur. Early greenleaf was the best possible season, he imagined. It hadn’t yet gotten so hot that every cat was looking for shade to cool off in, but it was still warm enough that all one’s aches and pains seemed to disappear. He shook out his pelt and looked to the entrance, where Quickflash was waiting for him with Ravenspirit. Yes, this was going to be an enjoyable patrol-

“FIREHEART!”

Princess? Fireheart turned and bolted back into the nursery, his heart pounding in his ears. “Princess! What’s wrong?” He called out as his eyes got used to the dim light inside.

She didn’t answer.

He watched in horror as a long adder emerged from behind her, rising higher and higher until it was nearly as tall as the nursery ceiling. Beneath it was his sister, her green eyes glassy and her tongue lolling out as she stared emptily into the sky. “Princess!” He howled in anguish, looking back up at the adder that stared at him with glittering amber eyes.

“I see tasty little morsels waiting here for me.” The snake leaned over his sister’s body as Fireheart stood there, frozen to the spot. Why couldn’t he move? His niblings were in danger! “So difficult to choose, eh, Fireheart?”

His heart hammered against his ribs as he stared at the adder, his shock giving way to numb confusion. “Please, leave them alone.” He begged, swallowing hard. “They’re just little kits. They don’t deserve this.”

The snake only stared at him with those same sinister amber eyes. “Fireheart.”

He didn’t know what to do - he was frozen to the spot. “Please, anything, I’ll do anything.” He mewed softly. And he would - he would do anything to protect his niblings. He’d do anything to protect his family, his Clan-

“FIREHEART.”

The ginger tom jolted awake, smacking into someone hovering over him as he did so. The two reeled away from each other, Fireheart reaching up to nurse his head as his eyes adjusted to the darkness around him. In front of him was Dewpaw, who was favoring her chin as she watched him with her shining mismatched eyes. “Dewpaw?” He whispered in confusion.

At his soft question, the silver healer stood and left, only flicking her tail for him to follow as she did so. He looked around himself in confusion. He was in the warriors’ den, in his comfortable nest. Dappleshine shifted slightly next to him, before turning over and finding herself a newer, comfier position. Around him were the softly slumbering forms of about a dozen warriors - everyone except Graystripe, who was out on guard duty.

Slowly, he rose to his feet and stumbled out after Dewpaw, everything starting to come back to him. It had just been a dream - a terrible dream, but still a dream. After all, it wasn’t like there was such a thing as talking snakes, right? He did his best to shake away the last remnants of sleep as he exited the warriors’ den, looking around to see where Dewpaw had gone off to.

She was waiting for him outside the healer’s den. As soon as she caught sight of him, she once again motioned for him to follow her before slipping inside. He did so, even as his tail twitched irritably. It wasn’t as if he refused to be woken up, but couldn’t she at least mew hello or something?

Still, he followed after her, squeezing through the crack in the ravine wall to enter the moonlit cave. Dewpaw was pacing back and forth in the small interior, while Yellowfang was sitting off to the side, cleaning herself. Both of their gazes turned to him as he arrived. “There you are.” The old healer mewed grumpily as she abandoned her washing.

“Here I am.” Fireheart growled back irritably. “What’s so important that you had to wake me up for it? I don’t see any patients in here, so it can’t be that someone’s gotten sick.” Even as he said it, his heart leaped into his throat. What if his dream had been a sign? Maybe Princess was in danger - maybe his niblings were in danger -

“We went to the Moonstone tonight.” Dewpaw explained, her voice hushed to keep it from echoing in the small cave. He glanced up to see the moon just peeking through the hole in the ceiling - a half moon, of course, signaling the meeting of the healers’ circle. “Yellowfang decided that I’ve earned my full name - Dewshine.”

“That’s wonderful, Dewshine!” Even though he was annoyed by getting woken up, Fireheart still managed a delighted purr at her announcement. It had been a long time coming, especially now that she had been an apprentice for an entire season-cycle. “That… that is good news, right?” He wondered out loud, noticing that neither of the healers matched his mood.

“It is.” The newly named Dewshine confirmed, to his relief. “A new healer is a big deal in the Clans, since they’re very rare. When a healer gets their name, the whole Clan celebrates. They’re decorated with whatever herbs they choose, so every cat knows they’ve gotten their name, and it’s expected that cats will bring them a present to honor them.”

“A present?” Fireheart stared at her, anxiety suddenly rising in his throat. He hadn’t known any of this. What sort of present was a Clan cat supposed to bring a healer?

The silver tabby purred, her whiskers twitching in amusement at his voice. “Usually something simple, like their favorite prey or a herb they know that’s useful. Cats that are closer to the new healer try to give more meaningful gifts, though…” She giggled at the look of outright panic that crossed his face. “Personally, I wouldn’t mind if you brought me some catmint stalks. It should be blooming by now, and while the stuff we got from your sister should still be useful, fresh catmint is always best. Yellowfang and I have searched, but we just haven’t been able to find any growing in the forest.”

Fireheart took a deep breath and nodded. “I’ll bring you a whole bundle of catmint - enough to make an entire nest out of.” He vowed readily, thinking of the catmint bush in his old garden. Smudge and Hattie owed him a favor, after all - surely they wouldn’t mind if he stopped by to collect some.

Dewshine blinked in wordless appreciation, but the purr faded from her as she did so. “That… that’s not why we called you in, though.” She sighed after a few heartbeats. “I… I spoke with Starclan afterwards. They were proud of me, all of them, Nightwish and Quickflash and… and Spottedleaf…”

Grief flashed across the new healer’s face. Though Quickflash and Spottedleaf had died seasons ago now, and she surely met them often in Starclan, Fireheart could tell she still wished that they were in Thunderclan. It wasn’t fair that they had been senselessly slaughtered, taken from life too soon. “This still doesn’t sound like bad news, though.” He pointed out softly. It also didn’t sound like a reason to wake him from his slumber, though he didn’t say that part out loud.

“No, it’s not.” Dewshine seemed to steady herself at the sound of his voice. “But when I was there, Spottedleaf told me she’d received a prophecy from Starclan while she was still alive. She told me it was mine to safeguard, now that I was a healer.” She took a deep breath and glanced up at the darkening sky. “‘Fire alone can save our Clan.’”

Fireheart’s ears perked curiously as she spoke, before he blinked in confusion at the words of the prophecy. “The one about Brokentail?” He mewed, baffled at the thought. “I don’t understand. Why would she get that prophecy in Thunderclan? I mean, I guess I’m a Thunderclan cat, but it didn’t really have anything to do with Thunderclan until-”

“The one we thought was about Brokentail.” Yellowfang interrupted him gruffly, her face scrunched up in her usual scowl. “I thought it was a Shadowclan prophecy, until Dewshine told me that. Then we asked the other healers, and it turns out Mudwish and Mosspatch got the same prophecy, too. So did Birchbark, and of course Wetnose and I. Best as we can tell, we all received it at the same time - one night last newleaf, early in the season. Back when Brokentail had just become leader, and Riverclan had just won Sunningrocks.”

Fireheart’s paws began to tingle as if they were going numb. “That doesn’t make sense.” His heart felt as though it had leaped into his throat as he stared at the other two healers. “I mean, I’m just a Thunderclan warrior. At the time I was-” nothing, he stopped himself from saying. “I was just a kittypet. Why would Starclan care about me? Why would they give every Clan a prophecy about me?”

He stood now, trying to shake off the numbness in his paws as he began to pace like Dewshine had. “I mean, I guess I helped drive off Brokentail, sure. And I was one of the cats Bluestar sent to bring Windclan back, so I could see them considering that as saving Windclan. Redtail seemed to think I was destined to drive off Tigerclaw, and I did feed Riverclan to keep them from starving. I wasn’t the only cat that did all that - Peppermask was there for it all too - but I guess I could see Starclan considering all that as saving the Clans.” He took a deep breath, trying to keep himself calm. The thought of Starclan being so interested in him unnerved him to his core, though he didn’t dare say that to the two healers. He was just another cat - why were they taking such an interest in him? “But I wasn’t really responsible for saving them. Things would’ve happened whether I was there or not.”

“You fed Riverclan?” Dewshine stared at him in disbelief, before shaking her head. “No, nevermind. That’s not important right now.” Still, she seemed equally anxious as she stared at the ginger deputy. “Fireheart, those are all things that already happened.”

“So?” Fireheart countered, not seeing her point. Of course they’d already happened - how else was he supposed to know about them?

“So,” she answered slowly, staring at him as though she expected him to answer on his own, “Spottedleaf gave me the prophecy because it hadn’t yet been fulfilled. Whatever it’s referring to hasn’t happened yet.”

Fireheart had to stop as the world suddenly seemed to swirl around him. What did she mean, the prophecy hadn’t happened yet? How couldn’t it have happened yet? “What could possibly be worse for Thunderclan than Tigerclaw?” He choked out, his throat seizing up with horror at the mere thought of something - anything - worse than Tigerclaw.

Yellowfang and Dewshine shared a look - a knowing look, he would have thought, as if they could possibly know anything about something that hadn’t happened yet. “All of the healers received the prophecy that night. That means-” Dewshine caught herself, considering her words. “We think that means whatever it is, it will affect all the Clans. Brokentail was the closest to affecting all the Clans, but he was stopped before he could drive out Riverclan or Thunderclan.”

“What could possibly affect all the Clans?” Fireheart asked, his voice small and petulant despite himself. “If something that big comes, how can I possibly stop it? I’m just one cat!”

The two healers didn’t meet his eye. Fireheart shook his head, unable to calm himself down now. “This is ridiculous! Why does Starclan expect me to be the one to fix all their problems? It’s bad enough I have the entire Clan depending on me as deputy! Why can’t I just be a normal warrior?” He didn’t look at Dewshine and Yellowfang - he didn’t care to see what they thought about his words. “Why can’t some other cat step up for a change? Like Lionheart, or Whitestorm? Why does it always have to be me taking care of other cats’ problems?”

A throaty chuckle came from Yellowfang’s direction. “You’re the one that always gets yourself involved.”

“I don’t want to anymore!” He snapped, turning his green glare upon the old healer with a snarl. “Tigerclaw’s gone, and the Clan is safe. All the Clans are safe! Haven’t I done enough already? Can’t I just take care of my sister and her kits and rest for once?”

Silence stretched between them as Fireheart turned away, closing his eyes against the world bitterly. It wasn’t fair! He just wanted to be a normal warrior, as normal as Lionheart or Tinyfrost or Peppermask. He could be just that, if Starclan didn’t insist on dragging him into everything!

But Starclan hadn’t been the ones to involve him with Tigerclaw - that had been Ravenspirit and Redtail. Starclan hadn’t asked him to get involved with Windclan - that had been Bluestar. Starclan certainly weren’t the ones that made him feed Riverclan - that was all on him.

“Do you know when this is supposed to happen?” Fireheart asked at last, turning back to Yellowfang and Dewshine with a bitter sigh. “Or what it’s supposed to be? Surely Starclan has to have some idea, given how much they can see.”

Dewshine hesitated before shaking her head slowly. “I’m sorry, Fireheart. Starclan signs are often vague. It could happen a moon from now, or fifty. It’s only a warning that something is coming.”

Fireheart scoffed at her words. “Of course. How do we even know the prophecy is about me? For all we know, it’s referring to actual fire!”

“Because-” Dewshine looked away guiltily, cutting herself off before she could say more. He was slightly apologetic for upsetting her - but even so, his lip curled into a sneer as he imagined what she’d been about to say.

Because he’d saved the Clans all those other times, after all.

He took a few deep breaths, trying to reorient himself. Dewshine and Yellowfang were only the messengers - and though Starclan could surely see his anger, it did him little good to take it out on them. “I don’t see the point in worrying about it now.” He mewed at last. “It’s already been a season-cycle, after all. Maybe it won’t show up until I’m already an elder, and it won’t involve me to begin with.” He wasn’t sure whether he believed that, but he’d rather pretend that it wasn’t his problem than worry about yet another thing. “Is that all?”

“Well…” He paused to stare at Dewshine with narrowed eyes. “I- Normally, when a healer receives a prophecy, they’ll share it with the leader and the other healers in their Clan, if there are any. I’ve already told Yellowfang, of course, but Bluestar…”

Bluestar had been doing so much better lately - did she really need to know some imminent danger was looming over Thunderclan? “Don’t tell Bluestar.” He decided swiftly. “There’s no point in worrying her now.”

Dewshine looked back at Yellowfang anxiously. “She probably already knows.” Yellowfang grunted at her former apprentice’s signal. “Spottedleaf would have received this prophecy when she was still alive, and Bluestar’s healer. She would have shared it with Bluestar then.”

“And as far as Bluestar knows, I have saved the Clan.” Fireheart replied, lashing his tail once for emphasis. “Tigerclaw was driven out because of me. Thunderclan will be safe from his malevolence. Until we have reason to believe the prophecy is relevant, there’s no reason to tell her besides upsetting her.”

The two healers shared a glance once more. “She’s going to be extremely upset with us if she finds out we hid a prophecy from her.” Dewshine worried softly. “She talks to Starclan often too, after all. Who’s to say they won’t tell her?”

“If she finds out.” Fireheart pointed out, trying to keep his voice calm and confident. “How do you know that Starclan will tell her? Even if they do, it can be just as much a surprise to us as it is to her.”

Dewshine still looked concerned, but Yellowfang shrugged in response. “You’re not wrong. It’s not the first time I’ve hidden a prophecy from a leader.” She growled, going back to cleaning her paw. Fireheart tilted his head quizzically. Part of him wanted to ask what she was referring to, but he’d promised not to stick his nose into matters that didn’t involve him - and this definitely didn’t involve him.

“If that’s all.” He repeated, looking at Dewshine expectantly. The silver healer slowly dipped her head. “I’ll see you all in the morning, then.” He mewed, turning and exiting the healers’ den.

He longed to cast what he had just heard out of his mind, but he knew it wouldn’t be so easy. How could any cat just ignore learning that a threat was out there that could destroy the four Clans? Not to mention that he was still deputy, and if this mysterious danger killed Bluestar, then-

No, he told himself with a shake of his head. This was just some far away danger that wouldn’t affect them. There was no reason to believe that Whitestorm wouldn’t follow through on his promise and make sure that Fireheart would be able to step down from being deputy soon enough. This would easily be a problem for the next deputy - the next leader, even. There was no point in worrying.

#talonslock #warrior cats #the prophecies begin #fanfic #thunderclan #talonslock story #fireheart #princess #quickflash #ravenspirit #dappleshine #dewpaw #dewshine #yellowfang #graystripe

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talonslockau · 11 months ago

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howd u decide on mates

By taking canon and punting it into the trash.

But for real, I'll start by saying this: When I first started writing this AU, I kept a lot of my notes in my head. I've written a lot down now, but a lot of the 'whys' and 'hows' are lost to time. So when I write explanations now, they may or may not be my original reasoning. I'm also a 'veteran' of the Warriors series - when I first started reading, Power of Three hadn't yet come out - so I remember back when the family tree didn't include Darkstripe, and Sandstorm's dad was Redtail, and Graystripe's parents were... unfortunate. So for a lot of reasons, I've kind of cherry-picked what is canon from canon and what isn't.

Second, since it's pride month; I'm not beholden to making straight pairings like canon is. You'll probably notice that given that there's only 2 cishet appearing mated pairs so far - Graystripe/Silverstream and Willowbranch/Quickflash. In fact, in terms of 'normal' (my base assumption) for characters, most start in my head as Aromantic/Asexual, like me! This is part of why Fireheart himself is aroace in my story - that, and I have plenty of canon evidence for him being aro, at least in my head. I also wanted to make sure that I gave as much rep as possible for everyone to attach to - there's Lionheart and Whitestorm being big gays (Ravenspirit and Barley will eventually show up there as well), Goldenflower and Frostfur being lovely lesbians (plus another lesbian pairing later I think fans will adore), and there's a few prominent bisexual characters that haven't yet shown their bisexuality off but may eventually. (Tigerclaw probably counts as bi rep too, I suppose, but rest assured he's not the only one.)

Pairings from there generally go off of what I need for the story - which I'll explain in depth below the cut for each pairing ;)

Redtail x Tigerclaw - A long time ago, at least a couple of years, I read a Tumblr post that said something like 'The warriors series is just the result of Redtail and Tigerclaw breaking up' and that stuck with me. Unfortunately, I don't remember who posted it, though I'll gladly credit if anyone finds it. That post ended up being the foundation for my entire rewrite - 'Embrace of the Locked Talons' refers specifically to Redtail and Tigerclaw! I've learned since that there are a few rewrites that use this premise, so it's not necessarily an uncommon one, but there you go.

As for their kits! I chose Sandstorm to be one because, as I said earlier, she was always a Redtail kit to me (though she isn't any longer - sadge). Dustleap was the other because, honestly, I always thought they were siblings with how close they generally were and how they were always referred to as older than the rest. They also have similar names (Sand and Dust). Dustleap is also, if not a Tiger-ally, then Tiger-adjacent, and his similar description to Tigerclaw always made me think they were related. Them being Redtail and Tigerclaw kids made perfect sense to me!

Tigerclaw x Nightwish - I wanted Ravenpaw to still be Dustleap's brother, but it didn't really fit to shove him in with them to be a third of their litter (Sand, Dust, and... Raven?). Plus, even though he's obviously traumatized from watching Redtail die, I think that if any other cat had been deputy and died in front of him he'd still have the same reaction - so it didn't make sense to make him a Redtail kit. I ended up conceptualizing him as a half-brother to Dustleap to explain how they're related but so distant from each other compared to Dustleap and Sandstorm - they're not littermates, and he's only further evidence their parents aren't getting back together.

Still, if he's a Tigerclaw kit, I needed him to have a second parent - Tigerclaw's not the type to be a single parent, really. He'd rather have a mate to throw in his ex's face. Going through the cats of the Clan at that point, I arrived at Nightwish looking similar to him and concluded she'd be a logical mother. Her dying was to explain why there's no one else really able to stand up to Tigerclaw over his son's treatment. Dappleshine does her best, since she ended up raising him, but she doesn't really have a claim to stand up to Tigerclaw - short of if he got physically abusive, at which point she would have absolutely stood up to him, as would most of the other warriors.

Dappleshine x Speckleflight - I'm going to be honest, I don't remember the reason for putting these two together. I had envisioned both as very matronly characters, older nursery queens who looked out for the younger members of the Clan and offered advice to new queens. I suppose at one point I was trying to decide on mates for them and wondered, but what if they kissed? And the rest is history.

Whitestorm x Lionheart - When I first read the books, I always saw Whitestorm and Lionheart as a pair - two strong, wise men that were very close to each other. I'm not entirely sure how I got that off half a book, given Lionheart dies in Into the Wild, but that was always my headcanon. When I got the chance, I leaped to make my headcanon reality.

Frostfur x Goldenflower - This is another one where my brain just smacked two cats together and said they were tied together somehow for life. They're not siblings, obviously, but why can't they be girlfriends in a gay for gay with Whitestorm and Lionheart? I love picturing these two in a giant fluffy cuddle pile, surrounded by their numerous children <3

Willowbranch x Quickflash - I'd already tapped Graystripe to be Willowbranch's son, as per canon, but he needed a new father that wasn't Patchpelt. I went through my list of possible cats around her age that weren't related, and all I could come up with were Longtail, Quickflash, and Mousefur. (And Darkstripe, but Darkstripe being Graystripe's father just didn't compute in my head.) I wanted to leave Longtail and Mousefur available - I hadn't yet decided if they were siblings, mates, or something else - so that just left Quickflash.

I'd already tapped Quickflash for the deputy job, as someone no one would care about when he died. Obviously, with him being Graystripe's father, that last part changed, but I think that was for the better. Given the only bits of him we get in canon are 'Not terribly good with children' and 'Young', and that first part wouldn't apply if he had children, I ended up completely rewriting his character to suit my needs. I like how it turned out, in the end - He'll certainly be missed, but his death ended up complicating the plot in all the right ways.

I won't address the ones that remain from canon, like Graystripe x Silverstream, but in general I didn't mess with characters whose relationship was already important to the original plot - things like Yellowfang and Raggedstar, for example, or Speckleflight and Snowkit. There are certainly changes I made to make relationships important to the plot - things like Brokentail's son, Quickflash being Graystripe's father - and I obviously changed details that were important to later plots (like Thistleclaw being Snowstorm's mate) - but the original plot's original relationships remain intact.

Lastly, I'd like to comment on our aro reps! It's important to me to have characters that don't have mates, and that they're considered just as valuable and respected warriors as those that do have mates and kits. You might notice some omissions from this list that don't currently have mates, or may never get mates, and that's intentional! Not every mateless cat is aro rep, though you can certainly imagine them to be that if it pleases you.

Patchpelt - In my head, he's an old, grumpy war veteran that has never liked children, which ends up showing when he mentors Dewpaw. None of the mollies or toms in the Clan have ever interested him - certainly, he gets along fine with them, but he's never found any cat that interested him in becoming a mate. He's happy with where he is in the elders' den, chatting his days away with his old friends and being waited on by little upstarts.

Spottedleaf - She may be beautiful, if not young, but while Spottedleaf has drawn the gaze of many cats she's never been interested in taking a mate - which is part of why she became a healer. Spottedleaf doesn't need companionship when she has her beautiful self, after all.

Longtail - Longtail is a devoted warrior, and he believes in Tigerclaw, Bluestar, and Thunderclan with his whole heart. He may not like certain members (like Fireheart) but he respects their contributions to the Clan. He follows the code to the letter - knows it inside and out, better than any cat in all the Clans. With all that dedication, it doesn't seem as if he has time for a mate - though the same could have been said for his brother Quickflash, and he and Willowbranch ended up quite happily together. Regardless, even if Longtail can be a little grouchy, he's happy with his current lot in life, and he doesn't need a cat alongside him to change that.

Mistspring - We don't see much of Mistspring outside of her role in mentoring Cinderspark. Needless to say, even though both her sisters settled down with a mate fairly early, she was never interested in the nursery. She loves the Clan, and her friends within it, but she has no need to fill her life with a mate or kits when the world around her is so filled with wonder to explore.

Dewpaw - Dewpaw's never quite understood the desire other cats have to find a mate. Kits are a different story - being able to watch them grow and help nurture them fascinates her - but needing to have someone alongside you for every pawstep in life seems like a hassle. Luckily, her love of knowledge and herbs, as well as her aversion to fighting, lead her to a life as a healer. Now she helps the Clan grow and thrive, and she couldn't be happier.

Fireheart - Simply put, Fireheart doesn't understand love. At all. How could it possibly drive Graystripe to abandon the family he loves and ignore all rational sense that something, eventually, will lead to him getting caught? Why would it lead Redtail to ignore the danger Tigerclaw poses to Thunderclan until it was too late? He understands anger very well, and grief (even if he's never personally experienced it), but love? It just doesn't make any sense.

As always, thank you for the question, anon. Sorry if you weren't expecting something so thorough, but it *is* pride month and I felt like celebrating :)

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