#this thing about starclan is said all the time but i have no idea whether it was actually stated in a book or if it's an interpretation

[wc-confessions]

im new to the warriors fandom and i want to make an oc but i dont know where to start ;-;

I'd start with what you'd like to see in a character in general!

Me personally I hate the canon with a firey passion so whenever I make cat ocs I start by asking myself what I'm changing from canon. Like if I want it to be like in canada and they mess with human things I'd be like oh this cat is an engineer who messes with human things. Or if i want a cat with one of my disabilities I'd be like oh this cat has autism or oh this cat has emotional regulation issues. - Admin Cloudnettle

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like admin cloudnettle said, it's important to get an idea of what you're looking for!

i personally enjoy worldbuilding and playing around with the time period- when does the story take place? is it set in the same area as the books? do these characters have connections with the canon characters or are they from the far future when they've been forgotten, or even so far back that these cats haven't been heard of yet?

but all of those can come later and are definitely some questions you can use in terms of general worldbuilding if you'd like to get into that with your ocs!

but leaning further into just singular ocs, the biggest thing to focus on is general personality! how your character gets along with their clanmates, what their general overview on life is... do they believe in starclan? is their faith strong? shelling out a personality can be a bit more helpful when it finally comes down to designing your character as well because you can incorporate those personality traits into design details and can produce a broader picture for the direction you want to go in!

you can also scrounge together a little pinterest board full of ideas and general aesthetics to help you gather inspiration for how you want your character to be- or even go a step further and create a spotify playlist for songs that you think would fit the idea you're going for!

hope this at least helped a little bit!

-mod ashensky

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These are already some really good points!

I'd add that if you're feeling overwhelmed then maybe start with bullet pointing ideas you have, whether they're appearance related or personality related (stuff like "blue eyes", "confident", etc). Maybe look at any Warrior Cats characters you like and figure out what about them you like? That way you can determine what traits you like and maybe assign those to the character you're making.

I personally make OCs that have one or more of my own personality traits or habits and just expand on them from there. It's easier for me to do that than just come up with something from nothing.

~ Mod Lichenbark

[pigeonclaw]

Where does the idea of StarClan cats appearing as the age they were happiest come from? I don't remember, and the wiki doesn't provide an accurate source.

[sunset-embers-warriors-designs]

I have several ideas about how I would have written Starclan’s function in warriors and I MUST write them down I must express them. I have two different ideas, one in which I maintain the canon fact that Starclan cats can fade/be killed, and another in which I do away with the fading thing.

First, a few things I would want for Starclan regardless of whether or not the spirits can fade: 

- All cats, regardless of the age they die at, are given a full warrior name. Kits or apprentices who die early are either named by their leaders at their vigil and carry that name to Starclan, or they’re named by Starclan spirits. 

- After a leader dies, the -star suffix is removed and they return to using their warrior suffix as a Starclan spirit. Perhaps the -star suffix is given up right at the moment of death, or the -star suffix is given up after the leader ceremony of the succeeding leader to indicate an official transfer of leadership.

- The point behind everyone having a warrior name in Starclan as opposed to any of the “determined by status” suffixes (kit/apprentice/leader) is to further express that all cats are equal in Starclan. There aren’t any clan borders in Starclan’s hunting grounds, and neither should there be different ranks.

No Fading Starclan:

- Cats in No Fading Starclan are given otherworldly wisdom upon entering Starclan, regardless of the age of the cat. All of Starclan shares the same knowledge of the past/present/future.

- However, this knowledge takes a form such that Starclan aren’t able to express it to the living in clear and understandable ways, which is why they speak in riddles when delivering prophecies. Like Starclan is trying to translate some kind of language of the universe into meows and at most it does like a google translate quality.

- Individual Starclan cats each have a limited amount of spiritual/magical energy which they can use to interact with the living world. The longer the clans all exist, the more manpower Starclan has, which explains why their abilities from arc 1 to arc 4 grow from “clouding over the moon during gatherings” to “entering the living realm to fight a ghost battle.” 

- Similarly, the Dark Forest spirits have their own kind of energy that grows the more cats they have in their realm. However, as a punishment for their sins, they don’t get their godly wisdom, and their ability to reach out to the living is a little foggy. They ARE, however, able to latch on to cats who have negative energy surrounding them, and will try to bring troubled souls into their ranks prior to their deaths so they can gain more energy when those cats DO die.

- In this AU, spirits can’t be killed, so the Starclan/Dark Forest battle ghost casualties (Tigerstar, Hawkfrost, Spottedleaf) will not have died. Instead, the buildup to the battle is the Dark Forest attempting to take power from Starclan by reaching out en masse to the troubled living cats with the end goal of “replacing” or at least being on par with Starclan in terms of power, in order to maybe fight their way into the good afterlife or continue reeking havoc as revenge on Starclan/the living. The battle itself is then the Dark Forest’s attempt to overthrow Starclan and gain control over the living clans to ensure they stay in power. Ivypool’s role of convincing her fellow Dark Forest trainees to fight for their clans/Starclan instead then takes away the power the Dark Forest had built up for itself, and having this rejection of the Dark Forest’s influence become a part of the clan’s history/culture keeps the Dark Forest from rising back up. Not to mention, the Dark Forest having used to much energy to manifest and do battle will have left them drained, especially after their defeat, and even if Dark Forest cats have the ability to replenish their individual powers somehow, it would take a long time to do it.

- Spottedleaf continues to exist, as previously mentioned, but as a general rule in every single one of my AUs she and Firestar aren’t romantically interested in one another at all. The only interest Spottedleaf would ever have had in Firestar was because the “Fire Alone Will Save Our Clan” prophecy was Her prophecy, she was the one to interpret it, and she felt responsible to see it through even after her death. When Firestar dies in the battle, Spottedleaf feels that her role in that prophecy is finally through and she just does regular Starclan cat things like climbing starry trees and eating ghost mice.

- In the case of the great battle, spirits who have manifested on the physical plane I think should still have the ability to kill the living, so the deaths in the great battle still happen just for the sake of being consistent with who’s alive in what arc.

- Also regarding the great battle, perhaps Tigerstar’s spirit can kill Firestar’s mortal form, gloat about it, but then Firestar’s spirit rises up and with his Starclan Spirit Powers he takes Tigerstar down. I just think that would have been cool.

Fading Starclan:

- In Fading Starclan, there are actually two levels of Starclan, but the living clans only KNOW about one. The living clans know Lower Starclan, the Starclan made up of recently dead/not-faded spirits who impart the prophecies onto the living. Lower Starclan are Also recipients of the prophecies they then translate to the clans, but they don’t fully understand them and believe these premonitions to be coming from some essence of the universe. 

- In fact, the prophecies are first foretold by Upper Starclan, which is made up of the energies of the faded spirits. Upper Starclan spirits, since they’re faded, lack the identities they had in life and are more accurately interpreted as a hivemind. Like a God with a million faces. Upper Starclan are the ones who block the moon with clouds, control the weather, and do stuff like set fires in the living world to impart prophecy.

- Lower Starclan functions more like a transitional spiritual plane. It’s a place for the spirits to rest from their mortal lives, and then eventually shed their previous personalities and ascend. Lower Starclan being given the prophecies first to then give to the living gives the living cats more reason to listen, because these messages are coming from spirits who are still personable and likely cats who the living interpreters knew and respected in life.

- The Dark Forest is a place to hide away the spirits of cats who would impede on the goals of Upper Starclan. They eventually fade away too and are permitted into Upper Starclan because they’re no longer a threat without their mortal memories/personalities getting in the way of their roles as God(s). 

- The Tribe of Endless Hunting’s spirits also fade away into Upper Starclan because the two groups have the same origin. Like Endless Hunting and Lower Starclan manifested because of the split in the groups and Upper Starclan just said “Okay We can work with this”

- True Reincarnations only occur when an Upper Starclan spirit returns to a mortal form. Jay’s Wing, Lion’s Roar, and Dove’s Wing’s spirits had all faded into Upper Starclan but were reborn as new mortals in order to fulfill the Power of Three Prophecy. This also explains why they have “the power of the stars”, they were part of the Cat God Collective prior. Cinderpelt/Cinderheart was a “reincarnation” that was NOT sanctioned by Upper Starclan, which is why Cinderpelt and Cinderheart have separate souls. 

- The reason the Power of Three thing happened was because Upper Starclan saw their Dark Forest Timeout corner spirits being naughty and worried that those spirits weren’t as out of the way and not hurting their goals as previously presumed. The battle was orchestrated to reinstate faith in Starclan and have some of the more troublesome Dark Forest Spirits fade so they would stop causing trouble. Technically, Tigerstar, Brokenstar, and Hawkfrost are all part of Upper Starclan after the great battle, but none of them have those identities anymore, or at the very least, those identities are not “in use.”

- The only spirits that can walk in Both Upper and Lower Starclan are legendary/historical figures like the clan founders and probably other significant cats who have legends made of their life experiences. 

- Goosefeather, by some mistake or intention(?) was granted a mental connection to Upper Starclan instead of just Lower Starclan like other medicine cats, which is why his visions were so intense and so far into the future, and just the sheer number of them. He could see Lower Starclan spirits as well like Beetail because I guess if you can connect to Upper Starclan than Lower Starclan is just a side effect. 

- Spiresight and Shadowsight might also have this connection to Upper Starclan? Idk I can’t decide. Shadowsight did as a kit at least, but perhaps Upper Starclan decided to chill after seeing how poorly Goosefeather’s connection turned out for him.

- Upper Starclan’s concept otherwise is very vague. Their goals seem to be to ensure the continuation of the clans, which ensures their growth and power, but power for what reason? idk what to do with that

Since the Broken Code arc isn’t complete at this time I’m not sure what direction I wanna take for either Fading or Not Fading Starclan to explain Starclan’s disappearance or Ashfur’s ability to mess with other spirits... perhaps in the Fading version, Ashfur is the one Lower Starclan cat to discover Upper Starclan and figures out how to tap into his full spiritual ability before shedding his mortal personality and uses this to cause chaos. idk what to say for Not Fading rn tho

[hunnyjaws]

This is my girl Sootspider, a main character of my upcoming comic Supernova (name subject to change) 🧡✨🦇

A “condensed” version of her backstory and a good preview of the comic’s beginning can be found below!

I will try to not get into everything and I want to leave out stuff since this will be in my comic. Things might be confusing or not fully explained. But here’s some stuff about Sootspider. I might delete this later once pages start releasing so new followers are kept in the dark.

As a kit and apprentice, she was devout to Starclan and had ambition to become leader. She always thought her skills were exceptional but they weren’t. Her peers massively surpassed her but she didn’t care. Starclan noticed this lack of skill and figured she’d be the next Riverclan medicine cat, so they sent an omen to the current med cat.

She tried accept it and remind herself Starclan chose her for a reason. But ended up disliking it. Starclan was being impatient with her learning abilities. She wasn’t anything special. She felt like nothing. She didn’t even get special visions or omens from Starclan. Why did she have to be a medicine cat because Starclan said so? They didn’t own her. Thus, she gradually lost faith in Starclan, traditions, and the warrior code (other things add to her distrust in them). Yet, she stuck out her position as a medicine cat. As much as she didn’t like it and was jealous of her warrior friends and siblings. She remained as kind as she possibly could, but deep down, she had a heart that was green and aching.

One day she decided enough was enough and had some of her friends train her in secret. It was difficult at first, but eventually she caught on and had exceptional skills. She decided to step down as a medicine cat when the time was right. She wanted to prove her future belonged to the path of a warrior, not a medicine cat. She even managed to convince her friends about her views of Starclan and the clans’ age old traditions. Her confidence shone through. Her ambition remained.

Due to training outside and going out for medicine cat business, her fur became “sun-bleached”. I say this because it’s not a real accurate depiction of sun bleached cat fur.

During a half-moon gathering at the Moonpool, the medicine cats discussed making a disabled apprentice a medicine apprentice. This made Sootpetal snap, questioning them. She exclaimed how she wished she was given a choice and blurted out how she didn’t want to be a medicine cat anymore, she never did. The cats tried to remind her that Starclan chose her, but she rejected that idea. If Starclan chose her, then why wasn’t her heart set on being a medicine cat? Even if Starclan chose her, why couldn’t she have had a choice?

The following morning, Poppymoss (RC med cat) and Vanillastar had a discussion, ultimately deciding to revoke Sootpetal’s medicine cat position and name. Vanillastar announced Sootpetal’s decision to the clan, reverting her name to Sootpaw. He started to assign her a mentor, until she interrupted, claiming she was ready for an assessment. Confused, Vanillastar questioned her, but eventually granted her a test monitored by himself. He was baffled by her skill and made her a warrior when they returned to camp, awarding her with the name Sootspider. Finally, she was a warrior. She would prove to them that she could make it to the top. She could become a leader without the guidance of Starclan. She would help shape the clans into something greater. Something not so controlled by dead cats and a tight set of rules that were constantly broken.

Soon their deputy dies and Vanillastar makes Mothbriar, her sister, his deputy. Filled with anger and jealousy, Sootspider protested after the ceremony. Clearly, she was the superior cat. Not only could she hunt and fight with formidable claws, she could help heal in calamitous times. But Vanillastar rejected her recommendation. Sootspider doesn’t understand why the prerequisites were needed. Again, the traditions and code are getting in her way.

Sootspider couldn’t believe the popularity her sister gained within the clan. Everyone praised her leadership skills, exclaiming their approval for her overseeing Riverclan in the future. Sootspider was envious, claiming she should be the next leader. There was so much wrong with all the clans that she couldn’t fix herself as a warrior. Leading a coup came to mind, but that never worked out in all of the clans’ history. The only choice was to get Mothbriar to step down as deputy, by choice or by force. She started trying to manipulate her, which ultimately didn’t work. There was only one option left. Killing Mothbriar wasn’t something she ever wanted to do, but perhaps framing her would cause enough uproar that Vanillastar would have no choice but to revoke her deputyship. Then she could continue to prove her worth as a future leader, and when the time was right, murder the next deputy to secure her spot.

She killed a cat and her body was discovered the following day, many cats considering Mothbriar as the main suspect due to her relation with the cat. Due to little evidence, Vanillastar announced that he would investigate, but Mothbriar’s deputy position wouldn’t be revoked until a conclusion was reached. The following night, Sootspider framed her at the crime scene. She was fully prepared to announce her fabled findings at the gathering, until Mothbriar confronted her about her behavior. The two locked into a dispute, leading Sootspider to reveal her plan. She left camp early to ensure she could tell the clans right away, but Mothbriar chased after her. They stopped on the tree bridge and Sootspider attacked her sister out of anger, leading Mothbriar to accidentally knock her off, sending her crashing through the frozen river. Sootspider drowned. Sootspider’s spirit became trapped under the ice. When able to phase to Starclan, she rejected, and began to plot a way to make the clans listen, even while dead.

After a few days of wandering and trying to come up with a plot, she remembered something. A icky looking piece of prey she and others had ran into recently. Long story short, she makes her rounds with some help, spreading diseased prey around the forest. Before enacting her plan. Sootspider debated whether her idea was worth it or not, ultimately going forth with it. Her plan would bring much death to the lake. She pondered on it for a bit. Killing a single cat to make her way towards being a leader was nothing compared to bringing a contagious and deadly illness to everyone. But this was the only way to make the clans listen and learn. Their traditions and high regard of Starclan was old and toxic. Change needed to happen, even if it came with such a terrible price. Even at the price of her loved ones’ lives. She began to manipulate specific, multiple cats, gaining their trust and alliance. Although she never mentions what she did and instead acts like a savior.

As the clans begin their descent into estrangement and death, they have to learn to work together. The illness Sootspider brought into the clans was the most deadly thing anyone has ever seen. And she wasn’t about to stop there to shape the clans how she wanted.

If you want updates to the comic and characters and whatnot feel free to follow my Twitter and/or Instagram! Both @ lycvncy

[tallstars-rewrite]

Chapter 29

chapter list / previous / next

Talltail’s vision was blurry from lack of sleep, and the sunlight streaming through the sparse trees stung his eyes. He trailed behind the border patrol of Fawnleap, Aspenfall, Appledawn, and Mistmouse, sniffing and re-sniffing every bush they passed. 

“You already sniffed that tree,” Fawnleap said.

Talltail blinked at him and took a heartbeat too long to respond as he tried to process the sentence. “Just double checking” he mumbled.

“You look like a half chewed badger carcass,” Aspenfall commented. “No offense. But you could probably use another grooming when we get back. StarClan knows I could use a nap too.”

“Thanks for the suggestion.” Talltail replied, not hiding the sharpness in his tone very well. 

Fawnleap looked at him a bit longer. “We’re all a bit nervous on this border, but I think it’s been quiet for a while. Don’t worry so much.'' He was clearly trying to ease Talltail’s obvious nerves, but it wasn’t working.

Talltail would never feel at ease on the border with ShadowClan. He tried not to look for the place where Brackenwing had fallen. Even now he swore ShadowClan scent marked the grass, waiting to see Darkpaw signal another ambush. Mistmouse insisted it was just floating over through the tunnel, and a lone apprentice didn’t make an invasion anyway. Talltail didn’t believe that wretched apprentice cared about his clan's rules. But there was nothing to be done about it. His lack of sleep did make him a little more paranoid than normal, as he constantly second guessed whether his senses could be trusted. Worse was that his clanmates started wondering too.

“Are you still having those nightmares?” Fawnleap whispered after Talltail had finally left the bush alone. “I overheard Briarpaw saying you were having bad dreams. What are they about?”

“Foxes,” Talltail lied, “just a whole load of foxes. I think I fell asleep on moss that smelled of one.”

“I had a fox dream last week!” Fawnleap gasped “It was the size of a deer, but it had a lizard tail for some reason?”

Talltail tuned Fawnleap out as he went on about foxes with lizard feet and wings or whatever nonsense had crept into his head that time. Fawnleap made valiant efforts to engage with Talltail and pretend like everything was still fine between their old friends, when his siblings had both since given up on him. The chatty tom usually did most of the talking himself since Talltail didn’t carry conversations well these days.

When they reached the end of the patrol, Appledawn turned back to him as they started to split off.

“Talltail, we’re going to play leap-stones in the heather meadow, would you like to come? Dawnstripe’s going to meet us there.” She offered

“Yes, the rains have finally been away long enough for the ground to dry. It’s a nice day for it.” Mistmouse encouraged.

Talltail shook his head. “Thanks, but there’s a mole nest I was meaning to check out. I’m going to hunt for a while.”

“Alright, but if you change your mind...We could always use another player.” Appledawn said and the two mollies padded off together after Fawnleap, who had already bounded ahead.

The offer was made out of politeness, he was sure. Talltail watched them go a bit sadly. He did want to go, and lounging in the meadow with the sun right overhead sounded preferable to tracking back through the mole hills. But his restless energy wouldn’t let him be idle and content, no matter how his eyelids drooped.

Mole hills were easy enough to find, but the digging was less fun. Talltail’s nightmares were still floating around in his head, and were unfortunately not as simple as being chased by foxes as he’d told Fawnleap. The scrape of his claws in the shallow soil brought the images he’d seen the night before flashing through his head. In this dream, he’d been digging for moles, or maybe rabbits, sure that if he didn’t make this catch, he would starve and die, and so would everyone else. But his claws turned brittle, cracked and bloody, and became useless to him as if he were trying to claw the ground with wet leaves. 

He hissed in pain as his paw caught on a rock. He wasn’t in the mood for eating moles at all right now. But so persistent were his dreams that he wondered, maybe if he successfully caught a real mole, it would ease the guilt he felt from failing in his dreams. How about that? Guilt for failing a hunt in my dreams, for StarClan’s sake. 

He was thinking so hard about not thinking about his dreams, that he ended up too distracted to catch the field mouse that shot past him. Talltail turned in an instant and leapt after it, letting his instincts guide his claws. If he didn’t catch something soon, he would lose it. But the mouse was gaining on a thick bramble patch he’d never be able to get inside. Suddenly a golden blur shot out and pounced on the creature, Talltail nearly fell over his paws trying to stop himself before he crashed into Dawnstripe. She held the mouse in her jaws and twitched her whiskers in amusement

“That was a close one,” she said as she dropped the limp mouse at her paws. “These bramble patches are such a pain to hunt in, aren’t they?”

“Y-yes. Good catch.” Talltail said. “I...I thought you were meeting Appledawn in the meadow?”

“I will. You don’t want to come?”

Talltail sighed “I told myself I’d catch a few moles on my way back. Still haven't had any luck…”

“There’s a hunting patrol headed back now, the clan will last the day, especially if you take this mouse back.”

“I...just feel better when I’m hunting.” Talltail said hastily. 

Dawnstripe hummed “I still get the feeling you're trying to prove something. But you have, Talltail. You're a warrior now, it’s greenleaf and the clan is cared for. You can have fun sometimes too.”

“Hunting is fun.” Talltail said quickly.

“Yes, but so are other things. Your clanmates feel like you're a stranger sometimes, you know.”

Talltail hung his head in defeat and frustration, but he relented a bit. “Dawnstripe...I feel like I don’t know what I’m supposed to be doing as a warrior.”

Dawnstripe blinked at him in confusion “What do you mean? You’re patrolling, and hunting a lot.”

“I know but...Before all my focus was on becoming a warrior. I had a stricter schedule as an apprentice, and an obvious goal to focus my sights on. Now I’ve accomplished it, and I don’t know what my goal is anymore. I don’t know what I should do differently, without you telling me each day what my task is. I hunt when I can, but I feel like I'm wandering aimlessly.”

“You can do independent tasks now.” Dawnstripe replied simply, “Reedfeather will assign you to a specific one when it needs getting done. You are doing what you're supposed to be doing, Talltail.”

Then why doesn’t it feel like enough? He didn’t want to confess to her how unsatisfying his warrior ceremony had been. It would sound like an insult to her, to say what she had been preparing him for wasn’t enough. Especially when he had no idea how to describe why he felt the way he did.

“You’re right, of course Dawnstripe. I guess warrior is still a title I'm not used to.”

“You know if there’s one thing I learned from mentoring you, it's that you are often your own worst enemy. You’re a brilliant hunter, and you only start misstepping when you overexert yourself and over think.”

“If I knew how to turn my thoughts off, I would.” It was harsher then he wanted it to be and he instantly regretted it.

But Dawnstripe didn’t flinch away. She head butted his shoulder affectionately. “I know it troubles you. You know Talltail, even if I’m no longer responsible for you, I am still here. You can talk to me.”

His anxious scent wouldn’t stop giving him away, and he held his tail under his back foot to keep it from lashing in frustration at how transparent he was. “I know, Dawnstripe. That means a lot. But I’ll keep hunting for now, practice keeps my paws busy. I’ll meet you back at camp this evening. I’ll take your mouse back for you. Have fun with Appledawn.”

Dawnstripe gazed at him for a heartbeat longer and padded away towards the meadow. Dawnstripe had done enough for him. He couldn’t ask her to try and ease him anymore.

He returned to hunting moles, but even if he caught one, he knew it wouldn’t really help the itch he felt. 

 The more days went by, the more sure he was that his father really had been right all along. Moor running wasn’t satisfying him, but he didn’t know what would. Perhaps his persistent dreams were telling him that. Whether he was chasing or being chased, he always felt helpless and useless, and he never saved any cat he saw being buried. Running did him no good. He was just never fast enough.

***

Talltail returned to camp in a bad mood. Cloudrunner and Redclaw were unimpressed with him as well. He’d gotten carried away in the team hunt and missed Cloudrunner’s signal to him. He had been so sure that he would have been able to catch that rabbit on his own if he’d just been a little faster. But it had outpaced him and he’d accidentally driven it away from the other two, so the patrol returned with nothing. However short Talltail was with Cloudrunner who had been passive-aggressively scolding him the whole way home, he was more frustrated with himself. He avoided hunting in teams as much as possible these days for a reason. 

To make matters worse, Woollycloud was waiting for him, offering him a friendly smile, but his bushy tail swished anxiously. Here we go, Talltail thought with a subtle eye-roll.

“No luck?” Woollycloud mewed sympathetically. “Well, every cat has bad days.”

“I seem to have a lot of bad days lately.” Talltail mumbled to himself.

“Are you...doing alright Talltail? Dawnstripe tells me you’ve been distracted on team hunts lately and…”

“I understand. I’ll take more solo hunts by myself to make up for it.”

“That’s not what I mean. She’s worried is all.”

“There’s nothing to worry over. I suppose I’m just not as good a hunter as I used to be.”

“You’re not ageing Talltail.” Woollycloud was clearly trying very hard to keep his tone light. “I only get the feeling… events from the past still weigh on you.”

“I really don’t want to talk about it again Woollycloud.” Talltail said through gritted teeth.

 Why was the old tom always badgering him? Couldn’t he be occupied enough with badgering Palebird? He was always trying to coax her into hunts or games. But Talltail didn’t want to be treated like a fragile mouse. 

“I know things have changed very quickly in WindClan. Three moons may not be enough time to recover from a particularly hard passing but--”

“No, maybe it’s not!” Talltail snapped. 

It was always going to come flooding out if he kept getting bothered by some cat. Talltail was a badly built dam ready to burst apart when the current edged one more branch out of place. “Maybe it is for you, to just forget everything my father worked for, let Heatherstar erase it all and just go on like none of it mattered and do nothing about it, but it’s not so easy for me to ignore. It’s not fair. You may be content to lie around and take advantage of Palebird while she can barely feed herself, but I have other things I wish I could focus on!”

Woollycloud flattened his ears. His eyes widened with hurt and Talltail instantly felt a fresh wave of guilt crash over him. That was so unfair! How could you say something like that!? Woollycloud wasn’t conniving, and he would never try to take advantage of any cat. Palebird had lost her best friend and mate on the same day. He was trying to be there for a grieving clanmate however she needed, StarClan knew she needed something, and Talltail certainly wasn’t helping. But he was too angry to take it back, he just wanted Woollycloud to leave him alone and not bother with him anymore. Maybe hurting his feelings was the only thing that would make him see that.

“I just want to help you, Talltail,” Woollycloud's voice cracked.

“Well I can’t be helped! I was always taught that when something goes wrong, I need to do something to fix it. I can’t fix Heatherstar, and I can’t fix the state of the clan. Nothing I do will be enough. You know, It’s not fair for a cat to do something horrible, and then just be allowed to go off and live their life happily, with no one acknowledging what was done wrong. It’s not right, I don’t care what any cat says. I can’t sleep anymore! Something must be done.”

He whipped around to stalk away, leaving Woollycloud standing there. The old tunneler didn’t come after him again. Talltail stopped and stared at his paws as his own words sunk in, he hadn’t dwelled on the thoughts directly but saying them aloud, it made sense. It was the only loose end he couldn’t ever tie up here.

When he lay awake in camp that night, he could not make himself lift his eyes to face the stars. He did not know what he was afraid to see, but he couldn’t do it all the same. The pinpoints of light reminded him of the gaze of that terrible creature in his dream by the Moonstone. That stupid, confusing dream...But it came to him there in the walls of Mothermouth, it couldn’t have meant nothing. With all the time available to him for his mind to wander, he traced his memory back to the nursery tale that had triggered one of his first memorable night terrors. It was a silly story, clearly an exaggerated telling.  But all clan stories came from something, and all of them had meaning buried within. It was about a cat that had returned from the brink of death and all he brought with him was rot, rot eating him from the inside out. He became first a nuisance, and then a real hazard to all of his clanmates. Talltail remembered the desecrated remains of the unstable stone-skinned cat of his dreams, how the very moor wilted and died under its careless touch.

If it was for the best that he left, if he could bring his clan no real good, then let that destructive potential at least be turned on some cat that deserved it.

Maybe that was what it all meant. The restless emptiness he felt... Maybe he could fill it with something else. For just a moment it was snuffed out and replaced with burning fury; the thing that had offered to fill the hollow feeling in his chest before when he sometimes spotted the rogue in his dreams. Cold claws pressed against the hole inside him. This time Talltail did not try to chase it away or suppress it. It wasn’t enough to simply hope that StarClan could punish a cat that had run beyond their skies... Someone had to do more. 

The moor itself had felt strange and hostile for moons. This idea had already taken root in the back of his mind long ago, ever since he woke up to watch the visitor leave from camp, and again the night he got his name, but he’d been too hesitant. Trying, and failing, to be the best warrior wasn’t working. But this was a new direction. Something to look forward to, better than the useless nothing he saw for himself otherwise, dragging himself through day after pointless day. And he’d hold onto this new light as long as he needed to. He could sink his claws into it and hold himself up. It wasn’t just an option, it was the only option.

“Talltail…”

 Talltail looked up. It was Woollycloud again. He’d still been watching him, debating trying to approach a second time. Despite everything, he was persistent as ever.

 “I don’t want to push, I really don’t,” he said, eyes tired and pleading. “Please, if you would just talk to some cat, maybe not me, but--”

“I will Woollycloud.” Talltail replied quickly.

 His tone was surprisingly lighter. It was easier to muster up a more falsely positive tone, as the relief that came from having a new direction in sight washed over him. This had to be what these restless feelings were pointing to. He was sure Sandstone would agree. 

“I promise.” Talltail insisted when Woollycloud eyed him suspiciously, “I know how to make it better. I’m sorry, really I am, for having been such a pain. I owe you a lot. I promise I didn’t mean what I said earlier. I want you to look after my mother.``

“W-what? I mean, thank you Talltail, but...”

“I’ll go talk with Heatherstar. Thank you.” He said and quickly padded off, leaving Woollycloud again to stare after him.

***

Talltail had to quickly admit to himself that speaking to Heatherstar was a lie. He’d just watched Plumclaw stomp away from a discussion with their leader about which tunnels they were allowed to keep open. Heatherstar didn’t look happy herself, but she was firm on the matter. Talltail couldn’t help feeling some frustration towards her as well, for not allowing him to try and uphold his fathers legacy. But who are you kidding? His little voice in his ear hissed, Even if she had let you try, you would have made a mess of things. Heatherstar was protective of her ruling, aware not every cat was happy about it. The last thing she’d want to hear about was a warrior thinking of leaving, so soon after swearing his warriors oath. 

As he stood there facing her den, a rumbling raspy voice made Talltail jump.

“Are you looking for council with our leader, or are you going to stand there like a moon-struck hare all day?”

 Hawkheart was lying in the shadow of an overhanging stone, watching Talltail with his dark yellow gaze.

“I…” Talltail stuttered, “N-No. No, I was just spacing out.”

“Hm.” Hawkheart sounded unconvinced. “Well make up your mind. Doubt left to fester can be dangerous. WindClan needs warriors who know where they belong.”

Talltail stared at the old medicine cat. His words felt too pointed to be without meaning, as if he knew what was on his mind. Perhaps he’d agreed with Talltail’s feelings all along. Hawkheart wanting him to leave wouldn’t surprise him. 

“Why?” challenge creeped into Talltail’s voice, “Do you know what I would want to ask her about?”

“Not exactly, no.” Hawkheart purred, as rough and unfriendly as a purr could be, “I don’t actually know everything. I just have unusually reliable hunches. I’m not going to tell you what to do. But you’d better make some decision. Don’t just stand there with your paws rooted to the ground forever. Cats are starting to look at you funny.”

Talltail looked over his shoulder and saw Heatherstar had glanced in his direction. She blinked questioningly at him, as he stood a couple fox-lengths from her den. He dipped his head to her awkwardly and turned away.

He was never going to get Heatherstar’s blessing. It was foolish to try. He didn’t have the guts to tell her to her face what he was planning to do, because he had to do it no matter what she said. No worthy warrior would think of it, but he never felt like a worthy warrior to begin with. Perhaps the faster he did what he wanted to do, the faster she could forget about him. If WindClan continued on when they lost two great and noble warriors in Sandstone and Brackenwing...then losing one like him was nothing they could not move on from. He padded away.

chapter list / previous / next

[hinterland-clans]

So I read though the Hinterlands doc and got to the df section and was wondering if you could drop some lore on why all the df cats are currently there? (if you can't say anything without spoiling something important its alright)

Certainly! I think I have talked about the reasons they're all there once or twice before, but it may have very well changed since then.

Keep in mind that some of these characters do not have very much thought put into them at all and I might replace them eventually, idk

Warnings for mild/vague descriptions of violence, abuse, and various means of murder and death below!

GlenClan

Barkfang: SO there was this whole situation over whether PineClan or GlenClan got to own the Sunstones and surrounding field. Barkfang was the GlenClan deputy at the time, and when negotiations started to come to a close with a compromise, he got it in his head that this was a Really Bad Thing that would show the other two Clans that GlenClan was weak and would just give away territory without a fight. He killed Dewstar, and when the two healers (Briskwater and Sandytail, who was formerly Barkfang's apprentice and was TERRIFIED of him) figured it out, they poisoned him with traveling herbs. They named the warrior Redgleam as leader afterward.

Dawnshatter: A very corrupt healer who used yew to poison cats he didn't like. I have this idea that maybe he had a close friend or mate who wanted to become leader, and Dawn said "don't worry, I'll take care of it ;)" and when high-ranking cats started dropping dead, they called him out on it. Idk! His cause of death was starvation after being banished from the Clan.

Sparkflame: She was a major bitch of a warrior who was super abusive to her apprentices in the belief that it hardened them into better warriors. She was super cruel, working them half to death and verbally berating them when they couldn't keep up with her demands. Her last apprentice drowned in the river when she was giving him swimming training, as she tossed him into the water and wouldn't let him return to shore until he could swim "properly." She was eventually killed by a rogue during a skirmish.

Chillyfur: She was a queen, and I have it written down that she killed her kits, but I don't know why? Maybe there was some drama with her mate, or maybe she thought there was something wrong with the kits. I have no clue. She fled the Clans after her crime was discovered, and her cause of death was a snake bite.

PineClan

Silverpine: Silverpine! The oldest OC in this group! She grew up bitter towards her sister Birchstripe, and when Silverpine's mate Leafswirl left her for Birchstripe, who was tone-deaf enough to flaunt that she was having his kits, Silverpine led her out into the middle of nowhere and murdered her. She was determined to make Leafswirl suffer but felt guilty about what she'd done, and Birchstripe tormented Silverpine with visions of what she'd done until she broke. She freaked out, inadvertently admitting her crime before running back to where she'd killed Birchstripe (with a furious Leafswirl giving chase behind) and was crushed by a falling tree branch. She knew that what she'd done was wrong, but refused to go to StarClan if Birchstripe and Leafswirl were allowed to stay there too.

Bramblewasp: He's basically Ashfur if he'd actually killed the three, lmao. He was in love with this cat named Petalbreeze, but Petalbreeze was 1. never interested in him and 2. secretly mates with this RiftClan tom named Ravenpatch. Bramblewasp followed Petalbreeze to the border one night and saw them meet, and, heartbroken, decided to get even with her. After she had moved to the nursery, pregnant with Ravenpatch's kits, Bramblewasp instigated a skirmish with a RiftClan patrol that ended up with Ravenpatch dead. Petalbreeze was heartbroken, but she at least had her three kits to remember him by. But Bramblewasp wasn't done yet, and later led two of her kits to get killed in some way I haven't thought of yet, maybe led them out into the snow and left them? The third kit, Shadepaw, was attacked by Bramblewasp after he got him alone during a hunting patrol. But Petalbreeze, who had had her suspicions about who was behind the murders and had been keeping a close eye on Shadepaw, fended him off before killing him outright.

Tawnyfoot: Another one I haven't though much about, at one point I had it written that they tried to take over PineClan but failed and then ended up getting hit by a car, I think I'm going to make it that they built up a kind-of cult within the Clan and tried to use them to help them become leader (to accomplish what? idk) but they somehow failed, running off to twolegplace before meeting their demise.

Vinestar: He was generally very Not Good but the final straw was when he decided he was going to genocide GlenClan after his mate Sunbelly was killed in a fight over the Sunstones. A rebellion led by his deputy Blackreed and warriors Roseblossom and Hollyfrost stood against him and, after Blackreed basically challenged him to a duel for leadership, they killed each other and Rosestar became leader. He was convinced that his bloodline should stay in power in the Clan, a belief carried by Sunbelly and Shimmertail, who passed it on to...

Tangleflower: Vinestar's granddaughter, heavily influenced from a very young age to believe that she was destined to become leader one day. She was fed stories of how noble and powerful Vinestar had been, and these convinced her that the position of leader was her right, no matter the cost. She conscripted Blackreed's son Cindershock, who was convinced that he had to become leader to live up to his father's name, and she revealed her plan to get them both to be deputy and leader together. They became mates, and when they got their apprentices Fleetpaw and Swiftpaw, they enlisted them and Cindershock's best friend Splinterfang into their little group. Swiftpaw was more than happy to help, wanting to do anything for his cool uncle Cinder and too young to really understand the gravity of the situation. Fleetpaw and Splinterfang were a bit more hesitant, and this became the plan's downfall. Tangleflower (unexpectedly) had a kit, Strikekit, and while Tangleflower left the nursery as soon as possible, she was still quite weak when the plan went into motion VERY off-schedule. Splinterfang and Fleetpaw finally worked up the courage to warn Rosestar of what was about to happen, and Cindershock, realizing this, went to attack her. Tangleflower joined him and attempted to kill Hollyfrost, who quickly threw her off and went to the aide of Rosestar. Rosestar lost a life in the fray, and Hollyfrost grabbed Cindershock by the neck and threw him off, killing him. Swiftpaw was subdued by a few other warriors, who were baffled as to why he was trying so hard to attack them. Tangleflower was banished, but a moon later she returned, delirious with hunger and fury, and tried again to kill Rosestar while PineClan evacuated during a forest fire. Tangleflower was caught in the flames and died of smoke inhalation. Cindershock came to her in the Inbetween and asked her to give up her memories and anger and go to StarClan like he did. but she refused and now spends her time in the Dark Forest.

RiftClan

Quietstar: By all rights, she really shouldn't be in the Dark Forest. She was the leader of RiftClan during a famine, with a lack of the large prey birds RiftClan cats hunt spelling doom for them. She pleaded with the other Clan leaders for aid, but they refused. They were all starving, after all. Quietstar, furious, gathered whichever of her warriors were still strong and attacked at the Clan borders, mercilessly claiming patches of land to hunt on. When the other two Clan leaders confronted her during a gathering, she attacked them, and her Clanmates followed. The ensuing battle only ended when Quietstar was struck by lightning, killing her instantly. She chose to go to the Dark Forest, hating it there but standing firm in her hatred of the cats who refused to help her Clanmates.

Twilightpaw: Another cat who really shouldn't be there. Twilightpaw was a meek little tom, training to become a hunter. His brother, the brash and somewhat hateful Sleetpaw, was training to be a fighter. One leafbare night, the two were out hunting together when they got in some kind of fight. Twilightpaw was pinned by Sleetpaw, and when he finally succeeded in kicking him off, Sleetpaw slipped and fell from a ledge. Sleetpaw was killed by the impact, and Twilightpaw, scared of the consequences of the accident, left him there. Sleetpaw's body was found the next day, his Clanmates assuming he'd simply slipped jumping for some prey in the dark. Snow had already covered up most signs of a fray. Twilightpaw developed whitecough from rolling around in the snow, and this turned to greencough, which increased in severity until it killed him. When he was in the Inbetween, Sleetpaw came to confront him. But Twilightpaw, so scared of what he might say, ran in the opposite direction until he found himself in the Dark Forest. There, he was found by Sparkflame, who took him on as an apprentice until he was rescued from her by Quietstar. They now travel the forest together, keeping each other company until they can find a way to get Twilightpaw to StarClan where he belongs.

Blackflame: SHE. Ok so her dad left RiftClan to join GlenClan because he fell in love with a cat there after he and his first mate broke up. Blackflame was livid over this and wanted to get even with him for abandoning her mother, her sister, and herself. So, being a healer, she faked a sign from StarClan and told her Clanmates that it meant they were to attack GlenClan. So they did, and during the battle, Blackflame made it look like her dad was attacking her so that her mother and sister would come to her defense and hurt him. Which they did. He didn't die tho, just wounded pretty badly. StarClan contacts Blackflame in a dream and tells her that, for violating both the warrior and healer codes so badly, she has been cut off from StarClan permanently. She's fine with this because the whole situation made her realize that, being the one expected to interpret StarClan for her Clanmates, she technically holds more power over her Clan than StarClan itself. She uses this to fake more signs and omens, dragging the two Clans into a war with each other. Around this time, a young apprentice named Sunpaw became obsessed with the idea of becoming a healer and started following Blackflame everywhere. When Sunpaw accidentally discovered her setting up one of her "signs," Blackflame killed her and dragged her body to the border to make it look like she'd been killed by GlenClan. RiftClan was furious, and began to head to the border for another battle. A GlenClan patrol met them there, and retrieved their leader and other warriors upon demand from the RiftClan leader. As they were denying any murdering of apprentices, Sunpaw's ghost appeared to the cats and named her killer as Blackflame. Her Clanmates turned on her, and she ran, falling into the river and drowning.

Starklight: Frankly I kinda hate Starklight and I'll probably replace him bc I can't think of any story for him. I had it written down that he was just an abusive asshole to everyone, especially his sister and her mate, but I can't really think of anything beyond that so sorry!!

And that's all of them! There are many baddies in Clan history, but most of them choose to forget their past in order to join StarClan. There are few who choose to be in the Dark Forest, and some of them, those whose crimes are unforgivable, are never given a choice at all.

[mallowstep]

When Mothwing chose Jaykit to be the next seer... Did she actually have a sign from Starclan about it? Or did she just choose him randomly out of the kits since she lacks that belief/connection?

as far as mothwing knows, she didn't get a sign, she just worked on intuition.

we're kind of playing with the timeline, but the basic idea is she sees Something in jaykit that makes her think, "yeah, he should be a seer."

she's really drawing on the Stories of being chosen, because she was chosen fairly late and in an atypical way. leafpool's first memory is being chosen, and obviously mothwing and leafpool are very close, so that's going to influence her the most.

but from mothwing's perspective, there's no real rhyme or reason to how to choose a seer. the three seers she trained with (yellowstorm, spottedleaf, and leafpool) are all very different, and she's different for them. so being mothwing, she's feels like it's about time to take an apprentice, and she's looking for qualities she thinks will be good in a seer.

since she's very close with the three, she knows them all well, even as lil bb kits. hollykit and jaykit are obviously and clearly the smartest (sorry lionkit), and so it's kind of just hoping she makes a good choice.

mothwing's experiences with being a seer are complicated, but she looks at the clanborne seers she knows, and they're mostly happy. she doesn't really see much of leafpool's internal struggle, because they're both kids and mothwing has her own problems to work through.

so she kind of wants an Archetypical Good Seer. she just doesn't know what that means, so she chooses jaykit.

some metaphysics and theological ramblings under the cut, if you want to preserve the ambiguity of starclan. mostly me doing some character analysis of mothwing, but also talk bout The Realness of StarClan.

i've been kind of vague with how starclan works.

mothwing's interesting because she spends a lot of time...almost having a connection to starclan, but at the same time, it's not the same way others do. she doesn't have clear dreams of ancestors from days past, she never knows what's up with the sightstone, and it's really easy to connect her experience of starclan as just a nightmare.

starclan has two moments of "okay, you can't really ignore that they Did a Thing": the first is in yellowstorm's piece with the sightstone (something i swear i haven't forgotten about), and the second is when leafpaw and mothpaw find the moonpool.

both of those exist as firm evidence because i needed certain things to happen in a certain way. and because well. it's supposed to be ambiguous and vague and Not Clear. that's just how i like to do things.

so. mothwing. she ties her spirituality in with her brother, yeah? she sort of...he's the one who fits into riverclan. she thinks of herself as being closer to her mother, in a lot of ways.

She pulled them each in. Mothpaw couldn't hear what she told Hawkpaw, but she wrapped her tail around Mothpaw and whispered, "I love you more than the moon and sun."

i liked this bit because...mothpaw doesn't assume sasha is telling them both the same thing. she kind of assumes her relationship with sasha is Unique and Different and Not Like Hawkpaw.

and so we get "i love you" as this connection to not being a clan cat that comes up again when she tells leafpool she loves her, after the kits are born. she repeats a clan approved blessing, but then she ties things back to her mother.

mothwing connects a lot of her spirituality to sasha and loner ideas. i didn't want to set up a lot of ideas that i couldn't follow through with in 3-4k words, so i focused on the idea of the fox and the cat. both clever creatures, caught in this endless chase. i think, where clan cats think of lions and tigers and leopards, of their ancestors as powerful creatures, loners don't.

they know they survive because they are small and fast and clever, not because they are strong and powerful.

so in the fox and the cat, which is mostly an allegory for death, you have this endless chase. the fox chases the cat, and that never changes, so it's not quite an afterlife story, but it has the same idea.

mothwing takes this particular story to heart, because she spends a lot of time building relationships and chasing after people she can't keep. she loses tadpole, sasha, hawkfrost, leafpool, and jaypaw. her brothers both die, but the others are still alive, she just can't be with them.

so for mothwing, death isn't really big barrier in her life. she doesn't want to talk to hawkfrost, and while tadpole definitely impacts her, it's much more about her relationship with hawkfrost than actual guilt over tadpole.

instead, it's clan rules and life that's keeping her from sasha, leafpool, jaypaw, and to a lesser extent, hollyleaf and lionblaze.

but my point here is supposed to be about starclan, not mothwing.

starclan is taught to her kind of as this series of deals. open your ears and they will tell you things: well, mothwing is listening, and they're not speaking.

she has some kind of connection with them as a kit, but does she? heck, kids dream of weird stuff all the time. it's not hard for a bit of imagination to start connecting false dots, and of course spottedleaf would leap on those.

i didn't want to tip my hand in spottedleaf's piece, but yeah! hawk is trying to manipulate the situation. he's just a kit, and the circumstances are different, but he definitely internally takes credit for it, and he tells her about it.

so this one thing, this one tether of belief: they chose me, they are not silent; that gets broken.

does starclan have an impact on her? when she gets a message via leafpaw, she traces it back to kithood stories, and this time, it's a riverclan story. it's nearly forgotten, even though the idea of the moon and the river is very fundamental to riverclan, and moth would have been inundated by stories as a kit.

so like. starclan could have given mothwing a sign. could have sent one that made her think she should pick jaykit.

but both yellowstorm and spottedleaf present choosing as intuition, not a tangible sign. it's one and the same in their minds, but from an external perspective, maybe they're just aware of the needs of the clan(s).

all of this is to say: it's up for interpretation whether starclan could have given mothwing a sign, and beyond that, it's up for interpretation whether or not they even would send her one.

i don't really want to come down conclusively on this, but there's not a wrong reading of it. i was deliberate about not including a specific answer.

maybe starclan is real, maybe not. i don't know what happens in oots but there's a reason all of the oots medicine cats are skipped. (apologies, flametail. you have an interesting story that won't get told.)

we also aren't getting to the broken code, we're stopping with alderheart in avos. because i don't want to answer the reality of starclan, i want reading stolag to feel like i felt reading tpb: you can see these tangible effects. bluestar comes back to life after being dead. fireheart has prophetic dreams.

but like, i had several dreams that came true as a kid. it doesn't mean there was someone nudging me to know what the future is.

and basically every omen is super, super hazy. i firmly believe we should have more omens instead of prophecies, because they're more interesting. and vague. what's the difference between an omen and an imagination? it's never explored, which is a shame.

would've been cool to show that in leafpool and/or jayfeather's training, considering they're both said to have a connection to starclan.

in summary (again): starclan is a grey area.

[twilights-800-cats]

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Chapter 6

Dawn was brightening the sky by the time Russetstar led the way through the fern-and-rush tunnel into ShadowClan camp. Stoneheart’s shoulders did not feel lighter by the rays of the sun – he only felt sapped of energy, tired and hopeless as the Twoleg monsters roared to life in the distance. How could the meeting have gone so badly?

Russetstar wasted little time. She trotted across the camp - ignoring the curious mews from ShadowClan cats who clearly had a hard time sleeping – leaped up onto the Clanrock and raised her voice:

“Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey come beneath the Clanrock for a Clan meeting!”

Instantly, Stoneheart felt the mood in the camp shift from sleepy curiosity to alert worry. He made his way into the swiftly-forming crowd as his Clanmates took up their positions, shuffling and shivering together in the leaf-fall morning.

“How do you think it went?” wondered Pinewhisker to Nightwing, who was settling on her haunches beside him.

Nightwing’s whiskers twitched. “Not well, from the look on Russetstar’s face!”

Stoneheart swallowed. He felt Finchsong squeeze in beside him, pressing her pelt against his in the throng. “What happened?” the queen asked, her voice hushed in Stoneheart’s ear.

“You’ll hear about it,” Stoneheart murmured back. He felt drained, and wanted nothing more than to curl up and sleep through this meeting. He didn’t know if he could take hearing of Leopardstar’s belligerent defiance again.

Russetstar certainly spared her Clan no preamble: “Last night, Blackfoot, Littlecloud, and I met with the leaders of the other three Clans to discuss how we ought to proceed. Unfortunately, only three of us were in agreement on the necessity of leaving the forest – Leopardstar was insistent that the Twolegs posed no threat to RiverClan, and refused to consider leaving.”

“Typical fish-head,” muttered Orre. “She’s always been difficult.” Many of the older warriors, cats who had known Leopardstar longest, nodded in agreement around the golden tom.

“Where does that leave us?” Oakfur wondered, raising his muzzle. “RiverClan might be closing their eyes to the issue, but the rest of us haven’t. Whether it’s to the lake or not, we cannot stay.”

Tallpoppy bristled, and she wasn’t the only one. Cedarheart raised his voice: “I still say that we needn’t leave forever – the Twolegs will find whatever it is they want and then be on their way.”

Stoneheart glowered at his Clanmate, who avoided his eye – or, perhaps, Cedarheart was avoiding his mate, who had already thrown in her lot to go to the lake. Finchsong made no move to counter Cedarheart, but she certainly didn’t move away from Stoneheart to go to his side.

“Either way,” Oakfur pointed out, “we need a plan for the meantime.”

“Agreed,” Russetstar meowed. “I plan to take the senior warriors to counsel in the training area. Oakfur, Cedarheart, Wolftooth, Blackfoot – all of you meet me there, and bring your ideas. We need a plan, and we need it before sunhigh.”

From within the crowd, Littlecloud rose up on his hind legs. “You intend to ignore StarClan?” he asked. “They chose Stoneheart and the others for a reason, that much has been made clear!”

Ripples of worried mews followed the medicine cat’s statement. Having him state outright that he believed that Stoneheart’s message came from StarClan made Stoneheart feel a little better, at least – it would certainly make the doubters and dissenters like Cedarheart and Tallpoppy look more unreasonable.

Russetstar herself, though, frowned. “I do not intend to ignore their message,” she replied, “but I cannot put aside that it was given to all four Clans – if we are not all in agreement, it may be possible that our destination, this lake, would not be open to us. Right now, I need to explore our options in what little time we have.”

Littlecloud sank, his brow furrowing. “I suppose,” he mumbled.

“Tallstar has already given up on his territory and moved in with ThunderClan,” Russetstar went on, turning to the rest of ShadowClan. “The uplands, he says, are barren of prey, and cannot support his Clan. ThunderClan has moved camp near the river. ShadowClan might be next – we need a plan for the now.”

Stoneheart sighed, looking up at his leader. She's assuming that we’re on our own, he thought grimly, as we always are.

Perhaps she’s right.

Russetstar raised her tail and ended the meeting. She leaped down into the crowd, while Blackfoot gathered the senior warriors she had called out around him. Swiftly, they made their way to the training area, dodging curious questions from their Clanmates.

“Incoming,” Finchsong warned.

Stoneheart blinked, confused, before he realized that Russetstar was approaching. The dark ginger she-cat stopped before him and jerked her head, indicating that he should follow.

Surprised, Stoneheart got to his paws. “What’s going on?” he wondered. “Aren’t you going to meet with the senior warriors?”

“I am,” Russetstar meowed, leading the way around the Clanrock. “We are.”

Stoneheart was shocked. “Me? What use am I? I already know where we’re meant to be.”

“I know.” Russetstar paused at the tree branch that bridged the stream between the camp and the training area. She nodded her head to the cats already clustered in the open space beyond. “You’ve far more experience than most with the world beyond our borders, though, and we need that.”

Stoneheart swallowed. She was right about that, at least. Russetstar padded over the branch, and Stoneheart followed. On the other side, he meowed, “Russetstar, there’s one more thing – about the cats that were taken...”

“Oh?” Russetstar turned to him, one paw still raised in a half-step.

“One of them was Tawnypelt,” Stoneheart reminded her.

“I know that.” Her tone was thin, impatient. Her tail twitched, and she glanced at the cats she had summoned. They were looking towards Russetstar and Stoneheart, eyes flickering with confusion at a conversation they couldn’t hear. “They’re all waiting, Stoneheart; get to the point.”

“Feathertail mentioned that if we somehow got Tawnypelt back, Leopardstar might reconsider,” Stoneheart explained. “If we can--”

Russetstar lifted her tail to interrupt him. “That's a big if, Stoneheart – we have no idea where our own missing cat is, or have you forgotten?”

“I haven’t.” Stoneheart felt his fur lift. How dare she think I’ve forgotten my own mate! “But Tawnypelt was taken by Twolegs, too – maybe she and Rowanclaw are together, wherever they, and the others, are?”

That idea seemed to give Russetstar pause, and she frowned. Then, she decided, “It’s worth considering; but we still don’t know where they might be, and it’s looking like we might not have the time to search. I agree that Tawnypelt might have been able to sway Leopardstar, but I still think we need to face what’s before us right now.”

Stoneheart opened his jaws to protest – Rowanclaw! The prophecy! - but he knew Russetstar would not hear of it right now.

Russetstar’s gaze on him softened. Stoneheart realized he must have been pulling a rebellious face, because she touched her nose to his ear and meowed, “If ever you are leader of this Clan, Stoneheart, you will come to learn just how difficult a job it is. You cannot please everyone and, sometimes, regrettably... you cannot save everyone.”

Stoneheart felt a lump in his throat, and he struggled to swallow around it. He hated that what she said made sense – putting himself in her paws was an overwhelming thought, though perhaps not as overwhelming as it had been before his journey to the lake.

Russetstar moved away, crossing the empty training clearing and settling down on her haunches beside Blackfoot. Glumly, Stoneheart followed, trying to keep his paws from dragging in the soft earth.

“Where are we, then?” Russetstar asked, curling her tail around her paws. Stoneheart settled down a pace away, ears forward to listen. “I want ideas.”

“There’s always Twolegplace,” Blackfoot pointed out. “We have plenty of cats who know the terrain, and it might be the best bet we have for a place to stay... or a place to wait out this madness.”

Wolftooth curled his lip, clearly offended by the notion. “It’s a worse idea than you think, Blackfoot – Twolegplace is where organization goes to die.”

Russetstar frowned at her warriors. “It is an option, though. And the only one we’ve got, unless someone else wants to chime in?” She looked to the rest of her small council, eyes flickering with interest.

“I say we just go to this lake without the other Clans,” Wolftooth grunted. The gray tom nodded at Stoneheart. “I believe him, and we’re likely to spend a long time searching for another suitable place.”

Stoneheart might have been warmed by Wolftooth’s approval, but Cedarheart was not a fan. He bristled, glaring at Stoneheart: “I still think this lake business is ridiculous! Why would StarClan send him, above all other cats they could have chosen?”

“It’s not like it was up to me,” Stoneheart grunted back, glaring across the group at Cedarheart. “I dreamed what I dreamed, saw what I saw, and did what I did – it was all for ShadowClan, whether you believe me or not. The lake is where we’re meant to be.”

“Where the four Clans are meant to be,” Russetstar reminded gently. “We aren’t all exactly in agreement on that, and who knows what that might mean for the prophecy?”

Oakfur put in, “Perhaps we could make our way to the lake on our own and try to find someplace else along the way? The lake might be made for the four Clans, but we likely won’t be four Clans when we leave.”

Stoneheart reeled. The idea of the four Clans that had stood together for as far back as anyone could recall splitting apart was unreal – but even Fourtrees clearly could not withstand the Twolegs. Perhaps that meant the four Clans weren’t meant to, either?

Then why send us at all? I cannot believe that the four Clans aren’t meant to be together, Stoneheart told himself. Even if it seems like they’re falling apart.

“It would be a risky journey,” Russetstar meowed, frowning. “We’ve got young, and old as well – but it may be necessary.”

“And Twolegplace?” Blackfoot wondered, raising his brow. He ignored Wolftooth’s snort of derision. “I think that, too, is still an option.”

“As do I,” Russetstar admitted.

“You can’t be serious!” Wolftooth hissed. His tail puffed. “I’m telling you, Russetstar – there's nothing there for us!”

“Agreed,” Stoneheart meowed. He got to his paws, shifting over to Wolftooth to stare squarely at his leader. Part of him felt a little foolish, taking a stand as the youngest warrior in the group, but he’d been invited here, same as them. “Russetstar, Twolegplace is the last place we should settle – especially after what the Twolegs are doing to us now!”

Russetstar blinked at him. “I don’t agree fully with the idea, but it is an option, and one we can explore right now – it may even bear some helpful fruit, Stoneheart. For all the Clans.”

The way she was staring at him made Stoneheart pause. Before he could ask what she meant, Russetstar got to her paws and announced: “Wolftooth, I want you and Stoneheart to explore the Twolegplace. Take another warrior with you – Pinewhisker has experience with Twoleg spaces as well.”

Wolftooth was bristling. “Do you have cotton in your ears, Russetstar? Haven’t you been listening?!”

“I’m wondering if you are listening to me,” Russetstar retorted coolly. “We have little time, and few options – ShadowClan is going to do what we can to explore what lies before us, preferably without uprooting our entire Clan before we must. So, Wolftooth, when can I expect your patrol to return?”

Wolftooth’s tail lashed, bristling as Oakfur, Cedarheart, and Blackfoot looked on with some measure of amusement in their eyes. Stoneheart would have purred, if he weren’t being sent with him – Russetstar certainly had a way of brooking no argument from her warriors.

“Before the half-moon.” Wolftooth deflated, still looking cross but clearly accepting Russetstar’s judgment.

“Good,” Russetstar decided. “Set out immediately. May StarClan watch over you.”

Wolftooth did not respond, stalking back towards camp with a lashing tail. Stoneheart gave Russetstar one more hopeful look, wondering if she intended to elaborate on what she thought was so useful about the Twolegplace – but her head was already bent down, talking quietly with her deputy and their remaining council about prey rationing.

“Stoneheart!” Wolftooth yowled, “Come on!”

Stoneheart jumped to his paws and hurried after Wolftooth, forgoing the tree-bridge entirely and splashing through the stream to meet him beside the Clanrock. He already had Pinewhisker beside him, attended by a worried-looking Nightwing.

“Be careful,” the black she-cat was saying. “The monsters... What if the Twolegs take you, too?”

That’s it! Stoneheart felt like a mouse-brain. Twolegs had taken Rowanclaw and Tawnypelt and the other Clan’s missing cats – Russetstar thinks we might find them in Twolegplace! Hope filled his chest, driving away his uncertainty and worries for the first time since he’d returned to the forest. Russetstar hadn’t dismissed his idea! The missing cats had to be there! Where else could they be – and if they weren’t there, there ought to be some clue as to their whereabouts.

“We can handle it,” Pinewhisker insisted. He looked as if he were still processing this mission, which he’d been suddenly chosen for.

Wolftooth grunted, “We’ll get some traveling herbs from Littlecloud and be off.” The big gray tom was already stalking off towards the medicine cat’s den, tail-tip twitching with annoyance. Pinewhisker followed, but Nightwing hung back with Stoneheart.

“Why can’t I come?” Nightwing wondered, staring after Pinewhisker.

“Russetstar wants us three,” Stoneheart told her sympathetically. Clearly, she had some fondness for Pinewhisker. “The fewer cats running around a Twolegplace, the better; trust me.”

Nightwing didn’t look entirely satisfied, but she turned away, heading for Tallpoppy and   Skipnose. Stoneheart split away, heading for Littlecloud’s den after Wolftooth. He thought of Rowanclaw, and it gave his steps purpose.

I’m coming, my heart, he thought. For you, and for all the Clans!

[rusty-shadowclan-au]

StarClan worldbuilding for the ShadowClan AU!

Prologue of book 2 would cover Flintstar's "9 lives" ceremony. It's in quotations because since Brokenstar still has a number of lives left (3 or 4), Flintstar is only able to recieve 5 or 6 lives. This is not because StarClan seems him unworthy or something, its because they literally do not have the power to grant another set of nine lives to a Clan leader while the previous leader still lives. Best they can do is grant the equivalent to the number of lives lost by the previous leader.

It's uncommon, but not unheard of for this to happen to new Clan leaders. A couple times in Clan history, an elderly leader has chosen to step down on their last life, and the following leader is given only eight lives as a result. This is a secret known only to medicine cats.

StarClan's powers are more clearly defined in this AU: they can watch and warn, and send glimpses of the future to medicine cats, but they do not have the power to directly interfere with the world of the living.

StarClan rarely interacts directly with cats. Direct communication is generally reserved for a leader's 9 lives ceremony or for Moonstone visits near the summer or winter solstice, when the two worlds are closest together.

StarClan as we know it is mostly made up of cats who have passed within the last few generations. When the last living memory of a StarClan cat dies, that cat fades from StarClan and becomes part of silverpelt. Silverpelt is, for lack of a better term, kitty cat Nirvana. The spirits cease to exist as individuals, instead becoming part of a collective divine essence.

Signs and prophecies are distinct from one another and med cats are taught to distinguish between the two.

Signs are perceptible changes in the world of the living, easily missed by ordinary cats. They bring with them no deeper explanation, and are usually answers to questions or nudges in the right direction rather than predictions of the future. For example, the moth's wing sign from the og series, had it been real, would fit the bill perfectly.

Prophecies are mixed visual/auditory experiences that do not have a perceivable change on the physical world. They are experienced and perceived only by the medium receiving the prophecy, and carry a prediction of the future, usually regarding large scale threats to the Clans and vague information on what can overcome the threats.

Signs are more direct than prophecies, and require less interpretation on the part of the recipient.

Prophecies are not intentionally vague. Rather, the message of the Prophecy is diluted in its journey to the physical world. The best comparison would be pouring coffee through a strainer: the flavor and the essence of the substance passes through, but the dregs are left behind. In the same sense, with prophecies, the general idea of the message can reach the living, but detailed information and clear instructions cannot pass through completely.

So if the fire prophecy (in my rewrite) went through the "strainer" it would be something like this- StarClan's message: "A cat with a pelt the color of flames will come from away and drive away the darkness that stalks the Clans and threatens to consume them" -> The message that actually reaches the world of the living: "A flame from afar burns brightest in the dark."

The rule that medicine cats cannot have families still exists in this AU, but with a better explanation and some changes.

Medicine cats are not permitted to have families for two reasons: first, they must remain as untethered as possible to the world of the living so that they can best communicate with StarClan. The more things a cat has holding them to the physical world, the harder it is for them to connect with the realm of spirits. Second, as medicine cats act as a power check on Clan leaders and serve as the Clan's only link to their ancestors, if a medicine cat were to have a family, there would be nothing except good will stopping them from manipulating the system to put their kin in power. This is why medicine cats are asked to let go of their existing familial ties when they take their position- this is more of a formality than anything, nobody is going to police a med cat's relationship with their parents or siblings, but it will raise questions if the medicine cat starts recieving a lot of signs/prophecies that are beneficial to their kin.

If this happens, any senior member of the Clan can call for a council of the medicine cats, in which the medicine cats from all the other Clans review the med cat in question and their signs and prophecies, and pass judgement as to whether these signs were earnest or whether they were fabricated for the benefit of the med cat's kin. If found guilty of fabrication, the medicine cat will be permanently stripped of their position. Further punishment is at the discretion of Clan leaders and the other medicine cats.

Remember how I said there are some changes to the rules? The "med cats can't have families" rule only applies until the senior medicine cat fully trains an apprentice in the art of interpreting signs and receiving prophecies. At that point, the senior medicine cat may choose to retire from their spiritual duties by passing them on to their trained apprentice, and may dedicate themselves fully to the healing aspect of being a medicine cat. Once a medicine cat retires from their spiritual duties, they are welcome to take a mate and have kits, nobody will judge them for it

So Yellowfang's relationship with Raggedstar wasn't allowed because she was the junior medicine cat, the newest link in the spiritual chain. It was her duty to maintain a pure relationship with StarClan until she trained a successor, at which point having a mate and kits would have been fine.

Medicine cats that do break the code aren't like, exiled or anything; but their connection with StarClan weakens drastically, putting the Clan at risk of being potentially unable to receive prophecies. They are still equally capable of reading signs, since those are changes to the physical world, but they rarely, if ever, recieve prophecies

The prophecy Yellowfang receives about Rusty is the first she has received since taking Raggedstar as her mate, and the prophecy is a lot less clear than it might have been otherwise.

[malkumtend]

I Like Your Laugh. (A CrowSquirrel AU) - Chapter 12

Squirrelpaw hadn’t noticed anything off-putting when she woke up.

It had been the gentle steps of paws that had caused her ears to twitch originally. Groggily dragging her eyes from her paws, she noticed a large, grey shape slowly padding out of the mouth of the cave. A pale light filtered around the entrance, casting a splintered glow across the cave. Through her half-awake squint, Squirrelpaw could just about identify the shape as Stormfur.

He’s probably going to go hunting. Squirrelpaw thought, uncurling from her comfy position, or as comfortable a stone floor could be anyway. Better get up, it wouldn’t be fair to let him do it himself. No matter how early it is.

In fact, it would probably be better to get up soon. They’d need their energy if they wanted to get back to the forest to warn their clans. The looming threat of the prophecy Midnight had told the cats still lurked in Squirrelpaw’s mind. Every clan was in danger, it seemed, and Squirrelpaw knew she had to do everything she could to make sure the group got back before any damage could befall the ones they loved.

She couldn’t smell Midnight close by, so the badger must have already headed out as well. Just by the entrance she could see the hulking figures of Brambleclaw and Tawnypelt still fast asleep. Squirrelpaw smiled a little. The siblings had said some cutting things to the other yesterday, so it was nice to see a sign that they had patched things up. It was also nice to think that Brambleclaw had realised how he had been acting towards the others. Squirrelpaw still didn’t trust him completely but the fact that he had apologised to her was a good start.

She just hoped he stuck to his promise to be better. She really did want them to get along, but if Brambleclaw was going to go back to snarling and insulting her, she wasn’t going to just accept it. She could understand if he was stressed, they all were, especially now, but that didn’t mean she was going to let him treat her like that without a taste of his own medicine.

She stretched her paws out. If Stormfur was up, soon all the others would be too. Then they’d all be able to begin their journey back. She turned her neck around to smooth her ruffled pelt, and found herself freezing when she saw the sleeping face of Crowpaw right next to her.

Squirrelpaw felt a sudden joy when she saw him.

Then that joy transformed into a cresting horror.

Oh no. The Thunderclan apprentice’s pupils shrank as she realised that something else had drastically changed. She didn’t know whether to race away from the sleeping tom or to just watch him breathe gently until he woke up. Her heart began to thunder so hard that she felt her head ache.

The previous night whirled in her mind.

She’d been so tired that she couldn’t even remember coming back into the cave. The last thing she could even picture was her head against Crowpaw’s side as they’d looked out into the night. He must have helped me back inside. Squirrelpaw mused, feeling the trace of a smile cross onto her muzzle.

Her heart fluttered.

Her mind pricked her like a thorn to come back to her senses.

Oh… sweet… Starclan, it was true! Squirrelpaw’s head dipped down in defeat, her eyes wide as realisation gleamed like the burning sun.

I really do… ‘like’ him like that, don’t I?

That very thought meant that Squirrelpaw was going against something sacred.

But she was smart enough to admit it was true.

Squirrelpaw didn’t claim to be experienced when it came to feelings like love. Her only priorities had been on advancing as a warrior, she’d never had the time in Thunderclan to think about those kind of things. The only love she was well known to was the one shared between her mother and father. She’d heard all the stories about how Sandstorm had scoffed at the very thought of becoming friends with a kittypet; seeing her parents now, Squirrelpaw still had a hard time believing those stories.

Well, she’d probably be able to believe them a little easier now.

Not that her parents would be any happier.

Squirrelpaw felt an uneasy quiver travel down to her tail. Could she actually admit this so easily? This was against the Warrior code! She just had to look at what happened to Greystripe and his kits to see what a half-clan relationship could do. Not only did it dishonour your clan, it just brought heartache to everyone involved. It was only one clan or nothing. That much was simple.

But even as those thoughts went through her mind, the stuttering of her heart never sated as long as she was looking at the grey apprentice beside her.

Throughout the journey, it had been Crowpaw that had made Squirrelpaw believe in herself so much more. Her actions weren’t foolish to him, they were brave, and he made certain to let her know that. And when he did think she’d gone too far…

She could still feel herself in his paws, the touch of his fur against hers.

The admittance that she wanted more moments like that were proof enough.

Squirrelpaw let out a groan that sounded more like a squeak, hiding her eyes behind her fluffy tail. What do I do now? She had to try and move past it, surely. Her feelings for him weren’t the thing she needed to keep on her mind. Here she was, whining like a mouse-heart, when her home could be have been reduced to rubble just days ago!

What was the point of wallowing about something pointless like this? It wasn’t like Crowpaw felt the same way. Sure, they were friends but Crowpaw had never given any indication that he liked her beyond that.

He cried over you, didn’t he?

Her tail limply hung over her nose as her eyes stared ahead. That was true. Crowpaw was the most stoic, stone cold apprentice she had ever met, and he had actually spilled tears all because he was scared about her safety.

She felt awful for making him do that, yet she also felt a spark of hope.

He had been cold to everyone from the beginning. Yet he had defended her again and again, stuck by her for most days, and didn’t feel uncomfortable to share tongues and, in some cases, comfort with her.

Last night, he’d said he wanted to continue meeting with her.

Squirrelpaw ran her tongue over her suddenly dry lips. What if… he does feel like that? She couldn’t believe she was even considering this, but she was. If Crowpaw liked her too… did that mean he would still stand by her, even when they returned to the clans,

They were both stubborn enough to try, she thought.

Squirrelpaw knew she needed to strike herself to shut these incredibly dangerous thoughts up, but it didn’t stop a small grin from coming to her lips at the ideas.

Maybe it would be better if she told him straight away. At least then she’d get a clear answer before they returned to the clans, that would be safer for her at least. Then the worst thing that could happen was him rejecting her. And while… that thought didn’t make her too happy, at least she could focus back on the journey.

And if he did like her that way…

Regrettably, Squirrelpaw felt every strand of her fur tingle with glee.

As if struck by lightning, Squirrelpaw felt an energy pulse through her again, snatching away any tiredness she had felt. Yes, she would get it over with as soon as she could! She was going to be a Warrior after all, and Warrior’s didn’t run away from any battle. Not even themselves. As soon as Crowpaw was awake, she was going to get him away from the group, and just face him head on, whether he liked it or not!

Squirrelpaw smirked, that was definitely the best way to tackle this! Just get one problem out of the way so she could focus on the grander one! Of course it was the best of her, not many, options!

Outside of her vision, a yawn made her flinch. “Oh, morning Squirrelbrain.”

Squirrelpaw’s resolve scurried away like a mouse into a dark hole.

The Thunderclan apprentice twitched like she’d been caught in a bush of twisted thorns. Keep calm. She ushered herself through grit teeth.

“Why are you shaking? Is your fur still soaked?” Crowpaw joked, chuckling in a way that made Squirrelpaw tremble a little.

“N-No!” Squirrelpaw exclaimed, turning to face the cat with as straight a face as she could manage. All the Windclan cat had to do was blink sleepily at her, before she could feel her teeth chatter again, though thankfully not audibly. She hid away her jittering with a furrowed brow. “I’m just getting sick of waiting for you lazy lumps to wake up, that’s all!”

Crowpaw rolled his eyes, standing up to stretch his long limbs with a stifled grunt. “From what I saw, you’re the one who looked like she needed the most sleep.” He jibed, a blue pupil glinting at her through a playful slit.

It turned out Squirrelpaw was able to realise with amazing clarity how hard she was blushing, when she actually liked someone.

“Well, I got it!” Squirrelpaw meowed. She shook herself off quickly. She needed to act natural and fast! “How about you? Think you won’t fall asleep in the mud again?” She said, puffing her tail out in faux confidence.

“Too funny.” Crowpaw mewed coolly, sticking himself out straight. Squirrelpaw’s neck shrank a little into her shoulders as she looked up at him. Had he always been this much taller than her? Had he gone through a weird growth spurt overnight? “But yeah, I slept fine thanks.”

“Oh, good.” Squirrelpaw said, meaning her words a little too much.

“It is.” A gentle voice cut in. Both apprentice’s turned, smiling as Feathertail strode up to them with a glistening mood.

To Squirrelpaw’s credit, the only thing that gave her away was the slight widening of her eyes.

Feathertail.

She was the one of the major things Squirrelpaw hadn’t considered. The apprentice was certain that the Warrior held Crowpaw in high regard, and was almost certain she shared the same feelings for the apprentice that Squirrelpaw did. And why wouldn’t she; the two had become friends with each other before Squirrelpaw had found her way into their small group. In fact, the only reason she had even given Crowpaw the time of day at all was because Feathertail had encouraged her to give him a chance.

Oh, how right the Warrior had been.

“Have you two seen Stormfur?” The Riverclan cat asked.

“I think I heard him outside.” Crowpaw responded, grooming his short fur. “I think he’s talking to Midnight.”

Feathertail gave the apprentice a small smile, Squirrelpaw wondered if she’d seen something else inside of it. An uncomfortable irritation made her ears twitch. Silently she gnashed her jaws together.

“Well then,” Squirrelpaw cried, bursting up to her paws. “What are we waiting for? Let’s get going!” From the way her friends looked to each other, brows raised, she wasn’t acting as normal as she wanted to be.

She didn’t realise how loud she’d been until she heard the tired grumbling of her clanmate. “You know, there’s an easier way to wake cats up.” Brambleclaw drawled, uncurling his body to stretch.

Next to him, Tawnypelt rose, giving her brother a light swat with her tail. “Well, at least we’re awake.” Brambleclaw sniffed with a small laugh, groaning as he unfolded his tense limbs.

“Ugh, how does Midnight manage to sleep on that every night?”

Tawnypelt let out a mrrow of laughter. “What? Is it too tough for you?”

Brambleclaw scoffed. “Could be.” The two siblings shared a smirk, with Brambleclaw letting his sister give him a friendly lick on his cheek.

A gentle purr of delight hummed from Feathertail. “Thank Starclan those two are alright?” She mewed, “I was so worried about them after yesterday.”

Crowpaw nodded gently, his blue eyes misty with thought. Squirrelpaw craned her head, what had him and Brambleclaw actually talked about last night? Did the apprentice have more to do with Brambleclaw’s sudden apology than he’d let on? That would make more sense considering how insufferable Brambleclaw had been until then.

“I know that Brambleclaw’s been… difficult recently,” Feathertail continued, holding onto her politeness. “But you could see how hurt he was by what Tawnypelt had said.”

Squirrelpaw scoffed, “It’d be better if he’d seen how he made the rest of us feel before. Maybe then, Tawnypelt wouldn’t have had to tell him like that.” Just because Squirrelpaw was going to give him a chance, it didn’t mean she was going to be easy on him.

“I know,” Feathertail said slowly, “But they’re still siblings, even if they’re from different clans, they shouldn’t be like that.”

Crowpaw shrugged, “I wouldn’t lose sleep over it.” He said, with unnatural confidence. “I think they’ll be fine.”

Both mollie’s turned to him confused. Of all things, they hadn’t expected Crowpaw to sound so calm about the tom who beaten him just a day ago. “You think so?” Feathertail asked, her tail swaying thoughtfully. Squirrelpaw was just as surprised.

Crowpaw’s whiskers twitched up, “Yes. After that, I think he’s got in in his head how much of a mouse-brain he was.”

“Doesn’t mean he’ll stop.” Squirrelpaw muttered.

Crowpaw laughed out loud. Squirrelpaw felt her cheeks burn.  “I can agree with you there. If he starts again, that’ll just mean he’s more flea-brained than I thought.”

Feathertail sighed, “I guess we’ll see for ourselves. I don’t want to be unfair to him though.” She said mildly. She really was the most gentle hearted cats Squirrelpaw had ever met. Any cat who didn’t like her had to have rabbit dung instead of a heart.

The apprentice stopped short though when Crowpaw graciously pressed his nose against her pelt. “You, unfair? It’s more likely that my fur will turn white!.” His tone held the same genial tone that Crowpaw had always used with the Warrior. But it was Feathertail’s reaction that caught Squirrelpaw off guard.

The Riverclan molly��s fur flared around in flattered astonishment, before a warmth glowed across her face. She pressed her tail against his fur in thanks. Squirrelpaw recognised the glow in her eyes. It had first appeared when Crowpaw had saved Feathertail from the dog.

Squirrelpaw felt her throat tighten and her stomach quiver.

She sprang up to her paws, clawing away at her stupid thoughts and tightening her muzzle with a grin. “Okay okay! Enough chattering! Let’s get hunting!” She shouted. She seemed to be acting more naturally as Feathertail giggled while Crowpaw’s tail curled in amusement.

“There’s her focus, right there.”

Squirrelpaw stuck her tongue out at him, her bushy tail flaring as she pranced over to the cave entrance. She inwardly sighed in relief that they hadn’t noticed anything off about her, but there was still that stupid coil in her stomach, that mixture of frustration, regret and pathetic jealousy.

Fox-dung! I need to find a way to get over this!

Neither of her friends were idiots, if she kept on acting like that over every little thing, they would catch her out sooner or later. But wasn’t that what she wanted? To get it out as soon as possible. Eventually, she would need to.

Eventually.

But if Feathertail liked him as well? Squirrelpaw grimaced. Would Feathertail be hurt by her confession? She could just hope that Crowpaw would keep it a secret. But even then, Squirrelpaw would feel like she was betraying the cat she had grown to respect so much. Feathertail didn’t deserve to be hurt. She deserved to be happy. And if that happiness came from Crowpaw then…

Squirrelpaw clenched her teeth. She was overthinking this. So what if Feathertail had looked respectfully towards Crowpaw? Any cat would appreciate him if he was as kind to them as he was to her. Squirrelpaw was probably mistaken. There was no clarity that Feathertail held anything for the apprentice, she might even have someone at Riverclan that her heart belonged to.

Squirrelpaw had to keep her hopes up. If she lost sleep over this it could affect her during the journey.

Her clan was her duty, that was what she needed to lead her.

Despite her attraction to another clan cat.

Squirrelpaw groaned. The sooner they got on their way the better! Her stomach suddenly growled and her face heated up. Though she had been right before, they did need to get hunting.

She blinked away the glowing face of the sun as she found the entrance. “All right, where’s the prey around here? I’m starving!”

“Budge up and let the rest of us out.” Crowpaw said snidely from behind her. “Then we might be able to tell you!” He gave her rump a friendly nudge and she sprang forward, failing at ignoring the tingling where his head had touched her. Crowpaw pounced ahead of her, smirking playfully at her and Feathertail, as the Warrior bounced beside the two then up to her brother who sat by the pebbles talking to Midnight.

In the brightness of the sun, it was hard to tell if the gleaming in Feathertail’s eyes was down to the strong light, or something else entirely.

Squirrelpaw felt her appetite diminish a little. This was going to be harder than she thought.

…

The sun had risen higher into the sky, painting the horizon with a glittering blue. The travelling cats followed Midnight as they began their way back to the forest, all prepared to spring the moment they saw prey.

Squirrelpaw’s stomach continued to growl like a kittypet as she walked beside Stormfur albeit a little sulkily. She had suggested that the group hunt first before they made their journey back, but Brambleclaw had recommended that they hunt along the way. Annoyingly the rest of the group had agreed with the tom, even Crowpaw of all cats. That had stung more than it should have.

It was even more annoying that Squirrelpaw had to admit to herself that her clanmate was right. They didn’t have time to waste, even if they were hungry. Squirrelpaw didn’t have a problem with the fact that she was wrong, but it still seemed to her that Brambleclaw was trying to keep some kind of leadership over the rest of them. Even now, he kept at the head of the group, occasionally looking back at them like they were his responsibility.

However, the urgency in his eyes did look more like concern now, rather than control.

Squirrelpaw sighed. At least he was being helpful if he was going to be bossy.

It was slightly easier moving, now that they knew where they were going. The Prophecy had been told, and Squirrelpaw was part of it now. But the danger that awaited them was impossible to ignore and would remain with them every step of the way.

It would do no good to panic. It wouldn’t help any of them and wouldn’t stop what was coming. They just needed to carry on and pray to Starclan it wasn’t too late.

Like her companions, Squirrelpaw kept her focus on finding prey. They’d need to keep their strength for as long as they could, after all. The air was warm, but a gentle breeze still wavered the long moor grass. Hopefully, it would lead something towards them after a while.

Squirrelpaw’s tail curled as she remembered Crowpaw’s advice from yesterday. She pressed her nose to the swaying grass, trying to catch a scent in the air. She heard a confused mrrow come from Stormfur.

“What are you doing?” He asked softly.

She didn’t answer as she tried to find a smell. Nothing came. Sighing, she rose up again and gave Stormfur a shrug. “It’s a Windclan technique Crowpaw taught me. Looks like it didn’t work this time.” Maybe the wind wasn’t strong enough.

Stormfur’s eyes shifted away, his tail lashing in small irritation. “I see.” Squirrelpaw rose a brow at the annoyance in his eyes. What was his problem?

She was about to speak when she felt her whiskers sway a different way. Along came a mouth-watering scent. Before she could even react, Crowpaw had sprinted off into the direction of a nearby hill. Squirrelpaw could just about see the white tail of the rabbit.

“Wait! Where are you going?” Brambleclaw yelled. Whether Crowpaw heard him or not didn’t matter as his long grey tail disappeared under the green slope of the hill. The Thunderclan Warrior growled in exasperation. “Does he ever listen?”

Squirrelpaw frowned. He’s just trying to catch us some food.

“He won’t be long.” Feathertail mewed with a soothing chuckle. “You could hardly expect him to ignore a rabbit when it pops right under our noses.” Squirrelpaw may have smiled at the Warrior’s defence, but a jealous heat still rushed to her cheeks.

Brambleclaw didn’t snap, but his tail still whipped hotly around.

Squirrelpaw bit her lip, holding back an urge to hiss at her clanmate. He had promised he was going to try harder!

Maybe sensing the growing tension, Stormfur readied himself to follow Crowpaw. “I’ll fetch him back!” The light in the tom’s amber eyes faded as the group saw Crowpaw reappear over the hill. A rabbit almost as big as the apprentice hung from his mouth. Squirrelpaw wasn’t surprised that her friends were even more shocked than her.

Even for Crowpaw, that was fast.

Dragging the rabbit back, Crowpaw dropped it before the cats, his blue eyes coolly looking to Brambleclaw. “That didn’t take long, did it?” Crowpaw meowed, “I suppose we’re allowed to stop and eat it?” He cocked his head to the side, daring someone to object him.

Brambleclaw opened his mouth, frowning, then shut it again as he looked back at the rabbit. The smell was clearly making all of their stomachs groan. The brown Warrior sighed gently, “Of course.” Squirrelpaw’s eyes widened as she saw clear regret in her clanmate’s eyes. Brambleclaw took a breath, his large form relaxing. “Sorry Crowpaw, I’d forgotten how fast Windclan cats can be. This…” His voice became soft. “This moorland must feel like home to you.”

An small uneasiness crept into Crowpaw’s gaze, he quickly looked away with a sharp nod. “It’s fine. Now let’s eat.” Brambleclaw didn’t respond, but there was a grateful warmth around him. Something glowed inside Squirrelpaw at her clanmate’s small action.

It was a small apology, but it was an apology nonetheless.

Maybe, just maybe, the cat was changing for the better.

Maybe she’d get back her friend again.

As the cats began to eat, Brambleclaw turned and found Squirrelpaw looking at him. He swallowed hard, his back fur quivering a little as the apprentice looked blankly at him. They shared a look for a few seconds. He took in a cold breath and smiled softly at the cat, a heavy look in his eyes.

Squirrelpaw didn’t smile, but she nodded softly at him. She wasn’t entirely sure yet. But that little moment, it was certainly better than before.

She gulped down her share of the rabbit, sighing as her hunger settled. It wouldn’t be enough on its own, but it was a good start to the day. She inwardly grinned. Crowpaw was proving himself to the group, little by little. Her fur quivered with delight. Looking around, every cat looked happier thanks to the cat’s catch.

Except Stormfur.

The Riverclan tom held a strange apprehensiveness in his stare, his tail clearly twitching with agitation. Squirrelpaw slid her gaze to where he was looking and she too held her eyes on the sight. Feathertail ate beside Crowpaw, close enough to be touching pelts, but it wasn’t that that made Squirrelpaw unsettled. It was the radiance that glittered in Feathertail’s eyes.

Ah. So Stormfur saw it too. He had the same suspicions as her.

It would make sense. Stormfur had full experience of what a half-clan relationship meant. It was only natural that he was worried, if he saw that look that his sister gave to a different clan cat.

The voice in Squirrelpaw’s head that told her she was overreacting suddenly sounded much more desperate. Kind of like begging.

It was still possible that Feathertail’s admiration was for Crowpaw’s hunting abilities. Any cat would appreciate that.

Looking at him, Squirrelpaw admired things about Crowpaw as well.

The shine of his fur in the cool sun, as well as the confidence that stuck out in his form, pulsing in his eyes. They looked much more striking.

Squirrelpaw began to swallow more out of necessity than pleasure. It was harder to focus on her hunger now she realised how handsome Crowpaw was.

…

It was Sunhigh by the time the group had reached the forest. In a turn of luck, bad luck if Crowpaw’s expression was to say anything, Purdy had kept his promise and had stayed at the forest edge until they returned.

Squirrelpaw hadn’t been the biggest fan of the past kittypet, especially considering his questionable sense of directions, but she still respected that he had been of help to them in the Two-leg place. Plus, the fact he had been willing to spring at Midnight, when she could have easily killed him with one blow, it was respectful to say the least.

Luckily that hadn’t turned into any trouble. And now it was time to hunt for real, before they returned to their travels.

Brambleclaw had suggested they meet up at their old camp, before he and Tawnypelt had stalked away on their own. Squirrelpaw had turned to Crowpaw and Feathertail, assuming they would hunt together, and found Feathertail awkwardly glancing away from the hard gaze of Stormfur. Squirrrelpaw’s tail dropped, so he still didn’t trust the thought of them.

Not that the idea was any more pleasant to Squirrelpaw.

Feathertail flushed with obvious embarrassment. “W-Why don’t we all hunt together?” She mewed, her stare pleading towards her brother. “We’d all do better as a group.”

“Sounds good to me.” Crowpaw added, he looked over to Stormfur welcomingly.

Stormfur looked away, his neck fur prickling. “No.” Stormfur griped, turning with an annoyed swing of his tail. A clear pang of hurt welled in Feathertail’s eyes, her ears dropping back. “I’m fine on my own.” Stormfur either didn’t notice or didn’t care as he padded away into the bushes. Squirrelpaw could see his teeth on display in a grimace.

Squirrelpaw heard his rustling lessen before turning back to her friends. Feathertail’s tail was limp on the ground as she looked down at her paws, wounded. Squirrelpaw felt pity rush through her, it was awful to see Feathertail upset.

At least Crowpaw was there to comfort her.

He shook his head in annoyed confusion before he rubbed against Feathertail’s pelt cordially. “Don’t worry about him. Whatever has gotten burrs stuck in his fur, he’ll get over it. Don’t let it get to you.”

Feathertail still looked upset, but she pressed her tail against the apprentice in appreciation. There was also the flicker in her eyes again.

Squirrelpaw found herself looking away from the two as well.

“Squirrelpaw!” Crowpaw called, “Are you coming?” He was inviting her, he still wanted her there. But Squirrelpaw couldn’t find the energy like before. Not like this.

Fumbling, she kept her gaze away until she was looking at the bushed where Stormfur had disappeared. A quick spark erupted in her brain. “Actually, I might go catch up with Stormfur and hunt with him.”

Crowpaw rose a brow while Feathertail looked up with interest. “Oh.” Crowpaw made a puzzled mrrow. “Are you sure? He said he’d be fine alone.”

Squirrelpaw rolled her tail dismissively, “Of course, he’d say that. But it’s like Feathertail said, we’ll all do better in a group. I’ll go help him; you two will be fine together.” The last word was more straining to say.

“I would really appreciate that Squirrelpaw.” Feathertail mewed with a soft smile. “He would get on better if he had some cat to help him.”

Crowpaw’s tail curled, “Yeah, but are you sure he’d want Squirrelpaw there?”

The Thunderclan apprentice scowled, her fluffy chest puffing out in offence. “Why wouldn’t he? The forest is my kind of territory, you know?”

“I know that. It’s just…” Crowpaw gave Feathertail a stiff glance, his brow creased. Feathertail laughed with a wave of her tail.

“I’m sure he’d love her company.” Feathertail’s whiskers rose, a strange smirk rising on her face. Squirrelpaw cocked her head as Crowpaw nodded with an exasperated sniff.

“What’s going on?”

Crowpaw flicked his tail. “Never mind.”

Feathertail took a tentative step towards her. “Are you sure you don’t want to hunt with us? We can come with you if you like.”

Squirrelpaw shook her head, a little too forcefully. She took a leap away towards the bushes. “I’ll be fine! All the prey won’t be in one place, after all.” She crafted a playful smirk, “I’ll see you guys later. Make sure Crowpaw doesn’t trip over his paws, okay Feathertail!”

“I heard that!” Crowpaw yowled over Feathertail’s laughter as the ginger apprentice pranced away.

“You were supposed to, mouse-brain!” She sang back. Squirrelpaw jumped through the undergrowth, shaking off any leaves that got caught in her fur. Now she was out of sight, she let her artificial smile break.

Pathetic. She didn’t even have the heart to be around her own friends. Not when the question still dug into her like the teeth of a pack of dogs.

Starclan above! She was supposed to be a Warrior! The hero of the forest’s daughter!

And she couldn’t even look a cat in the eye without wanting to melt.

She was gifting the two time together, why? She wanted to believe that she was a good friend supporting the idea that Feathertail did like Crowpaw and giving the two some time to bond.

She knew that wasn’t the truth.

Because every time she did see a sign of that possibility, she felt a burning misery.

She just wanted to get away from that.

A flashing pain pounded on her head. Grumbling, she looked up, letting out a low moan when she saw the cause. “Stupid tree.” She needed to be on her guard. Even if she was looking for Stormfur, she still needed to hunt for herself.

It would do her some good.

Her senses shot around until a familiar musk hit her. And it wasn’t of any kind of prey. At least he didn’t go far.

Squirrelpaw followed the scent of Riverclan until she found Stormfur beside a small stream rushing along a crack in the forest. His ears were fixed downwards, and his head was turned towards the water. Along his back his fur was still spiked with distaste. Squirrelpaw stepped towards him. “Any fish?”

Stormfur sprang a little, turning to the apprentice with fur prickled in alarm. Squirrelpaw held back a laugh. Stormfur stiffened himself, whiskers swirling shamefully. “Oh, it’s you Squirrelpaw. Um, no, The water’s too shallow for fish.”

Squirrelpaw sighed. “Bad luck. Still, found anything yet.”

“Just a mouse. It’s buried over there.” His tail swung towards land where a grand elm tree stood tall. “So, not that I mind.” His voice quavered, “But what are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be hunting with my sister and Crowpaw.”

Squirrelpaw shrugged, “Those two will do fine themselves. I thought I’d come and give you some help.”

Stormfur’s face brightened but he still kept still. “Oh, I, uh, I appreciate that. But I said I’d be fine alone.” He said. Squirrelpaw thought he was trying to look bigger than he was. This cat really could be weird.

“Well, I say, we’ll hunt better as a group. And even if you say no, I’m still going to follow you.” She said, lashing her tail to say that was the end of it.

“But-”

“But nothing.” Squirrelpaw meowed, she strolled up to him and gave him a nudge. She could smell squirrel and mice around. “Come on, we’ll go this way.”

Squirrelpaw paced ahead, but she still turned back to wait for Stormfur. The Warrior stood there, nonplussed, a moment longer before sighing with a smiling resignation. Squirrelpaw smiled back. She didn’t know why Stormfur needed to make such a big deal of it.

Then again, she probably couldn’t talk much.

They hunted together, ears pricked and ready. Squirrelpaw had been right, they had worked much better together. Stormfur had been able to find a pair of mice that the two had quickly silenced and buried under the pile. The tom had almost missed a squirrel as it scrambled up a tree, but Squirrelpaw had been able to jump up and catch it before it escaped. Stormfur had nodded with respect as she dispatched the prey. Squirrelpaw had thanked him with a playful bow.

It was good Stormfur was there though, he could carry much more than Squirrelpaw could. They still had time to catch some more, and the aroma of vole lingered in the air, making their mouths water. It hadn’t been long before Stormfur had found the creature and was carrying it back in his teeth.

Squirrelpaw felt impressed at the obvious experience of the Warrior, many Thunderclan cats had told her that Riverclan was a nest of lazy cats who’d rather sleep in the sun than hunt. That couldn’t be less true when she saw Stormfur. He never looked away or unfixed as he stalked the scent he had found, and he was certainly just as strong as any Warrior she knew. Sure the was a strange hesitation around him that Squirrelpaw couldn’t identify, but it wasn’t so distracting that it threw the cat off of his work.

It just hit Squirrelpaw then how impactful this journey really had been. Excluding the obvious, she knew that wouldn’t believe any stories about the other clans again, she didn’t see these cats as rivals but as friends that would forever change how she saw the Clans themselves. And she couldn’t have been more happy about it.

“There.” Stormfur exclaimed as he dropped the vole onto the pile. “That should be enough.”

Squirrelpaw let out a proud chirp as she began to uncover the prey. “See! I told you we’d work better as a team! Let’s get these back to the others, I’m so hungry I could eat a toad!”

Squirrelpaw heard Stormfur chuckle as she began to collect the prey, but it was short and weak. Flicking an ear, Squirrelpaw looked up, becoming concerned when she saw Stormfur looking down with a hazy expression.

Squirrelpaw laid the prey down again. “Hey, what’s the matter?”

Stormfur exhaled, a guilty aura looming over him. “I should have gone with you guys.”

“Huh?”

He let out a frustrated moan. “I’m supposed to be here to watch over Feathertail. I shouldn’t have just left her like that.” He raked his paw across the ground, scowling at thin air. “What if something’s happened to her?”

Squirrelpaw approached the cat, her eyes tender on him. It really was cute how close he was to Feathertail. “Nothing will have happened to her.” She mewed, rubbing her tail against his pelt. “Feathertail can fend for herself, besides she has Crowpaw with her.”

Squirrelpaw could immediately tell those had been the wrong words, as Stormfur glowered, bending over as his amber eyes blazed. “So, she does.”

The venom in his tone wasn’t strong, but it was obvious enough that Squirrelpaw found herself frowning. “What’s your problem with Crowpaw?” She demanded, her neck fur spiking. “I thought you and him were starting to get along!”

Stormfur actually looked cowed at her reaction as he visibly edged away. His tail trailed dust as it wavered from side to side. Closing his eyes, Stormfur let out a soft hiss of irritation. “Ugh! You’ve seen what they’re like, right?”

The strength in Squirrelpaw’s stance reeled. She just about managed to feign ignorance. “What?” She said, her voice shamefully high-pitched.

Stormfur turned, bent over as he steamed. “I know you’re not mouse-brained, Squirrelpaw. You’ve seen how they act around each other.” He padded over to where the stream chattered, staring down at his reflection.

Squirrelpaw wanted to speak up, but Stormfur was only echoing her own thoughts back to her. Actually, the fact another cat shared her assumptions made them look alarmingly accurate. Stormfur knew Feathertail better than anyone.

She must have looked off as Stormfur only glanced at her once before making a bitter chuff. “See, you have noticed!” He returned his eyes to the water, shoulders rising “What could she honestly see in that apprentice?!”

Despite herself, Squirrelpaw’s eyes darted up to the Warrior with a glare. Don’t talk about him like you actually know him! Luckily, she had regained enough control to not say her thoughts out loud, but what she did say was still cold. “Hmm, what could a cat see in an apprentice?”

Stormfur flinched, looking back at her with guilt in his eyes. “Sorry Squirrelpaw. I didn’t mean it like that.” He murmured, his flossy tail trailing on the ground.

The ginger molly softened. She knew that Stormfur wasn’t trying to be hurtful, he wasn’t that kind of cat. “It’s alright.” Squirrelpaw mewed, her own voice growing gentle. “I’m sorry too. I know you’re just worried about Feathertail.”

Stormfur smiled graciously, but he returned his downcast head to his reflection. Squirrelpaw’s ears went back in pity. She went over to the stream, sitting beside the grey tom. He looked down with a misty expression. “I just can’t see how it couldn’t bother them. They’re in different clans!”

Squirrelpaw’s smile tightened. “They might just be friends, Stormfur.”

Stormfur turned to her unhappily. “I want that to be true, Squirrelpaw. But Feathertail… I’ve never seen her act like how she does around him.” Squirrelpaw pressed her teeth together as Stormfur went on. “What happens if they do like each other that way? They can’t just expect the clans will accept it! They could end up exiled, or worse!”

I know.

Squirrelpaw exhaled, gazing off into the distance. “Have you tried asking Feathertail how she feels about him?”

Stormfur scoffed, “Have you?”

The apprentice looked up at him icily. “It never bothered me before.” She lied. “Crowpaw told me you were okay with him and Feathertail being friends.”

Stormfur looked aside, exhaling deeply. “I am. I’m not against Crowpaw as a cat.” Squirrelpaw felt a small relief at that, even though she could sense there was a ‘but’. “I do trust him. I just… I just don’t want Feathertail to get herself hurt.”

“Crowpaw would rather hurt himself before hurting Feathertail!” Squirrelpaw exclaimed, her tail flaring up again.

“I know!” Stormfur insisted. “But it still doesn’t change that they will get themselves hurt if I’m right.” The grey tom struck a paw at his reflection, hissing as his saw his murky face ripple across the water. Squirrelpaw still frowned, but she couldn’t argue. Stormfur wasn’t wrong. And in the end, he was just desperately worried about his dear sister. She couldn’t hold that against him.

Besides, it wasn’t like he knew his words were affecting her as well.

What was she going to do when this was all over? Regardless of whether Feathertail did like Crowpaw or not, it didn’t change how there were barriers that blocked Squirrelpaw from him as well.

Firestar was protective enough of her when she had hung around Bramblestar.

She dreaded to think what he would do if he found out who she was really attracted to.

Squirrelpaw found her own reflection in the stream. Wavering around without direction on the surface of a hollow space. She blinked when she saw the dolour fogging her eyes, closing and opening until she felt she could see her face a little more clearly.

For a brief moment, Squirrelpaw felt like she could see what she’d been before the journey had started.

But that was kittish. It was never going to be like that again.

“I don’t know, Stormfur.” Squirrelpaw said with a swift tiredness. She hated how small she sounded. “I just want to get back home.”

She wanted all these questions in her heart to be answered, whether she liked the answers or not.

Thankfully, Stormfur seemed to accept that answer, he curled his tail around Squirrelpaw’s back. “I know. I do too.” He stated placidly. The two sat in silence, looking down towards the water. Squirrelpaw felt Stormfur twitch a little. “There’s a much bigger river than this at home…obviously,” He added in with a small laugh, “It’s full of fish at every mark. Me and Feathertail learnt how to swim in it together.” Stormfur smiled at his recollections, the peaceful imagery washing over Squirrelpaw with a sympathetic rush. Stormfur’s muzzle thinned, his voice growing faint. “I wonder if it’s still there.”

Squirrelpaw returned his touch, rubbing against him soothingly. “It’s going to be fine.” She grinned up at him with a flicker in her green eyes. “Because even if it isn’t, there’s a much bigger river out there somewhere! And you and Feathertail are going to lead your clan to it!”

Stormfur laughed, “Isn’t that the dream.” He meowed. He looked down at the apprentice, something glimmering in his stare for a moment before he turned away with a sigh. “I just hope Feathertail will be happy when it happens.”

Would Feathertail be happy if she had to leave the cat she cared about?

Squirrelpaw knew how she’d feel.

“Don’t worry about that.” The Thunderclan cat declared, getting up to return to the buried prey. “You ought to ask her. Now come on, I’m starting to digest myself, I’m so hungry!”

The Riverclan tom looked on for a moment before rising up as well, clear wonder in his expression. “Do you actually think she’d tell me?”

Squirrelpaw picked up whatever she could carry. “You’re her brother, aren’t you?” She said, her voice muffled by her full mouth. She wandered away to the direction of the camping sight, slowing down so Stormfur could catch up, but not looking back at him.

She didn’t want to think about those questions anymore.

It was far too exhausting. And it was painful to know they weren’t going away anytime soon.

…

The journey had changed with the rising of the sun.

Midnight had informed them that there was a quicker way to reach home than the Twolegplace, which had suited the group fine until they realised where she was pointing them towards.

Into the direction of the sun. It hung above the sharp tops of the mountain range.

It had been a close vote among the cats, but there was a common feeling of how dire their time was running out that led them towards the latter option. It was unknown territory, but they figured it couldn’t be anymore harder than what they had all faced already. So, the cats had said their goodbyes to Midnight and Purdy, before setting off towards the stones that splintered the clouds.

It hadn’t been too hard at the start, the rock was smooth and not too slippery, and to his credit, Brambleclaw seemed to lead them to paths that weren’t too steep to climb at all.

But as they’d grown higher up, the paths had thinned, and the air had grown colder. Soon they were balancing themselves on thin ridges jutted out from the body of the mountain. Every cat had had to rely on another to balance them at some point. At the very least, the trust the cats now shared was more obvious than ever.

It didn’t mean that any of them were any calmer though.

Squirrelpaw felt her heart in her ears as she carefully held herself on the ridge before her. The others ahead looked just as nervous, even Brambleclaw who’s heavy breathing could be heard from the back of the line. No cat judged him for it. A breeze had met the cats as they walked along, and every cold wisp that made Squirrelpaw’s whiskers twitch made the freezing fear in her belly even stronger.

“You’re doing fine.” Stormfur said, he traversed behind her at the back of the group, just in case any predator tried to sneak up on the group from behind.

Squirrelpaw meant to mutter a thank you, but it was warbled by tense worry. She was trying her hardest to keep her eyes ahead, but the corner of her eye was amazingly vivid, capturing the view that showcased a river, as thin as a whisker from their height, that awaited any cat that was unfortunate enough to drop.

Bad thoughts! Bad thoughts! Squirrelpaw grinded her teeth and pressed on. Just keep moving forward.

In front of her, Tawnypelt shifted on with equal strength. “How much further, Brambleclaw?” She called. Her brother had reached a turn at the mountain-face and not even a second later there was a sudden shout of frustration.

“No!”

Squirrelpaw flinched, leaning to the mountain, so she didn’t lose her balance. The other cats looked equally disturbed. “What is it?” Stormfur shouted.

No cat responded until every cat had made their way around the turn. For a moment, Squirrelpaw felt her worries loosen as she found the others at a wider slab of stone that let the cats all rest together. However, her mouth dropped in horror as she saw the edge ahead of them.

There was a gap between the ridge they currently inhabited and the next solid ground. It wasn’t too far, but the expanse of twisted trees and rough stone that lay at the bottom made it look so much bigger.

“Sh-Should we go back?” Stormfur suggested. Squirrelpaw’s belly twisted at the thought of braving that ridge again, but the drop ahead didn’t look any better.

Brambleclaw’s face twisted into a squint, “Look over there!”

The cats did, and sure enough they saw what he was looking at. On the other side of the drop, the stone was undeniably smoother and wider, more than enough to hold the cats without difficulty.

“There’s bushes growing over there as well!” Feathertail exclaimed. “There might be prey!”

Crowpaw took a step near the edge and sniffed. His eyes brightened. “I can smell rabbits over there!”

“Should we risk it though?” Stormfur mumbled, his eyes wide on the drop below. “It’s a good leap.”

“Its’s not like back there’s any easier.” Brambleclaw started forward, driven by his instincts. Then he paused, his ears dropping back as his tail rested on the stone floor. He looked to the other side, clearly longing to waste no time, but he sighed and retreated on his haunches, looking to the others. “But if you all feel safer going that way, we can.”

Squirrelpaw could tell each cat was trying to hide how surprised they were by her clanmate’s attitude. It wasn’t long ago that he had practically forced them to follow whatever he said was best. But each cat was clearly pleased by what he said. Squirrelpaw could have thought she was ill by the admiration she felt for the Warrior.

Maybe he can make a good leader. When he’s not being a mouse-brain.

Luckily for Brambleclaw, a vote on the matter wasn’t needed. As Crowpaw was clearly preparing himself to spring. “We can’t just stand here as if we’ll grow wings!” He meowed. Before any cat could stop him, he sprang from the ledge. Squirrelpaw’s throat clenched as she saw him in the air, overwhelmed by the thought of him falling. His name was in her throat as he landed, his paws gracefully meeting the stone.

He let out a satisfied puff of air, glancing back to the others with a grin. “Come on, it’s easy!”

Squirrelpaw felt her insides settle, but her eyes went red with anger. He shouldn’t have just jumped off like that without warning! Despite how brave he was, his action could have easily gone wrong! She couldn’t even blame Brambleclaw for how furious he looked at the apprentice’s sudden decision.

Squirrelpaw sighed. Oh, what good will it do to moan about it? They had to follow Crowpaw’s lead now, or else they’d have to just leave him there, he would never be able to jump back to the narrow rock.

Squirrelpaw shook her head. When I get over there, I’m raking his muzzle!

“I’ll go next.” Feathertail offered. Squirrelpaw wondered if it was because the Warrior could sense the other’s annoyance with Crowpaw. She felt annoyance bristle her fur again, trying to block out Stormfur’s words. Feathertail waited a moment before leaping over; Crowpaw readied himself at the other end to steady her if she stumbled. Fortunately, the Riverclan molly landed with a steady thud, and she grinned to Crowpaw with a wave of her tail.

Squirrelpaw felt her paws growing hot.

“All right. Who’s next?” Brambleclaw asked.

“I’ll go!” Squirrelpaw said immediately, walking up to the ledge with her tail flared irritably.

Brambleclaw stiffened, “You don’t have to-”

“I will!” Squirrelpaw hissed, twisting to her clanmate with green fire. She saw Brambleclaw back off, his lips tight. The ginger molly felt her anger evaporate, replaced by a sudden guilt. Brambleclaw hadn’t been the one to annoy her, she couldn’t go at him for nothing. “Sorry.” She mumbled, “But, I’ll be fine. Okay?”

Brambleclaw nodded graciously, a small peace in his eyes.

“See you over there.” Squirrelpaw mewed. She placed her forepaws on the ledge and put pressure into her back legs. She couldn’t mess this up. She steadied her gaze on the other ledge where her friends stood and clenched down the fear in her gut. Pushing herself on her back legs, she leapt into the air, not looking down as she felt the wind traveling in her face.

Her front paws met the stone first but Squirrelpaw felt terror wrack her as she realised her back paws wouldn’t meet the stone. I’m going to fall!

As her stomach hit the crooked edge with a grunt, she could have squealed in terror. She felt her heart in her mouth as her back legs began to fall down, but a strong set of jaws held her scruff, steadying her on the stone as her legs swung in the open air. She scrambled forward, pulled up by the force on her scruff until her belly was resting safely on the stone.

Squirrelpaw was breathing so heavily that she almost did not hear the yowl. “Are you okay?”

Pulling her panting face from the stone, she quivered as she saw Crowpaw standing above her. His blue eyes were wide with concern that made her breathing slow. “I-I’m fine!”

“You did great!” Brambleclaw called from the other side, his voice higher than normal. Squirrelpaw looked back and saw him exhaling with obvious relief. She waved her tail at him thankfully.

Squirrelpaw felt a tender nudge at her side and saw Feathertail ushering her to get up. “You did really well.” The Warrior mewed. Squirrelpaw knew she was just being kind. How could she have let herself stumble like that?

“I would have fallen for sure if you hadn’t caught me.” She looked up again at Crowpaw, the warmth inside her swelling uncontrollably. She could actually feel her eyes drifting as Crowpaw smiled down at her.

“Hey, you still made it, didn’t you?” He simpered, “Just because Squirrel’s in your name, it doesn’t mean you can leap like one.”

Squirrelpaw might have raked his eyes for that earlier, now she just batted his face away with her paw. “Don’t ruin this, rabbit-brain.” She said, getting up to her paws and shaking the loose bits of rock out of her fur. She noticed how close she was to Crowpaw and blushed.

Her breath stopped again as a thought entered her mind. She glanced over to Feathertail, and found the cat preparing herself at the edge in case another cat stumbled. She didn’t seem to mind at all when Crowpaw was with Squirrelpaw. At least, not as obviously affected Squirrelpaw felt when Feathertail was near him.

Did that mean Feathertail wasn’t interested in Crowpaw? Or was she just stronger when it came to hiding her feelings?

Possibly she was just a stronger cat than Squirrelpaw.

Nothing made Squirrelpaw feel any better about it. Nothing was clarified or denied.

Like the drop that could have claimed her, it was just a gaping unknown.

…

Finally, things were beginning to look better. After the cats had all made it to the other side, they’d decided it was the perfect time to hunt. On the other side of the ledge, the stone had linked with a wide valley growing on the mountain side between two rifts. There was even a small trickling stream where the cats had been able to gain a well-deserved drink.

The cats all rested on a small slope where bushes and a few trees stood out gloriously. It was so much more satisfying to relax after how tricky that ridge had been.

Squirrelpaw had come to a familiar decision.

After Crowpaw and Feathertail had volunteered to go hunting again, the ginger molly was beginning to grow tired of her lack of answers. It was clear that she wasn’t going to find out if Feathertail liked the tom or not, so she was going to take care of another issue in the meantime.

She was going to tell Crowpaw how she felt.

She’d had enough of wasting her time with her guts in knots. Once he got back, she was going to get some kind of answer from him, and then maybe she wouldn’t have to spend her time getting so darn frustrated anymore.

The two cats had returned with mouths full of prey. As the cats ate up their shares, Squirrelpaw made sure she was next to Crowpaw. She nudged him with her tail, making him look up curiously.

“What is it?”

“Once you’re done, can you meet me over there?” She pointed her tail in the direction of a pair of thick bushes. “I need to talk to you about something.”

Crowpaw raised a brow, “Can we talk about it here?”

Not a chance!

“No!” Squirrelpaw meowed in a hushed voice. “Just meet me over there, all right?”

Crowpaw swung his tail in exasperation, but he didn’t argue. “Okay, sure.”

Squirrelpaw beamed. “Thank you!”

It didn’t take long for Squirrelpaw to finish her share after that, she gulped the prey down and padded away from the cats. She gave Crowpaw a wink as she made her way to the bushes. He rolled his eyes and continued eating, but he was evidently amused.

Squirrelpaw found the back of the bush and let out a deep breath. It was suddenly hitting her what she was just about to do. She stamped her paw on the ground with a growl. Come on! Don’t be a mouse-heart! This is exactly why you’ve been so pathetic all day! Just tell him how you feel and be done with it, for the love of Silverpelt!

What was she even meant to say? Should she just blurt it out when he came around the bush? How would he even react? She still didn’t know definitively if he liked her or not.

Well then, you’re about to find out.

Good Starclan, the little voice didn’t care about any kind of consequences at all.

But it was really persuasive.

There was no point in fighting it anymore. It wasn’t just that it was affecting how she saw Crowpaw, it was tainting her perception of Feathertail. That made Squirrelpaw feel awful. She remembered how annoyed she’d gotten seeing the two of them on the peak. And then Feathertail had made her look like a fool when she nuzzled Squirrelpaw’s side, beyond worried about her.

No cat deserved this. Squirrelpaw just wanted everything between them to be normal again. But it was her own fault she felt like this, and she needed to take some action herself. She couldn’t just wait around for Feathertail or Crowpaw to say something.

“What did you need, Stormfur?”

Squirrelpaw’s full stomach almost came out of her mouth when she heard the Riverclan molly’s voice. Perking her ears up, she craned her head around the bush. Stormfur and Feathertail had wandered away from the group, sitting together by the small stream that ran down the mountain side. Feathertail’s faced away from Squirrelpaw, but the apprentice could see discomfort darknening Stormfur’s expression.

The grey cat let out a low hiss of breath. “Listen Feathertail, you and Crowpaw-”

Squirrelpaw’s eyes widened, he was actually going to ask her about it?! She kept herself hidden, but her ears were alert like she was hunting on a monster-path.

So it was easy to hear the sharpness in Feathertail’s reply. “What about Crowpaw?” Feathertail’s fur bristled as she growled. “You are all so unfair to him!”

Her voice was hard and defensive, hidden like an adder in the grass. Squirrelpaw felt her jaw drop at the Warrior’s anger.

Would she get so angry over a friend?

Y-You’d do the same! It doesn’t mean anything!

“That’s not the point!” Stormfur spoke like he was treading on the ridge again. “What’s going to happen when we get home? Crowpaw’s in a different clan.”

See, this is it. She’ll become confused and deny everything he thinks and then you can shut up and get on with everything.

“We don’t even know if there will be clans anymore.” Feathertail protested. Squirrelpaw quivered and her breathing became cold. “We’ll be leaving the forest remember!”

Squirrelpaw’s ears dropped down but she still listened carefully. W-Why isn’t she denying anything?

“Do you think the clan boundaries will just vanish because we have to leave?” Stormfur scoffed.

“Have you forgotten already what Midnight said?!” Feathertail snapped. Her tone was cold and unflinching. Unafraid. “The Clans won’t survive if we don’t work together!”

She just has to say no. Squirrelpaw’s tail began to sink to the ground. She blinked desperately. She could just be talking about friendships! That’s still a boundary in itself! It doesn’t mean she-

“And have you forgotten what happens when cats from different clans get together?” Stormfur’s voice pounded in Squirrelpaw’s ears, growing louder as if by some cruel echo. “Look at how our father is torn between two clans! You and I nearly died because we were half-clan! Tigerstar would have killed us if Thunderclan hadn’t rescued us!”

This was it. This was to the point. Feathertail had to face Stormfur’s worries now. She just had to tell him it was a mis-

“But Tigerstar’s gone now. There won’t be another cat in the forest.”

Around her, Squirrelpaw suddenly felt like she was falling. Her ear was crooked and twitching as she listened on. The sibling’s voices grew hazy, like they were at the back of a cave.

“Midnight said all the clans will have somewhere else to live.” Feathertail meowed with a passionate defiance. “Everything will be different.”

The little voice didn’t make a sound over Squirrelpaw’s small whimper.

Stormfur moaned lightly, “But you and Crowpaw…”

“I’m not going to talk about me and Crowpaw!” Feathertail sighed, her voice lowering. “I’m sorry, Stormfur, but this has nothing to do with you.”

Squirrelpaw didn’t listen to Stormfur’s reply, she sat down on her haunches, hidden in the shadows of the bush. She stared down at the ground, Feathertail’s words spiralling around her head.

This has nothing to do with you.

Feathertail’s voice sounded more like Squirrelpaw’s then.

Squirrelpaw looked up, her throat full of a horrible dryness that made her gulp down something raw. She’d gotten an answer to one of her questions. It wasn’t as satisfying as she’d hoped.

She likes him. She admitted it to her own brother. Squirrelpaw might have admired Feathertail if she wasn’t sick with a stupid indiscretion.

She sat there, breathing in chilling, uncomfortable air as she thought about what happened next?

What did happen next?

She liked the same cat as one of her good friends. That was inescapable. And it made Squirrelpaw feel guilty.

Like she was betraying Feathertail by feeling like this.

Betraying one of the cats who had treated her with the most kindness…

Did that mean that Squirrelpaw was intruding on them? While there wasn’t anything to say that Crowpaw liked Feathertail back, the thought of possibly taking the one Feathertail loved away from her was appalling.

Taking away something that made Feathertail happy? The one cat who deserved to be happy more than anyone she knew.

Sure, it wasn’t certain that it could work out, even if Squirrelpaw kept her mouth shut. Like Stormfur had said, it was naïve to assume that generations of the Warrior Code would go away just because there was a new forest.

But, like Feathertail said, if the rules did change… If they could become happy together… Then it would be more likely to become reality if Squirrelpaw didn’t speak up.

But what did Squirrelpaw want?

What she wanted most; she knew. But she also knew that she wanted the best for Feathertail as well. And now she knew that she liked Crowpaw, it was clear what she needed to do to make her happy.

She also knew how much it would hurt her.

Squirrelpaw’s ears twitched as she heard approaching paws. She straightened herself quickly, sniffing back anything that was about to pour out of her and leave her open. She looked at the bush as soon as Crowpaw edged past it.

The grey apprentice held a curious expression, his tail curled as he sat in front of the Thunderclan cat. “So, what did you want to tell me?” He asked, cleaning blood from one of his paws.

He kept his eyes on his friend as she looked down for a moment. He couldn’t see the battle taking place, and he wasn’t able to tell that her anger was a mockery of her own design. He winced as she batted his face with unsheathed claws, catching him across the ear.

“Hey!” Crowpaw snarled, his tail lashing in a fury. “What was that for?”

“You being a flea-brain, that’s what?” Squirrelpaw hissed, squaring him up. “What were you thinking, jumping acrossthe ridge like that without letting us have a say in the matter?”

“Is that what this was about?” Crowpaw bleated, patting over his sore ear. “I thought it was something important.”

“It is important!” Squirrelpaw seethed, making Crowpaw step back with a frown. “You told me I shouldn’t put myself in danger, and you do something like that!”

Crowpaw groaned, “It wasn’t like it was a far jump!”

“I would have fallen if it wasn’t for you! But what if you hadn’t made it! No one would have been there to catch you!” Squirrelpaw turned away from him, whipping his muzzle with her tail.

Crowpaw began to mutter, “I still made it, didn’t-” He droned off, his confidence fading as he realised what he was saying. Squirrelpaw realised it to, who he was mirroring, and she turned back to him with narrowed eyes.

“I was scared, you mouse-brain! We can’t afford to lose anyone.” Squirrelpaw’s tone calmed down marginally, but there was still something twisted in her eyes. “You have to lead Windclan to a new home, remember?”

Crowpaw kept him muzzle shut, but he nodded slowly. He sensed now why Squirrelpaw was really angry with his actions earlier, and he couldn’t blame her. He’d gone through the same thing after all. When she was under that water, he’d never felt so scared of losing anyone. It would be cruel of him to put her through the same thing.

Sighing, he dipped his head in apology. “I didn’t mean to make you worry.”

“I know.” Squirrelpaw muttered, her anger gone. “But that’s just because you’re a mole-head.” Hesitantly, she rubbed against his side, exhaling as she soaked in his soft fur.

Crowpaw didn’t object to her tenderness. Clearly, he had worried her. “Won’t happen again.” He mewed.

“It better not.” Squirrelpaw said sternly, swiping his nose again with her tail. Crowpaw sneezed; how could anything be so fuzzy? “It wasn’t just me you worried…Feathertail was scared too.” She examined him as he sighed again, guilt becoming clearer in his eyes.

“I’m sorry, okay?” Crowpaw offered, looking up sanguinely at the apprentice. When her eyes softened, he craned his head back up. “But maybe you know how it was for us when you jumped into the river.” He leered.

Squirrelpaw let out a mrrow of laughter, “Shut up, at least I didn’t start crying.” He knew she didn’t mean it, so he laughed along. But even as they walked back to the others, he didn’t know why she’d mentioned Feathertail out of nowhere. He didn’t know that Squirrelpaw had made herself a promise to support her friends as much as she could.

And he didn’t know how much it stung her to do that.

...

Special thanks to @lonely-ghost-606 and @nyanan-1233 for their editing and advice at the beginning of this chapter. Love you guys! Enjoy!

[calitraditionalism]

Arc Two: Chapter Seven

(AO3 counterpart here.)

Someone watching Littlepaw sleep would have assumed she was in the middle of a nightmare. Her paws twitched erratically; her pretty little face was scrunched up into a deep grimace; every once in a while, the fur along her back started to stand up straight before flopping back down. The someone observing her would have been compelled to shake her awake and assure her that everything was fine, that her bad dream was baseless.

In reality, Littlepaw was in the grip of intense confusion. She had gone to sleep with the intent to talk to StarClan about leaving the Clan behind – if for nothing else, just to get an idea of what was outside the Territory from those that lived in the sky and could see everything. She wasn’t sure that they would visit, since she had given up the seer life in all but official changing of mentors. Still, it was worth trying...and as much as she didn’t want to admit it, she sort of missed the soothing and gentle presence of StarClan cats.

At first her dream was set in that beautiful field she usually saw when speaking with her ancestors: grass of that perfect length and softness, that stray butterfly dancing around her paws, the whole thing. But instead of Meliclight, the cat that visited her most, or some other spirit with the stars in their pelt and eyes, she now just saw a shadow in the distance. It was a shadow like one seen on a cloudy day, vaguely silhouetted and barely darker than the land around it. She couldn’t even tell what it was from this far away. She squinted and unconsciously took a few steps forward.

Abruptly she was turned around, facing the sunrise that was also common in her visions. The brightness of the sky made her look away and squeeze her eyes shut. She could barely open them again – the sun was just getting brighter and brighter, drowning out the stars above her. And yet, oddly, she felt no warmth.

“Meliclight?” she called. “…StarClan? Anyone?”

Then she woke up.

She spent the morning mulling over her dream and brought it up to Flyfang during breakfast. Flyfang couldn’t make heads or tails of it either.

“Snowshine could probably tell you what it means,” she suggested. “I’m sure she’d love to actually do seer work for once rather than leading around all these boneheads.”

Littlepaw gently admonished Flyfang (there were Clast cats around them, for stars’ sake!) but agreed that talking to Snowshine was probably the best idea.

However, predictably, Snowshine was handling a debate of some kind between a Clast native and a newcomer. Littlepaw hovered around the corner where she was for quite a while, waiting. When it became clear that this argument was going to take a while, she gave up and started looking around the settlement.

There was another seer that had come to Clast for a momentary stay – a silver tom named Starkfeather, who hadn’t done much in the time he'd been here beside eat and sun himself. Littlepaw hadn’t spoken to him very much – or at all, really – but she figured he was her next best option.

As she thought, she found him laying against a house wall, exactly where the sun best heated up the cobblestone. His eyes were shut, but he was clearly not asleep, from how he was purring and gently waving his tail, tapping it sometimes against the wall, sometimes against the ground.

“Excuse me,” Littlepaw began as she approached.

Starkfeather didn’t respond, except that his mouth twitched.

“I’m sorry to bother you.” Littlepaw raised her voice a little, assuming he hadn’t heard her. “I had a vision last night, and I was hoping you could help me figure it out.”

One brilliant green eye opened and roamed until it landed on her. A pause, a grunt, and then Starkfeather shifted to sit up at an agonizingly slow pace. Littlepaw kept her patience and smiled politely at him until he was adjusted and looking at her fully.

“A vision?” he said, sounding bored and sleepy. “What kind of vision?”

“Well…” Littlepaw sat down too, straight-backed (or about as straight-backed as cats get when sitting). “I’m not entirely sure. I used to dream of StarClan a lot, in this field with a sunrise, and I was there again, but-“

“Why would you dream about StarClan?” Starkfeather looked down at her, eyes narrowed.

“Oh-“ Littlepaw hastened to add on. “I used to be a seer apprentice, so I talked with them. But I quit, and-“

“Quit?” Starkfeather repeated, almost patronizingly slow. “You gave up on seerhood?”

Littlepaw shuffled her feet uncomfortably. “Y-yes. About a month ago.”

Starkfeather was eyeing her now, head slightly tilted. Littlepaw waited for him to say anything for several long moments. When he didn’t, she continued. “Anyway, so I had a dream again, because I was wondering about leaving the Clan-“

Starkfeather cut her off again. “I know who you are. You’re Morningsky’s kit.”

“You know my mother?” Littlepaw asked, nervous now. Was he going to tell on her?

“She’s been looking for you,” Starkfeather said, oddly contemptuous. “She wouldn’t shut up about how the greatest seer apprentice in the Territory disappeared without a trace.”

“Oh…” Littlepaw’s eyes lowered of their own accord. She had been happy to leave her mother behind, but a little worry had niggled at the back of her head for a long time, about whether Morningsky would miss her or not. Had she asked for her daughter, or her future seer serving under the leaders?

Before she could ask, Starkfeather snorted. “So let me get this straight – you gave up being a seer, and you ran away to this backwater place, and now you’re saying you’re getting visions from StarClan again, like they’d talk to you after all this.”

Littlepaw felt herself shrinking in posture. “I mean…”

“It's a little pathetic, trying to show off to adults, really.” Starkfeather rolled his eyes. “You have no business talking about dreams. Why don’t you leave seer business to those of us who trained all the way and graduated? You quit, and-”

“Well, aren’t you insecure!”

Littlepaw looked to her right. The blind cat Laurelclaw had come in with was strutting up to them, tail and head high and big eyes sparking. She had a smile on, but those sparks looked a little…aggressive, for lack of a better word.

Starkfeather frowned. “And who are you to interrupt-“

“You oughtn’t be talking about interrupting, boy, when you didn’t let this little chickadee finish any of her sentences.” The molly kept moving forward until she was standing almost between Littlepaw and Starkfeather, her nose nearly touching the tom’s and making him lean back a little. “And you really oughtn’t be talking like she’s harming your work when all you’ve done around here is sit on your prat and suck up prey like you’re trying to eat for a whole litter.”

The conversations around them, Littlepaw noticed, were dying off. She felt the eyes of several cats on her and the molly.

Starkfeather must have noticed too, because he stood up as straight as he could, looking annoyed. “You’ve barely been here long enough to learn my name. You can’t say that I’ve-“

The molly leaned in even harder, talking in a loud whisper. “I pay attention, Starkfeather. And I wouldn’t have to be here half a heartbeat to know that you just got insecure because a cat that quit being a seer is doing your job better than you ever did. Feels awful, doesn’t it? You might not be able to show your face around here if she has another dream! Have to go hunt your own food out in the valley, I’ll wager.”

Starkfeather bristled. “You have a lot of nerve-“

“Ohhh!” The molly’s eyes widened even further than they already were. “I know that tone when I hear it. Are you going to hit a blind cat now? That seems about your speed, picking on the weak and the harmless. Go on, then, we’re all waiting.”

Littlepaw stared in awe at the molly, and she knew she wasn’t the only one. Conversation had died entirely around them; when Littlepaw looked back, everyone was staring, some with their mouths a little open, some trying very hard not to laugh before this confrontation's conclusion.

Starkfeather’s eyes darted between the blind molly, Littlepaw, and the community watching them. He was looking more and more flustered by the heartbeat, mouth moving with nothing coming out of his throat.

“Weeell?” The molly turned her head so that her right cheek was facing Starkfeather. “One hit ought to do it. Come on!”

Starkfeather made a few noises that sounded equally outraged and helpless. Then he whipped around and stalked away, tail lashing.

“That’s what I thooo-ooought,” the molly called in a sing-song voice, a bit of a taunting laugh tucked in there. “Better go bully someone where there’s no one to watch you!”

Littlepaw was so caught up in her amazement that she jumped in alarm when the blind eyes turned on her, paired with a wicked grin.

“You okay, kiddo?” the molly said.

“Yeah,” Littlepaw managed, haltingly. “Um… thanks. I didn’t mean to cause an argument.”

“You didn’t,” the molly said. “That prick was asking for it, talking to you like that. I overheard and, well, I can’t resist skinning fools when I can.”

She lifted her chin, looking past Littlepaw, and tilted her head questioningly, smile dangerously bright. Littlepaw looked back to see the observers quickly finding business elsewhere and resuming their conversations awkwardly. Littlepaw couldn’t fight the giggle that escaped her and turned back to the blind cat.

“Really,” the molly said, quieter, lowering her head to Littlepaw’s height, “what has that twerp been doing since he’s been here?”

Littlepaw smiled without her permission and lowered her voice too. “Well, not much. He showed up after I did, and I haven't heard him talking about StarClan at all.”

“Then he really has no grounds on giving you crap.” The molly nodded sagely, grinning. “So that made that argument even more fun.”

Littlepaw laughed a little, then covered her mouth. “I shouldn’t be mocking anyone, it’s not nice.”

“But it sure is fun,” the molly said. “And you need to learn to dish it back out, my girl! What if I hadn't been here? I’ve heard you talk with your friend, you’ve got a good vocabulary. You could’ve dug him into the dirt with Hurst if you wanted.”

Littlepaw blinked. “I mean, maybe, but…I don’t know how, and…”

The molly tsked and shook her head. “No one’s been teaching you the real important stuff, I see. Well, you want lessons, you just come on around and find me. I’ve quite a vocabulary myself.” She winked. “And it’s quite colorful, if I may say. You’d be surprised.”

Littlepaw’s next laugh was louder. “I might take you up on that, then.” She paused, then remembered her manners. “Oh, my name’s Littlepaw. Sorry, I forgot to introduce myself.”

“You needn’t apologize for that,” the molly said. “But it is good to have a name attached to a voice. I’m Darkpelt. Your friend is Flyfang, I think? Laurelclaw mentioned her to me. He says she’s quite the fighter.”

“She is,” Littlepaw said proudly. “And she might end up being my mentor as a warrior apprentice.”

“Very good.” Darkpelt nodded again. “Then you’ll learn how to kick keisters both physically and verbally, if you so care to.”

Littlepaw grinned, a flare of boldness and excitement in her chest. “Well…I just might care to.”

[icicle-rain]

played a warrior cats scenario on ai dungeon and now i have a story

snuffit is supposed to have red eyes but gfgghjkknb. 

iciclestar and hazelheart are mates and frost, flame, and smoke are their three kits. flamekit is a good boy and smokekit is a little shit, i don’t know about frostkit though. she has never spoken.

silverfire is the first main villain and meadowfire is his daughter who takes over his spot. iciclestar kills meadowfire in battle.

the deputy is the cat who iciclestar names deputy who the ai didn’t give a name.

full story is below the cut (pretty long)

iciclerain is a riverclan warrior and her mate is hazelheart. the two decide to go hunting. iciclerain gets dragged into the river by the fish she tries to catch and almost drowns, eventually getting help from her wife who was too busy smoking something to notice icicle drowning.

hazelheart then starts to freak out and tells iciclerain to run away with her. iciclerain is confused and hazelheart explains that the silver fire-clan was going to kill them all and they had to get away. iciclerain is a bit annoyed and heads back to camp to get treated by the medicine cat.

the medicine cat, a old man, starts acting strange and asks iciclerain for anti-venom. iciclerain is tired and leaves the medicine den. she chats with one of the warriors and finds out that hazelheart was taken by the silver-fire clan, and that she was the only one who survived an attack. 

iciclerain heads out of camp and finds a cat named kit as well as another cat hovering over an injured hazelheart. furious, iciclerain attacks the cats and sends them running off. hazelheart begs for iciclerain to leave her and get help. she runs off and goes to find help back at camp but ends up meeting a patrol of warriors who don’t recognize her. no matter how many times she repeats her name and how long she’s been in the clan, the cats are confused, one of them even calls her a traitor.

eventually a patrol of her clanmates arrives and agrees to go help hazelheart. iciclerain continues on and runs into a small group of cats led by a silver tabby. the silver tabby introduces himself as silverfire, and says he’s the leader of riverclan. iciclerain insults him and says he’s not the leader of riverclan. this enrages him and he beats the shit out of her. she gets flung at a tree and passes out.

she wakes up to firestar and icecloud standing over her. she asks what happened to her clanmates and hazelheart, but they don’t respond. she follows them back to thunderclan camp where hazelheart is sleeping with three kits. whitestorm is also there i dont know how he’s alive, and also iciclerain’s mentor brohawk died. iciclerain doesn’t question it lays down beside her wife. hazelheart calls iciclerain stupid for almost getting herself killed, but is interupted by firestar who calls iciclerain away for a private conversation

iciclerain begins to led patrols to attack the new leader of “riverclan” meadowfire. silverfire was killed by firestar, so she took his place.  meadowfire taunts iciclerain before running off once her cats are defeated. hazelheart helps iciclerain back to camp. 

the next day cats from another clan are in camp having a small argument with hazelheart. iciclerain snaps at them and they leave. hazelheart tells them to bring back supplies and to be careful, which confuses iciclerain who questions her. the queen responds that the other clan was their ally and they needed to be “civil to each other”. the two chat a bit and hazelheart says she named the three kits frostkit, flamekit, and smokekit. iciclerain heads to her special “lower ranked leaders’ home” to sleep.

iciclerain decides to go out to hunt and ends up getting a bunch of blood on her. she climbs up a tree and finds that a cat has her son. she tries to pursue the kitnapper but suddenly feels ill and falls out of the tree, breaking her leg. iciclerain, about to pass out from pain, is confronted by snuffit, who thinks that icicle killed her sister cinder. (icicle asks if hazelheart is snuffit’s sister since she said “you fooled around with my sister” and snuffit says “no, she’s just really pretty)

icicle takes a quick nap, wakes up, and decides to ask snuffit for help. she says that if snuffit helps her find flamekit, they’ll have their fight. snuffit reluctantly decides to go along with it (snuffit calls iciclerain a “beautiful cat” before following her). they track flamekit down to the thunderpath and into shadowclan territory. he’s passed out on the ground and has to be woken up by icicleran. he has a crushed front paw and a broken back leg.

iciclerain and snuffit take flamekit back to the medicine den. iciclerain explains what happened to hazelheart, who thanks iciclerain for saving him. flamekit wakes up after a nice nap and meows that snuffit “iced [his] cat!” and snuffit can’t deny that she did that.

flamekit reveals that meadowfire has been talking to him and has broken into the nursery. he’s conflicted on whether or not they should kill meadowfire, and leaves the den due to the pressure. iciclerain tells firestar about the nursery infiltration and about flamekit. firestar tries to talk to flamekit, but it doesn’t really work. icicle goes with flamekit to check on his siblings. smokekit admits that she’s still scared of meadowfire.

icicle, hazel, and the kits decide to sleep in icicle’s den. because the nursery wasn't safe. icicle wakes up and goes to speak with firestar. she tells him her plan of drowning meadowfire's cats since the river was going to flood soon. firestar says it wouldn't be a good idea since his cats can't swim and they wouldn't like to learn how to, so icicle gives up on that idea. she asks hazelheart if she'd be willing to fight, and hazel says she'll be there.

icicle wakes up in the middle of the night and goes to see what firestar and his senior warriors are planning. he tells her they've got everything planned out and that she should just keep an eye on things, so she leaves and goes to sit on guard duty. she wakes up around sunhigh and helps her clanmates and thunderclan prepare for battle. snuffit reluctantly agrees to fight alongside them. icicle leads the patrols out. she's with hazelheart and snuffit while the rest of the battle patrols follow behind. they wait by the border until all of meadowfire's patrols, including the one with her on it, goes back into the territory. it's night by the time that happens.

once all the patrols are gone, they attack and start driving meadowfire's cats back. iciclerain manages to catch up with meadowfire and brutally kills her with multiple slashes to the neck. she declares that riverclan has been freed and the cats cheer. blackfoot arrives, says he wants riverclan territory, then leaves. 

iciclerain helps the remaining riverclan cats settle down then announces herself as leader. a ginger tom challenges her, saying that she was inexperienced and with her leg injury she wasn't as good as a warrior as she used to be. iciclerain points out she acted as thunderclan's second deputy and killed meadowfire, so he shuts up. icicle chooses a  "plump she-cat with fluffy ginger and brown fur" as her deputy then goes to get nine lives. a windclan patrol of six watches them travel to the moonstone. iciclerain is blessed with visions of living and dead cats before being fully brought into starclan. she first sees four cats, then more join them .a black she-cat says iciclerain isn’t worthy of being leader, and a gray tom and brown tabby disagree. the black she-cat nips iciclerain’s ear and decides to give her a life. iciclerain sees a vison of a medicine cat who tells her “we’re your family now.” icicle receives her seven lives then her last life from an ancient cat named twilightcloud, who tells her to use her lives to defend her clan and home from any threat, including other clans. he tells her “then i suppose there’s nothing left to do but begin” before she wakes up

the old riverclan medicine cat jokes that she’s been asleep for three days and that she was purring loudly as she slept. icicle storms out and heads back home. she announces that she got her nine lives to her clan then goes to check on hazelheart. she tells her kits she got nine lives and flamekit says “that’s cool, mom”. hazelheart and iciclestar joke about icicle having nine lives before they decide it’s time for a much deserved nap.

iciclestar says “RiverClan is back, and here to stay.” then the story ends

[fencesandfrogs]

cloudtail’s daughter: cinderheart

alright well third character: cinderheart.

i'm going to be honest, i don't care enough about cinderheart to have a lot to say about this. i'm finishing it in the morning, and i'm starting it in night, so watch this be longer than dovewing's (fat chance i wrote like 4k words about dovewing because, and i can't say this enough, i lovewing dovewing), but i'm not feeling particularly inspired at the moment.

ohhh wait i changed my mind this is the one where i get to talk about cinderpelt again, isn't it? yeessss i take it all back i've been waiting to write this since i first wrote cinder back in dovewing's character

anyway as per usual, this is part of an au where dovekit and ivykit are born to brightheart and cloudtail. go ahead and click the cloudtail's daughter tag if you want to see more about this. this is probably pretty dependent on knowing what happens to dovewing in the au, but i'd say compared to lionblaze, its still more self standing because it's significantly more verbose, so it's not reliant on filling in the gaps as much, because this is filling in the gaps.

[3k words, 10 minute read. section headers. a little bit jumpy.]

section one: cinderpelt and cinderkit --- an exposé on reincarnation

you don't need me to tell you warriors reincarnation is weird. to make my life easy, here is how it works:

true reincarnations -- jay's wing/jayfeather, dove's wing/dovewing, lion's roar/lionblaze. only one soul exists. half moon will reunite with jayfeather. or ig he can decide to go by jay's wing. dovewing and lionblaze may or may not regain their memories on death; it's not important to this story so i'm not decided

starclan induced reincarnations -- cinderpelt's soul gets shoved into cinderkit. they now share. this was, ah, very dangerous, because cinderkit and/or cinderkit's soul could have died. but she didn't. as cinderkit grows into her own person, she and cinderpelt will grow either increasingly intertwined (i.e., cinderpelt weaves into cinderheart, and is never fully awakened.) when they die, idk what happens. it's not very nice.

luckily, that didn't happen. instead, cinderheart grows apart and cinderpelt basically is a voice in her head. eventually, at some point, idk, cinderpelt frees herself. i'm sure i'll figure that out in this post, but i don't know yet.

so that's their deal.

section two: cinderheart and lionblaze

alright, cinderheart and lionblaze are not going to be a conflict thing, because of destiny. i'm just, that's. well it's a step up from the standard romance drama, but i still hated it. so anyway, cinderheart knows lionblaze is in L-O-V-E with her, but she's kind of holding out until he's more mature/responsible.

she's also not ready for kits, and that's the only way a warriors romance can be officially codified.

jk, but in seriousness, they're already close, similar to sandstorm and fireheart in books 2-4 or so of TPB. she's just not ready to take him as a mate yet, and he's kind of funny as a bumbling fool. that said, she does care a lot about him and if he pushed her, or circumstances pushed her, she'd be willing to be upfront about it.

cinderpelt is happy cinderheart is finding love, but she does kind of wish it wasn't with lionblaze. not because he's an idiot, after all, cinderpelt had a crush on fireheart before he finished growing a brain, but because she is worried about the prophecy. and lionblaze dying and leaving cinderheart alone. so cinderheart has some internal conflict about this, but she has internal conflict over whether she wants thrush or mouse some days. side effect of having two souls in one body. she keeps it wrapped up because she's pretty sure she's into lionblaze and cinderpelt is unsure, and she doesn't need to confuse the situation anymore.

yeah, by the time this series begins, cinderheart and cinderpelt are really two separate entities, and cinderpelt is getting ready to leave. she's just sort of waiting. it's until cinderheart and lionblaze confirm they're mates. why? because that's when it happens in the original and i can't think of a better time. also, it kind of completes cinderpelt's small crush on fireheart.

(it really wasn't that big. sandstorm just made a big deal out of it because she was jealous.)

section three: dovepaw

right, so cinderheart is hype for dovepaw. the dovepaw is real sweet and quiet and cinderheart feels good about that. so they're excited.

cinderheart and dovepaw go out for territory and cinderheart is like "she's on top of shit this dovepaw" and dovepaw catches a mouse or two and cinderheart is super proud and supportive and everyone is happy.

and then cinderheart starts to feel like she's failing dovepaw, because dovepaw just can't get anything else down. lionblaze and ivypaw, on the other hand, are having basically no issues. so she feels like she's failing dovepaw, and she's a little insecure about that, so cinderheart and dovepaw tag along with lionblaze and ivypaw a lot.

as you can guess, this makes everything worse.

cinderheart realizes dovepaw is sneaking out at night and is like "well this is a problem i'm not equipped to deal with" and frets over it for a while, unsure of who to talk to without geting dovepaw in trouble. (lionblaze also snuck out as an apprentice, he's an unreliable source.)

so she doesn't tell anyone at first, just makes sure dovepaw is still getting sufficient rest for a young cat. (she isn't.) eventually, she lets it slip to hollyleaf who talks about it with lionblaze who ivypaw overhears, but ivypaw is the last character i'm covering in this set of essays.

dovepaw gets trapped in the tunnels for three days, and cinderheart feels like she's failed her charge. also, brightheart is kind of mad at cinderheart because she feels that cinderheart didn't really do anything to stop dovepaw from feeling like she needed to prove herself and like, brightheart's not wrong, but it's also unfair to cinderheart. so cinderheart blames herself a whole lot because dovepaw is dead now and it's her fault.

when dovepaw gets back cinderheart only barely punishes her, and dovepaw has had enough exploration, so being confined to camp is only barely a punishment anyway. cinderheart vows that she's going to do better, do right, by dovepaw (although she's really been doing pretty okay no one is really blaming cinderheart, even brightheart has gotten over it now that dovepaw is back and safe and alive.)

section four: can you hear what i hear?

so when dovepaw gets back, cinderheart takes her out once she's recovered, and dovepaw is like "so where are the creatures with the clicky-clackies?" and cinderheart has no idea what's going on.

but cinderheart, despite being lumped in the "two braincells" category that the first three pov characters have (seriously if you haven't read my breakdown of this au as a whole you may want to because i've written so much for it that i'm definitely skipping details. now that my pace has slowed from "about 10k words in one weekend" to "2k words a day" it's better but still), is not an idiot. she's seen the lake get smaller. times are getting hard. there was a gathering while dovepaw was in the tunnels that cinderheart went to and it was real rough. so she's like. hm. maybe. dovepaw is starclan chosen or something? it would explain why she's spacy all the time.

cinderheart gets all the info she can from dovepaw and then has to figure out whether she's taking this to firestar or jayfeather.

i'm not 100% how this resolves, but eventually, cinderheart and dovepaw go to firestar to discuss the beavers. cinderheart does most of the talking, dovepaw is just kind of there nodding along.

so the standard canon thing happens and they all get ready for the trip. i feel like i've done a pretty in-depth breakdown of this for dovewing, and hollyleaf will get one too, so i'm just going to say, other than hollyleaf also coming, it's pretty much canon.

section five: the tribe

oh man it's the cinderheart book and whoo boy am i excited for this one.

alright alright alright so dovepaw is doing the Late Nights again, but its to see tigerheart. so cinderheart is uh, not very aware of it this time?

dovepaw is older and smarter (barely) and more importantly knows she can’t get caught again.

so dovepaw real tired, real close to tigerheart at gatherings, and cinderheart is like “hm maybe something is up” and cinderpelt is like “yeah keep an eye on that”

(an aside: so cinderpelt’s presence is kind of a nagging one in cinderheart’s life. it’s not that she’s not the same cinderpelt we know and love, but she’s a kind of omnipresent authority figure, so she reads a bit differently. but she’s still our wonderful cinderpelt. no fear.)

and ivypaw tells lionblaze that dovepaw is sneaking out (see here for lionblaze, literally 0 awareness) and he tells cinderheart and cinderheart is like “well that checks” and cinderpelt is like “hm remember fernpaw and dustpelt”

“ferncloud is like a second mother to me no i don’t know the details of her romance”

“yea well...”

you know, cinderheart's almost worried dovepaw is going to have kits real soon after becoming a warrior and there are approximately 0 thunderclan toms she's close enough with for that to be applicable.

(for the record, they are not that close. cinderpelt is concerned not just because forbidden romance, but also because of how young leafpool was. not impossibly young by any means, but still fairly young.)

so then through uhhh who knows memory? convenient stormfur is convenient? haven't decided yet, but anyway, cinderheart decides the tribe can help them. (the real reason is because i want the tribe to solve a clan problem for once. the stated reason is probably something like "dovepaw feels too much pressure after the beavers" or "long journeys are good for apprentices" i mean look brambestar dgaf about where warriors are going so why should i?)

lionblaze and ivypaw come along and cinderheart is like "great i just told this guy that i don't want to change anything between us until i'm done mentoring dovepaw and now he's tagging along with this? where's a hollyleaf when you need her?"

(hollyleaf is living with her ghost boyfriend, cinderheart, she is no longer a reliable source of buffering between you and lionblaze. also, cinderheart, this isn't coming up in this au because again ending in step with canon but please consider: lesbians.)

anyway, the four of them set out and dovepaw and ivypaw still aren't talking which is getting really old, really fast.

eventually, after a day or two of travelling in basically silence, ivypaw and dovepaw do start to talk again. one goal down. (my conviction that travelling books are good, actually, remains untested, but i'm determined to prove it.)

okay, so i've been reading all my notes in detail as i start actually drafting this, which means my essay content is morphing further into writing notes. you can tell because i'm skipping bigger sections, or adding notes about purpose in story, etc. this is just a warning that since i last worked on this, i've actually begun writing the book this stuff takes place in (the first book only matters if you're dovekit or ivykit, so the fact that i'm writing it doesn't really have an effect. i just wanted to start with something low-stakes.) so like, on one hand, i should have more figured out, but on the other hand, my comments are going to be a lot looser and i wouldn't be surprised if i just straight up contradict something i already said (i do edit my posts but not heavily and only if i think they're something i'm going to point people back towards. i'd rather point people to my archive once i start posting, so.) anyway, this is just a warning for this and anything else in the CTD essay series (hollyleaf, jayfeather, ivypool, as well as the books, growing shadows, fading echoes, distant whispers, and whatever the canon names are but switch book 4 and 5), that it's going to be less "here's a summary of what i'm going to do" and more "here are my thoughts about what i'm doing"

right that note aside, the travelling party makes it to the mountains. there's drama, probably? none of them have been to the mountains IIRC? i know jayfeather has but i don't think the others went with him (bramble did? hm i'll have to research) but okay so the point is, they make it to the tribe as the mountain is getting colder and this is where i have to deviate from my trend of realism the most because they're going to stay on the tribe for much longer than they should. my timeline has ivy/dove born in leafbare at the beginning of the season (easier math), so this is early-mid leaf fall, and the mountain would be unpassable really soon. but i don't want that, so we're going to pretend they have 2-3 moons before it's truly impassable, or the story flows a lot worse because i really want the drought to be in green leaf because it just sets up a hard hitting winter which is a good tension/drama fodder machine.

unfortunately, i'm limited in who i can kill off, but what can you do?

right so anyway, they're in the tribe and cinderheart present dovepaw and stoneteller is like "huh ig this could work sure why not" and dovepaw is enlisted to be a tribe to-be. she's not given an offiical whatever the tribe word for mentor is, (does the tribe have individual mentors? i can't remember off the top of my head), but she's more or less the same as any othet tribe to-be. the fact that she's so fluffy is a bonus. keeps her warm.

cinderheart is less at-home in the tribe, but she works with the prey hunters and generally gets along. i'm not sure. maybe she makes friends? (this is literally her book she definitely does interesting things i just don't know who lives in the tribe off the top of my head. her life does not revolve around dovepaw like 100%. she has to sort out some cinderpelt stuff in this book it's just very internal and i'm not entirely sure how it goes yet.)

so cinderheart and dovepaw are doing their thing for a bit. they get a good chance to explore tribe culture. it's good. everything is good. cinderheart is still definitely mentoring dovepaw, but what that means right now is a lot of modeling how to be a good learner, rather than explicitly teaching. cinderheart herself is preparing and thinking about how to transfer these skills to thunderclan.

uh yeah so anyway it's getting close to winter so they gotta head out, and the tribe is like "off u go food is tight in leafbare/whatever-they-call-winter" and the four of them set out.

okay so i'm going to skip to cinderheart's second book, because honestly, arc one narrators all get thrown in BGCH until they're needed in arc 2. (i mean, tbf, jayfeather has done literally nothing in all of arc one. nothing. he's just there, occasionally being like "no firestar, don't make dovepaw my apprentice!" and that's pretty much it.)

and basically so while jayfeather and hollyleaf are off having ghost romances (that's the entire plot of their book it's ghost romance), cinderheart and lionblaze are just having a relationship. dovewing and ivypool are warriors now, so cinderheart does have background drama of being worried because dovewing is still seeing tigerheart ("we took her on a whole mountain vacation and she's still obsessed with him?"), but like, it's very chill for a while.

and then sol comes back.

oh man, sol comes back and it's gonna be a big deal. yeah. it's a big deal for cinderheart, and hopefully this will be an interesting section, because cinderheart is a very different character from the OG oots crew, and she's going to handle problems in a different way, and this is the first chance we get to see that. the beavers don't count she was j chilling with whatever dovepaw said and the tribe is certainly a good example of her character (caring, resourceful, outside the box), but that's the set up. sol is the pay off.

so cinderheart is pleased by sol, but also generally wary. you gotta remember, cinderheart has been on a lot of extra curricular field trips. she's met a lot of cats. (note to self: include more loners.) she's a quick judge of character. and sol, you know, he's a lot.

so she keeps an eye on him, and she expresses her concern to hollyleaf, and hollyleaf is like, yeah, sure, i'll help.

so hollyleaf is like "so by the way, sol is in the tunnels." and cinderheart is like "this is going to be a problem" and cinderpelt who is now in starclan is like "oh she's finally learning."

so i'm not entirely sure on the details here because i haven't plotted out the ending three books in nearly as much detail (i mean on the blog i have but in my head where i keep all the plot lines i haven't) but cinderheart is going to solve the problem and she'll do it in a different way.

thunderclan definitely still learns to fight in the tunnels because they need to for battle purposes. (oh, to be a windclan tunnler, looking down in sadness from starclan about what my clan has lost.)

and yeah leaving cinderheart here because she retreats to BGCH after completing her duty of being a meanful character.

cinderheart? done.

[wcamino-confessions]

hi I’ve been waiting for species to come up in here, and now that it has, hold on to your asses boys we’re going for a ride

it’s another long one, sorry, but I’m very passionate about the species debate and whether or not you agree with me, you can’t say I’m wrong with some of these points

firstly, species are various ‘hybrids’ or evolutionized/mutated subversions of cats that are commonly found around amino. sometimes they’re simply cats with odd traits that serve no real purpose and were mainly created for aesthetic. some more popular species include delicats, mermyxns, and slimetails. each species has traits that are specific to their genes, although MOST (not all) have the same base traits (horns, wings, steam, fish tails, spikes, random inanimate objects as tails, socks, bandaids, unnatural whiskers, antennae, glass body parts, liquidated body parts, etc).

species really got big upon the first notable creation of warriors species called slimetails back in late 2018/early 2019. the cats featured various colored, themed, textured and substanced tails made from slime after radioactivity consumed the clans homes and resulted in the genetic mutation. they grew very popular very quickly as they were, and are, an open original species. from there, species quickly took off with the members of WA, and with no regulations about who could make them and how you went about doing so, they were quickly overwhelming. well, maybe overwhelming isn’t the right term. the community absolutely ate up the prospect of unnatural, oftentimes irrelevant, cats with pretty features and levels of trait rarity. they’re still a very popular aspect of WA today.

and in today’s standards, they are oftentimes associated with a users level of “popularity.” although this is definitely not the case with all species owners and affiliates, no one can deny that the only reason some members are popular is because of their status as creators, GA’s, or fervent members of that species communities. now, this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it does tend to rile small bouts of drama in some cases. luckily, they usually remain off of WA, or at least out of the BIG drama category of WA. but there is plenty of drama associated with species nonetheless.

firstly, there is the matter of relevancy that needs to be addressed within species. although the LT did reform their guidelines to ensure that all species do have some form of relation to the warriors books in their lore, we haven’t seen much of a change. in order to “abide” by this new guidelines, many species creators simply said that the cats in their species could be found living in clans either in the wild, on their own accord, or as a whole. WITHOUT altering their lore as required. that’s all fine and dandy. but how does it derive species from the books? well. it doesn’t. because in order for a species to be truly relevant to the warriors fandom, they must have descended DIRECTLY from one of the five clans in the books, or a tribe. rogues and loners, while apart of the series, have never been found to go off and create their own clan(s) for the fun of it. and we have no reason to believe that would change in the series. even the Skyclan cats didn’t reform Skyclan for shits and giggles. they were influenced by clan cats and received prophetic dreams from Starclan cats that basically guilt tripped them into doing this really random thing that they otherwise wouldn’t have even known of.

so, in all technicality, rogue/loner species derivatives do not pertain to the books. in order for a species to be genuinely, unquestionably relevant to warriors they need to either be mutated/evolved counterparts to the clans/tribe, or they need to, by direct lineage, be related to the original clan cats. of course no one expects you to go draw up a family tree on how your flying monkey cats have someone come from Firestar the Greats bloodline. but simply saying so isn’t enough. if they’re truly relevant to the books, then species owners need to add it. to. the lore. yeah, that guideline has already been passed. but it was not followed efficiently. your quirky cats with a clan/tribe hierarchy or something similar to such does not make them relevant. fix the damn lore like the guidelines originally stated. oh, and sorry to break it to you, but this means that your mythical god-like cats, your robo-cats, and your human object cats are immediately out of the running for relevancy. I can see how wings might have some semblance of realistism, but your sparkly candle tailed cats or cats who grow moss in cute little bubbles serve no evolutionary purpose and wouldn’t have any possibility of existing within the warriors universe.

now, onto the next topic of relevancy: evolution. some people say that cats developing fish tails or wings defies the laws of evolution. it probably does. but then again, we are dealing with four territorial cult cats who are very religious and, on occasion, will fight ghost cats and lose so. I’m actually defending species on this part, but don’t get used to it. because in all honesty, who are we to defy the lengths that evolution will go to? we didn’t expect fish to grow legs, but here we are. who’s to say that in this hypothetical universes cats can’t evolve to accommodate wings? don’t get me wrong, I hate the idea of it, but it isn’t COMPLETELY unreasonable.

next on the agenda, we have attribute individuality. granted, there are only so many different ways to make your species unique and really genuinely original, seeing the same handful of base traits repeat themselves in multiple different species (that could honestly just be considered one species altogether) does get old. there are not infinite options for creating a species that is going to be genuinely relevant in some remote aspect, and at some point people need to realize its time to stop. new species sprout up on what seems like a monthly basis on several occasions. and, although they don’t always get big, they still hold a place in clogging the latest feed. specifically with their borderline unacceptably irrelevant adopts. species really test the limits in relevancy, and so do adopts, but that’s for another day. and I’m not saying adopts are bad, so don’t single that out from this entire confess.

there’s another thing. species adopts. they’re constantly flooding the latest feed and drowning out actual warriors/oc related content. “it’s not your place to tell people what they should and shouldn’t post!” yeah, no dip. that’s not what I’m doing. I’m simply expressing my grievances with the amount of UNBEARABLY absurd species adopts that are constantly being uploaded and sold. and pricing? yeesh, that’s also for another day. but I am, again, not blatantly telling anyone to “stop posting species adopts!” or “lower your prices!” so that’s not something that needs to be brought up. so, whether or not you continue to post species adopts is your business. I’m positive that plenty of people adore them and are eating them up like candy. but, coming from a rare non-species lover, it does get tiring to trudge through all those horned bases and eye bleed neons to find some actual content.

don’t get me wrong, I’m not against species, per se. but I am against them being on WA. they don’t serve any actual purpose to the fandom in terms of relevancy. in most cases at least. and while I do applaud the creativity, the uniqueness and the overall joy it brings to the table, I just think that they’d be better off elsewhere. this is not a cat amino. this is a warriors amino. meaning we are only inclusive of cats pertaining to the warriors fandom for validated use in the community. validated use consists of realistic role playing, realistic story writing, realistic artistry and/or realistic character development by any means. so, looking outside of species, any unrealistic characters are still fine for the community because they cannot actually be implimented into WA in the ways that species can for their unnatural complexions. the only reason species are justified for their unnatural complexions is because of loopholes that make them seem relevant and viable for validated use, simple because they are completely feline in the genetic sense.

I hope that paragraph made sense, shit got a little complex right there. but, anyways, I’d like to reiterate relevancy. again. because I don’t see anyone giving up their species on WA for the sake of being canonically relevant because they’re going to find some off the wall way to make their quirky cats seem applicable. to be fair, I wouldn’t want to give up by hard earned creation so easily either. but there ARE other places to take them. and it isn’t up to us to figure out where, it’s up to the species owners. so it’s not like the species would be thrown out altogether, it would just be the irrelevant ones. and the relevant ones would be required to ACTUALLY abide by the guidelines instead of finding loopholes or countering valid points as to how their species are not canonically derived with “they lives in clans.” again, sorry if this paragraph was hard to follow. I’m perfectly fine with clearing up any misunderstandings in those last two paragraphs^^

so, to sum up, I believe the guidelines should be fixed and species should be properly mandated to abide by these new guidelines in order to ensure ACTUAL relevancy. I don’t like species. I don’t want anything to do with them. but I like that they bring a new sense of community and likeness to WA. and I don’t give a rats ass if you choose to associate with them. I personally believe that NONE of the species have any place on WA, but that would be unfair of me, wouldn’t it. so, I did my best to accommodate rationality in this entry, and I apologize if I came off as a stuck up bitch at any point. it wasn’t my intention, but I sure it did happen at some point.

oh, and let me derail any “WA would be boring if it were 100% relevant” arguments. because firstly, it WAS 100% relevant when it first started out, and it thrived. secondly, no where did I claim that species need to be 100% relevant. I made it very clear that it was the lore and the traits that needed to match up to accommodate the terms of relevancy. and thirdly, even on the off chance that species were subtracted from the equation, there are still plenty of other aspects that leave WA out of the running for total relevancy. thank you for coming to my ted talk, have a nice day loves <3

[thunders-warcats-stuff]

Reject the Deputy

Fireheart can’t take the deputyship but he refuses to leave his Clan to fend for themselves.

“Ah, Fireheart. Come to report on how the extra patrols are going?”

“I’ve come to ask a favor.” Fireheart corrected nervously.

“Not unusual for you. Go on.”

“I need you to make someone else deputy. Someone older, maybe. Like Whitestorm or Speckletail.”

“No.”

“There are cats far more experienced than me who are able to help you guide this Clan.”

“And yet I have chosen you.”

“You chose wrong!” Fireheart insisted. “Why can’t Whitestorm be deputy? Or Mousefur? Longtail and Darkstripe already think they can do a better job, why not make one of them deputy?”

“Because I don’t want to.” Bluestar sneered. “A deputy is a cat I will have to stare at and talk to for most of the day. Half your choices are insufferable and the other half would not be willing or able to guide the Clan through such a difficult time. “Furthermore, you were the first to warm me about Tigerclaw’s treacherous ways. None of these cats knew. I sure didn’t, at first. Even then I didn’t want to believe you and look what happened?!” Bluestar snapped. “Clearly you are the cat StarClan wanted to lead from the beginning. So lead.”

With those words, Bluestar flicked her tail and dismissed Fireheart from her den.

Outside, Fireheart stood, stiff and quiet, as if a tree’s roots had sprung from the ground and wrapped themselves around his legs.

“She can’t be serious.” He whispered after a few moments of his heart thudding in his ears. “She can’t be. There has to be another choice.”

“It sounds like she wants you.” Darkstripe sneered.

“Foxdung to that!” Fireheart snapped. “I have spent the last few moons running around doing my part to make sure the Clan runs smoothly, trying to make sure Tigerclaw didn’t hurt anyone else, and training three apprentices, one whose training ended due to another one of Tigerclaw’s mouse-brained fox-hearted plots and you all think I’m going to lead you? I’d rather go back to being an apprentice than lead such an ungrateful group of cats anywhere! Pick someone else and hope you all don’t fall apart because Bluestar won’t get any better.”

With those words, Fireheart stormed for the gorse tunnel and out of the camp.

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He didn’t really know where he was going until he stopped and found himself at Fourtrees, the neutral Gathering place of all four Clans. Right now it stood empty and was the perfect place to think.

“This can’t be all I’m good for. This isn’t what I was meant to do. StarClan can’t have chosen me. For what?”

“It’d be a good idea to find out.” A slightly welcome and familiar voice offered.

Fireheart whipped around, fur bushed up and claws unsheathed.

“What?” He snapped, annoyed.

“It’d be a good idea to find out.” Dustpelt said again. The dark brown tabby looked uncomfortable as he spoke and Fireheart couldn’t help but wonder who sent him.

“I’m not even your apprentice anymore and you’re still wearing me out.” Cinderpelt panted as she limped into the clearing.

Ah. That made sense.

“Sandstorm’s around here somewhere. She’s the one who led us to you, but she wasn’t sure if she’d be welcome.”

“And you two thought you were?”

“I’m always welcome.” Cinderpelt snorted. “Dustpelt wanted to talk to you.”

“Did he?” Fireheart scoffed, letting his fur relax. “What about? And what would be the point of having Sandstorm lead you here if she’s not going to show herself?”

He raised his voice for the last part and watched as a pale ginger form slunk through the treetops and skipped down one of the trunks to join them.

“Well met, Fireheart.” She offered courteously.

“Indeed. What are you all here for? I’d rather not have to deal with whatever mess someone made at camp.”

“Well, originally we came to make sure you didn’t do something stupid, like cross into another Clan’s territory, but Fourtrees is as good a spot as any.”

“It is. You can go now. I might leave, but I’m not that quite enough of a fox-heart to send you all to war.”

“Leave?” Dustpelt scoffed. “And go where? You’re no kittypet-.”

“Wow, what a turn-around. Seasons on seasons of the same old insults and you only admit the truth when you need me to do something for you. Great to know. But there are more than just housecats in the Twolegplace.”

“Are you taking Cloudpaw with you?”

“If he wants to leave the Clan, he’s welcome to join me, but he’d be going straight back to his mother.”

Dustpelt scowled and burst out,

“I can’t believe you’re actually considering this. You’ve been here your whole life-.”

“No, I haven’t.” Fireheart corrected numbly.

“Close to. You’ve been a Clan cat longer than you’ve been anything else and you’re just going to leave that behind? For what, because of a few insults?”

“It’d be one thing if it were just you that I were dealing with.”

“Why does it sound like there’s more to this?” Sandstorm asked.

“I’m surprised you’re not on his side.”

“There is no side, Fireheart, we need you!” Sandstorm snapped. “As a Clanmate, whether you’re our deputy or not. But Bluestar seems to think you should be. Why? And why don’t you want to be?”

“Bluestar’s still sick, isn’t she?” Cinderpelt realized. “This is more than just greencough.”

“It’s been, what, two or three moons since Tigerclaw left. I’m tired of running interference for cats who don’t know what it takes to deal with Bluestar when she’s like this. When she’s paranoid.” He added. “So I’ve stepped down as deputy and you all can choose among yourselves.”

“But you’re coming back, right? You’ll still be a warrior.” Sandstorm insisted.

“Maybe. I could just as easily find Barley and be a barn cat. I hear he’s got great hunting.”

“Fireheart-.”

“I need to think. You should get back to camp. Cats will actually wonder where you’ve gone.”

“Fireheart-.”

“Let’s just go.” Dustpelt ground out. “He clearly doesn’t want to hear from us.”

The three of them left with Dustpelt in the lead, each cat more reluctant than the last.

“Peace and quiet.” Fireheart grumbled as he settled himself to the ground and stewed in his thoughts.

If only the quiet was enough.

At some point, his paws lead him back to camp with a mouthful of prey. He puts it on the pile and settles himself at the center of the camp. It wasn’t particularly cold, being green-leaf and all. And he didn’t want to face any cat until he absolutely had to and was trying to put that off for as long as possible.

He drifted off without interference and woke to moonlight streaming through the trees overhead.

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“This isn’t what we wanted for you.” came a familiar raspy voice.

“Right back at you.” Fireheart grumbled, shifting so that he could face the former medicine cat properly.

“Fair enough. Fire was supposed to save the Clan, not be trampled underpaw.”

“Sorry.” Fireheart mumbled, ears heating up. Whitestorm wouldn’t flounder like he’d been.

“Not your fault.” Yellowfang rebuked. “There is still a chance, though. You’re not snuffed out yet, Flame. Show those cats why.”

Fireheart sniffled and inhaled Yellowfang’s scent. He felt like half a cat, whatever these ancestors thought.

“Sandstorm is a good cat.” Yellowfang said out of nowhere. “If anyone can help you through this, it’s her.”

“Funny that you think so.” Fireheart snorted. “But I guess I’ll make like a fish and bite. What are you on about?”

“She’ll be a valuable ally, to start with. And a good friend, if you let her.”

“If I let her. One of the cats who made fun of me for my entire kithood suddenly wants to be friends?”

“You saved her life at the gorge. That caused her to re-evaluate some things.”

“Right. Good to know.”

“Give it time, she’ll prove me right.”

“That’s about as likely as Bluestar reuniting with her kits.”

“That’s cold, kit.” Yellowfang scowled. “She’s not well, you know that.”

“Stars above, do I know.” Fireheart groaned. “I don’t have to be deputy up here, do I?”

“You don’t belong up here.”

“But no one expects me to do anything big here. I can just be a normal warrior with no expectations, no cats begging for patrols or food or anything else.”

“You can’t stay here, kit.”

“I’m tired, Yellowfang. I don’t want to be deputy. I’m not even sure I want to be a warrior.”

“I know, kit�� I know. You can’t stay here, though. You have to wake up, Fireheart.”

“Wake up!” Chanted some bodiless voices around him. "Wake up! Wake up! Wake up, Fireheart! Wake up!”

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“Wake up!” Came Sandstorm’s voice.

Fireheart’s eyes snapped open and, sure enough, Sandstorm crouched before him, worry leaking from every hair on her pelt.

“What happened?” Fireheart groaned as he got to his paws.

“Stay down, nothing’s wrong with the Clan.” Sandstorm insisted, guessing correctly.

“Then what’d you want?”

“I… you stopped breathing a few heartbeats ago. I thought you were on your way to StarClan.”

Fireheart decided it probably wasn’t a good idea to tell her about seeing Yellowfang.

“Nope.” He grumbled, ambling to his paws and shaking each one out. “Anything happen overnight?”

“No.”

The pair settled onto the grass as sunlight peeked between the trees.

“It’s just about dawn. Have patrols been worked out?”

“Mousefur and Breezefoot are doing the border patrols today and Speckletail and Goldenflower handle hunting. We plan in pairs and rotate. Start from one end of the dens and go to the other. It’s been working, for now.”

“Sounds good. Feel free to say I’m on one of those.”

“You’re going for a walk?”

“Yes.”

“Can I come with you?”

“Sure.” Fireheart muttered, more than a bit confused.

“Give me a few heartbeats.”

Fireheart nodded and Sandstorm wheeled around, racing for the warriors’ den.

He didn’t have to wait long before she came back.

“Let’s go.” She chirped.

The pair headed for the gorse tunnel and soon the ravine was far behind them.

“Do you want the center nest?” Sandstorm asked suddenly.

“What for? I don’t even know if I’m staying.”

“But if you are…”

“No, I don’t want the center nest. That’s Tigerclaw’s nest.”

“It’s the deputy’s nest. It could just as easily be Whitestorm’s or Mousefur’s.”

“It should be.”

“Bluestar won’t talk to anyone, not even Whitestorm. She only wants to see you.”

“Well that bites like trout scales.” Fireheart deadpanned.

“What?”

“It’s a RiverClan saying. Means that’s not a good thing. But what am I supposed to do about it?”

“Depends on what you’re willing to do.”

“Apparently it’s not about willing.”

“We can rotate on handling Bluestar, we can keep track of our own patrols, we can scour every step of the territory to make sure Tigerclaw isn’t a problem anymore-.”

“Aren’t you already doing that? What do you need me for?”

“To speak for us. Officially. No Clan is considered complete without a leader and a deputy. It’s why the Code is so strict about the line of succession.”

“ShadowClan was complete and look what that got them.”

“Fair enough. That rule in particular can go eat mouse-dung.”

“Apparently there’s some medicine cat rule that means they can’t make their own families. Seems kind of weird to draw the line at mates and kits when cats are rarely born alone. Is Cinderpelt not allowed to acknowledge Frostfur as her mother? Or Thorn, Bracken, and Bright as her siblings?”

“When you put it that way, it doesn’t seem fair.” Sandstorm mused. “I didn’t know that was a rule. Poor Spottedleaf must have been so alone after Redtail died, especially if the medicine cat rules say she can’t acknowledge Willowpelt.”

“Now Willowpelt is pretty alone, I guess. Except for Whitestorm, so maybe not for long. Ugh, I am not looking forward to Cloudpaw asking where kittens come from.”

“Where do kittens come from, Fireheart?” Sandstorm snickered.

“The nursery.” Fireheart deadpanned.

“Good choice.”

“Simple and has the bonus of being true.”

“How do they get to the nursery?”

“That’s a completely different question. And their mothers carry them, of course. Mothers carry their kits everywhere.”

“Inside and out!” Sandstorm cackled. “Oh, Fireheart, this is brilliant! You have got to let me know when Cloudpaw starts asking around. I want to see his face.”

“I’ll consider it.” Fireheart snorted, amused. “Might be better to let his mother handle that one. Princess is rather blunt and not very faint-hearted. She worries for us, of course, but she’s got her own way of explaining the facts of life.”

“Definitely take me with you next time you see her.” Sandstorm was giddy with laughter and excitement. “Tulipwood could have used this on me and I wouldn’t have known the difference!”

“Your mother?”

“Yes. She was from Mousefur’s litter. She died not long before I was apprenticed. It was a hard leaf-bare.”

“I’m sorry you had to go through that.”

“It was a while ago. Besides, I still have Mousefur, Breezefoot, Whitepelt, and Sparrowpelt.”

“I only know Mousefur.” Fireheart offered apologetically.

“You know all of them. Elders can change their names when they retire. Sparrowpelt lost his tail to a badger and Whitepelt is pretty much blind and deaf.”

“Halftail and One-eye.” Fireheart realized, breathless. “Are all names so cruel?”

“They named themselves. It’s Clan tradition, and who are we to go against our elders?”

“Clan tradition doesn’t always mean it’s right.” Fireheart scowled.

“Bluestar was right to choose you.” Sandstorm said, obviously changing the subject.

“What?”

“Bluestar was right to choose you, even if she did it past moon-high. You’ve been doing such a good job that no one saw how much stress you were under until you cracked… I’m sorry I didn’t see it before.”

“It wasn’t for you to see.” Fireheart admitted. “I didn’t want anyone to see.”

“I… that’s fair. You’ve been under a lot of pressure. I just… let me know before you leave again.”

“What?”

“Tell me when you feel like leaving and I won’t stop you. With the way things are going, I might even scoop up Cloudpaw and come with you.”

“Why?”

“Because he’s your nephew. He’d miss you if you left.”

“He has family here. And in Twolegplace.”

“Ever since he found out he was adopted, he hasn’t been as open with anyone else. He could go back to his mother, but I doubt he would truly be happy as a house-cat. He likes to explore.” Sandstorm deadpanned, recalling when she and Fireheart went looking for three adventurous kittens, one of whom successfully caught prey.

“He sure does.” Fireheart agreed with a laugh, recalling the exact same thing. “Why would you want to come with me?”

Sandstorm was quiet as they walked and she spoke after they passed a few trees.

“I’d miss you. If you left. Even if you did tell me before you went, I… I don’t think I can see ThunderClan lasting much longer without you.”

“So you’d want to get out while you can?”

“No, I’d want to go with you.” She insisted.

“Why?”

“Because I… I think you’re a good cat, Fireheart. And I’d be willing to follow you wherever you felt like you needed to be.”

Fireheart narrowed his eyes and snorted.

“Whatever helps you sleep at night.” He offered neutrally.

“A race might.”

“What?”

“Help me sleep better.”

“You’ve always been faster than me.”

“Well, then, I guess it’ll be a hunting race. Whoever brings the most prey back to camp at sunset gets a favor.”

“You’re on!” Fireheart crowed.

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Cloudpaw sat at the center of the camp when Fireheart and Sandstorm returned with their hunting wares. His fur bristled with excitement and his eyes were wide with determination. He fidgeted from time to time, something that the cats around him didn’t appreciate.

“Relax, Cloud! Either he’ll come back or he won’t and if he doesn’t come back by moon-high, he probably won’t ever.” Ashpaw scoffed.

“You shut your muzzle before I bury it in the dirtplace!”

“That’s not how you talk to your Clanmates.” Sandstorm called out, voice muffled by the mound of prey she carried in her jaws. Once all of their collective stash was on the fresh-kill pile, she turned to talk to the apprentices.

“Apologize, Cloudpaw. What you said was inappropriate. No one should be shoving anyone’s muzzle anywhere near the dirtplace unless it’s to cough up a hairball or gag.”

“Ew!” The apprentices groaned in a chorus.

“Exactly.” Sandstorm snorted, satisfied. “And I heard what you said to Cloudpaw, Ashpaw. That was not okay. You need to apologize to him as well.”

The apprentices exchanged half-hearted apologies, even though Ashpaw protestested while doing so.

“It’s not like Fireheart is coming back. You heard him just like everyone else. He hates us all.”

“If that were the truth I’d have left you to Tigerclaw a long time ago.” Fireheart muttered, irritated, before springing from behind the nursery and creeping toward the apprentices.

“You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Dustpelt does.”

“I doubt that.”

“I’m going to tell him you said that.”

“Go ahead.” Sandstorm scowled through gritted teeth. “Though I can’t say you’ll have much of a mentor to run to.”

Fireheart fought the urge to snort and decided to change his approach.

“Leave the kits to their dreams, Sandstorm. Everyone’s got to look up to someone.”

“Fireheart!” Cloudpaw screeched, bowling him over. Several heads popped out of various dens and soon the clearing was filled with cats.

“I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry please don’t ever leave again-.”

“-don’t know how you handled all these patrols-.”

“-Bluestar is just not herself at all, how did we not notice?!”

“Back up!” Greystripe snapped suddenly. “Let Fireheart breathe. And he might listen better if he knew what you were saying.”

“Right, because you always know what he’s doing and when and how he feels about it.” Mousefur snorted.

“Because he looks overwhelmed.” Sandstorm corrected quietly. “Just this once, I agree with Greystripe.”

She turned to Fireheart to find that he’d since sat up and was now curled around Cloudpaw, who sniffled and clung to his fur.

“-I wasn’t exactly using my head at the time, kit. I panicked and that was the result. I didn’t think I’d need as long as I did but I also didn’t want you to see me like that. Yelling at the entire Clan was bad enough.”

“But you left without saying anything! And then you didn’t come back for days! I only didn’t get to look for you because Sandstorm wouldn’t let me. She kept saying you were okay.”

“And you didn’t believe her because you never believe anyone about anything.” Fireheart snorted fondly.

“I believe you.”

“I know you do.”

“I think you’re a good deputy.”

“I think that Bluestar forgot to ask if I wanted the job.”

“Well, you proved everyone wrong. Now they know we need you, just like I do.”

“Good to hear, Cloud, but I do believe that moon-high approaches.”

“Aw, no!” Cloudpaw half-whined half-snarled.

“Now, Cloudpaw, you know Whitestorm planned to train you with Brightpaw-.” Brindleface began.

“Fireheart won’t be here tomorrow if I go to sleep. You all ran him off and we’re lucky he spent the day with Sandstorm.”

“Cloudpaw, what are you talking about? He’s right here. You knew he was going to come back, you said it yourself.”

“I said he would come back, not that he would stay.” Cloudpaw retorted icily. “I won’t be late for training tomorrow, just let me talk to him a bit more.”

“Slow down, Cloudpaw.” Fireheart murmured. “No one’s in trouble. You can talk to me whenever you like.”

“They ran you off!”

“I’m pretty sure I used my own four legs, kit.” The ginger tom chuckled.

“You don’t like it here, though.” Cloudpaw insisted.

“I like ThunderClan just fine. Things just aren’t going all that well for everyone and I wasn’t handling it like I should have. I needed space and I got it.”

“So you’re not going to be a loner?”

“Nope. But I’ll let you know if I’m going away for longer than the sun is up. You need your sleep.”

“Okay.” Cloudpaw said simply. The white tom got to his paws and trudged for the medicine den, only looking back once to make sure his uncle was really there.

“I almost forgot what that felt like.” Fireheart grumbled, annoyed, and swiped his tongue against his teeth as if there were a bad taste on it.

“Forgot what?”

“Cats who live with Twolegs give up all rights to their litters after the kits are weaned off milk. Usually the Twolegs are generous and let them have long enough for the kits to be taught some things, but it’s pretty well-known that there’s a deadline. It’s why my sister asked me to take Cloud in the first place. She wanted to make sure at least one of her kits was someplace she could find. It’s safe to say that Cloudpaw feels differently about family than the rest of you and that he’ll always want to be around the cats he’s closest to.”

“You said you almost forgot.” Swiftpaw noted. “Did… did you get taken from your mother too?”

“Everyone does at some point. It’s like leaving the nursery to go to the apprentice den.”

“That’s not the same at all.” Longtail sputtered. “When you first came to the Clan… you never mentioned any family. How long had you been alone?”

“Had to be two or three moons, I think. It’s a bit foggy, but I know my sister and I are the spitting image of our parents. At least, according to the cats around town.”

“So you just… never saw your entire family again?”

“I’ve seen Princess a few times when I was younger. And she gave me Cloud.”

“It’s different.” Goldenflower choked out. “Fireheart, I couldn’t imagine giving up my kits. How did your mother ever cope with not seeing you at all? How is your sister faring with what amounts to the loss of an entire litter?”

“Feel free to come ask her if I ever meet up with her again, because I’m not touching that with a Twoleg stick even if you gave me all your fresh-kill.”

“I think I would like to meet this sister of yours.” Brindleface mused. “She must know so much about Cloudpaw, maybe she’ll be able to help him through this.”

“No wonder he was so upset all this time.” Fernpaw realized. “Fireheart is all he has and the rest of the cats he’s surrounded by don’t like him.”

“It’s not that we don’t like him-.”

“You never liked him.” Sandstorm insisted bluntly. “I’m not exactly blameless in any of this but I can admit Fireheart got piled on like a patrol trying to take down a dog.”

“And… so did….” Swiftpaw offered in an odd voice.

“Hey, Cloudpaw!” He called, springing to his paws and racing for the medicine cat den.

[ailuronymy]

Do you dislike the concept of the Dark Forest, or just the execution? If the latter, how would you go about executing it better? Given that spirituality and the afterlife are a big part of the clans' cultures, I think it makes sense that they would believe in a sort of underworld/hell-equivalent as well as a heaven, and so far I haven't seen anyone try to come up with a better alternative to the Dark Forest. Sorry if you've been asked this before, feel free to direct me there if you have.

Hello there! There’s a lot going on in this question, so I’m going to try to break it down a bit as I go. 

To me, the division between the concept of the Dark Forest and the execution of that idea is basically negligible. What I mean by that is you literally can’t extract the idea of the Dark Forest away from how it is written, because the core issue with the Dark Forest is it’s a particularly poorly built extension of Starclan--and Starclan is already an unstable foundation itself. 

If you imagine Starclan like a rotting house, you can see how adding a fancy new second bathroom on the top floor is really not going to add anything--but could possibly bring the whole thing down! That’s how I feel about the Dark Forest. Am I open to the concept of a fancy bathroom? Sure, why not. Am I in any way convinced or enamoured by this fancy bathroom? No, and I’m honestly concerned about how the whole house is wobbling now. 

The second big thing I want to address before I actually answer is that it’s very Christian to associate spirituality with a binary afterlife, specifically one “good” and one “bad”--which makes sense, because Warriors has a lot of latent Christian theology in it. 

This is a comment, not a criticism, by the way. I mention it because there are a lot of religions and ways of engaging with spirituality that do not follow this belief pattern, and I think if you’re not aware of how your background shapes your worldview, it’s so easy to automatically apply Christian theology to other worlds without considering whether or not it actually fits for the story and world you’re trying to create. So that’s something I wanted to flag upfront just as a general comment. The belief that a Christian structure is a sign of a “developed” or “sophisticated” religion is a specious one, and I wanted to make sure that was clear. 

Anyway, to bring us back to the main event: how would I troubleshoot the Dark Forest? To start with--as I alluded up there--you need to start with Starclan. Adding a bad idea to a bad idea doesn’t make a good idea: it makes a bigger mess. So my first step would be to get Starclan to mean something and know, as the writer, what role and purpose Starclan has in the story and world. In other words, I would answer the following:

What is Starclan? What can Starclan actually do? What do the living think Starclan can do? What beliefs about Starclan do the living have, and how close to the truth are they? How does the existence of Starclan shape the lives of the living--i.e., do they try to please them, and how; do they fear them, and why; do they trust them, and should they; etc.? Where is Starclan: it is a physical place, another realm, a dream space? What else exists there? Where do the living think Starclan is, and how do they think Starclan communicates with them--i.e., dreams, signs, a particular physical location, only through ritual? How do the living believe Starclan sees, moves, travels, etc.--and how do the dead join them? Who is allowed to go to Starclan, and why? How does Starclan judge the dead, and how do the living prove themselves? 

Until you have those kinds of questions set and answered, you can’t try to build a decent Dark Forest, because you don’t know the rules of your world. The spiritual world can be perplexing and mysterious to the reader and the characters--but as the writer, you need to know the rules. You need to know what can be done, and by whom, and why. Then once you’ve decided what you like for that, you should branch out and make sure your afterlife reflects and is reflected by the world of the living, because religion shapes a person’s worldview pretty significantly. 

For example, consider the difference between a religion that believes in hell and a religion that has no hell. Many Christian denominations believe in hell and you can see that reflected through the themes, fears, and traditions of the religion: there is an emphasis on avoiding bad, often in a culture of guilt, self-denial, shame (both of self and others), intercessional prayer for the dead, pleading for mercy and forgiveness, and the management and purging of sin. If bad people go to hell, then it is a logical development to fixate on not doing bad (which I want to point out is not the same as doing good). 

By comparison, a religion with no hell has no threat of eternal damnation to shepherd people towards behaving in the ways that are convenient to the society. How would this impact that culture? How would this shape beliefs around morality? How would social contract form, and how would this society maintain itself? 

Additionally, consider in this religion that there is no hell but there is a shining, glorious place where the virtuous and wonderful go after death--and the passage there is by doing good. If you do bad, nothing terrible will happen to you after death, but if you do good, you are promised a truly spectacular place for eternity. How would that shape the society? If the emphasis is not on avoiding bad but on doing as much good as possible, what themes, fears, and traditions would form? 

The reason I bring all this up is because if you want to introduce a reward-and-punishment system as a part of your religion’s afterlife, that is going to have impacts on literally every character in some way. That is going to shape the entire society you’re creating, because it will influence their beliefs about themselves and each other and their world. 

This is one of the fundamental failings of the Dark Forest in canon: it doesn’t function like an afterlife in an anthropological, sociological sense. It’s not actually a part of the clan religion; it’s just a fifth (sixth, seventh? hard to say at this point) clan to fight with, and it’s untethered from the belief system even more so than Starclan. 

A common trait of Erin Hunter’s writing is the absence of interiority of their characters. What I mean by this is none of their characters are having thoughts except for when they’re the protagonist. The rest of the time, they’re props with no opinions of their own, existing only to provide dialogue or action scenes when necessary. Besides resulting in a bland, kind of eerily same-y cast, this is fatal to good fantasy world-building because so much world-building is done through characters and their perceptions and explanations and engagement with their world. If you try to world-build complexly but don’t actually ground it in the lives of your characters through their behaviour and expressions of themselves, it’s going to feel flat and unconvincing. 

It’s one of the reasons I personally hate to give out world-building tidbits outside of stories: in order for world-building to mean anything or have any weight for me, it needs to be presented through characters. To me, it’s the difference between a rich, vibrant, lived-in world... and the painted background of a diorama that someone’s trying to tell me is real. Which kind of brings me right back around to the start, when I said concept and execution in this instance are basically the same. 

This has already gotten pretty long so I’ll cut it off here! This is one of those topics that’s very difficult to give a full answer in a single ask, so I hope this has given you some ideas re: how to approach afterlife-building. If there’s anything you’d like clarification on or have other questions, let me know!