#Old Marshclan

[maplewood126]

[toothpastewolf]

leader

[cheerclaw]

Meet the OCs: Renata (she/her) - @lightleapfan

Renata is a homunculus baby without a rank, and is the Main Character of Corpse Girl, (Trample The Moorland Part 2) a four-season television series that ran on NBC from 1999-2008. Just kidding. She lives in my head. From "Windclan". she's her own mother incarnate and has a fake blood disease i made up. nobody even knows where she came from. she likes girls. she constantly dreams of snow despite having never seen it. she got decapitated and survived. She is constantly on the verge of ego death. she is seven months old.

Saltburn (she/her) - @nanistar

Saltburn is a laid back, relaxed senior warrior who lives in SaguaroClan, one of the three friendly Clans of the sunny Mojave desert. She is a bit odd, having a bald patch on her nose, and extra sensitive eyes that keep her from going out a lot during the day, but she remains cheerful. She loves her MarshClan mate Hollowspur and her best friend, the SaguaroClan healer Silversky. Little does she know, she is actually a lost child of Bonestar, the leader of MoonClan; a long forgotten Clan that was banished to the nearby abandoned copper mine over 100 years ago….

[Back to the grade]

[plushieclan]

Prologue part three

TW: Injury, Implied death

< previous | next > | all >>

The snow was melting, and the grass was starting to come back. It was Newleaf, finally. Nightpaw had spent the last moon of leafbare with her new friends and old family as an apprentice, something she had once thought impossible.

Shimmerpaw, Sandpaw, and Gingerpaw were close good friends by this point. Leopardcloud had just had her kits, so Nightpaw had mostly been training with Firestorm and Shimmerpaw.

Currently, the four apprentices were having a little spar. Well, it was more like Sandpaw and Gingerpaw pummeling Shimmerpaw while Nightpaw sat off to the side. She was a bit distracted at the moment.

“Do you think Sunspot will let Nightpaw come with up to the Gathering this moon?” a muffled question came from Shimmerpaw.

Sandpaw shrugged. “Who knows what my mother will do.”

“I hope so.” Gingerpaw mused, “I think you deserve to come with us this time. You need to meet the other clans.”

“Yeah… I hardly remember them. I know Grangeclan used to be a big ally of ours, but I can’t remember much about Marshclan and Treeclan.”

“Well, for starters… there isn’t a Marshclan anymore.” Shimmerpaw started, “They took Bayclan’s old territory and reformed into something called Swampclan.”

“Swampclan…” Nightpaw looked away, her thoughts stuck on the past.

“Something on your mind?” Sandpaw asked.

“It’s just… I’ve played it over in my head tons and tons of times, but I don’t get it. Why did Marshclan attack?”

Gingerpaw, Shimmerpaw, and Sandpaw all looked uncomfortable.

“I heard they wanted the Great Lake.” Shimmerpaw mentioned. “Rainfeather and Starleaf were talking about it.”

Gingerpaw interjected, “We shouldn’t speculate about this—”

“At the Gathering, I heard a few of the apprentices talking about some prophecy. Maybe that’s it?” Sandpaw said.

“A prophecy…” Nightpaw thought for a moment, “that might be it. My mother participated in a prophecy when she was younger. They tend to make cats… do things they wouldn’t normally.”

“Well, we can’t really know,” Gingerpaw said nervously, “and I’d really not like to speak it into existence.”

The four heard a noise behind them.

Nightpaw could see Lionmane, one of the warriors, running towards them.

“Apprentices! We need you back at camp, quickly!”

“What’s going on?!” Shimmerpaw asked.

“Swampclan’s been spotted at the border with what looks like an invasion force! The nursery needs protection— now!”

Nightpaw met her friends’ eyes. This was serious.

—

When they made it back to camp, all Nightpaw could think of was that fateful day as a kit. Blazestar’s horrified face as she fought off her attacker was burned into her mind.

Things would be different now, she thought. She wouldn’t let her new clan suffer the same fate as her old one.

She and Gingerpaw stood in front of the nursery, flanking the entrance. Shimmerpaw and Sandpaw were in the cleric den, protecting the herbs with Rainfeather. Starleaf was inside the nursery, calming the kits. Blossomtail sat in front of Leopardcloud. Lionmane had not rejoined the rest of the clan, instead pacing in front of the two apprentices.

“Shouldn’t he be with the others?” Nightpaw whispered to Gingerpaw.

“I think he’s too worried about Leopardcloud and the kits.” he whispered back.

“Firestorm has kits too, but he went to the fight.” Nightpaw retorted.

“They’ve got different ways of showing their protection, I think. I definitely prefer Lionmane being here though— I’d be too worried without him!”

Gingerpaw had a lot of respect for Lionmane, Nightpaw had noticed. She wondered if Lionmane was his father— after all, Gingerpaw used to be a kittypet, and so were Lionmane and Leopardcloud. They could have easily been his parents. But now wasn’t the time for speculation.

A lone cat walked through the entrance, bleeding heavily.

Nightpaw tensed up. Could it be a Swampclan cat?

As the figure stepped into the light, his familiar dark pelt came into view. It was Darkstar. She immediately relaxed.

But where was everyone else?

“Dad? Where is everyone else?”

He huffed, collapsing, “Gone. We chased them all off but… they got every single one of our patrol. Redstar… he attended personally.”

Rainfeather rushed to Darkstar’s side, instructing Sandpaw and Shimmerpaw on what to fetch from his den.

Nightpaw approached Darkstar. “I don’t understand… why?”

“He heard the rumors.” he panted. “Somehow he knew… you were back.”

Nightpaw paused, her mind racing. She needed to know more.

He stopped, going limp.

Rainfeather yelled. “Give him some space!”

Nightpaw was horrified, “No…”

“It’s alright. He’ll be fine. He’s just losing a life.” Sandpaw said. He seemed to have noticed her distress.

“H-How many does he have?”

“A lot still. No need to worry.” Sandpaw smiled, “He’ll be fine.”

As if on queue, Darkstar began to stir. She released a sigh of relief.

“Stay down. You’ve lost a lot of blood.” Rainfeather placed cobwebs on his long gashes. “What are our casualties?”

“I managed to recover Firestorm and Riverdrop’s bodies. I think Grassfoot managed to escape… but I haven’t seen her since. Sunspot… fell into the stream, so it isn’t likely they’ll go looking for hers to throw into the Great Lake. I wasn’t able to take anyone else with me.” he coughed weakly.

“What did you mean by earlier… by him hearing the rumors about me?” Nightpaw asked.

“They were looking for you.”

“But… why?”

“I don’t know why. They’ve never mentioned. But that night, they killed Ravenkit, and one of Swanjaw’s kits. They deliberately went after all black kits in Bayclan. But they spared every other kit in the nursery… and even some warriors,” he sighed, “For your safety, i want you to masquerade as Shimmerpaw’s littermate. We cannot risk another attack of this nature.”

She nodded. “If… if that’s what I need to do to keep the clan safe.”

Darkstar let out a large huff of relief. “Good. I think I need to sleep… for a while… Rainfeather, I need to you promote a new deputy. The apprentices can wait for another mentor… but we need a deputy now.”

He closed his eyes, and went to sleep.

Rainfeather scowled. “Oh… damn it all to the lake… who am I even supposed to promote?”

“I’ll take deputy for now.” Starleaf stated. She must have left the nursery when Nightpaw wasn’t paying attention.

“Are you sure?” Rainfeather asked.

She nodded. “Yes. Darkstar still has a lot of lives left. I’m certain he’ll be able to appoint a new deputy in the future that will be able to take over. But for now, I’m the only able warrior who’s had an apprentice before.”

Rainfeather sighed. “Alright. Apprentices, help me take Darkstar to my den.”

Nightpaw looked around at her clan. With a clan made up of mostly kits and apprentices, the future seemed rocky.

But she knew they could not give up. They’d rebuild, just as they did before. And she’d do everything in her power to help.

After all, this was her clan, wasn’t it?

Nightstar’s Clan

Moon 0

[nanistar]

How did you go about making your story Saltburn's Clan? I really love how fleshed out and interconnected things are, it's really good! I want to make my own story, too, but I'm struggling to know what steps to take to get there and where to start. So, how did you go about it?

this one is really hard. i get a decent amount of people asking me how to start/how to write a comic, but never how to start/write a story.

truthfully, i don't really know. i have always been a more oc oriented person rather than fandom oriented. when i was in middle school i tried writing fanfiction but was never as attached to the canon character as i was with ocs. now oc x canon, however, i could roll with. all this to say, i have always had oc stories floating around in my head, so starting a story itself is easy for me. following through is not, i have to really hit a vein early on.

so when it comes to story, what do you like? i like 70s and 80s grungy sci-fi and gory/campy horror (alien, event horizon, the thing, evil dead) niche and hostile biomes with highly adapted creatures (like deep sea or deep desert) and i love specbio, even if i'm far from an actual scientist. i also love bastardizing Christianity because the themes and motifs are. (chef kiss) Delicious. (a lot of these inspirations don't come into play for SBC but since i was 15 or so i've been working on another story, starting the comic, cancelling it, rewriting it, completely wiping everything but the core characters. most of these themes are more appropriate for them)

and what sort of character tropes do you like/don't like? i personally am uninterested in writing stories of younger people discovering the world around them and discovering who they are. i love to read them, but i've already lived through that situation and don't want to have to work through it again. another thing i'm personally bad at writing is will they/wont they romance stuff. that's why i like established adult characters with established relationships. Saltburn and hollowspur are both 5 years old and have been dating for about 4 of those years. we know that they love each other, as they visit and play around, and sleep over often, but we also know that they are independent and self-sufficient without each othersince we know that they live apart and have no interest in moving in together. (this is all shown, not told, in chapter 1) i did not start saltburn's story and setting with the intention of making it into a comic, or even to share it with tumblr or anyone other than my friends, outside of drawings that i did for myself and posted. she was just a little kitty cat who lived in my head for a while. i talk a bit more about it here, but basically when it came to actually coming up with the setting, i knew i wanted it in the desert so i researched biomes and found ones that would be good for clans.

warrior cats in particular lends itself to a really good jumping off point for stories, as it already has an established hierarchy and society so you dont have to think TOO hard about it. but also you can modify it to your own discretion. i'm personally sick of starclan's interference so i didn't want them to have anything to do with the story, plus there are a lot of better "starclan is evil/fucked up/has bad intentions" stories out there than i could do (@the-exiled-comic, the dog star, ect) . i also didnt want any clan v clan drama because weve had enough in canon. from there i established that cross clan relationships are fine and joining a clan that fits you better is okay too. then i filled out the clans, i started with sunclan and did marshclan last. through drawing that huge list of characters i was able to set them up with families and histories along the way because i could look at similar coat patterns and stuff and assign them as family. briskwater and hollowspur were always siblings, but hawkwasp being from briskwater's litter came a bit later. i knew i wanted flickerstar to have exes and a lot of kids so i came up with a bunch of names first and figured the rest out later. having these established histories that go back helps make the world feel lived in.

saltburn's unusual design came before the creation of moonclan, though i knew i wanted a 4th clan at this point. i decided there would be a clan that lived in the mines and came out at night, and then eventually worked them back so that they were instead banished away deep into the mines. there is a lot of moonclan lore that i have not revealed yet (we will learn all about them this upcoming chapter) and most of it has stemmed from the question: If life is so bad for them down there, why hasn't anyone left yet? because a major plot point form moonclan is that nobody knows they exist. SO there has to be something, physical or otherwise, keeping them down there. when you build a world you gotta ask yourself WHY a lot, and figure that out too. why are the surface clans so friendly with each other? because they don't need to compete for resources and are able to spare some. why hasn't anyone left moonclan? well...

anyway a lot of these things will come naturally the more you think about it. and tbqh, i did not go into the comic with all this lore and stuff planned. it has come to me as i work. moonclan's [Redacted] has been rewritten like a dozen times as i come up with cooler ideas. when i plan a scene, i usually wrote a short kinda vague script for it, and then work through it as i do the pages. an 8 page scene takes a month to do, so I have a lot of time to mull over the dialogue, so i don't worry about writing it all down ahead of time.

but beyond all that. i personally can't go "i want to write a story" and then do it. i have to work it over in my head and as doodles for a long time before i get anywhere that i'm happy with it. it comes naturally to me i just sorta zone in and focus on stuff.

[turkeypawed]

THE GREAT FEAR | Volereader

Clans of the Waste Masterpost is HERE!

VOLEREADER (Lorekeeper)

She is the second-ever Lorekeeper of RockClan. She was born to Chervilfeather and Burrpelt, but raised by Chervilfeather after Burrpelt died to an infected wound when Volekit was 4 moons old. She was initially apprenticed to her father, Chervilfeather, as a Fighter, but when the Clan became in need of a Lorekeeper apprentice, she was selected by Milkweedmist. She was a pretty shoddy Fighter, so she was glad for the change. Five moons into her training as Lorekeeper, her mentor Milkweedmist was killed by a Creature, so for the final moons of her training, the MarshClan Lorekeeper came to tutor her. She was given her full name, Volereader, two moons after that. There was doubt within the Clan if she was ready to be the full Lorekeeper due to Milkweedmist dying, and she works every day to prove herself to her Clan. She came up with several types of ceremonies to celebrate pivotal moments in Clan life, in an attempt to give RockClan something to celebrate and focus on, other than the terrible Creatures that are hunting them. Volereader is responsible and a good hunter, and a great storyteller, which is part of the reason she was selected to become the Lorekeeper. Milkweedmist influenced her to be adaptable and to diffuse situations. Her father influenced her to be more likely to think outside of the box and break rules that don’t suit her. When given her full name, she was honored for her loyalty and commitment to her Clan despite the challenges thrown her way.

BELONGINGS: She already has a hard time keeping track of all the Lore Scrolls, so anything else she did have is now lost.

QUIRKS: She likes drawing (cave-painting style) important events that she records during her work, and she can’t wink without looking strained.

RELATIONSHIPS: Daughter of Chervilfeather (Fighter, retired, living) and Burrpelt (Trapper, deceased). Half-sibling to Rainpaw (Starwalker apprentice).

[winnybinng]

hello, thank you for clicking!!!

me and my friend are currently looking for people who're interested in helping build our server!

this is a discord based warrior cats roleplay.

what're the benefits of helping?

you'd recieve:

obviously, the moderator role.

an extra cat slot (max for other people is 3)

ability to preclaim high-ranks such as lead, deputy, and medicine cat (other members are able to as well. please be mindful...)

ability to help add onto the plot

ability to host events (such as games; roblox, minecraft, etc...)

this may be added onto !

what's it about?

the roleplay is called the scattered salvation, and is based on two clans and a rogue group; frostclan, marshclan, and the thorned ones.

frostclan resides in the snowy mountains, as marshclan lives in the deep, muddy terrain. the thorned ones are a group of rogues that once resided

in the clan 'vineclan'. vineclan was once a thriving clan that lived in the jungle. their leader, lionstar, was wise and soft-spoken, often referred to as

one of the most influential leaders ever known. this was until lionstar mysteriously passed away due to an unforeseen illness, and a sleek, black cat with a gruesome scar appeared;

mortis.

formally referred to as 'raven'throat,' mortis had turned away from his clan name claiming that 'the dark forest had told him so,' and that 'the clans prevent free will, leaders just

want to control you.' hearing this, mortis had spread this to the other clan members, causing confusion and rage. so when lionstar had died, many cats were enthusiastic,

ecstatic of their freedom. while the other cats were distraught, believing those cats were responsible for their leaders death. this caused a war inside the clan, resulting in no cat except for

a few to survive. they were not mortis' followers, as they didn't want to be referred to as that. they were referred to as his supporters.

after the genocide of vineclan, these cats continued to go to other clans, spreading their misinformation and destruction while gaining more supporters.

these cats are relentless, cold-blooded murders who're now knocking on frostclans and marshclans doors.

there is a lot more lore that'll be fully posted on the discord server.

im interested! how do i apply?

simple!

just comment your application or send it to me!

be aware that this is a 16+ roleplay.

what is your discord username?

how old are you (age/age-range)?

why're you interested?

have you moderated in any servers before? if so, how many?

how active are you (1-10)?

please explain in a few sentences as to why i should choose you as a moderator.

please send a 1+ paragraph writing example .

these are open until we receive 5 moderators.

thank you!

[doeisdramatic]

Vulturestar

SO! MarshClan is a clan of cats who, big shocker, live in the wetlands of the larger clan territory. And this old gal, Vulturestar, is their leader! One of the only remaining cats from her generation, you couldn't exactly say that Vulturestar has any affectionate relationships with anyone except her daughter, Rabbitleap. She was known for being headstrong and friendly in her younger days but changed rather drastically after the death of her mate. She has a reputation for being a bit cruel and strict, and you would think that would make her and the young Deerpaw butt heads but...she seems somewhat enthralled with the young molly, in a distant way. Maybe she sees parts of herself in her? Vulturestar is described as a huge black molly with piercing silver eyes (despite being blind!) with claw-scars that run across them. She has powerful paws, a ragged pelt with scars all over her body, and tattered ears.

[kc4artz]

The Founding Leaders of the Clans. GorgeTail of GorgeClan, MarshStalker of MarshClan, Moor-Runner of MoorClan, and ValleyHeart of ValleyClan

And silly boy Lynx, the not abusive boyfriend of GorgeStar

Also, old lady design for GorgeStar, still as sweet as ever.

[shadowsofthevalleywc]

Welcome,

I'm Red Hood (or Ghost for those who know my old user). I'm apparently an admin here as well as staff for SotV. I use she/they pronouns. I have 11 OCs and 4 in the works. This is all formated on a phone, so I apologize if it looks wonky on a computer.

~Gorgeclan~

• Silverstar- Leader

• Punisher- Warrior

• Alderkit- Kit

• Pantherflame (in the works. Other potential name: lionflame)

~Forestclan~

• Riverpaw- apprentice

• Jaguarstalk (in the works)

~Meadowclan~

• Whisperingfawn- Warrior

• Stonesong (in the works)

• Doegaze (in the works)

~Marshclan~

• Venompaw (Venomscorch)- Apprentice

• Fawnberry- Queen

~Mountainclan~

• Whitefire- Warrior

• Blackpanther- Warrior

• Nightkit (nightwing)- Kit. Will be med cat apprentice

~Dark Forest~

• Deathstroke- Stormclaw's Deputy

[thestarssplit]

Stars Split Legend #1

The First Seer

TW for Starvation and Dog attacks.

Moons after the supernatural invasion, Shadowclan* was suffering. A huge dog, with fur that no cat could see, had devoured every piece of prey within the forest. But the dog was not satisfied with just eating prey. No. It turned its blind maw upon the camp.

At night it would run into camp, snapping and barking. By then it would be too late. No matter how far the cats ran, they could not flee it. They moved their dens, they separated, they hid.

But it always found them.

The young Doctor, barely 7 moons old, prayed to Starclan. She begged them to save her clan. The stars wept for her, but they could not intervene. So instead they did the only thing they could.

They blessed the young Doctor, gave her and her bloodline the eyes of the stars. This allowed her to see the beast.

But that was not enough. Her clan was still weakened, so she and her leader asked Windclan for help.

With her blessing and the backing of Windclan, they were able to kill the dog.

The cats, finally free held a feast in the doctor's honor.

That night the clans joined in laughter and joy. For the first time in moons the stars smiled and their happiness blessed the remaining clans.

Other information

*The clan varies between tellers. Most Marshclan cats use Shadowclan while most Rumbleclan cats use Riverclan.

The young Doctor is sometimes called Owlpaw or Owlsight depending on the teller.

[maplewood126]

[night-in-the-marsh]

MarshClan

Leader -> Minkstar - a pale ginger and white tom with silver eyes. he is ambitious and an unusally strong fighter. his natural intuition saved the clan from extinction. MENTOR of Pouncepaw

Deputy -> Falconthrift - a pale gray smoke she-cat with blue eyes. She is a lonesome cat and also an unusually strong fighter. this trait helped her to stand up to the strays. MENTOR of Fuzzpaw

Medicine Cat -> Logpoppy - an unusually dappled brown tom with gray eyes. he resembles a bengal. the healer is daring and alwasy tries new techniques to heal his clanmates. he is incredible clairvoyant and his connection with StarClan is very strong.

Warriors

Clearbounce - a long-furred unusually spotted dark ginger (rosette) she-cat with golden eyes. the young warrior is strict and sticks to the rules. she is also good mediator and helps with disagreements.

Dawnchest - a long-furred dorsal-striped pale gray she-cat with yellow eyes. she has a darker gray stripe on her back that transitions in her tail. she is ambitious and a fish-like swimmer in the old territory.

Crickettooth - a long-furred gray she-cat with emerald eyes. she is strict with the kittens but also a great kittsitter. with her cleverness, she is needed for strategy.

Coldwatcher - a light brown tabby she-cat with cyan eyes. she is adventurous and a good climber. with her mediating skills did she help in cross clan relationships.

Apprentices

Pouncepaw - a pale tabby (sokoke) she-cat with amber eyes. the apprentice is daring and needs to be tamed. she likes to play mossball.

Fuzzpaw - a gray tom with green eyes. the young tom is charismatic and likes to climb. he needs to build his nest himself because he is picky with the material.

Queens and Kits

Nighingalekit - a brown smoke she-cat with golden eyes. she is bossy and has an active imagination.

Landmarks

Highoaks - a cluster of tall sparkeling trees, mostly hunting grounds

Sandpit - hidden in tall grass, the training field

Sunning Stream - a small stream that flows through the plains with big rocks on its shore where the cats can sun themselves. It also has much twoleg trash because of a nearby fireplace.

[cheerclaw]

Meet the OCs: Saltburn (she/her) - @nanistar

Saltburn is a laid back, relaxed senior warrior who lives in SaguaroClan, one of the three friendly Clans of the sunny Mojave desert. She is a bit odd, having a bald patch on her nose, and extra sensitive eyes that keep her from going out a lot during the day, but she remains cheerful. She loves her MarshClan mate Hollowspur and her best friend, the SaguaroClan healer Silversky. Little does she know, she is actually a lost child of Bonestar, the leader of MoonClan; a long forgotten Clan that was banished to the nearby abandoned copper mine over 100 years ago….

Mothsight the Watcher (he/she/they) - @sp1resong

Mothsight is a warrior of RotClan, having joined alongside her best friend Mushroompelt when they were both six moons old. He is a protagonist of The Poison Beneath (@thepoisonbeneath), which I am once again shamelessly plugging [here be MANY spoilers btw if you don't want those uh. don't read further] They are, more than anything else, curious. No amount of knowledge is enough. She'd throw herself headfirst into a dark pit just to see what was at the bottom--actually, he kind of does do that! though he first enters the Labyrinth (df equivalent) alongside Mushroompelt while searching for the latter's missing partner Jonny, she quickly develops a… fascination with the place and with its nature. Their curiosity draws the attention of Darnerstare the Clarity, one of the Labyrinth's Centers (most powerful spirits, who work alongside Sporefall the Decay as sort of secondary leaders), who begins to walk in Mothsight's dreams. The Clarity, as the Labyrinth's resident Eye Imagery and Knowledge Guy, offers to give Mothsight the knowledge, the /clarity/ he seeks. Though she is at first hesitant (they are curious, not stupid), they ultimately agree when the Clarity shows him just how much he stood to gain--notably, the power to wander the territory and visit the Labyrinth in her sleep, and the ability to walk in others' dreams. The cost--relying on the Clarity to sustain them--was great, but worth it, they reasoned, and they took on the role of his host, and the title of Watcher. after Mushroompelt-as-the-Catalyst breaks the seals on the Labyrinth (long story), it is Mothsight who undergoes the most drastic physical changes, getting a solid two new eyeballs. . okay i almost said diversity win i'm not sure if that's what i meant there regardless, with the boundaries between dreams and waking thoroughly blurred and the source of their power unconstrained, Mothsight grows WAY more powerful. actually, she in all honesty doesn't want the 'apocalypse' to end! but everyone else is suffering and though he's undergone a sort-of corruption arc he's not That bad. now, there aren't many choices here. Icarus says that they need to destroy the Labyrinth, freeing the trapped spirits (it was the fact that they were within the Labyrinth and unable to decay and join the Forever Free [StarClan equivalent] that angered them so, after all), but this would destroy Mothsight's power--and, in all likelihood, kill her. Mothsight instead develops a plan to seal the Labyrinth away again without destroying it, which would save her life and power /but/ doom the trapped spirits to be bound forever--or, not forever, which is part of the problem! the Labyrinth's escape would be all but an inevitability, it'd just put it off for some generations more so that /these/ cats don't have to deal with it. still, this is the plan that most agree to--except for Icarus. Icarus goes behind the others' back and, within a sort-of-dream, attempts to sacrifice his own life setting fire to the peat bogs in their entirety (largely a symbolic thing, not literal. although the dying is literal). Mothsight, however, walks in his dreams and catches him in the act. there's a confrontation, it's very emotional, blah blah blah. anyways they both die. i'm too tired to explain this in a fancy way sorry theyre just fucking died also they're canonically aroace. diversity win!

[Back to the grade]

[plushieclan]

<< Back to Moon 13 interlude

Swampclan’s camp! The unconventional camp nestled into the swamps of the Great Lake… more under the cut!

—Swampclan is nestled in the old Marshclan camp

—It continues old Marshclan tradition of each adult and their mate having their own den after they graduate

— Clerics are the only profession to have their own den. Elders will usually move their dens to be on the same side as the cleric den.

—Dens are crafted from reeds, and will float in case of flooding. Dens are demolished and built as necessary

—The nursery is the only permanent den.

—All of the communal dens are in one half of the camp.

[darktreeroots]

Palestar’s Trials

Allegiances:

Leader: 

Stormstar - a pure black she-cat with golden eyes and a second star hidden on her stomach

Deputies:

Algaebrook - a dark tabby tom Frogheart- an elderly gray tom Mewlight - an elderly white spotted black tom

Medicine Cat: 

Wavespring - a spotted calico tom

Warriors: 

Adderstripe - a orange tom with a few white spots Sunnystalk - a yellow she-cat Sweetfang - a gray tabby tom

Queens: 

Bubbledrop - a spotted calico expecting mother Quailbreeze - a red tabby queen, mother of Poolkit, Palekit, Lavenderkit, and Deerkit

Elders:

Troutsplash - a beautiful old golden tabby she-cat

9.5k words, tws for ableism, transphobia, misgendering, and deadnaming

Palewince has worked long and hard to get to this point, season after season she had worked herself endlessly to become the best warrior she could be. 

Had it all been for naught? Would she be mocked even now?

No. Palewince thinks to herself, holding back her frown and her voice as the rest of her Clan gave a half-hearted cheer for the newest leader of LaurelClan, No I refuse to let this all mean nothing! Palewince stumbles backwards, wet moss squelching under her feet. The crowd parts behind her in a way they hadn’t for the leader when he emerged through the barrier leading the pack of deputies and medicine cats. 

Palewince turns and runs from camp. They all let her go. 

-

From the first moment that she knew that she could be, Palekit wanted to be leader of LaurelClan. They were the youngest Clan, so that meant that they needed to hold themselves to high standards. LaurelClan needed to prove that they were better than every Clan, but especially MarshClan to show them that they had lost their strongest warriors due to their pride. 

Out of her, Deerkit, Lavenderkit, and Poolkit, it was obvious that Palekit was the one who was going to become leader. She had the good sense to listen to her elders instead of scampering around playing moss ball or anything dull like that. Adderstripe had told her that she had the clean markings of a future leader. 

She had asked then, What about Poolkit? Because they had the same markings, just in opposing colors. Her father had laughed, looking out of the nursery at the writhing pile of limbs that were just outside. Poolkit was covered in muck. Somehow his pelt was covered in dirty water and he was making no attempts to clean himself. 

The markings are yours. Adderstripe had said with a wink, glancing back at the cream diamond on her back, I can imagine your second star going right there. For defense. Ah! Her father said aloud, before rolling over and landing directly on top of her. 

The other queens laughed at her as she squealed for help, clawing her way out of her father’s bulk. Right before she can get free, Adderstripe placed his paw on her head. 

Will this stop a future leader? He had asked her. 

-

It isn’t raining as she leaves camp, but she feels as if it should be.

-

There was a story that Palepaw always loved, no matter how old she was when it was being told. She had heard it first in the nursery from Bubbledrop and it was still Bubbledrop who told it the best. Palepaw doesn't call out before she enters the warrior’s den, carefully keeping to the edges of the weaved fern walls as she approaches the calico cat. 

Bubbledrop rose her head as she approached. Palepaw knew that she would have gotten a stinging rebuke for bothering her if what had kept her from calling out wasn’t the large carp in her mouth. The blood kept on flowing into her mouth and she was salivating after a long day of hunting but she would keep the carp for Bubbledrop. Only if Bubbledrop was in the mood to share would Palepaw get to eat the prey she had caught. 

“What is it you want from me?” Bubbledrop asked, but not unkindly. When Palepaw was a kit, Bubbledrop had barely talked to her and her siblings. Only after they had all left and Palekit was alone in the nursery would Bubbledrop even bother with her. Palepaw understood—kits were loud and annoying and always underfoot. Palekit worked hard to be better than her siblings and it was through that effort that she got so close to Bubbledrop. 

“I want to hear the story of our Clan again.” Palepaw requested, embarrassment prickling under her fur but she didn’t let it show. She had heard this story many times before from many people. Bubbledrop knew this and lets out a small sigh. Palepaw debated the idea of excusing herself and simple leaving but Bubbledrop patted the space beside her with her paw, allowing Palepaw to slide in beside her. 

Palepaw took it all in for a second, the clear air drifting in through the small holes in the barrier. They would need to be patched up with moss and clay and that would be her job. But that can be for later, now is for breathing in the clear air and feeling the soft moss beneath her pads and  pressing her body against the soft fur of Bubbledrop’s side. There is a hunger deep within her gut but if she acted right, she would be free from it. 

Newtwhisker was proud of her, as he always had been. She had just learned that if she flipped in the water that it did not help hunting at all but if there was a fish nearby then thrashing around to try and right herself would cause her to accidentally hook it with her claw and doing all that would look purposeful and impressive. (It wasn’t the former, but it was the latter.)

“I thought you heard this from someone else just the other day.”

“I don’t have many ‘other days’.” Palepaw pointed out. She had only been an apprentice for two moons and is one of the youngest cats in the Clan. She was still yet to learn the names of all her Clanmates.

“Humor the kit.” Purred Sunnystalk who was sitting beside her best friend. 

“I’m an apprentice!” Palepaw squeaked. 

“Yeah, yeah.” Sunnystalk replied before stretching, spreading out each of her paws and wriggling her butt like she’s about to pounce, “I’m going to go hunt something. I’ll be back soon.”

“Sure. Just leave me.” Bubbledrop called out. Sunnystalk’s only response as a flick of her tail, “Keep yourself clean. I don’t want you dragging that awful sickness back.”

Sunnystalk stopped for a moment and looks back at them, but the shadows fall over her yellow face and hid her expression. She didn’t say anything else before leaving the warrior’s den. 

“That cat…” Bubbledrop mumbled under her breath before she turned to Palepaw, “I would say that she’s nearly as bad as Wavespring if Wavespring wasn’t just so awful.” Palepaw nodded along. She knew well Bubbledrop’s issue with the medicine cat. After all, she had only been an apprentice for two moons, just a bit longer than Bubbledrop has been reinstated as a warrior. 

She was in the nursery when it all happened. It’s Wavespring’s fault that Palepaw and her siblings are the youngest cats in the clan. 

“Eh.” Bubbledrop took a huge bite out of the carp, tearing away the top layer of scales and revealing the soft pink meat underneath. Palepaw’s hunger doubled, renewed by the sight of food, “Laurelstar again. Fine. I can do that.”

Bubbledrop cleared her throat, “Many seasons ago, there were only three Clans. MountainClan, a secretive Clan that kept to their land into the white-tipped peaks and the caves that tore through the ground. They spoke to StarClan and interpreted their signs before they found the Moonhole and revealed it to all the Clans so that they wouldn’t be the only Clan with such power.”

“Which made them the most noble of the three Clans.”

“I was going to get to that.” Bubbledrop snapped. Palepaw lowered her ears and eyes in apology. Bubbledrop let out a snort before she continued. 

“CloudClan lived under the open sky, and the wind in the air flew inside of them and made them even faster than the breeze. ForestClan longed for the protective trees and settled down underneath them. However, they were the least noble of the three founding Clans and thus couldn’t remain like that. First it was ThinleafClan, claiming that their Clan was too restrictive and breaking off. Then it was MarshClan, due to their inherent corruption and lack of honor they were unable to live within ThinleafClan. 

“There were honorable cats within MarshClan, but many cats were silenced for speaking out and their ideas and lessons were ignored. Once such cat was a she-cat named Laurelpuddle. Laurelpuddle was fox-lengths ahead of any other cat when it came to intellect and that scared her leader and deputy. Being a brave and just member of her Clan she served them as well as she could, but was never even acknowledged by being given a deputy. 

She asked her leader over and over to have an apprentice, but she was refused. Laurelpuddle was mocked and cast aside, even when it came to her own name. 

“Laurelpuddle asked her leader over and over to have an apprentice, but she was refused. She was mocked and cast aside, even when it came to her own name. Laurelpuddle had always been different, preferring the clear waters at the edge of the territory to the swampy marshland that the Clan resided in. Still, because she was endlessly kind, she still decided to train her Clanmates to bear such waters, teaching them skills such as diving for fish and advanced swimming techniques. She trained nearly every cat in the Clan, from the youngest apprentice to the oldest warrior.

“Even so, Laurelpuddle would have been content to living and dying a loyal member of MarshClan had it not been for an appearance of the Rot.”

Palepaw shivered. Bubbledrop paused for a moment and finds nothing to say to her, so she continues. 

“The leader of MarshClan claimed that covering one’s fur with mud could keep the Rot at bay—that covering up the beautiful fur that StarClan blessed us with was the solution to their punishment. When Laurelpuddle disagreed with that horrible idea, she was nearly forced into exile by their leader. The only reason she wasn’t is because the deputy wanted to keep her as an example of what happens when you go against the leader. 

“They forced Laurelpuddle to work with the sick cats without any medicine cat training, fully intending her to become ill with Rot. Even when the ill cats were forced away from camp, Laurelpuddle was forced to go with them. 

However, she returned a few moons later free of Rot and announced that she was going to found a new Clan using the fallen seeds of a rotten plant. Many cats followed Laurelpuddle and she established this Clan, using herself as the first seed for the Clan to sprout from.” Bubbledrop gestures with her paw to the den, “She saw potential in this place, just as she did every one of us. Potential that we have to work hard to live up to every day for—”

A scream rang through camp, high-pitched in the way that only an apprentice’s could be. Bubbledrop was up in a moment, trampling over the remains of the carp. Palepaw’s stomach twisted painfully but she ignored it in favor of following the warrior into camp. 

“What happened?” A cat whose name Palepaw doesn’t know asked. She can only shake her head in reply, following Bubbledrop as they head for the turned over log at the end of camp, nearby a small stream. 

Just as they approached, Wavespring comes out carrying Poolpaw by the scruff who looks completely unapologetic after he’s disturbed the medicine cat. Palepaw smoothed down their fur, an apology ready on her tongue before a cat interrupted them. 

“What happened?”

“Just a kit getting where they don’t belong.” Wavespring tossed Poolpaw to the side. Her brother landed heavily and winces but the proud expression on his face doesn’t leave as he whirled around and shot back a sharp retort. 

“What do you mean, where I don’t belong? It’s the medicine den. The only thing that changed in there is Sweetfang! What happened to his fur? Why is there so little of it?”

“Nothing happened—” Wavespring began but before he can regret his words, Bubbledrop interjected, shoving herself to the front of the crowd with Palepaw on her heels. With every step, Palepaw sunk into the soft moss. With every step, Bubbledrop’s unsheathed claws tore moss out of the ground. 

“What? Happened?” Bubbledrop growled as she comes to stop a few tail-lengths away from the medicine cat who only gave her a derisive glance before pushing Poolpaw behind him, “Wavespring! Answer me!”

“I don’t answer to you.” The medicine cat replied with a bored expression, “I answer only to the leader. I don’t want to deal with your emotions. As far as you are concerned, Sweetfang is fine.” He held his ground with a lash of his tail and bared teeth, “Checking on him will not make him any better.”

“Hmm.” Bubbledrop said, before whipping around to glare at Poolpaw, “Well, since someone wants to lie to me today, I guess I’ll have to look to a kit for the truth.”

“I’m not a kit!” 

“Good. Kits lie like medicine cats do.”

“I’m not lying—”

“Was Sweetfang breathing? Was my mate alive?” Bubbledrop asked him, looming over Poolpaw. With an impossibly smug look on his face, Poolpaw shook his head. 

“You—!” Bubbledrop rose her paw to give Palepaw’s brother a rightful strike but before she could do so a yellow cat raced past Palepaw and lets out a wordless cry as she dove between Bubbledrop and Poolpaw. Bubbledrop stopped herself at the very last moment. She hissed at Sunnystalk as the other she-cat stood in front of Palepaw’s still smirking brother, blocking him from view. 

“Bubbledrop!” Sunnystalk pleaded, “Don’t lose your head. Please, just for a moment—”

Bubbledrop lunged forward, faster than Palepaw can follow. She grabbed Sunnystalk by the neck and in one swift motion, snapped her Clanmate’s neck, tossing her limb body to the side. The yellow cat hit the ground with a thud and even now Poolpaw still looks smug as the raging warrior came to loom over him. Wavespring stood beside her brother, not a whisker out of place. 

“Sweetfang’s blood is on your incompetent hands.” Bubbledrop snarled. 

“I didn’t kill him.” Wavespring replied calmly, stepping away from her swipe, “But it seems as if you will believe in whatever you want instead of listening to reason. As always.”

“You’re no brother of mine!” Bubbledrop leaped on top of the medicine cat, and it takes only a moment until they’re a ball of hissing and claws, holding onto each other so tightly that neither of them could escape. Only when a cat leaped between them, getting clawed by both sides do they halt. 

A yellow cat—Sunnystalk?—stood between them, fur wet and with blood running down their sides. 

“For once in your lives can you two get a handle on yourself! Dealing with your constant drama is ridiculous. It’s exhausting, it’s—”

“What is that sound?” Poolpaw said from beside her, ears perked, not paying attention to the situation that he so crudely caused. They all paused for a second, listening to the soft sounds and the three adults turn back to the medicine den in horror. 

Hack hack hack. 

Hack hack hack. 

Hack…and then silence. 

As Wavespring ran into the medicine cat den with Sunnystalk and Bubbledrop right on his heels, Palepaw looks at Poolpaw. He still looked unconcerned. 

Rage bubbles in her stomach. Her claws unsheathed. She kept them pressed into the moss. 

-

This can’t be! Palewince tells herself as she paces in a small pool of water. It barely comes up to her stomach, weighing down her fur. She feels it with every step she takes, the wrongness close to the added water weight. There’s no way that StarClan truly let this happen!

No. Palewince tells themself as they look up at the moon in the distance. It’s normally dim during the day but Palewince cannot find it. For a moment, she believes that this is a sign, that it means the new leader was chosen against the will of StarClan—but then she sees it again. Dimmer than usual, nearly eclipsed by the sun. 

…Is this your sign for me, StarClan? The moon, being swallowed up by the sun? Are you telling me that I am being blocked away? 

Palewince digs her claws into the wet muck under the pool, staring up at the sky, Are you telling me to do something—no, you must be. There isn’t a chance that you want me to stand aside. I won’t believe it!

Or are you telling me that I must become the sun and overshadow the one chosen by the moon? Is this a call to action or a cry of despair?

She hisses, And it’s not as if I can ask Wishstream to interpret. She’d just tell me that it was just the sun or something inane like that. 

Is that why your directions have been so muddled? Is this why you let him become deputy in the first place—an incompetent medicine cat that wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between a sign and a fish’s scales?

“So I cannot trust her.” Palewince tells herself.

“Who can you not trust?” Replies her daughter as she strolls up. Palewince takes a moment to berate herself—of all the scents to miss!—and turns to face Cypressfire. Her daughter keeps a calm, level stare as she strolls up as if she expects her mother to explode at any moment. Not an incorrect assumption, but Cypressfire should know better than to expect such a reaction from her mother. 

Whether wind, fire, or rain, Palewince would keep calm. 

“Wishstream.” Palewince says curtly. Cypressfire quickly bows her head in agreement. How much their medicine cat was lacking was a widely known secret. Palewince didn’t know what she was expecting from the apprentice of Wavespring, but she didn’t think she was expecting things to get even worse than a kin-killer. 

“I believe that I’ve just gotten an message from StarClan.” Palewince says, “But I cannot trust her to interpret it.”

Cypressfire tilts her head, “And of course making it to the Moonhole is impossible.”

Palewince pauses, one paw in the air. Water drips down her paw and hits the water in droplet. She pays it no mind.

“No. StarClan is on my side.” She turns around, heading toward the deep end of the pool. This place connected to one of the major rivers. Once she got to the Gathering Island, she knew where to head. And when she was lost? StarClan would guide her the rest of the way. 

“I will be back. With answers.”

Palewince dives into the water, confident down to every last hair on her pelt. 

-

“Do you want to take a nap? It’s been a stressful half-moon.” Newtwhisker asked, almost nuzzling up against her. She didn’t pull away from her mentor but she did shake her head, still staring at the turned-over and hollowed out tree trunk. Her parents were fretting inside, it’s basically become their second home. 

“I’m fine. I’m going to ask Stormstar if I can go out on a border patrol.”

Newtwhisker shook his head, “Algaebrook wants to bolster up the fresh-kill pile a bit. Ah—” Newtwhisker looked back toward the already large pile of prey. Palepaw had just eaten and she swore that some things were about to go rotten soon. She lamented the stupidity of the deputy who is also the leader of her family. 

She flicked her whiskers, “Is Stormstar still insisting that we don’t try take some land from MarshClan?”

Newtwhisker shuddered down to the tip of his tail. Palepaw wondered how such a conflict-averse cat was allowed to become a warrior. It seems likely that he would flee in the face of battle like MarshClan’s Asternewt. There have been many times that Palepaw wished that she got a senior warrior as a mentor, she can only guess that it’s because she was leagues ahead of her siblings and the young warrior needed to have an apprentice sometime. 

“Yeah, and for that I’m glad. You’re too young to see battle yet. Training is more than enough for you.” Newtwhisker pressed his muzzle to the top of her head, “So, want to hunt with me?”

“I was thinking of going out with Crimsonpaw, actually.” She lied. 

Newtwhisker let out a happy purr, “Oh, let me not come between young love then.” Her mentor slipped away and she’s thankful for it. There’s not a doubt in her mind that Crimsonpaw would agree to go out hunting with her without any complaints, but it was better to avoid any complicated questions like when they had time to plan this out. 

Someone yowled in the hollowed out tree trunk and something came stumbling out. 

A stupid mistake made flesh and fur. 

Palepaw rose to her feet and sought out her siblings. At the very least she knows that Deerpaw and Lavenderpaw haven’t been consumed by the newest trend of worrying over a cat that caused all of his problems. 

Deerpaw was missing, but Lavenderpaw was sticking across camp from the medicine den. She looked worn out and haggard, fur clumped in some places as she stared at the small hollow that held their parents. Palepaw remembered that Lavenderpaw had been the one to scent MarshClan scent past their border lines and had started the whole argument between Stormstar and his deputies. She remembered that Lavenderpaw was so excited to tell their parents about what they had found. 

Palepaw looked at Lavenderpaw and is overwhelmingly aware of the cleanliness of her own fur compared to her sister. She turned to find Crimsonpaw instead. 

-

The Gathering Island is as beautiful as it always is, but Palewince doesn’t pause as she reaches it, climbing onto the bank and shaking out her fur before she continues onto MountainClan territory. 

-

“It was such a shame to lose such a loyal warrior so early.” Stormstar told her privately. Their leader is pure black except for the jagged scar down her shoulder. Her second star is hidden someone that no cat can seem to find, “But I have faith that you are able to adapt to this situation and come out stronger for it.”

Palepaw nodded. She wondered if she’s supposed to look penitent. She wondered how to do that. After all, Newtwhisker’s death was not a surprise, nor was it a great tragedy. Newtwhisker had no potential, he had barely risen to the occasion of being her mentor and heavily relied on the senior warriors despite being an apprentice himself only a few moons prior. She wouldn’t be surprised if he died during an attempt to flee. 

“I won’t disappoint you.” Palepaw told her new mentor, chosen via convenience because there was only about a half-moon until she was required to train under her leader anyhow. Stormstar nodded, amber eyes turning away from her and back to the raging river in front of them, “How many fish do you want me to catch?”

“More than you can carry.” Stormstar said in return. 

Palepaw jumped into the river and drowned. 

-

She’s been this path before, seasons ago. Back then their last true leader lead Palewince and her siblings all the way to the Moonhole after Palewince’s insistent requests and ability to tell which cats would be the most likely to have mercy on a grief-stricken apprentice and pass the message onto to Stormstar. 

Palewince pushes back her ears and bears the cold wind as it comes down the mountain. Her paws hurt just as much as they did when she was an apprentice—LaurelClan land was wet and soft, nothing like the dry grasses and hard pebbles under her feet. 

Not many LaurelClan cats made this journey these days, for while they are one of the closest Clans to the Moonhole, it just was never highlighted. The only way Palewince learned of it was from a few BroadleafClan cats, proudly cawing like ravens about the experience. Palewince had wanted to take it not for the simple reason of becoming a warrior—she had wanted to know her destiny. 

Clearly, she was greater than her siblings. She had been since birth. There had to be something waiting for her—and there was. An unknown cat had come down from the sky, stars laced in her pelt. The brightest star was the one on her back.

Laurelstar had told her that she was going to do great things for her Clan, that she must never let her head fall. They would be trials, but she would succeed in every last one of them. 

Palewince lowers her head to brace herself against a particularly harsh wind. She ignores the pain that lingers in her body and pushes herself further forward. This is only another trial. And I will succeed. 

-

Palepaw raised her head and breathes in the clear air. The scent of sickness that had lingered nearly her entire life had dissipated just a moon or two earlier and she had learned what it truly meant for the air to smell like home. It was like ferns and and clay and water and prey. It was like every cat she had ever known. 

“I, Stormstar, leader of LaurelClan, call upon my warrior ancestors to look down on this apprentice. They have trained hard to understand the ways of your noble code, and I commend them to you as a warrior in their turn.”

She sat taller.

“Palepaw, do you promise to uphold the warrior code and to protect and defend your Clan, even at the cost of your life?”

“I do.” Is there any other choice?

“Then by the powers of StarClan, I give you your warrior name. Palepaw, from this moment on you will be known as Palewince. StarClan honors your intelligence and skill, and we welcome you as a full warrior of LaurelClan.”

The entire Clan started calling out their names and Palewince basks in the attention while thinking to herself. Wisdom and skill. Were those the traits that stood out most for me? Though I guess that Lavenderswallow got honesty and energy which aren’t that positive. I mean, what does it mean if someone compliments you on being energetic? 

Commitment doesn’t describe Deerspots at all, nor patience, but I guess Stormstar was trying to instill those in her instead of actually describing her. 

…

Palewince glanced over at her only brother. She had noticed the brief look on his face when he was given his warrior name, but he doesn’t know why he even bothered to be annoyed at it. It fit him after all—giving him a different name would be a mistake. Cats like Rockstep and Graymoon and Scorchtree and Snowdance may complain but really, what else was Stormstar supposed to do? Give them LaurelClan names?

They weren’t LaurelClan cats, they were barely better than parasites. MountainClan didn’t want them, why should they?

Halfleg looked back at her, but Palewince had already moved onto the vicious she-cat glaring at her from the other side of camp. Floodburn didn’t even try to conceal her hatred. Palewince looked back and winked. 

Resilience and dedication really are the only words to use for you, Halfleg—and really it’s only one word!

-

Palewince doesn’t know where to go, but does not admit it. Instead she prays and hopes that someone will show her the way. 

-

“All cats who are old enough to catch their own prey, gather under the HighWillow for a Clan meeting!” Stormstar yowled just as she enters camp. Palewince flicked her tail, irritated. The border patrol that she had been leading separates. Flameback paused for a moment, aiming a long look at his former mentor. 

Palewince shook her head. She had no clue what this is about—she had only spent two moons as Stormstar’s apprentice but had made an effort to stay around the leader and listen to her complaints. She wouldn’t be surprised if she was closer to their leader than Algaebrook was and he was one of her deputies. 

If there was going to be a Clan meeting, then surely she would have been told ahead of time. Especially so since she would have missed it entirely if she spent any more time on the border patrol. 

The clan collected slowly—it’s midday and many warriors were taking naps while apprentices worked on their duties. There is so little movement from the elder’s den that Palewince catches an apprentice’s eye and quickly jerked her head toward them in a sign that they need to be woken up. 

“Hurry up.” Stormstar snapped, lashing her tail, “Or do I lead a lazy Clan?”

“Of course you don’t.” Palewince called out as she comes to the front of the crowd. 

“I’d like to debate that idea.” Muttered her brother. Palewince quickly unsheathed a claw and pressed it into their remaining front paw. Halfleg winces but doesn’t cry out. He’s used to the tactics she used to keep him quiet. It’s for his own good really—a cat as lacking as he should know when to not cause trouble. 

It takes a few minutes for the Clan to collect in numbers enough that Stormstar is satisfied with. Her eyes blazed gold. “After many many moons of being undermined and talked back to and given advice so horrendous that at times I’m not sure that I’m speaking to a cat or one of the Rotten, or even a wolf—but no longer! Algaebrook is no longer a member of LaurelClan—”

Immediately there’s noise. Loudest of all is Algaebrook, loudly protesting their sudden expellment.

What does she mean no longer a member?!

“Stormstar! Did you forget what it means to be loyal to your elders! I’m appalled!” The dark tabby yowled, using the same arguments that Palewince would overhear in front of the leader’s den, “I have served you for seasons—”

“Poorly.” 

“And I have earned—”

“Nothing.”

“You—!”

“Get off of LaurelClan land.” Stormstar leaned down, leering at the former deputy—the former LaurelClan cat, “If you are seen here by the next sunrise, then you will be killed on sight. I don’t need weak cats like you.”

“Please! Please Stormstar!” Troutflash called out. Apparently the elder was fully awake now, awake enough to fall on her stomach in front of the HighWillow, “I beg of you. My mate will not survive alone.”

“I won’t—” Algaebrook started, indignant before Troutflash turns to him. It’s a quick look, accompanied by words that Palewince is just far enough to not hear but somehow it’s enough for Algaebrook to stop mid word. And after a few moments, he lowered himself as well, bowing in front of Stormstar. 

The smile that she gave is one that only a leader can truly have—the look of a cat who has gotten everything they wanted and the last thing in their way has bowed its head and let them have their way with it. Palewince basked in its light. 

She cackled, “Well if you’re going to bow and beg for forgiveness I guess that I can’t be too harsh on you, can I?” Stormstar stretched out her paw, rhythmically sheathing and unsheathing her claws, “But I can’t just let you get your old position back, can I?”

“The new deputy of LaurelClan has already been chosen!”

Algaebrook opened his mouth, Troutflash closes it with her tail. She looked up at Stormstar, expectant. 

Of course it’s not going to be you. Palewince thought, mind flying, She hates Algaebrook, why would she ever chose his mate to replace him? No, Stormstar needs a cat that was under Algaebrook, someone related to him but not so closely kin as to be under his influence. 

Adderstripe’s mother was from the same litter as Troutflash—and my family is under Algaebrook’s deputyship. She needs a cat who has already trained an apprentice! Deerspots and Lavenderswallow haven’t trained one yet and Halfleg has only been training Mistpaw for a moon! 

There’s also Hollowbass and Goldenhaze, but there’s no way that Stormstar would chose HalfClan kits as a deputy!

So it must be me!

Stormstar turns and looked directly at her. Oh her eyes as so gold. 

“Halfleg will be the new deputy of LaurelClan!”

W h a t?

Palewince looked at her brother, who is smugly looking back at her. 

-

The winds are harsh, but she can be harsher. 

-

“It’s your fault.” Palewince snapped, voice choked with grief, “It’s your fault our sister is dead!”

Rain had descended mid-way through the vigil, so Stormstar had cut it off early. He had slunk out of camp and Palewince had followed him, unwilling to let her thoughts go unheard. The rain has grown heavier but that doesn’t hide the furious look on Halfleg’s face when he looked back at his sister and snarls. 

“Are you saying this because you’re sad she’s dead, or because you just want to piss me off?” Halfleg snarled at him, “It’s not my fault that she died. She should have known better than to try to take her own leg off. Her death has nothing to do with me.” 

Palewince stares at her brother, cruel words ringing in her ears. 

“She died trying to be like you.”

Halfleg stares at her, golden eyes slowly narrowing, “And that was her mistake. Not mine. Look at me,” Halfleg raises up their partially missing leg. It has long grown fur over the wound, but he can never regrow the limb. 

It had, in a way, redefined Halfleg’s life. 

In a way, it had changed nothing at all. He was still the crude, unrefined, headstrong cat that he had been as Poolkit. There was still nothing that phased him, no matter how much worse he made life for all the cats that were around him. Still, when Palewince told him all of this Halfleg would deflect and turn his back on her. 

“I wish that you had tried to hack your leg off instead of Lavenderswallow.” Halfleg growled as he ungracefully slinks toward camp, “Leave me alone. I’m going to bed. It’s been a long night for every except you apparently.”

“It would have been better if you had died that day.” Palewince said truthfully. Halfleg stops. 

“Well, isn’t it such a shame that I didn’t?” Halfleg lashed his tail, “But StarClan hath not stricken me down so I guess that I am acceptable enough.”

-

Palewince may be lost, but she was right when she was depending on someone to come and save her. She just didn’t expect it to be someone that she recognized. MountainClan cats rarely came to Gatherings, the only time they could be counted to come was when they had a change in leadership. It was moons ago that they last appeared, the same moon that their false leader had gotten Mistpaw as an apprentice and a few moons before Mistpaw’s death. 

This cat, though? Well their appearance must be a sign. 

“Palewince of LaurelClan, correct?” Says the former leader of MountainClan. Choruswhisper’s head barely comes up to her chin but there’s a clear air of command about them…though that might be the cat that stands beside them. Palewince doesn’t know their name, for she only learned the names of the deputy and the leader. 

“Correct.” Palewince nods before shivering, “I need to speak to StarClan.”

The cat beside her sighs, “And I presume that you are unwilling to hear them through us?”

Palewince shakes her head, in part to say no and in part to get out the light whispering that seemed to surround her head. 

The cat sighs again. 

“Stonecall, don’t sigh like that.” Choruswhisper presses their head into the larger cat’s mane, “It’s not like we have much to do now. We can try and help her at least.”

The cool-faced Stonecall looks between them before whishing their tail against the thin layer of slow on the ground. Apparently that’s is a Okay I guess I’ll lead her with you because that very neutral expression was enough sigh for Choruswhisper to visibly brighten, curling their tail toward Palewince. 

“Let’s go then. Just keep close to me.” Choruswhisper winks, “And if you hear whispers in your ears, ignore them! The dead had their chance, they get no do-overs!”

The expression (at least Palewince thinks it is an expression) is slightly worrying, but she is in no position to argue. Even without snowstorms, MountainClan territory is not one that she could survive on her own. Every cat that lived here needed to have so much fur that they were more fluff than cat—every unfortunate litter that had a short-haired cat was immediately cast down the mountain to warmer lands. 

The words of StarClan are never to be ignored, but Palewince is not in a position to argue that. Definitely not after her long day of travel. 

She bows her head and follow after them. 

The ground is scraggly and hurts her paws, but she follows Choruswhisper’s footsteps the best she can. There’s no pools of water as far as the eye can see, but she knows that if there was one that it wouldn’t be like home. It would be freezing cold and drag her under in moments. 

Not like this place isn’t already cold enough. Palewince thinks as the wind begins to blow full force. 

Choruswhisper glances back at her. They aren’t even shivering. 

“We’re going into the tunnels.” They say curtly. Stonecall throws them a quick look—Palewince knows that Choruswhisper stepped down after a disastrous cave-in—but Choruswhisper doesn’t meet their eye and instead changes direction. Palewince follows because she must, even though there is a second of hesitation as the former leader disappears into a tunnel.

“Do not be scared.” Choruswhisper tells her, voice bouncing against stone, “I will keep you safe.”

Palewince glances back at Stonecall, but the angry glare that she gets in return startles her. Apparently daring to question Choruswhisper is a sin to them. 

I will be fine. StarClan led me here. I am here with the former leader of MountainClan and a cat named Stonecall. I am being called here. I will be safe. 

The darkness swallows her up. 

“Keep your nose on the tip of my tail.” Choruswhisker commands so Palewince does so, pressing her face into their fluffy tail, “I know that you’ve had a long journey. It’s not much farther.”

It definitely feels like that to Palewince. The cold has eased under the tunnels but the hard ground has not. Every step is painful, but she cannot stop. With every moment that passes an undeserving cat rules over LaurelClan for a moment longer. 

LaurelClan is a young and honorable Clan. They cannot have someone bring them down. 

“Is this it?” Palewince asks hoarsely as the tunnels begin to light up for something other than the glowing mushrooms that dotted the walls. The two MountainClan cats had been having idle discussions between each other which Palewince had kindly participated in for every moment that she could before she was just too exhausted. 

“Yes.” Stonecall replies curtly. 

“All your exhaustion will be gone by the next morning.” Choruswhisper tells her, “And we will stay by your side that you can leave safely the next morning.”

Palewince nods with responding, pushing past Choruswhisper to take the front of the back. The glow grows stronger for every step that she takes, until she’s in a small clearing so stunning that Palewince is irritatingly aware of just how much her body hurt. 

She takes a step forward, paws on the blissfully soft grass. 

And then she’s asleep and her dreams are full of stars. 

She opens her eyes, blinking the stars out of her eyelashes and looks out at a camp that is hers but clearly is not. For one, the HighWillow is much larger and the leaves have turned an ethereal silver. The moss on the ground glitters with starlight. 

There is Laurelstar, looking down at her. 

Palewince starts to scramble to her feet. 

“Be calm, child.” Laurelstar says, “I do not blame you for being on the ground. That is how all cats enter without a specific calling.”

“Let her get up.” Remarks another cat. As she gets up, Palewince looks along the branches of the HighWillow. Near the outside edge there is a pure black cat with golden eyes and two glowing stars. “She always surprises me. Let her continue to do so.” Stormstar says. 

Palewince bows her head in respect.

“See?” Stormstar says. 

“It does not matter if she surprises you or not.” Laurelstar snaps, “You surprised me but I wouldn’t call that a good thing.”

Stormstar gives Laurelstar a level stare but does not respond.

Laurelstar sighs, “As you know, my Palewince, it was a mistake to let Halfleg become leader. The bigger mistake was allowing him to become deputy in the first place, but that was not an error that myself or you made.”

“I still can’t believe you let that half-cat become your deputy.” A tortoiseshell tom remarks. 

“I still can’t believe that StarClan sought fit to let three completely incapable deputies remain for as long as they did.” Stormstar replies calmly, “Don’t dare try to tell me that you would have let Algaebrook become Algaestar.” She shudders.

…They said that Halfstar was a mistake? So why are they now speaking as if the other two deputies do not exist?

“Don’t be ridiculous.” Laurelstar snaps back, “But could you have not chosen any other cat to replace that oaf as deputy? A good replacement is right here and has clearly wondered why she wasn’t chosen dozens of times herself.”

“I needed a cat who would truly show Algaebrook just how easy he was to replace? What does it say if you’re replaced by a cat that’s missing a leg and can barely hunt or fight?”

“You needed a cat who could be your successor. Why did you replace him moons ago?” Laurelstar snaps at Stormstar.

She shrugs, “I mean, I had two worse deputies. It was worth keeping him around. It’s not like he wasn’t qualified or anything like that.”

“Mistpaw died.”

“Mistpaw was alive at that point.” Stormstar placidly licks her paw, “And I didn’t expect much from him to begin with. I doubted that he could ever become a warrior.”

“Mistpaw was only partially deaf.” Another leader replies, “If he was fully deaf then that treatment I could understand.”

“Mistpaw was partially deaf and fully dull.” Stormstar replies, “If you had been watching as much as you talk back then you would have noticed that. Giving them to any other warrior would have been a disservice.”

“Quiet you two.” Laurelstar snaps, “Not in front of our guest who has traveled so far to hear from us. We only have her for the night, and even that can slip away from us so easily. What is it you came to ask from us, traveler?”

“I believe you already know.” Palewince says, head lowered in deference, “But I was going to ask you if Halfstar was really the righteous leader of LaurelClan? He has not earned the position.”

“Brightstar earned the position by being the best worst option.” Laurelstar replies dully, “And yes, I do honor that name. Like it our not, StarClan did willingly bestow on him all nine lives.” 

Laurelstar sighs, “The situation was as thus that Lichentail and Whirlnose were both wildly incapable. Nevermind the amount of times they had gone behind their leader’s back or broken the code, both of them should have been put in the elder’s den seasons ago. Giving them nine lives is just begging for LaurelClan to fall.

“The issue came with Halfleg being chosen as deputy. There were many cats better suited to that position. However, considering current events…there is no doubt in my mind that you have been very badly insulted by not being chosen as deputy that day or any day after that.” Laurelstar glances back at Stormstar. 

“If the great leader will allow me to interrupt,” Stormstar says, voice dripping with sarcasm. Laurelstar reveals her teeth but allows her to continue, “I have to agree with her. Making Halfleg deputy to spite Algaebrook was a mistake. While he didn’t make enough problems to make replacing him something I needed to do immediately, it’s clear that a cat like himself cannot be leader. 

“You would have been the better choice. There is no mistake in my mind that you could have lead LaurelClan into an era perhaps as bright as mine.”

A cat scoffs. 

“If you want to deal with Heronstar and Fawnstar, then be my fucking guest.” Stormstar snaps behind her, “...Although.”

“You’re having an awful thought.” Laurelstar says. 

“It’s only awful if you’re looking at it the right way.” Stormstar says with a wink that goes by so fast that Palewince thinks that she imagined it, “After all…both Heronstar and Fawnstar are in our ranks despite what they did. Heronstar led a violent coup and Fawnstar killed his own father yet it’s not uncommon to see those three playing like kits together.”

Stormstar chuckles, “I mean…it is only right, right? This mistake must be fixed. And look who has delivered ourself right to our doorstep to fix it.”

Palewince is quick to calm their expression. She was already aware of the violent coup, it had happened midway through her apprenticeship. It is part of the reason why her first mentor perished, in battle against MarshClan when they tried to take advantage of their supposed weakness. 

But Fawnstar killed her father? Fawnstar was killed barely two seasons ago but no one protested her leadership. If Palewince had been told this by another other than a StarClan cat, she wouldn’t have believed it. If Stormstar was alive then she simply would not have believed it. Palewince wasn’t aware of Fawnstar’s family line other than his disgraced siblings but…wasn’t there a deputy that disappeared under strange circumstances once? Or was it a medicine cat?

Even so, Fawnstar was made deputy after Asternewt stepped down, right? Did she kill the former deputy to threaten Asternewt into stepping down? That would make sense as to why Asternewt is still deputy now, despite her cowardice. She must feel like she has earned the position after all that she went through. 

And then, playing like kits?

Palewince moves on from that thought quickly. It doesn’t interest her. 

Then comes the final thing. 

This mistake must be fixed. 

A solution has delivered herself right to our doorstep to fix it. 

“Are you telling me that I should become leader?”

One leader sighs an all-suffering sigh, “I thought you said that she was going to be surprising. Why is she questioning us?”

“She’s questioning us because asking if we want her to kill her brother nine times and become leader is too straight-forward.” Laurelstar says, looking down at her with slitted eyes. Palewince knows that her every reaction is being judged, even the ones she tries to suppress, “Which is smart of her. If we have misinterpreted her, then we would simply never let her leave our skies.”

…If?

“Congratulations, Palewince. Well, soon to be Palestar,” Stormstar crows, barely trying to suppress her laughter, “Now you get to fix the error that these ones have too little on their plate to try and forget.” She lies down on the branch, gesturing with her paw. 

“I guess that the elegance and wisdom is learned with time…” A she-cat says, a bit closer to Laurelstar. Stormstar glares at her. She gets no look back. 

“Ignoring them,” Laurelstar begins, “The choice for deputy to replace him is obvious. After that, simply kill Brightstar nine times over. Do not worry about consequences, StarClan has given you the blessing to go and do this. So go forth and put the leadership of LaurelClan in four good paws.”

-

Go and retrieve everything that is owed to you. 

Laurelstar’s words still linger in her ears as she strolls into camp. After visiting the Moonhole she felt revitalized and the trip that took from sunhigh until late night only took from dawn to just before sunhigh. When she steps into camp, she keeps her head held high.

“Brightstar!” She calls out, strong voice ringing through camp. Most cats stop to turn and look at her, activities halt completely as she stalks up to the leader’s den and pokes her head inside. 

Palewince barely misses the unsheathed paw that took a swipe at her muzzle and moves away to allow her sibling to get out of the den. He seems to have perfected a look between smug and irritated. He bares his teeth at her. 

“What are you doing here? I thought that you had finally stopped being a thorn in my side.”

Palewince starts to respond but the second cat that comes out of the leader’s den speaks before she can, “I can make her stop.” Floodburn snarls, “Just give me the word.”

“I’m not going to let you kill my sister.” He says, exasperated. 

Floodburn shrugs, “One of us has to be open to the idea.”

“So you let your mate threaten my life? What kind of leader are you?” Palewince snaps, looking between the two cats, “I am here after making a visit to the Moonhole to speak to StarClan myself. LaurelClan, listen to my words!”

Palewince crouches to pounce and climb up the HighWillow, but her brother shifts to stand in front of her. A clear sign that she would not be allowed up, even if she took a different approach. Palewince was confident that she could get around her brother, but Floodburn? Well she wasn’t going to risk her image to chance it. 

“StarClan has made it known to me that Stormstar wishes to fix an error of hers! Lichentail and Whirlnose may have too much respect to admit it—” Ha! “—but both of them were chosen as incapable of becoming leader for reasons I will leave up to StarClan on their day of judgment.” 

Palewince doesn’t look at either of the two deputies. She knows that they’re looking at her.

“Any cat who was deputy would have been chosen as leader over them, from the youngest kit to the eldest apprentice! It—”

“So you’re saying that Lichentail and Whirlnose have broken the warrior code?” A cat calls out. Palewince sends her strongest glare in their direction and lashes her tail. A few cats start to whisper and she slams her paw on the ground, a signal for silence. 

“As I was saying, it was not because of his virtues or any of his attributes that Brightstar was made leader! I went to StarClan and Laurelstar herself told me that I should have been made deputy in Brightstar’s place!” 

A gasp, shared by the entire Clan. 

“But since I know patience, I have come back with StarClan’s blessing that I should become deputy to replace Brightstar after his ascension to leader.”

And then soon become leader after that~

“That is all.”

Palewince turns to her brother. 

Brightstar looks back at her and then lurchingly climbs up the HighWillow. There are several points where he nearly falls and at one point Palewince swears he does. 

“Cats of LaurelClan!” Brightstar calls out, “The new deputy of LaurelClan is Floodburn. That is all.” Brightstar leaps from the HighWillow and lands on his face. His body slams into the ground and all of his bones shatter. Then Palewince goes back to the Moonhole and is given her nine lives because there’s no way that StarClan would ever allow Floodburn to be made leader instead of her. 

Brightstar leaves camp, Floodburn in tow. Palewince steps on their heels, hissing lowly. 

“You can’t make your mate deputy! That’s against the rules!”

“Ah yes, those wonderful rules.” Brightstar says bitterly. A few cats follow them out of camp but seem to have the good sense to quickly disperse after the false leader and false deputy glare back at them and tell them to beat it. Palewince gracefully asks them to leave them alone, “Those wonderful rules that have served me so kindly.”

“Have you forgotten the code?” Palewince snaps.

“Has the code forgotten me?” Brightstar snarls in return, “The code that has been so kind to abandon me ever since my accident as an apprentice? But I guess you don’t care about that, you’ve hated me since far before that, haven’t you?”

Brightstar’s fur is spiking, rage deep in her eyes, “Not once since I lost my leg have I been treated as a worthy member of this Clan, much less a cat deserving of respect. No, every one looks at me like I’m going to fail, like it was a mistake that I was allowed to make it this far, like it would have been better if I died that day!

“But I didn’t! I didn’t die and so if my survival is every one else’s problem then so be it. I don’t care how many cats my existence hurts—I am not going to apologize for the crime of being alive!” Brightstar’s chest heaves and this all is a horrible show of emotions but he doesn’t even try to compose himself as he continues. 

“There’s not a doubt in my mind that you did actually go to the Moonhole. And that you did actually speak to Laurelstar and Stormstar. And that they did actually agree that you should have been made leader instead of me. But you know what, Palewince? I don’t care what they have to say? They’re dead and gone!

“And I might be their mistake, but I am their living mistake. A mistake that will live and die and continue on.”

Brightstar turns away from her, smacking Palewince in the face with her tail. 

“Oh, and also I’m never going to make you deputy. First off because Laurelstar and Stormstar can swallow rocks and toss themselves in a river, secondly because there’s no doubt in my mind that you would try and take my life to become leader. Didn’t you just reveal to the entire Clan that not only was I an unfit leader, the other two are so incompetent that whoever the third deputy would be would confirm that they become leader.”

Brightstar smirks at her, “And well, it’s not like I don’t trust you not to kill me or anything like that. Or am I wrong to?

“Don’t bother to answer.” Brightstar says before he stumbles his way back to camp. His camp. The camp of his Clan.

Palewince lowers her eyes and doesn’t see red. Instead she simply turns away to hunt. If she wasn’t going to be able to succeed Brightstar the normal way, well, then she would just have to build up favor within the Clan. 

-

“What in StarClan’s name are you three doing?” Palewince snaps at her Clanmates who she’s been following since sunset. Streambreak and Ripplepaw apparently believed that they were just fine to stroll out of camp with Hollymask, one of the loudest cats in the Clan. It was truly a disgrace that more cats didn’t notice their loud escape. 

The three of them jump. Hollymask yowls. Palewince cuffs her over the head for daring to be so loud. She lost them for a short while but picked up their trail going into MarshClan territory. What in StarClan compelled them to not only be in MarshClan territory but also scream? 

Palewince should have these three severely punished once she dragged them back to camp. In fact, she should have the ringleader exiled for such a dangerous exercise. While not being a deputy, she had nearly as much power as one. Just because Brightstar never let her sit beneath her at Gatherings didn’t mean that she didn’t hold enough power to.

“Well?” Palewince snaps, looking between the three young cats. 

“We don’t have to explain ourselves to you! You aren’t a deputy!” Ripplepaw pipes up to say. 

Palewince lashes him across the face, claws out. Ripplepaw recoils, releasing a quiet yowl of pain as blood flows down his face, getting stuck in his fur. She was careful to avoid soft spots. He would be fine. She may be getting on in years but that didn’t mean that she was incapable. 

“We’re going home.” She snaps and quickly leads them all home. Ripplepaw, who was currently training under Brightstar, is made an apprentice for three more moons and Hollymask was put on apprentice duty for as long as possible. Streambreak, the one who had put the idea in their heads that they should go to BroadleafClan in the middle of the night. Probably whatever thing that rouge and Vaststar were getting up to but it wasn’t in Palewince to care. 

All she had to do was keep on working hard, just as she had her entire life. 

She slumps to the ground in a pool of warm blood, BroadleafClan scent filling her nostrils. With every breath she takes, more of her blood colors the ground. She cannot deny this reality. 

Palewince tries to look at the cat who attacked her. Hollymask looks horrified. Then her vision is taken from her in a flash of red that makes her yowl out with pain. 

What…wasn’t I supposed to become leader? I have a great destiny! A destiny for things greater than this! I can’t—I can’t die here!

And then—claws to her chest.