#have a squirrelstar for your troubles

[peanuts-designs]

[stargleam-star]

My thoughts on Wind

Finally finished reading book 4 of A Starless Clan. I've got a lot of opinions on it, as expected. It's going to be long and rambly. There will be major spoilers under the read more. My thoughts might only make sense to me so I understand if nobody wants to read this, but I really want to get out my feelings on this book

Shout out to @shadowfern for sending me the link to the pdf! Tysm again!!!

Let's start this off by talking about the best girl in the whole world: Frostpaw. Oh my sweet baby. They really put her Through It this book. She was so right to come forward during the gathering in chapter one to speak out against Splashtail.

But then Duskfur. Oooh my god Duskfur. Literally what was her fucking damage? Frostpaw is her freaking GRANDDAUGHTER. But I guess because Frostpaw mentioned Curlfeather being an evil mastermind, Duskfur was pissed about it? Which is understandable. Who wants to hear that their child is a murderer, someone who organized the death of important figures in your society?

But then she goes on to accuse Frostpaw of being a liar and a manipulator because *gasp* she was a manipulated teen who couldn't figure out what was right and what was wrong!? She was tricked by Curlfeather into being a medicine cat, as Splashtail reiterates. She does eventually get real visions, though. However, because she had a few false visions, nobody will believe her about them. But like. Frostpaw is a kid essentially, with not a lot of training yet, and who doesn't have much of a guide when it comes to visions because Mothwing doesn't get them. How was Frostpaw supposed to distinguish what was real and what was a dream all on her own?

Regardless Duskfur is a bitch in the first chapter who backs up Splashtail and his condescending speech about how much Frostpaw had been through and how much of a poir little meow meow she is because of it

And then she proceeds to get exiled. Her clanmates know she's been through so much, and yet they allow her to be cast out from her home away from the support of her family

A family which comprises of mostly bastards at this current moment, including Duskfur, Icewing, and Podlight. Shout out to the do-nothing siblings Graypaw and Mistpsw though

I hate the characterization of Icewing in this first chapter because she doesn't do much. Podlight is another creature entirely. He's so vile. Gives off evil henchman vibes, almost on the same wavelength as Darkstripe

I'll come back to those cats later, let's get back to talking about Frostpaw. After getting exiled she has to frantically look between the leaders to see who might take her into their clan, so she doesn't become a rogue. Squirrelstar almost agrees but because she doesn't want to cause trouble she hesitates (we'll also get back to this characterization later). Tigerheartstar instead offers Frostpaw a temporary place in Shadowclan

If I had a nickle for every time Tigerheartstar took in an exiled Riverclan medicine cat I'd have 2 nickles. Which isn't a lot but its weird it happened twice

I love the dynamic between Frostpaw and Shadowsight. I've seen people shipping them but I literally cannot picture them being romatic with each other. I get big brother little sister vibes from them. I feel like Puddleshine's wariness of Frostpaw was dumb, though.

Puddleshine did eventually come around, when he snuck to the moon pool with Frostpaw to see if Splashtail would go to get his nine lives. I hate how he didn't start believing Frostpaw until Riverstar appeared though. Splashtail and Podlight sitting around, laughing about how useless Starclan is and how they're literally at the moon pool just to say they went, doesn't convince Puddleshine that Frostpaw was telling the truth. But Riverstar hopping over their heads unseen just to wink at Puddleshine and Frostpaw convinces him. Ok.

Great job guiding the living btw Riverstar. Clearly not doing anything or saying anything beyond that one tiny scene was helpful

Anyways, Puddleshine, finally believing Frostpaw, goes with her to tell Tigerheartstar about everything was great. Actually I hate to say if but I really liked Tigerheartstar this book. He was literally the only tolerable and competent leader throughout the entire thing. Even better than Squirrelstar

Speaking of Squirrelstar. Oh boy.... What the hell did they do to her?

I expected the Erins to do one of four things with Squirrelstar. 1) Kill her by the end of this book (and say she lied about getting her nine lives). 2) Make her a very aggressive leader. 3) Leave her character alone and write her as she has been. Or 4) make her incompetent and have her be the first deposed leader

Instead, they made Squirrelstar the most do nothing leader imaginable. To the point where other characters in the text itself were mentioning how she's doing nothing at all, and how unexpected that is. Squirrelstar states she doesn't want to shake things up because of being a new leader. She's trying to gain the other leaders' respect

Which I could understand. If this was any other character in the entirety of warriors, minus Firestar. Squirrelflight was always the type to be headstrong doing things her own way, to follow her heart, and do what needs to be done especially for the good of others. Squirrelstar even mentions that about herself! "As Squirrelflight I'd agree with you. But as Squirrelstar I'm afraid I can't." There is literally no difference though, she's still the same cat!!!

I understand she's also trying to protect Thunderclan and keep her warriors safe. She's responsible for all these lives. But she was responsible for them before as well! She was deputy ffs. A clan deputy is responsible for the lives of their clanmates as much as a leader is. Squilf even acted as temporary leader, and still did not behave like this at that time! I don't understand why she had to be written as someone too hesitant to act because of fear of being judged. Squilf was literally never like that before until this book. She's basically a new character and I think I hated this most of all out of everything else in Wind.

Actually none of the leaders except Tigerheartstar want to act in this book. Squirrelstar and Harestar both want to wait to stop Splashtail until Riverclan is ready to stop him. In the old books though, if there was something going on in the other clans the leaders didn't like, they'd fight about it (for example: how Shadowckan and Winclan teamed up to raid Thunderclan after discovering they were housing Brokentail as their prisoner. Or how Lionclan first formed to stop Tigerstar from ruling over all the clans.)

Also now that I mention fighting, there are literally no battles waged in the entire book. The closest thing we get is the battle training in Riverclan camp where Splashtail was forcing cats to fight each other aggressively with claws out.

And the most violent 2 scenes in the book were when a tree fell on Winclan's nursery, and Splashtail killed Harelight in front of his clan because Harelight dared to have a different opinion than him

Harelight deserved better tbh. He was one of the best characters in the story and he barely had a part to play. Rip king

Let's talk about some other characters now. Nightheart for instance. He was actually also tolerable in this book. I like how his character has progressed. He's growing up and isn't as much of a jerk like he was in the beginning, good for him.

I liked his relationship with Wasp and Waffle. Though I'm surprised neither of them insisted on following Frostpaw. Especially with how determined Wasp was to become a Riverclan cat. I'm shocked he didn't loyally follow Frostpaw wherever she went due to her connection to Riverstar. Instead both cats went with Nightheart to Thunderclan which was fine for a while

Nightheart makes for a good mentor, surprisingly. I like the way he taught Wasp and Waffle about things. Though I don't like that he was chosen to be Wafflepaw's mentor. It makes sense, but like other characters said, the apprentices could have gone to more experienced cats than Nightheart and Co.

The relationship between Nightheart and Sunbeam is cute here and there but their chemistry is almost non existent. Sunbeam has more chemistry with Finchlight, Bayshine, and Myrtlebloom than Nightheart. Finchlight should steal Sunbeam from Nightheart sorry not sorry

Sunbeam's turn now. Once again her chapters felt the weakest compared to the other POVs. She doesn't really bring anything new to the table, her perspective shows nearly the same things Nightheart's does and her personality is kind of generic. The only thing she has is mommy angst, and love for Nightheart. She worries about her family in most of her chapters, when they don't really want her around unless she helps them and/or stays with them. Berryheart is especially mean towards Sunbeam. She feels betrayed, sure, but that's still her kid who's trying to heal the disgusting infection that slowly killing her. Look at that Sunbeam's so uninteresting I started talking about Berryheart instead. Let's dive into that more

I didn't think Berryheart would have that much influence over the plot anymore tbh. But this stupid cat is gripping it tightly with the tips if her grubby little paws refusing to let go. Throughout most of her mentioned moments she's slowly wasting away from a nasty wound she obtained by being too stubborn to get off the road. She refuses treatment from Sunbeam because she didn't agree with mommy dearest and follow her to exile so now Berryheart's basically disowned Sunbeam (its never stated but implied by her behavior).

Another reason Berryheart refuses medicine is because they are "clan herbs" and she refuses anything from the clans. Although idk how she was able to tell the herbs came from a clan vs Sunbeam finding them on her own but whatever. Then several chapters later she's magically joined Riverclan and proclaims to be one of the most loyal cats there??? Idk how Berryheart went from being a diehard Shadowclan loyalist, to a bitter rogue hating all the clans, to a Riverclan cat. Sunbeam thinks it might be due to Berryheart fighting to survive but by the time she's shown in Riverclan she seems almost back to full health. Maybe she's planning to destroy the clans now, from the inside out, starting with Riverclan. Who knows. I guess we'll find out in the next book or two. I'm disappointed Berryheart didn't die and that they're continuing on with her as a villain. I'm on the fence of whether I like her being a villain anymore. On one hand, yay a villain who's clanborn and a female. On the other, she's a really annoying and a poorly written villain

Moving on to other, more minor characters: Mothwing Duskfur, and Icewing. We don't see much of them (especially past the first chapter). When we do, though, they're talking to Frostpaw about how right she is and how none of them want Splashtail in power anymore.

This is an especially surprisingly development from Duskfur who earlier was very outspoken about accepting him. The in-story excuse is that Riverclan just wanted a leader finally, and were willing to accept that Podlight suddenly wanted to be a healer and magically had a connection to Starclan which told him that Splashtail was their new ruler. The real excuse is that it's piss poor writing and the Erins make whatever cat do whatever is necessary for the plot, even if that means their personality needs to takes an entire 180 in the middle of the book.

Icewing is still pretty useless in the story, which is a shame because she had a decent roll last book. Mothwing's character stayed somewhat the same, though. She's still kind of mean to Frostpaw. She's sort of a do-nothing, too, but not as much as the leaders. She wants to make a change but doesn't act at first because then Riverclan would be left without a proper medicine cat, which is a more valid excuse for her inaction compared to Squirrelstar's, Tigerheartstar's, and Harestar's.

Lightleap was mentioned in one chapter and she had an attitude. What a tragedy. Blazefire and Dovewing weren't mentioned at all which was a huge loss, because we lovewing Dovewing here, and I just think Blazefire is neat (I like his name, I'm biased purely because of that)

Whistlepaw was really good in this book, as she was in the last. I feel like she was unjustly punished for helping Frostpaw as I stated in this post here, I won't repeat myself about that point again. I liked her during the Windckan chapters, when the tree fell on the nursery. Her mentioning the kit she was trying to save, Leafkit, was her baby sister was sooo nice. The Erins rarely write cats acknowledging younger siblings as such so that was cute. It made the worry and care Whisperpaw expressed during that scene all the better because it wasn't just a medicine cat trying to do their job and save someone. It was a sister desperately trying to get to their sister. Whistlepaw is my second favorite character in this arc next to Frostpaw and not just because of my next point.

Whistlepaw × Frostpaw is the most superior ship in the book, and dare I say throughout the current arc. Their dialog with each other once Sunbeam rescued Leafkit was so gay it was amazing. Like legit their interactions with each other here as well as through most of A Starless Clan have more chemistry than any other pairings do

Also this is random but I feel like either Whistlepaw or Leafkit will get a POV next arc. Probably Leafkit because the writers took the time to describe what she looks like even though Leafkit only appeared for this one scene. Please Erins give us a Winclan POV

I suppose I should talk about Splashtail now. He's a really lame villain tbh. I'm glad we have a clanborn bad guy for a change, but he literally sucks. He wants to be leader because he wants to make Riverclan stronger, great. And then he proceedes to do that by having his warriors beat the shit out of each other to toughen them up and make them seem like the strongest clan. Ok. Idk how that accomplishes anything rn. I'm sure this means Riverclan will get to cause the one fight scene that happens next book, hooray /s

No but seriously I see where this whole evil Splashtail plot is going. He doesn't like Starclan because he doesn't want to listen to what they say or follow their rules. The moral of this arc is going to be that following Starclan is the right thing to do, they are the ultimate good, and anybody who doesn't follow Starclan is a dirty heretic. It's christian religious propaganda and I'm tired of it, but whatever I'm to obsessed with these stupid cats to stop reading

Overall this book was very disappointing and boring. I'm sad to see this arc taking such a boring turn, and I'm worried about what the next books will bring. The arc was so promising and now it sucks, tragic

Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk. Members of the Frostpaw Defense Club rise up!

I give this book 3/10 Stars

[mallowstep]

daisy in “ashes”

or, nonspecifically, what are cats like goldenflower, ferncloud, and daisy getting up to, anyway?

this is tied to my thoughts on medicinery, so if you’re not caught up, a summary: med cats now only spend about 50% of their time doing “medicine” and it’s more osteopathic than in the books.

[1.7k words, 6 minute read]

daisy's kin (i just finished it)

so i just finished daisy's kin and 😗👌 am i happy with it.

i've always been exploring this, like, i'm lowkey obsessed with developing the role of the nursery queen, and...i don't know what i expected, but this was nice to read.

it was good both that thunderclan valued her and hnnng it was so good.

obsessed, i'm obsessed.

but curiously enough, i'm going to refrain from focusing (too much) on the story part of it. i just, this quote stands in my mind

That is important work.

snow, in response to daisy telling her about her role in thunderclan.

like, (a) it is, and it feels so good to read a book acknowledging that, and (b) it is, and i'm really happy that everyone agrees.

so anyway, i feel like the latest warriors release was tapped in to my brain.

first, it had all of this stuff that happens in mtbnsof (squirrelstar, if you don't read my fic/can't keep track of acronyms, which, understandable), or is going to happen in mtbnsof.

i kind of spoiled a lot of stuff in my book notes, but i'm not doing that again, so moving on.

anyway, i wasn't really excited for daisy's kin and spotfur's rebellion, i just wanted the blackfoot novella.

but damn, i was wrong.

i felt like someone had a line into my brain because daisy's life is exactly what i wanted it to be.

i'm going to talk about that in a moment i just really don't want to understate how fantastic it is to see a warriors novella expand and develop these ideas. i strongly urge you to read daisy's kin if you haven't already. it's really, really good. i'm being deliberately vague about the plot to encourage you to read it.

i think this might go as far as repairing the hole in my heart from "leafpool's wish." i don't think there's anything that can fix the brain rot (although the line in SFR, where she's like "adoption is valid," is close), but the hole? that's healing because of daisy's kin.

and y'all already know how much i hate leafpool's wish.

chapter five: advent

so if you don't read my fic "ashes," chapter five (advent) was published april 10th, and the basic summary is it's the first 3 months of holly/jay/lion's life.

it's a chapter i like, we're going to do a quick breakdown. there are spoilers for this chapter, and also probably the future of the fic. depending on when i actually publish this essay, they may or may not have been covered, so read at your own risk.

so the basic summary of advent is this:

ashfur meets his children

daisy apologizes for not supporting squilf

ashfur announces his children to thunderclan

sandstorm offers motherly advice

squilf has a moment where she's like "i'm not ready for this but you are my whole world

cool.

anyway, daisy has this line that i like:

But Leafpool's young, and she's not a queen. I understand.

she's talking to squilf and is kind of..."i'm here for you."

the implication is that leafpool's job doesn't really extend to kits, past their physical well-being.

and later on, daisy (and ferncloud) are the cats squilf leans on. she's the one who provides a lot of support over jaykit, especially when they're all arguing all the time about it.

she's also a support to the kits. they would all die for her.

daisy gives advice about how well jaykit is growing and reassures squilf it's okay to be kind of bored when they're little and sleeping all the time.

she also has this moment:

"Oh, hush," Daisy said, "I'm just proud she knows so many words."

where hollykit says bb curse and daisy is like "ah yes my daughter! she's so smart!"

anyway, daisy is just...

when hollypaw doesn't know what she wants, she's going to ask daisy for advice. she's a neutral party: squirrelflight is her mother, but daisy is in a not-quite-mother role.

she's the one who notices when leafpool is With Kits. that's her job.

she really does take it as a failure that she didn't notice what was going on with squilf. in the clan, her role is to stop that from happening. i mean, no one really blames her because squilf's kits were early and leafpool was there but...it was 100% her job to not have that happen.

if something had gone wrong, she would have taken it even harder.

(also, ferncloud usually also serves this role, but she has her own litter right now, so that's consuming a fair amount of her time/energy.)

kinship (kind of)

okay, well.

i've been talking about kinship more and more lately.

it's because i'm working on "wing & feather" (aka the jaywing au where dove and jay are siblings), and kinship is a somewhat big deal there.

so anyway, first: my usual preemptive vocabulary lesson:

sraue

litter, littermates.

maach

blood-family unit, sibling (by blood)

maara

den-family unit, denmates (going over this another time)

rru

mother, mother's sister.

rruha

denmother (queen who nursed at same time, or nursery queen)

there, not so bad.

right, so i'm doing a full breakdown of kinship elsewhere, because while the maach side is fairly simple, the maara side is...there are just different rules. they're not more complicated, but they're a second set of rules.

(and then you can have situations where, say, in w&f, by maach, jay and dove are maach with squilf and leaf, but by maara, squilf is rruha to them.)

see so it's complicated.

but we're honing in on rruha for this.

rruha is a term referring basically to any queen who could have nursed you.

using ashes, daisy, ferncloud, and squilf as an example:

if squilf's milk didn't come in (as per canon), fern would have nursed HJL, so ferncloud is rruha to them. (she's also got a maach relationship, but rruha supersedes that.)

similarly, squilf could have nursed fox and ice, so she's rruha to them. (unlike with HJL, she doesn't have a maach relationship to them, because she's not related to ferncloud. the more you know.)

daisy could have nursed either litter (hypothetically? it's a little complicated and the cat bio section is later on), so she's rruha to both.

this relationship is one of the highest ones on the influence later. the maternal relationship (rru) is the only clear trump card. the paternal relationship (seya) can be more important, but it depends on the father.

(the littermate and denmate relationships are also very important, but in a different way.)

so, daisy is somewhere between a grandmother and a mother to pretty much every cat in thunderclan.

god bless you if you ever try to hurt her, because that's a lot of cats who would not let that happen.

queens

alright, so. the crux of it all.

what is the role of a (life-long) queen?

to nurture queens and kits.

it's that simple.

it's just a very important job.

i imagine they train each other, too. goldenflower offered advice and teachings to ferncloud, and ferncloud brought experience of clan life to daisy, and vice versa.

i hope someone takes up residence of the nursery with daisy, because otherwise that's a lot of leadership to just break up.

(as an aside, seriously, this is out of nowhere: i'm still thinking about moonflower's death. it has to be the saddest death in warriors, for me. i think because she's such a mother figure: soft and hazy and kind, and she dies. and she's...you know, you barely thought of her as a warrior. bluepaw still sees her only as mother and then she dies, dies in a raid that you know was questionable, and it hurts so much. moonflower might be the only warriors death i cried over. because it pulled at this raw, primal place of grief and loss.)

cat biology (naturally)

you know, i made this header, but i don't actually remember what i had to say?

huh.

well. there's a nonzero chance i remember later so...

yep remembered.

okay so y'all know. i have fucked over my google for you searching info about cat lactation.

someone better care about this.

okay so.

best i can tell, cats will lactate with kits around, pregnant or not. it helps to be around pregnant queens, but a cat like daisy should have no trouble providing milk for kits where necessary.

now, based on what i know about this (which is more than i want to talk about lest someone accuse me of...eh yeah), this won't be perfect for newborn kits, but it'll keep them alive.

the problem is it's not necessarily going to be instant.

what i'm saying is, the troubles in daisy's kin are valid, considering the nursery is empty.

the long night

okay so i've talked about the long night/"whatever is done only by me" enough and i don't feel like explaining it again.

but basically, it's daisy's job to stop that from happening.

daisy (again, using daisy as a filler for "queens like daisy") is supposed to check in on queens, make sure they're safe, support them.

she will drop kick anyone out of the nursery who threatens that.

and you don't want to mess with daisy because it won't be one drop kick so much as the entirety of the junior warriors.

this is the most important part of daisy's job. crisis de-escalation. tree has nothing on queens.

notes and touches

uh, let's see...oh fuck! going to edit something.

okay anyway.

i'm very sad they let daisy sleep alone in the nursery D:

cats are highly social she didn't deserve that

[thistleclaws-hatred]

Five Creatures - Chapter Two

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Squirrelstar emerged from her den with a slight limp, her hind-legs aching with every step. The clan below was already teeming with life. She saw Adderpaw sitting next to his parents, the trio of toms sharing a fair-sized squirrel. She purred at the sight of Dogpelt and Foxdust with their adopted son. Stormcloud was coming back through the gorse tunnel with Spotfur and Graymask in tow. Alderheart could be seen next to Hazelfeather, the two talking between one another.

Squirrelstar made her way down to the clearing and bounded her way over to the elders’ den. She walked through the thick bramble entrance and was surprised to see most of the elders already awake.

Bumblestripe, a pale gray tom with black stripes, stripes that were now flecked with gray, lifted his head to look at their guest, “Good morning Squirrelstar.”

At the mention of the leader’s name, Lionblaze and Ivypool both looked over from their nests, nodding their welcome. Even Jayfeather sat up to greet the ThunderClan leader.

“Morning,” Squirrelstar meowed, suddenly very at peace in the quiet elders’ den.

“How can we help you?” Ivypool asked, her voice rasp with age. 

Squirrelstar looked over the old she-cat, her eyes following the thick scars that decorated Ivypool’s body. She sighed, memories of the agile and fierce Ivypool flooding her mind. “Just here to see if any of you would like to come to the gathering tonight?”

“Of course I’ll be coming,” Lionblaze heaved himself into a sitting position, his gray-golden pelt clinging to his large frame. “I come every moon.”

“I will also come,” Jayfeather joined his brother, his blind eyes staring directly at Squirrelstar.

The other two awake elders shook their heads, and Rosepetal was still sound asleep. Squirrelstar dipped her head and turned to leave the warm den, stepping out into the sun-filled camp. “Squirrelstar.”

She turned around, looking at Jayfeather, “Yes, Jayfeather?”

“You’re troubled by something,” the old medicine cat croaked, sitting down and sucking in a deep breath. Age had clearly caught up to the tom.

Squirrelstar twitched her whisker, “Always a medicine cat, aren’t you?” 

Jayfeather flicked his ear in response, “So?”

“I had a vision, five large creatures clashing in a bloody battle on the island. Blood was spilling into the lake and was splattered across the floor and trees. The creatures,” she paused, suppressing a shudder, “They were larger and more aggressive than anything I’ve ever seen.”

Jayfeather gazed at her intently, not saying a word. His ear twitched as she spoke, “A dark vision.” He interrupted.

Squirrelstar nodded, staring at her paws instead of looking Jayfeather in the eye.

“I suppose we shall see what happens tonight,” he meowed, walking back into the elders’ den.

       The gathering came way too soon for Squirrelstar’s liking. As she waited by the entrance to her camp, an overwhelming feeling of dread was consuming her from the inside out. She looked to her deputy for some sense of security, but Fawngaze was engaging in conversation with Harescar, none the wiser to Squirrelstar’s anxiety.

“ThunderClan, let’s go,” she called to her clan, heading off into the woods. Each step through the woods sent pain through her joints and try as she might to ignore the white-hot pain, it didn’t take long for Alderheart to notice. Her medicine cat came to walk beside her, letting her lean against him. Neither of them spoke, but she rested her tail along her shoulders in thanks.

ThunderClan arrived at the gathering after a journey that had tired Squirrelstar more than she would admit. She lead her way to the island, seeing ShadowClan and SkyClan already filling the ranks below the full moon. Squirrelstar sucked in a breath and bounded into the clearing with her clan behind her. She quickly made her way over the leaders’ tree and leaped up to it. She sat below Tigerstar, the dark brown tabby leader of ShadowClan. Hawkstar, a dark gray tom, and leader of SkyClan, nodded his greeting to the ginger she-cat.

None of the leaders seemed to be very conversational as they waited for RiverClan and WindClan to arrive. Even the members of their respective clans sat in a near silence below them, only soft murmurs making their way across the island.

Crowstar and WindClan came first, followed quickly by Reedstar and RiverClan. Tigerstar waited for the two dark leaders to make their way up before he stood, “Let the gathering begin!” His deep voice echoed around the island.

As the members of each clan settled down, Tigerstar stood and shot several looks towards the other leaders. What’s he up to? Squirrelstar thought.

“ShadowClan suffered this leaf-bare, as I’m sure every clan did. We lost many warriors, but also welcome Snowleg as a new warrior of ShadowClan!” Tigerstar called out.

All around members of each clan called out the she-cat’s name. Squirrelstar saw the white she-cat ducking in embarrassment. “ShadowClan has also caught the scent of several loners in our territory, we have not seen these loners, but notice their scents deep in our territory.” Tigerstar sat down, nodding at Crowstar as the dark gray tom stood.

“WindClan also lost many this leaf-bare, and like ShadowClan we have scented a few loners throughout our territory. As the weather warms, we are welcomed by an influx of prey and WindClan will continue to prosper,” Crowstar meowed, sitting back down after his quick news.

So both of those clans have scented the loners. Who are they? Dark Forest warriors? Squirrelstar felt a flurry of panic rise in her stomach before she noticed the leaders all looking at her for ThunderClan’s news. She shook out her fur and stood, looking down at all the cats looking up at her, “ThunderClan, like I presume everyone here has, has also scented loners in our territory. We lost many warriors to this leaf-bare, but new-leaf brings warm weather and warm weather fills our forest with prey.” She sat down, noticing that her legs were shaking as she did so.

Reedstar and Hawkstar both gave similar speeches about their clans, with no one in the gathering being surprised by the dark news that each leader mentioned. Only Hawkstar added something new to his news, “It would also appear that our clan, and every clan here, has shrunk in ranks. Our clans haven’t looked this thin in seasons.”

Tigerstar snarled at Hawkstar, “Are you calling ShadowClan weak?”

“I am not saying that one clan is weaker than another, just that each clan seems to be struggling more so than the average. These loners could pose a threat to each clan. I say that if anyone catches these loners, then the other leaders are to be informed,” Hawkstar said calmly, his tail-tip twitching.

“I agree with Hawkstar,” Squirrelstar voiced, turning to look up at Tigerstar.

Just as Tigerstar opened his mouth to speak, another voice cut him off, “I can assure you, we mean no harm.”

In an instant, each leader was on their paws, claws unsheathed. Squirrelstar felt the fur on her neck stand on end as they turned to look at the source of the voice. From the bushes came a large black tom, his broad shoulders pushing aside the foliage. “We’re just passing through.”

“We?” Reedstar spat, “I count one.”

The black tom blinked blankly at Reedstar and flicked his tail. From behind him came four more cats, all of various sizes and stature.

“State your business here,” Squirrelstar demanded, her ears pressed tight to her head. Below her, she could see her warriors also tense and ready for a signal to attack.

“Like I said, we’re just passing through,” the black tom, almost like a leader to the loners, rose his head to make eye contact with Squirrelstar.

“What’s your name?” Riverspirit, the deputy of RiverClan, asked.

“People call me Wolf. These cats behind me are basically my family. We are just looking for a place to settle. I apologize for hunting in your territories, I can assure you that you will not see us again,” the leader swore.

As the loners turned to leave, Crowstar leaned forward, “Wait!”

They paused, each one of them looking back at the clan cats.

“You said you’re looking for a place to settle. Why not stay?” Crowstar opined.

“Are you insane?” Tigerstar growled, snapping his head around to glare at the lithe tom.

“There are five loners, five clans. As Hawkstar so astutely pointed out, us clans are thin. We could use the extra paws,” Crowstar retorted, keeping his gaze calm with Tigerstar.

“You want to split us up?” the calico loner asked.

Squirrelstar looked over the loners, each one of them seemed different from the last. They didn’t seem like they were related in any sense, and what Crowstar said, actually made a lot of sense. She looked down at Fawngaze who met her own gaze with a questioning look. Squirrelstar pushed aside her pride and stood up once more, “I agree with Crowstar. If the loners are willing to split up, then why shouldn’t they be able to join us?”

“Unlike you, Squirrelstar, ShadowClan doesn’t need outsiders to make us strong,” Tigerstar hissed.

“Then we will take two of them,” Squirrelstar retorted, lashing her tail.

“Reedstar, Hawkstar, do you two agree with these two mousebrained fools?” Tigerstar redirected his gaze to the two quiet leaders.

“I cannot say that RiverClan would benefit nor not benefit from having the additional paws, especially since if they cannot swim or fish, then they would be no help to our clan,” Reedstar began. Tigerstar shot a smug look at Crowstar. “However, if they can swim-”

“I can,” the calico spoke again, “I grew up fishing.”

Reedstar looked at him with a look of surprise, his jaw hanging open as if his comment had been sucked from his mouth. “Then I uh...” he trailed off, “See no problem with it.”

“Hawkstar?” Tigerstar pressed.

The gray tom had been silent through the entire debate, his golden gaze locked solid on the loners. “What do the loners think? Do they want to split up? Would they be willing to do so? How old are they? We would have to teach these loners the entire way of the clans.”

“How old are you?” A voice called from the crowd.

Wolf pinned his ears back in embarrassment, “We range from six to seven moons old. Crocodile here,” he pointed to the calico with his tail, “Is the oldest.”

“There’s no way you’re only six moons!” Lionblaze called out, shouldering his way through the crowd. While being an elder, Lionblaze was still a formidable enemy. The golden tom came face-to-face with Wolf, baring his teeth.

“Wait!” Another voice shouted above the commotion. From the crowd came Paleripple, a RiverClan she-cat. “I have bore kits myself and can clearly see the kitten fur still on their pelts. Any queen or father who paid attention to his kits could see that.”

“Then they would be apprentices, or could be if they decided to join us,” Hawkstar continued. “If they are willing to split up and willing to learn our ways, I see no harm in one of them joining our ranks. If ThunderClan’s history is any indication, sometimes outsiders can be beneficial to the clan,” Hawkstar looked defiantly at Tigerstar, “Or are you going to argue that Firestar should’ve never come to the forest?”

Tigerstar, now alone in his argument, froze where he stood. He searched the other leaders for any sign of support but found none.

“You, loners! Each of you could find a home in our clans, would you be willing to learn our customs in exchange for a place to sleep, friends to have, and food in your stomachs?” Crowstar finally asked.

The island was shot with silence, even a mouse could’ve been heard as they awaited their answer. Wolf turned around and began talking in hush whispers to his comrades. Squirrelstar held her breath as she awaited their answer. Her tail stiff and she felt herself wanting them to say yes more than no.

Wolf turned back around and locked eyes with Squirrelstar, “If you are willing to have us, then we would be honored to be welcomed into your clans.”

“ThunderClan would be more than happy to have you with us Wolf,” Squirrelstar spoke first, dipping her head to the large black-and-gray tom.

“How should we decide who gets who?” Hawkstar asked, tilting his head.

“It’s obvious that Crocodile,” Squirrelstar noted to herself that the name felt weird on her tongue, “Should go with RiverClan if he knows how to swim and fish.”

Reedstar nodded in agreement.

“I would take great pleasure in joining ThunderClan,” Wolf meowed, returning Squirrelstar’s gesture.

“My name is Phoenix,” a multicolored tom spoke up from behind Wolf, “If I may chime in, I would like to join Hawkstar, I believe that is the name of the gray cat on the tree, and his clan. I like your values.”

Hawkstar twitched his tail, “Welcome to SkyClan.”

“You,” Tigerstar directed his attention to the solid black loner in the back, “If we have decided to take in loners to our clan, it would appear that you would fit in best with ShadowClan. Join us, dark warrior.”

The black tom walked forward, only his yellow eyes noticeable, “With great pleasure. You can call me Panther.”

“That leaves you, Crowstar, with me,” a large, thick-furred brown cat looked up at the leaders, “My name is Moose.”

“Your names are odd, obvious tales of your heritage, but we welcome you to the clans. I suppose each leader will take you back to their respective camps with them. I hope you each find these clans to be your true home,” Crowstar finished the gathering. He leaped down and beckoned forward his warriors and his newest member.

The clans began to disperse and Squirrelstar immediately found Jayfeather as they left the island, “Five cats, five creatures in my dream, coincidence?” 

Jayfeather sighed, “It is definitely odd, even I can’t deny that. I find it even stranger that they had to discuss if they were going to separate or not. I suppose we’ll have to wait and see what their true intentions are. I hope, for all the clans, that they truly just want to find homes.”

Squirrelstar looked back at Wolf, now closer to the tom she noticed how large he truly was for his age, she tried not to let her sudden shiver of fear show when she turned back to Jayfeather, “We can only hope.”

[thistleclaws-hatred]

Crowfeather Joins ThunderClan AU - 2

“You let him name one of your kits?” Squirrelfight asked, her eyes wider than the moon.

“They are his kits as well, I don’t understand what the big deal is. You got to name one,” Leafpool pointed out.

“Because I’m going to mother them!” Squirrelflight lashed her tail angrily.

“Well...we don’t know that to be a fact,” Leafpool muttered.

“What?”

“Maybe Crowfeather and I could parent them. They are our kits and no one should have to live with such a heavy secret,” Leafpool explained quietly, flicking her tail out of the way of Lionkit’s paws. Leafpool hadn’t mentioned that Crowfeather had named Lionkit for as long as she could. Now it was a few days later since the naming and the pair of she-cats were preparing to return to ThunderClan.

“You’re going to join WindClan? And leave ThunderClan without a medicine cat?” Squirrelflight couldn’t believe her ears.

“No! I could never leave ThunderClan. Crowfeather said that he would join ThunderClan to help father these kits,” Leafpool folded her ears back. I would never betray my clan! Not more than I already have at least...

“WindClan and I have very few ties,” the dark tom replied from the entrance to the den. He had dropped off two small sparrows. “Please Leafpool, you need to eat.”

“And you need to leave. You cannot join ThunderClan!” Squirrelflight hissed, pushing the sparrows towards Leafpool and moving Crowfeather further out of the den.

“That is not for you to decide. That is up to Firestar,” Crowfeather reminded the ginger she-cat, “Unless you’ve become Squirrelstar while I’ve been out hunting.”

The warrior spat but knew that Crowfeather was right nonetheless. She blocked him once more from approaching Leafpool, “Think about what you’re doing here.”

“There really is no choice, those kits are mine as much as they are Leafpool’s. I have every right to be in their lives.”

“Will you two quit arguing! It’s driving me and the kits halfway to StarClan,” Leafpool grumbled.

Crowfeather gently pushed his way past Squirrelflight and sat beside the nursing queen. He smiled as Jaykit pressed into the thick fluff of his own dark tail, meowing softly. Lionkit was still trying to catch Leafpool’s tail, “It’s going to be my first piece of prey!” The golden tabby yelled out proudly.

Even Squirrelflight pushed aside her anger towards Crowfeather and watched the two kits play happily with their parents. Wait! Two kits? “Where’s Hollykit?”

Faster than one could say “mouse”, Crowfeather was out of the den and searching all along the small dirt hollow the group had sheltered in. Leafpool kept the other two within range while Squirrelflight checked the den thoroughly.

“She must’ve wandered off, I’ll go find her,” Crowfeather said, a layer of fear masking his voice.

The lithe tom sprinted up the small hill and ran into the woods, with Squirrelflight not too far behind. The pair of warriors said nothing, they both just wanted Hollykit to be safe. They split up, racing through the forest and calling out Hollykit’s name.

Crowfeather blocked out the chill of the morning air, narrowing his eyes to deflect the harsh winds from his view. “Hollykit! Hollykit where are you?” His voice echoed off the trees around them.

A tiny mew stopped Crowfeather dead in his tracks. He perked his ears and strained them, trying to pinpoint where the kit was. “Crowfeather?” A tiny voice called out shakily.

The WindClan warrior spun around and headed for a large oak tree, where a tiny black bundle was curled up under a root. “Oh! Hollykit, there you are. How did you get so far away?” He asked, scooping her up by the scruff and heading back towards their makeshift den.

“I wanted to go hunting!” She protested, her tiny body shivering.

“Hollykit!” Leafpool’s voiced stopped the pair of dark cats. “There you are!” The queen ran towards the two, with Squirrelflight and the other two kits in tow.

“She wanted to go hunting,” Crowfeather explained, almost having to stifle a purr.

“Of course she did,” Leafpool shook her head between her licks, trying to groom all of the dirt out of Hollykit’s pelt.

“Hey! WindClan! What are you doing on ThunderClan territory?” A tom shouted at the group from afar.

Crowfeather felt the blood drain from his body and his heart plummet. Had they really crossed the border without noticing?

The dark tom turned to face the caller and saw a ThunderClan patrol glaring at him with claws unsheathed.

Squirrelflight moved in front of Crowfeather, blocking the ThunderClan cats from directly attacking him, “Spiderleg! What are you guys doing out so early?”

“Firestar wants more patrols, WindClan and ShadowClan have been stirring up trouble,” the long-legged tom explained.

The patrol made their way towards the group, their bodies more relaxed but Crowfeather felt the fur on his back stand on end.

“Dustpelt, Stormfur,” the ginger she-cat greeted the rest of the patrol.

“Squirrelflight what’s going on here? What is Crowfeather doing on our territory? And who’s kits are those?” Dustpelt asked, narrowing his eyes at the three kits pressed against Leafpool.

“It’s a long story, one we shouldn’t have to explain here,” Squirrelflight answered, flicking her tail impatiently.

“We should take all of them back to Firestar, he’ll want to know what’s happened,” Stormfur suggested. The other two toms nodded in agreement and motioned for the group to follow them.

——-

Back at the ThunderClan camp, Crowfeather felt a pit of dread swallow him whole. His claws instinctively unsheathed the moment they walked into the clearing, the fur on the back of his neck standing up. 

The WindClan tom felt pairs of eyes gouging holes in his pelt, and he sat next to Leafpool, bowing his head as Firestar and Brambleclaw approached the group.

“Well this is unexpected,” the ThunderClan leader said, looking at the three kits with interest.

“They have to feed,” Leafpool fretted, watching as the kits clambered over each other.

“I can watch them,” Ferncloud’s sweet voice called from the nursery, “At least until this meeting is done.”

“Thank you Ferncloud,” Firestar dipped his head. Dustpelt helped to gather the kits towards his mate, a small smile appearing on his face when Lionkit attacked his tail.

“Now,” Firestar turned his attention towards Crowfeather, “What are you doing here?” A hint of aggression layered Firestar’s calm meow.

Crowfeather froze. Was he supposed to tell the truth? Lie? Say he saw a kit running and tried to save it?

“Those are your kits,” Firestar said, his voice cold. “Aren’t they?”

Crowfeather nodded, his paws frozen in place.

“Yours and Leafpool’s,” Brambleclaw added.

The medicine cat had her eyes locked on the nursery, a look of longing filled her eyes. “Yes. They’re our kits,” Leafpool said without taking her eyes off of the nursery.

“Your kits will be fine with Ferncloud,” Firestar meowed, urging Leafpool to pay attention. “Now, will someone explain what happened?”

Leafpool faced her father, shame rooting her to the ground and blood roaring in her ears. “They are my kits. Mine and Crowfeather’s. I never meant for this to happen, it was never supposed to happen like this!” She wailed, her voice high.

“You had kits with a WindClan warrior?” Spiderleg asked from behind the group, “You’re a medicine cat, that’s breaking two codes!”

“I know.” Leafpool’s voice was sad.

“Firestar,” Brackenfur called the attention to himself, “What are we to do with them?”

With us? Oh no! What is Firestar going to do to me? What about my kits? Crowfeather’s tail bristled.

Firestar paused, looking from Crowfeather to Leafpool. He then faced his other daughter, “You were going to mother these kits, weren’t you?”

“To protect Leafpool, I would do anything,” Squirrelflight said defensively.

“She broke the warrior code! She must be punished!” Dustpelt hissed from outside the nursery.

“ThunderClan doesn’t exactly have a clean slate for the warrior code, now does it?” Crowfeather spat. “Purdy and Daisy are both outsiders that have been welcomed here, Stormfur is half RiverClan and lives with the Tribe alongside Brook and they both live here! Yellowfang was a medicine cat that had a kit! ThunderClan isn’t innocent, no Clan is!” Crowfeather stood in front of Leafpool, protecting her from her own clan.

“Silence Dustpelt. Leafpool is our medicine cat, our only medicine cat. She will remain as such until I decide otherwise. For a current punishment, you must not see your kits until this is sorted out. Ferncloud can nurse them for the time being and you are only to go into the nursery if Ferncloud or Daisy needs you. Understood?” Firestar narrowed his eyes, ignoring Crowfeather’s outburst.

“Yes Firestar, I understand,” Leafpool bit back a whine.

“Good. As for you Crowfeather, you should return to your own territory.” Brambleclaw spoke up, his claws raking lines in the dirt.

Crowfeather wanted to protest, he wanted to say that he was staying to father his kits, but he couldn’t argue in the center of the ThunderClan camp. “As you wish.”

The dark tom stood to leave, casting one last glance at Leafpool and then another at the nursery. I will be back my loves.

Firestar entered the medicine cat den after the camp had mellowed out from the news and he was free to move around without being questioned at every step. “Leafpool?”

Leafpool looked up from the pile of herbs she was sorting, the rims of her eyes were wet and her pelt was ruffled, “Yes Firestar?”

“I believe we must travel to the Moonpool,” the ginger tom began, “Only StarClan can help us at this point.”

“You wish to travel to the Moonpool for advice about...about what to do with me and my kits?” Leafpool asked.

“That's the gist of it, yes.”

“Then we should leave at once,” Leafpool muttered, “I want to get this over with.”

“If that is what you so choose,” Firestar said, beckoning the medicine cat with his tail.

“We have to go through WindClan territory,” Leafpool reminded him, her heart suddenly sinking.

“You are to speak with nobody,” Firestar commanded.

Their trek through WindClan territory was quick and easy, not even a border patrol was out to question the pair.

Every step Leafpool took felt like moving a dozen boulders and she had to will herself to keep up with her father. She could still feel her kits’ warmth against her and she longed to be sleeping with them.

“We’re almost there,” Firestar meowed.

I know that. Leafpool bit back the remark and padded closer to her father.

“I know it must hurt to have to be away from your kits, but you must understand that you broke the warrior code when you had them,” Firestar sighed. He didn’t want to discipline his daughter, but his duty as the ThunderClan leader and his duty to the warrior code meant that everyone had to be treated equally.

“I never meant to have them.”

“Mistakes happen, only StarClan can judge you now,” Firestar finished as the pair approached the entrance to the Moonpool.

“Let’s go,” Leafpool brushed past Firestar, heading down the tunnel to where the Moonpool lay.

Firestar sighed audibly behind his medicine cat and followed her down.

Once arriving at the Moonpool, Firestar dipped his head at Leafpool and laid down, resting his nose against the cold surface of the water. Leafpool copied his movements and the two drifted off together.

Leafpool’s eyes opened. A wide field was spread before her. Firestar sat next to her, his expression unreadable. The dark, starry sky filled their vision, flowing over the edge of the world.

“Welcome,” a series of voices echoed around the pair.

“Bluestar, Yellowfang, it’s good to see you,” Firestar bowed respectfully before the StarClan cats.

“Welcome Firestar, Leafpool,” Yellowfang meowed, sitting down in front of them, her eyes as bright as ever.

“We have to come to seek guidance-”

“About Leafpool’s kits, yes,” Bluestar interrupted. “They must be raised in ThunderClan! It is vital that ThunderClan is all they know.”

“Why are they so important? Feathertail told me and Squirrelflight the same thing,” Leafpool inquired.

Yellowfang and Bluestar stood, the two suddenly joined by the ranks of StarClan. Warriors and leaders and medicine cats from all clans circled pair all saying the same words: “There will be three, kin of your kin, who will have the power of stars in their paws.”

Firestar saw a field open before him, blood splattered against the grass and trees, dead cats lined the cleaning. In the center were three dead kits, blood-stained and skinny.

“Protect them, nurture them, let them know what it is to be a ThunderClan warrior,” Bluestar whispered to Firestar.

All faded to black and the pair of living cats woke up next to the Moonpool. “We must return at once!” Firestar ordered her, leaping to his paws and heading back towards camp.

Firestar and Leafpool ran all the way back to the ThunderClan camp, past the thunderpath and through WindClan territory without ever slowing down.

As they approached the camp they could hear voices and the sound of paws scuffling against the dusty camp floor. “Come on!” Firestar yelled.

He ran ahead of Leafpool into the camp where he saw two shapes rolling around the camp in a ball of screeching fur. A dark pelt clashed with a white one. Cloudtail had pinned the darker tom to the ground and upon further inspection, Firestar saw that the intruder had his claws sheathed.

“Enough!” Firestar snarled, leaping into the conflict and pulling Cloudtail off of the dark intruder. Firestar glared at Crowfeather as the WindClan tom stood to his paws, blood dripping from above his eye.

“What is the meaning of this?” Firestar spat, facing his white kin.

“There’s a WindClan warrior in our camp!” Cloudtail growled, taking a step closer to Crowfeather.

Brightheart stepped forward and pulled her mate back by his tail, shushing him with a soft murmur.

“Crowfeather, why are you back?” Firestar asked, only a few whisker lengths from Crowfeather’s face.

Crowfeather gazed back calmly, his gaze shifting from Firestar to Leafpool. “I’m here to ask if you will accept me in ThunderClan.”

“Accept you...in ThunderClan?!” Cloudtail growled, his thick pelt standing on end.

“Silence Cloudtail!” Firestar ordered, “Crowfeather. You are asking to join ThunderClan? I presume to father your kits?”

“Yes, Firestar. I would love to be there to watch my kits grow and if they cannot have their true mother because she is a medicine cat, then at least let them have their true father,” Crowfeather meowed, meeting Firestar’s gaze.

Firestar narrowed his eyes, stepping closer to the dark tom, “If you wish to be a part of ThunderClan, you cannot join as only a father. You would have to protect every member of ThunderClan as if they were your birth clan, you would have to hunt for them and share tongues. You cannot join just to father your kits, you cannot have ties to WindClan.”

“I understand what I am doing. I am willing to lay down my life for ThunderClan if you will accept me,” Crowfeather swore, raising his head higher.

Firestar eyed the tom, saying nothing as if weighing his options.

“Firestar you can’t seriously be considering letting him join!” Dustpelt’s scrutinizing voice called from the back of the crowd.

“He’s a WindClan warrior! He could never be a real ThunderClan one!” Cloudtail spat.

All around Firestar and Crowfeather came protests from all the members of ThunderClan. Yowls of anger and spite and bristling fur filled the clearing.

“Enough! This is not your decision! It is Firestar’s,” Brambleclaw yowled above the commotion.

“Crowfeather,” Firestar began, “You are a WindClan warrior and you are asking to leave behind your birth clan, you kin, and friends to stay in this clan. In ThunderClan. You may have to defend your us against your own clanmates and friends, risk life and limb to protect members of ThunderClan. Do you understand that?”

“I do Firestar,” Crowfeather nodded. “Anything for my kits.”

“If you stay, you will have a ThunderClan guard until you prove yourself loyal. And if you ever step over the WindClan border, you will not be welcomed back. Understood?” Firestar asked, his tail swishing across the floor.

Crowfeather took a moment, and then another, and then another. His gaze flickered over to the nursery, over to Leafpool and then back to Firestar. “I understand.”

“Brilliant. Brackenfur, you will watch Crowfeather until I say otherwise. Brambleclaw, no patrols near the WindClan border for Brackenfur or Crowfeather,” Firestar commanded. The ThunderClan leaped onto the high rock and yowled to his clan, “We welcome Crowfeather as well as three new kits. May we all welcome Lionkit, Jaykit, and Hollykit!”