Clan of the Sea Breeze
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Time passes, as it does. They find a little patch of lavender on the upper meadows; some of it dutifully makes its way into Ravenmask’s paws, but more of it is dried and woven into Heatherstar’s nest, already lined most comfortably with feathers and fur and flowers. (The nest helps the den to feel less small, its walls too distant from Heatherstar’s pelt, but it is still not quite enough, still too big-)
The discovery was made by, of all people, a kit. A kittypet couple had had a litter of four, and wanted their little ones to go off to see the world. Haywing had swam to shore with the kitten on their back, nearly five moons old and plenty big enough to leave his parents behind. Lavacake had been the name the twolegs had given him, but in his naming ceremony he was christened Igneouskit, and so that’s who he was. Doespring rejoiced to have a kit in the nursery, for the first time if one didn’t want to count Luckykit.
The problem was, Igneouskit was by this time large enough and energetic enough that the clan’s camp couldn’t contain him. It was too small - and so the kit would go off on adventures, climb up the volcano. It got to a point where everyone was sick and tired of trying to keep him contained, so they pivoted to plan b: allowing him to join them on patrols. He was big enough, after all, they reasoned. He was big enough, and he wouldn’t stay in camp, and it was safer to keep an eye on him than let him get into all sorts of trouble unsupervised. The island was safe enough, but it didn’t hurt to keep an eye.
He found the lavender on his first trip up to the meadows, in a small party of hunters. He’d been so proud of himself, too, like he recognized that his discovery had been beneficial. Heatherstar had smiled when the kit had come trotting back home with the herb bundle in his mouth, joked that he'd be the perfect healer one day.
Just behind him, Ternfeather had laughed - but the expression on their face had been very strained, as if they didn't quite want to agree.
The moons pass. Igneouskit grows bigger, nears his apprentice ceremony. Heatherstar privately plans to give Ravenmask an apprentice; the cat absolutely adored kits, and the clan could always use more healers. It’d be the perfect fit.
Ternfeather works increasingly hard to keep the clan in order. He orders and directs patrols, scouts the island, smooths out petty squabbles before they even reach Heatherstar’s ears. The leader doesn’t know what he’d do without him.
And then, suddenly, he’s forced to confront it.
Ternfeather had been looking increasingly miserable for days. The hard work he’d been putting in slows to a trickle, until he can barely manage to keep the patrols organized. And then, one morning, he simply does not get out of his nest.
Physically, he was fine - Heatherstar had asked Ravenmask to check on him, and other than being more snappish than usual and extremely lethargic, there was nothing physically wrong. No sickness to treat, no injury. The best Ravenmask could do was offer catnip, to at least try and raise the scout’s spirits - but nothing concrete could be done.
And Heatherstar was left to manage the patrols on his own.
He’d almost forgotten what it was like, before Ternfeather had stepped up to the task. The clan had been smaller then; there were less cats to keep track of, smaller patrols to dispatch. Now, with a larger clan, the job is even more difficult; more cats to keep track of and remember when they’d last patrolled and where cats had last patrolled and what kind of patrol it had been, because scouting and hunting patrols both served two different but unique purposes, and…
It’s overwhelming, and he misses Ternfeather’s help. After one particularly long day, he drags himself to the warrior’s den for a bit, settles beside Ternfeather, and tells him so as he licks the other cat’s bedraggled fur.
“Oh,” says Ternfeather, quietly.
The next day, Ternfeather drags themself out of their nest, tired but determined, and returns to business as usual, effortlessly handling patrols where Heatherstar had struggled. The shift startles Heatherstar, but it is a welcome surprise. Once again, he remembers that Ternfeather is his first choice for deputy.
The sun is starting to set, and with more free time on his paws than he'd had in a while, Heatherstar decides to stretch his legs and go for a walk about the island. It had been a long while since he'd done that. Maybe he'd be lucky and catch some prey.
He ends up in the meadows. It's his favorite place on the entire island to just lay and relax, surrounded by flowers. He hadn't imagined, stuck in his old twoleg den, how much he'd love flowers.
He's just about to flop down amongst the flowers when he hears something - a bird call. Suddenly, a tern swoops down from the sky and plucks something from the grasses, before flying away to settle on the rocky surface of the volcano. Heatherstar blinks at it, wide eyed.
Clutched in the bird's beak is a sprig of lavender.
Heatherstar hadn't noticed it. He had had no idea it was there. But the bird had, apparently, and-
Oh.
Oh.
Realization clicks together for Heatherstar, and he could almost kick himself for how stupid he'd been. All this time, he'd been waiting for an apprentice to give Ternfeather, and when one had finally fallen into his paws, he'd almost made them a healer instead. No wonder Ternfeather had been feeling lethargic these past weeks. The promises he'd made of giving them an apprentice, and he had almost broken them.
Finding the lavender was never a sign that the kit would make the perfect healer. It was a sign that he'd make the perfect scout.
--
The next day is Igneouskit's apprentice ceremony. Heatherstar returns very early in the morning, well before dawn, and tells no one what he'd realized.
…Well, he tells Ravenmask, just in case the healer had been aware of his previous plans. Ravenmask tilts his head at him, seems thoroughly bemused by the whole thing.
“Well, of course you are, right? You want to make him deputy. Of course he’d get the first apprentice.”
“Of course,” says Heatherstar, pelt heating with embarrassment that it had taken him this long to realize. He goes to bed immediately after.
Tomorrow - today, really - was going to be a very important day.
–
The sun has risen to its peak when Heatherstar emerges from his den, the morning patrols long since returned and reported in to Ternfeather. Igneouskit is bouncing outside the nursery, impatient under Doespring’s loving care. Everyone is buzzing with excitement. Heatherstar barely needs to call a clan meeting; all the cats gather before his den practically the moment he steps out of it.. Igneouskit tears himself away from his lickbath to sit at the foot, vibrating with excitement. Heatherstar laughs.
“I see I don’t even need to call you forward,” he tells the kit, who bristles slightly with embarrassment. He gazes out over the gathered cats, smiling. “Clan of the Sea Breeze, as you know, Igneouskit has reached the age of six moons, which means he is now ready to become an apprentice.” He turns his gaze down to smile at Igneouskit, waiting excitedly. “Now, from this moment forward until you receive your adult name, you shall be known as Igneouspaw.”
The clan comes together to chant his name - no prompting, just a shared sense that this was how things ought to be done, how they should celebrate. Beaming, Heatherstar turns to look at Ternfeather.
The cat sat on the very edges of the circle, closest to the volcano. They stared up at the scene, beaming with pride - but just as quickly, they duck their head away, resigned. This isn’t for them, they think.
Heatherstar knows better.
“Ternfeather,” he calls, and the cat’s gaze snaps to look up at him, “Come forward. After all, you need an apprentice to become deputy. Remember?”
–
When Heatherstar had said Igneouskit would make a fine healer, Ternfeather had quietly given up hope of having the clan’s first apprentice. Heatherstar had, perhaps, forgotten, or the skills Igneouskit was displaying were so intrinsic to healers that it wouldn’t make sense to assign him to be anything else.
Still, it had stung a little. At first, he’d tried working even harder, as if by working harder he could remind Heatherstar of his need for a deputy - but in the end, it had all gotten so exhausting. There wasn’t any use for it. Igneouskit was going to be a healer, and that… it was fine. There would be more apprentices later. Perhaps it was even for the best. Perhaps Heatherstar could find some other, better cat to fill the role of deputy in the meantime.
Still. Still.
Then Heatherstar comes to them, reminds them that they are needed. Tells them they are missed. It's a revelation, a reminder. Heatherstar is still counting on them.
It's enough to get him to drag himself out of his nest the next day, start organizing patrols again. He is needed. Heatherstar still plans to make him deputy, some day. This is enough. It doesn't matter if Igneouskit becomes a healer's apprentice. He will still get one eventually.
So, the day of the ceremony, he's prepared for that. Perhaps it still stings to think about, but - it's manageable. He'll always have the next one.
Then Heatherstar turns to him, and calls his name. You need an apprentice to become deputy. Remember?
Of course Ternfeather remembered.
--
Noon heat rarely saw patrols, but newly made deputy Ternfeather thinks there can be an exception for an energetic young apprentice. "Ready for your tour of the territory?" he calls, and Igneouspaw bounds right up to him.
"I've already seen a lot!" the apprentice reminds them, and Ternfeather chuckles.
"The safest parts, perhaps. Come along, I'm sure we can find places you haven't explored yet.
"What about hunting? Are you going to teach me hunting moves? What about fighting?"
Ternfeather shakes his head. "In due time. Today's just a tour, and the basics of scouting. Hunting isn't your primary job, but I will be teaching you how, eventually. We're going to start small, though. ...Igneouspaw?"
The apprentice does not reply. Something else has caught his attention, and one, two - he pounces, surfacing again with a gecko.
"...oh," he mouths, around the gecko.
Ternfeather laughs.
“Come on now,” he says, ruffling the apprentice’s - his apprentice’s! - fur. “Let’s get you exploring the territory, before Heatherstar sees what you just caught and decides to make you a hunter instead.”
Last Explore Post | Last Response Received
Time passes, as it does. They find a little patch of lavender on the upper meadows; some of it dutifully makes its way into Ravenmask’s paws, but more of it is dried and woven into Heatherstar’s nest, already lined most comfortably with feathers and fur and flowers. (The nest helps the den to feel less small, its walls too distant from Heatherstar’s pelt, but it is still not quite enough, still too big-)
The discovery was made by, of all people, a kit. A kittypet couple had had a litter of four, and wanted their little ones to go off to see the world. Haywing had swam to shore with the kitten on their back, nearly five moons old and plenty big enough to leave his parents behind. Lavacake had been the name the twolegs had given him, but in his naming ceremony he was christened Igneouskit, and so that’s who he was. Doespring rejoiced to have a kit in the nursery, for the first time if one didn’t want to count Luckykit.
The problem was, Igneouskit was by this time large enough and energetic enough that the clan’s camp couldn’t contain him. It was too small - and so the kit would go off on adventures, climb up the volcano. It got to a point where everyone was sick and tired of trying to keep him contained, so they pivoted to plan b: allowing him to join them on patrols. He was big enough, after all, they reasoned. He was big enough, and he wouldn’t stay in camp, and it was safer to keep an eye on him than let him get into all sorts of trouble unsupervised. The island was safe enough, but it didn’t hurt to keep an eye.
He found the lavender on his first trip up to the meadows, in a small party of hunters. He’d been so proud of himself, too, like he recognized that his discovery had been beneficial. Heatherstar had smiled when the kit had come trotting back home with the herb bundle in his mouth, joked that he'd be the perfect healer one day.
Just behind him, Ternfeather had laughed - but the expression on their face had been very strained, as if they didn't quite want to agree.
The moons pass. Igneouskit grows bigger, nears his apprentice ceremony. Heatherstar privately plans to give Ravenmask an apprentice; the cat absolutely adored kits, and the clan could always use more healers. It’d be the perfect fit.
Ternfeather works increasingly hard to keep the clan in order. He orders and directs patrols, scouts the island, smooths out petty squabbles before they even reach Heatherstar’s ears. The leader doesn’t know what he’d do without him.
And then, suddenly, he’s forced to confront it.
Ternfeather had been looking increasingly miserable for days. The hard work he’d been putting in slows to a trickle, until he can barely manage to keep the patrols organized. And then, one morning, he simply does not get out of his nest.
Physically, he was fine - Heatherstar had asked Ravenmask to check on him, and other than being more snappish than usual and extremely lethargic, there was nothing physically wrong. No sickness to treat, no injury. The best Ravenmask could do was offer catnip, to at least try and raise the scout’s spirits - but nothing concrete could be done.
And Heatherstar was left to manage the patrols on his own.
He’d almost forgotten what it was like, before Ternfeather had stepped up to the task. The clan had been smaller then; there were less cats to keep track of, smaller patrols to dispatch. Now, with a larger clan, the job is even more difficult; more cats to keep track of and remember when they’d last patrolled and where cats had last patrolled and what kind of patrol it had been, because scouting and hunting patrols both served two different but unique purposes, and…
It’s overwhelming, and he misses Ternfeather’s help. After one particularly long day, he drags himself to the warrior’s den for a bit, settles beside Ternfeather, and tells him so as he licks the other cat’s bedraggled fur.
“Oh,” says Ternfeather, quietly.
The next day, Ternfeather drags themself out of their nest, tired but determined, and returns to business as usual, effortlessly handling patrols where Heatherstar had struggled. The shift startles Heatherstar, but it is a welcome surprise. Once again, he remembers that Ternfeather is his first choice for deputy.
The sun is starting to set, and with more free time on his paws than he'd had in a while, Heatherstar decides to stretch his legs and go for a walk about the island. It had been a long while since he'd done that. Maybe he'd be lucky and catch some prey.
He ends up in the meadows. It's his favorite place on the entire island to just lay and relax, surrounded by flowers. He hadn't imagined, stuck in his old twoleg den, how much he'd love flowers.
He's just about to flop down amongst the flowers when he hears something - a bird call. Suddenly, a tern swoops down from the sky and plucks something from the grasses, before flying away to settle on the rocky surface of the volcano. Heatherstar blinks at it, wide eyed.
Clutched in the bird's beak is a sprig of lavender.
Heatherstar hadn't noticed it. He had had no idea it was there. But the bird had, apparently, and-
Oh.
Oh.
Realization clicks together for Heatherstar, and he could almost kick himself for how stupid he'd been. All this time, he'd been waiting for an apprentice to give Ternfeather, and when one had finally fallen into his paws, he'd almost made them a healer instead. No wonder Ternfeather had been feeling lethargic these past weeks. The promises he'd made of giving them an apprentice, and he had almost broken them.
Finding the lavender was never a sign that the kit would make the perfect healer. It was a sign that he'd make the perfect scout.
--
The next day is Igneouskit's apprentice ceremony. Heatherstar returns very early in the morning, well before dawn, and tells no one what he'd realized.
…Well, he tells Ravenmask, just in case the healer had been aware of his previous plans. Ravenmask tilts his head at him, seems thoroughly bemused by the whole thing.
“Well, of course you are, right? You want to make him deputy. Of course he’d get the first apprentice.”
“Of course,” says Heatherstar, pelt heating with embarrassment that it had taken him this long to realize. He goes to bed immediately after.
Tomorrow - today, really - was going to be a very important day.
–
The sun has risen to its peak when Heatherstar emerges from his den, the morning patrols long since returned and reported in to Ternfeather. Igneouskit is bouncing outside the nursery, impatient under Doespring’s loving care. Everyone is buzzing with excitement. Heatherstar barely needs to call a clan meeting; all the cats gather before his den practically the moment he steps out of it.. Igneouskit tears himself away from his lickbath to sit at the foot, vibrating with excitement. Heatherstar laughs.
“I see I don’t even need to call you forward,” he tells the kit, who bristles slightly with embarrassment. He gazes out over the gathered cats, smiling. “Clan of the Sea Breeze, as you know, Igneouskit has reached the age of six moons, which means he is now ready to become an apprentice.” He turns his gaze down to smile at Igneouskit, waiting excitedly. “Now, from this moment forward until you receive your adult name, you shall be known as Igneouspaw.”
The clan comes together to chant his name - no prompting, just a shared sense that this was how things ought to be done, how they should celebrate. Beaming, Heatherstar turns to look at Ternfeather.
The cat sat on the very edges of the circle, closest to the volcano. They stared up at the scene, beaming with pride - but just as quickly, they duck their head away, resigned. This isn’t for them, they think.
Heatherstar knows better.
“Ternfeather,” he calls, and the cat’s gaze snaps to look up at him, “Come forward. After all, you need an apprentice to become deputy. Remember?”
–
When Heatherstar had said Igneouskit would make a fine healer, Ternfeather had quietly given up hope of having the clan’s first apprentice. Heatherstar had, perhaps, forgotten, or the skills Igneouskit was displaying were so intrinsic to healers that it wouldn’t make sense to assign him to be anything else.
Still, it had stung a little. At first, he’d tried working even harder, as if by working harder he could remind Heatherstar of his need for a deputy - but in the end, it had all gotten so exhausting. There wasn’t any use for it. Igneouskit was going to be a healer, and that… it was fine. There would be more apprentices later. Perhaps it was even for the best. Perhaps Heatherstar could find some other, better cat to fill the role of deputy in the meantime.
Still. Still.
Then Heatherstar comes to them, reminds them that they are needed. Tells them they are missed. It's a revelation, a reminder. Heatherstar is still counting on them.
It's enough to get him to drag himself out of his nest the next day, start organizing patrols again. He is needed. Heatherstar still plans to make him deputy, some day. This is enough. It doesn't matter if Igneouskit becomes a healer's apprentice. He will still get one eventually.
So, the day of the ceremony, he's prepared for that. Perhaps it still stings to think about, but - it's manageable. He'll always have the next one.
Then Heatherstar turns to him, and calls his name. You need an apprentice to become deputy. Remember?
Of course Ternfeather remembered.
--
Noon heat rarely saw patrols, but newly made deputy Ternfeather thinks there can be an exception for an energetic young apprentice. "Ready for your tour of the territory?" he calls, and Igneouspaw bounds right up to him.
"I've already seen a lot!" the apprentice reminds them, and Ternfeather chuckles.
"The safest parts, perhaps. Come along, I'm sure we can find places you haven't explored yet.
"What about hunting? Are you going to teach me hunting moves? What about fighting?"
Ternfeather shakes his head. "In due time. Today's just a tour, and the basics of scouting. Hunting isn't your primary job, but I will be teaching you how, eventually. We're going to start small, though. ...Igneouspaw?"
The apprentice does not reply. Something else has caught his attention, and one, two - he pounces, surfacing again with a gecko.
"...oh," he mouths, around the gecko.
Ternfeather laughs.
“Come on now,” he says, ruffling the apprentice’s - his apprentice’s! - fur. “Let’s get you exploring the territory, before Heatherstar sees what you just caught and decides to make you a hunter instead.”
[ #1803 words ]
-- cats on patrol
Ternfeather | they/he | HP 100% | HUP 10% | Sick: N
Igneouspaw | he/him | HP 100% | HUP 0% | Sick: N
-- level 2
experience: 100/300
-- items in inventory used
n/a
-- active quests:
n/a
-- opted in to death?
no
if yes, link to opt-in form
-- inventory
scraps | 1 FP | x1
gecko | 1 FP | x1
small bird | 2 FP | x1
fish | 3 FP | x1
Coltsfoot | x2
Chamomile | x1
Alderbark | x1
Juniper Berries | x1
Sorrel | x1
Lavender | x1
Extra:
Quest rewards/exp: here
Lavender + Gecko:
Redeemed +1 herb and +1FP
From level up here
congrats! you've reached 
