Chamrosh's Chattel Conglomeration

[Chamrosh]

Gustclan

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Gustclan Description
Writing Master Post
Original Version

red sky at night

xxxxThe sun collapsed from the sky, bleeding out as its injuries lead it to fall.
xxxxOr, at least, that was how it looked to Camberfoot.
xxxxHalf the sky was filled crimson with the blood from the sun’s wounds. The sun was truly blessed by Starclan. Goodness knows how many times Camberfoot had seen the sun die – and violently, too – and yet she always rose again in the morning. The sun must have had far more than nine lives. Camberfoot couldn’t help but wonder how.
xxxxHow did the sun earn so many lives? And what beast thought it could keep slaying the sun? Why was it doing that? What did it look like, smell like, sound like?
xxxxWhatever the answers, it was beautiful. Beautiful, yet tragic. To see the source of warmth bleeding out… it was such a beautiful colour too, even if it were morbid to acknowledge that…
xxxx"Pssst!”
xxxxCamberfoot’s eyes snapped down from the sky. Not only had he nearly been about to walk into a boulder, but the patrol was far ahead of him by this point. Bugleclaw had turned and hissed at him once it was clear he wasn’t catching up. Camberfoot curled up a bit on himself, a guilty expression on his face, and just before he bounded to keep up- he caught sight of the other reason his attention was being called for. There, a short way ahead of his father and the other older warriors, was a tabby molly.
xxxxShe was curled up, grooming her front legs, in a sunny break in the shade of the trees, seemingly entirely oblivious to the patrol approaching her.
xxxxMartinwhisker went ahead, by not more than a few strides.
xxxxJust before he opened his mouth to speak, the molly turned her head instead, and spoke in an accent not that different to Moraine’s own. “Hell-o. I thought I smelt clan cats here. I was hoping I’d get to look a bit more presentable before announcing myself, but I suppose that’s just how things go sometimes. If you’ve got decent nests and cute guys my age, I am uuuup for staying here. And I am sure the cute guys would be up for that too-" Did she just wink at him? Camberfoot was sure that was a wink.
xxxxCamberfoot leaned across to his father without thinking, and muttered: “I think she’s a second Merlindash.”
xxxxApparently he spoke louder than he thought he had.
xxxx"She? NOPE! Not today. And I’m Umbrap-…. Umbraheart! Yup, Umbraheart-"
xxxx"What do you mean not today, Umbrapaw?” Shellcloud asked.


-----

xxxxCicelynose couldn’t help thinking she wasn’t the best choice for a hunting patrol. She didn’t like thinking that. She hated admitting there were things she couldn’t do. If there was one thing she knew she couldn’t do at all, couldn’t others argue there were more things that applied to, too? Couldn’t she be stripped of her warrior duties and retired now?
xxxxBut apparently, she wasn’t the only member of the hunting patrol that applied to.
xxxxWhile Cicelynose couldn’t see where the fish were, Vendacethroat couldn’t keep his fidgeting bottom still long enough to let the fish come near him. Cicelynose could tell. While Cicelynose kept splashing her paws into the water, and catching a few shrimps – which she had decided was fine for her to just eat on the spot, it wasn’t like she’d be able to get them back to camp – she kept feeling the patterns of sunlight changing on her side, as he shifted position. She kept hearing Troutstripe snickering from a short way downstream.
xxxxCicelynose’s paws connected with a snail, which she brought up to the service. She twitched her nose, before laying it on the rock in front of her and pushing her weight down on it to snap open the shell. It wasn’t any weirder than any of the water bugs she’d eaten already.
xxxxThough she could feel the look that Vendacethroat was giving her.
xxxx"What in Silverpelt are you doing, Cicelynose?”
xxxxCicelynose’s ears twitched over to where Vendacethroat’s voice was at that moment.
xxxx"What are you doing? You’re scaring all the fish away, and you actually have a chance of catching something good.”
xxxx"I think there’s more fish further down, and I want to see them. I want to fish where the best fish are, so I can catch them.”
xxxx"Nah, be glad we’re not there. You’d scare them off and the whole clan would go hungry, just because of your fidgeting fat butt and big mouth.”
xxxxVendacethroat made a strange noise, like he was being strangled for a moment, and Cicelynose turned her head towards him in confusion, before she heard the laughter. It wasn’t loud, just a quiet chuckle. “No wonder Heronstar wanted Ploverstripe to accompany you leaving the nursery. You could start a war with a mouse with words like that.”
xxxxCicelynose smiled. “Yup. Would do, too.”
xxxxVendacethroat’s chuckling got louder.
xxxx"I like yo- THAT, THAT I MEANT THAT!” Cicelynose started to laugh too. “I did, okay? I… I – "
xxxx"In the hypothetical situation that I liked you too – which I don’t, you’ve got a fat butt – can you imagine the chaos our kits would cause?”
xxxx"Chaotic kits are the best kits.” Vendacethroat was very glad for her smooth save, and he was sure it showed in his tone.
xxxx"Chaotic kits would almost make up for your fat butt.”
xxxx"I think they’d compliment your silver tongue beautifully.”
xxxxCicelynose snickered. “Surely nothing bad could happen because of them and their chaos.”
xxxxVendacethroat laughed again. “Nothing at all.”


shepherds delight

xxxx"Look, I’m taller than you!” Knawelkit declared, stretching up to her highest height, above Witkit. Witkit stretched too, failing to reach as high as her sister had. Their heads barely grazed the lines of sunlight in the mid autumn light, where they painted a pale yellow on the walls of the nursery.
xxxx"Ha, told you!”
xxxx"You’re only taller by an ant’s height, that doesn’t count!”
xxxxKnawelkit puffed out her cream-coloured chest. “Does too. I’m gonna be a much better warrior. I’m bigger, I’m taller, I’m stronger, and I’m olde-"
xxxx"No you’re not! I’m bigger!” Witkit said, puffing her fur out as far as she could. “And you’re only older by a little tiny bit, that doesn’t count!”
xxxx"Does too!” Knawelkit pressed one paw on her sibling’s head, pushing down to raise herself up higher in turn. “Look at that! I’m gonna be brilliant.”
xxxxWitkit huffed, rolling her eyes. “You can claim you’re bigger if you stop acting like you’re older than me.”
xxxxKnawelkit giggled openly, but not so loudly as to wake any of the queens. She knew none of them would want to be woken so early, and that none of them would approve of her picking on Witkit. “Why would I agree to that? I am older than you, and everyone knows it, and it’s not like you can stop me.”
xxxxWitkit pulled possibly the largest pout that the nursery had seen to date, and Knawelkit’s giggling only grew louder.


-----

xxxx"Oooh, I’ve not been in the nursery yet, what’s that like in there?” Umbrapaw asked Ringpaw, who was serving as his guide around camp.
xxxx Heronstar had seen it as appropriate for another apprentice to show the newcomer around camp; she’d thought it might be easier for Umbrapaw to relate without seemingly having to prove himself (though Ringpaw was somewhat unsure on whether that had worked at all). She’d also thought that it might be easier for Umbrapaw to explain about his pronouns and such with someone his own age, as none of the cats really… were sure they understood. Heronstar and Chubtail – and all the other senior warriors – had confirmed they were happy to use whatever pronouns Umbrapaw was asking but… they changed? Because their gender changed? Most of the younger warriors had been entirely unaware that gender even was a thing – Ringpaw and his siblings included in that – and the explanation had been confusing anyway.
xxxx"I’m not sure the queens will appreciate you going in if they don’t know y-"
xxxxRingpaw’s objection was too late, Umbrapaw had already bounded into the nursery. Ringpaw hurried furiously after.
xxxx"I AM UMBRAPAW THE FABULOUS!”
xxxxKnawelkit giggled. Witkit looked up with a baffled expression on her face. The queens’ expressions ranged from matching Witkit to complete hostility.
xxxx"Umbrapaw!”
xxxxAnd Umbrapaw ignored him entirely. How did he sense this was going to become a trend.
xxxx"Mum, who’s she, and what in S-" Knawelkit began to ask the other queens – having picked up already that her mother was not the right cat to ask when she was confused.
xxxx"Nuh, uh, he, this mortal shell may have you convinced of-" / “Umbrapaw!” / “-me being female, but, alas, not today!” / "Umbrapaw!”
xxxxAn attentive cat might have seen the youngest clan member’s eyes widen just slightly as that was said, but, alas, only one did…


-----

xxxx"Firepath, Merlindash, we had a… proposition.” Sparrowfoot asked the two toms, as they returned from their patrol, coming back to camp.
xxxxLangoustinefang stood by her side, pressed tight into her, and perhaps that should have been enough warning to the two toms about what was coming, but-
xxxx"What sort of proposition..?” Firepath asked hesitantly, bracing himself for whatever insanity Vendacethroat and his sister had somehow dragged Sparrowfoot into. He knew well enough that the mollies were mates by now, but Sparrowfoot was far too – wait.
xxxxHe knew he’d follow Merlindash’s bragging if it came to it now. Which meant… If he were the serious one in their relationship and he knew he’d get dragged into the nonsense when it happened, didn’t it stand to reason that Sparrowfoot would let herself be dragged in, too?
xxxx"We thought… we could have kits for each other? We thought you might want kits, too.”
xxxxLangoustinefang nodded, following up her mate’s words. “I asked Heronstar already, and she said it’d be fine for Moraine to fill in the last few moons of Ringpaw’s training. She thought Moraine should get some opportunity to do training without having to feel responsible for everything, and so you don’t have to worry about that.”
xxxxMerlindash looked across at his mate. “The one thing I’d expect you to be better at than me, other than being handsome, of course, is being a dad.”
xxxxFirepath pulled a sceptical look at his mate. “I’m up for it, if you’re sure you can stand to be worse than someone else at something.”
xxxx"It’s only one thing out of goodness knows how many.” Merlindash smiled, before Firepath rubbed hard into his side.
xxxx"You two are sickening. You’d better not set that example to the kits.”


red sky at morning

xxxxPearstone wished his mate could be out to see today properly, but she couldn’t. Her kits were due any day now, and Harrierpelt made it very clear that she shouldn’t be walking anywhere where she couldn’t return to the nursery at very short notice, should she need to.
xxxxAt second best, he’d wished that he could stay in camp with his mate. Heronstar had told him clans still need to collect food, and that he was an experienced warrior. That if he went early enough to hunt (as he had) then they wouldn’t face any issues returning in time.
xxxxSo her he was, leading his hunting patrol down to the stream on the far eastern border, next to Lambclan’s territory. Luckily, he’d opted for a section of stream far from where Myrtleclaw had last been sighted, but that was largely a happy coincidence.
xxxxAs the patrol hunted their fish, Pearstone happened to look up to the Eastern horizon. He could see the first rays of the sunlight over the more distant hills, a tiny golden corona over pure black, the sky painted with broad swashes of orange and red, with a dusting of thin wispy clouds in perfect parallel lines above.
xxxxIt was gorgeous.
xxxxPearstone had always preferred sunrise to sunset, and this was precisely why.
xxxxIt was beautiful.
xxxxHe just wished that Moraine could see it.
xxxxBut then – maybe she could? If she had woken early herself, what would stop her finding a spot where she could look out from camp to the painted sky? He hoped so. To miss out on it, and the crisp wind it brought from the west would be a grave pity.


shepherds’ warning

xxxxAs much as Zinniapaw didn’t want to admit it, she was still jealous of her brother. The best case scenario for her dream was that the clan expanded enormously soon, and that Heronstar demanded another medicine cat then, and picked her. But so much could go wrong!
xxxxZinniapaw lay curled up in her nest in the warriors’ den, where she’d taken to spending a lot of her spare time, not wanting to face her other siblings and her failure. Starclan, she was useless. Why did she even stay here? They all knew she was a failure.
xxxxThe one thing she’d wanted to do since she was old enough to understand, and the one cat who could have allowed her to do it… she’d been rejected from what was most meaningful to her, and there was no way to get that back. She’d done everything she was aware she could to give herself a better chance.
xxxxAnd she could feel it in her siblings’ eyes. That pity.
xxxxThey knew! They knew she was worthless, that she didn’t deserve to even – to even stay there! They knew she’d forever be behind them as a warrior and less skilled than them. They knew all the effort of her kithood was useless and had been set aside for a fate she didn’t want.
xxxxZinniapaw buried her head in the nesting, shaking through heavy breathing against it.
xxxxShe didn’t notice the sound of pawsteps. The first she knew of their owner, was the comforting weight of their head against her shoulder, and it was hard to resist leaning back into that, and into the comforting words she was sure would come next.


-----

xxxxThunder crashed outside the old two leg nest, and Moraine lay still in her nest, head lolled back, with three other queens around her, as well as Harrierpelt and Teaselpaw close by.
xxxxThe Thunder was not improving her nerves about what was coming.

- 2370

[ Umbrapaw joins Gustclan ]
[ Vendacethroat and Cicelynose become mates ]
[ Vendacethroat and Cicelynose try for kits ]
[ Sparrowfoot and Langoustinefang decide to surrogate for Firepath and Merlindash ]

[ Lobeliafur and Osierfang are in their third moon of gestation ]
[ Moraine is in her fourth moon of gestation ]

[ Chubtail, Boulderdash, Mosquitowhisker, Pheasantcloud, Ospreystorm, and Garganeywhisker go hunting ]
[ Argusheart, Pearstone, Firepath, Merlindash, Lionfish, and Saffronstream go hunting ]

[ Heronstar, Shellcloud, Bugleclaw and Clarystorm go on a patrol ]
[ Martinwhisker, Camberfoot, and Noctulepath go on a patrol ]

[ Umbrapaw is apprenticed to Tabitha ]
[ Ringpaw and Langoustinefang, Dipperpaw and Droseratail, and Squirrelpaw and Ploverstripe train ]
[ Zinniapaw and Knotfish train ]
[ Minnowpaw and Adoniscloud train ]
[ Teaselpaw and Harrierpelt train ]
[ Umbrapaw and Tabitha train ]

[ Nettleflower stays in camp to mind the kits – Witkit and Knawelkit ]
[ Moraine stays in camp to mind the kits - ]
[ Harrierpelt and Teaselpaw return to camp to mind Lobeliafur and Osierfang’s kittings ]
[ Sparrowfoot, Osierfang, Lobeliafur, Vendacethroat, Cicelynose, Barnfish, Lobsterclaw, Troutclaw, Aspenfoot, and Narwhal stay in camp ]

[ Gustclan consume 2 big fish and 1 rabbit – 8 portions ]

[ After checking back with Harrierpelt for several days, Cicelynose sadly failed to become pregnant this moon. Try again next moon! ]
[ After checking back with Harrierpelt for several days, Sparrowfoot sadly failed to become pregnant this moon. However, Langoustinefang is expecting a litter that is due in two moons! (Father is Firepath) ]
[ Chubtail's patrol caught three hares while out hunting ]
[ Argusheart's patrol caught two frogs and a squirrel while out hunting ]
[ Heronstar's patrol found a kit while out patrolling the borders. It's mothers scent, along with the scent of other kits, is still relatively fresh. Maybe if the patrol returns later they'll find the queen and her other kits ]
[ Martinwhisker's patrol found nothing important ]
[ Ringpaw, Dipperpaw and Squirrelpaw learned the Track skill while training ]
[ Zinniapaw learned the Fish skill while training ]
[ Minnowpaw, Teaselpaw and Umbrapaw learned the Hunt skill while training ]
[ Lobeliafur gave birth to two kits ]
[ Osierfang gave birth to one kit ]
[ Moraine gave birth to six kits ]

[Chamrosh]

Gustclan

Previous Gustclan Post (47)

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Gustclan Description
Writing Master Post
Original Version

xxxxIt had happened almost automatically. Moraine’s kits had come first, and she’d curled tight around them, but Lobeliafur’s came a moon phase later, and Osierfang’s just a few days later. And although each mother of course recognised her own kits as hers, it was far easier to mind all the kits when one needed to go for food or to the dirt-place if they were prepared to move all their kits together. All of them had shuffled their nests closer together, so that when one had to leave the nursery for a moment, the others pulled her kits (or kit, in Osierfang’s case) in close to them, keeping them warm and safe until their mother returned. And further to that, Nettleflower would often join in too, when her kits were asleep.
xxxxBut Nettleflower would only join in when her kits were asleep. The other queens had certainly not missed her concern over Witkit.
xxxxAnd as little as any of them wanted to say it, they all knew that Moraine felt bad for Osierfang.


xxxxOsierfang’s head turned around to look at Martinwhisker as he entered the den. Several other pairs of eyes, looked up, including Witkit and Knawelkit (who ran over to him as well, and a careful eye would have seen that Nettleflower’s attention was on them, not the tom).
xxxxThere were easily enough mollies to defend the kits if an unfamiliar tom entered the nursery, but, at the same time, even when they trusted the tom in question, it was just instinct to react to to his entry. And although Osierfang looked far more relaxed once he was recognised, the other queens kept a wary eye – on behalf of Osierfang’s lone kit. Starclan only knew what they’d team up to do if the little sandy-brown kit died. If any of the kits died, but him especially.
xxxxMartinwhisker had clearly caught on to how defensive the other queens were of the kits. A full foxleap away from Osierfang, he stopped, making sure he was equally distant from the other two queens in their merging nests. Nettleflower gestured at Witkit to keep back, too, and Knawelkit rolled her eyes, obeying first, and pushing her sibling back.
xxxxThere had been enough kit deaths.
xxxxAnd all the queens knew the most likely cause of another.
xxxxTwo of them had been loners long enough to know exactly how toms could be to strange kits. Although Lobeliafur rarely spoke about her past before joining Gustclan (which was rather conspicuous, because of who was concerned with that), both of them had suspicions that Lobeliafur had also witnessed this. Nettleflower was hardly difficult to persuade on matters that might concern her kits’ safety. Her life had always been overshadowed by the deaths of kits, since her littermate’s death, since Saddlekit’s death by her own paws, and more recently, with the death of her younger brother (most of the clan were sure that Nettleflower only allowed Shellcloud in to help name her kits because she was the only queen with small kits, and with them being his own kits, she knew that he wouldn’t have done anything).
xxxxThey all had reasons for their caution.
xxxxAnd Martinwhisker hadn’t missed the presence of Langoustinefang and Sparrowfoot so close to the proximal exit of the nursery to Nettleflower’s nest. He hadn’t missed Lobeliafur curling back – was that fear? - her teeth bared, her claws showing around the pile of three kittens that she was defending so fiercely.
xxxxWhich was why Martinwhisker was taking extra care to show no signs of malevolence. Awkward slow movements that would be impossible to turn into an attack of any sort, eyes averting instantly whenever they met another gaze, making no hint of attempts of dominance. Tail low, out of the way, wanting to show feeling out of place…
xxxxMartinwhisker peered cautiously into the pile of kits.
xxxx"We only had one.” Osierfang calmly informed him (though Moraine in particular would swear of the subtle weary edge on her tone).
xxxx"Which one?” Martinwhisker asked. A fearful tone crept into his words, wondering if there had been more.
xxxx"The sandy brown kit by Moraine.” Martinwhisker cocked his head in confusion. He knew queens sometimes shared their kits out, but he’d not known that a queen could be caring for entirely the wrong kits when there was only one kit from another.
xxxx"Just one?” Martinwhisker asked, failing again to keep the fearful tone out of his voice.
wells"All of us were very lucky.”
ofaryMartinwhisker let out a silent sigh of relief.
ouha"Cinquefoil.” He said, with no hesitation – after regaining his breath.
vebe"Cinquefoil?”
n. xx"It’s a flower. Where I came from before, mollies used to take their mates out to a patch of them to announce they were pregnant, and used to take their kits there too when they were old enough too. It meant – I hope this is right, it has been a long time – that a child was loved. If we only have one… I doubt we can come up with a better meaning.”
xxxx"What colour?” Osierfang asked.
xxxx"What?”
xxxx"What colour are they?”
xxxx"Cinquefoils?”
xxxx"Yes.”
xxxx"Oh!” Martinwhisker looked slightly sheepishly off to one side. “The flowers are a sort of dull brown colour. It’s not an exact fit, but I reckon in certain lights, it’d match perfectly. And they are brown-ish.”
xxxxOsierfang nodded her head. “Cinquefoilkit he is.” She tilted her head back at the white queen. “I think Lobeliafur would appreciate Heronstar coming. Thank you for naming Cinquefoilkit.”
xxxxMartinwhisker nodded too, recognising what he was being tasked with, and walked out of the den, making his intent to leave clear to all the queens (and the not very subtle guards).


xxxxChubtail stood on a tufty patch of grass on the Western border of his territory. A wind ripped furiously from the East, which was an unusual direction for it, but hardly beyond what was possible.
xxxxHe didn’t recognise the cats just behind him, but somehow, he knew he trusted them. He knew they were important, somehow.
xxxxHe knew they were meant to be there with him. Well, that wasn’t quite accurate. The huge tortoiseshell molly would have been recogniseable anywhere, now he knew how to spot her. It was the others he had that feeling for.
xxxxIt was that sort of blustery gail which made it impossible to tell the season – a weather that Chubtail had grown all too familiar with in his time in Gustclan, and in all honesty, hadn’t liked even before that.
xxxxA sound on the breeze caught his attention, and Chubtail whipped around to where he’d heard it from.
xxxxAnd he took a step back. If they were cat-size, they might have been able to hide where they were, but as it was, four large shapes stood only partially concealed in the undergrowth. He knew how he hadn’t smelt them. The wind was carrying his scent off towards them, and theirs away from him in turn. But how he hadn’t spotted them was quite another matter.
xxxxIt was the sort of lack of observation that only made sense in dreams or when Shellcloud was telling a story.
xxxxThey really were huge.
xxxxThe smallest already towered over Chubtail, a huge pig, with thick brown fur and tusks as tall as the deputy’s face. Chubtail had seen them off in the distance before, but had always been sensible enough to keep his distance. They’d never deliberately sought out to harm the clan before, and seeking them out with their size seemed foolhardy. A wild boar was no laughing matter on his own.
xxxxBut alongside was what looked like a huge black, furry cow, something like a grey seal with massive fangs, and a snowy-white creature with no tail, looking big enough that if it chose, it could crush any of the cats under a single paw.
xxxxChubtail wanted to tell the other cats on the -… wait, how had he got out here? What was he doing here? He… didn’t remember setting this patrol… that was…
xxxxNo! He had to tell Narwhal, he had to tell the others-
xxxxBut when he tried, his tongue stuck in his throat.
xxxxHe heard the large creature chuckle, and it seemed to somehow slip through the undergrowth, despite obviously being too large for the movement. Chubtail wouldn’t have been able to describe it properly, but the closest description he had was that the bush bent around the creature’s huge mass.
xxxx"You left us, Narwhal. You couldn’t have thought we’d let do that, no?”
xxxxThe seal-like creature came forwards next. “We needed you, and you left us, Narwhal. Traitor.”
xxxxOnly now could Chubtail speak, but the words didn’t seem his, and somehow he couldn’t catch them all- “…, …, …, go back to camp, now! We need a full battle patrol!”
xxxx"No, Chubtail, you might get inj-"
xxxx"And you might if you stay. Tell Heronstar to bring out a battle patrol.” His voice sounded far harsher than he was used to, and he felt a little shock in himself as he saw the others running, the tabby leading the way through the grass and into the cover of the trees.
True"And noble tom, not wanting us reunited?” A female voice, surprisingly high-pitched and sweet, the black cow-like creature emerging in turn. “Rude.”
xxxxChubtail found himself moving over beside Narwhal.
xxxxChubtail knew not much made the molly scared. There was nothing much that warranted it, with her huge size. But he could feel her quaking now, could see her ears moving backward, could see her teeth baring.
xxxxThey hopefully wouldn’t have to last long. He found himself hoping he hadn’t been selfish sending off the other warriors. Which made no sense – what was selfish about sending off cats he didn’t know to be safe in place of himself?
xxxxHe couldn’t exactly explain what happened next. It wasn’t that he lacked the words. It was more like… time skipped a beat. Chubtail was getting increasingly certain that he was dreaming, whatever his heartrate was telling him. Time didn’t move like that for the waking.
xxxxHe just knew, one moment, he was by Narwhal’s side, trying to reassure her, and the next, he was fighting.
xxxxThere wasn’t a full battle patrol.
hahaIt was still just him and Narwhal, and the now four fully emerged creatures.
hahaHe was not faring well.
hahaHe could feel the ache across all his muscles, every single joint strained and painful from the energy he’d exerted, trying to whip round and avoid the attacks from the larger creatures. He could feel his head growing lighter.
hahaHis head jerked down as his vision turned blue for a moment and- colour returning…
hahaThe grass was stained red.
hahaThe grass all around him was red already.
hahaHe was sure he’d told Narwhal to leave if it got too hopeless, but still, it hurt now, to be by himself, with the creatures looming over him. He lifted his head defiantly, or tried to, but his body seemed to have other plans, as his legs collapsed beneath him, and he flopped onto one side.
andq"Noble tom still noble at end. But Noble won’t save him. Noble won’t stop us tearing clan apart until we get our sister back.”
uitelAnd with a dreadful certainty, Chubtail was sure he knew what was about to happen. That wasn’t the thinking of a cat prepared for mercy, and in honesty, Chubtail wasn’t sure he’d make it with all that blood out of him, even if Harrierpelt arrived right this second.
iteraWas Harrierpelt going to be arriving?
lly,tOne huge, terrible white paw lifted off the ground, and with a sheer, brutal finality-
oo…x"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!”
xxxxChubtail’s eyes snapped open.
xxxxHe was in the warriors’ den. A quick glance around him confirmed he was safe among the others, and a slower glance confirmed they were all here themselves, and safe in turn.
xxxxJust a nightmare, then.
xxxxOnly a nightmare.
xxxxSurely.
loadsWhat other options… were… there…


xxxxIt was only a few moments before Heronstar arrived (although it felt like longer to the cats within the nursery).
xxxxAnd, unlike when Martinwhisker had entered just before, the mollies all remained calm and cheerful as she arrived. Not a single claw sprang out, or tooth bared.
xxxxHeronstar was a molly, and Heronstar was a mother herself. There was no way that she’d harm a kit. That was like saying Merlindash would be modest, or Boulderdash would talk clearly, or Shellcloud would prioritise anything vaguely important on a patrol. It just wouldn’t happen.
xxxxLobeliafur didn’t tense up at all as the older molly approached.
xxxx"Heronstar! Hi, hey, okay, so, Harrierpelt told you how many kits there were, right? He should have, but anyway, there’s nine new healthy kits in our clan! And they’re all gorgeous, aren’t they? Two of them are mine, and I don’t really know what I want to call them, so I thought I’d ask you for help with that instead? You know, so we don’t just use the old typical names where you Starclan can’t suggest any suffixes for you to give out because they know someone else already has them, so you’re stuck with them being apprentices forever, no! So I thought I could use some help, and you seemed to be the most obvious candidate gi-“
xxxxIt was at that precise moment that Lobeliafur worked out that the leader – the cat she had summoned because of her status and being grandmother of her kits – was also the mother of their father. The father she had dumped just a few moons before. And that maybe that was insensitive.
xxxx"You don’t need to look so guilty. I might have preferred you not to have done what you did to my son, but I can hardly blame you, and I’d far prefer you to have done that than been unhappy. He’ll recover, but if he’d hurt your emotions beyond repair first, he wouldn’t. As their grandmother I am very happy to step in to help name them.”
xxxx"Ah! Well, thank you for not being mad at me first, and thank you for help-“
xxxx"Lobeliafur, I won’t be able to tell you name suggestions if you keep talking.” Lobeliafur hastily closed her mouth. "Which kits are yours?”
xxxx"The white molly, and the dark brown swirly tabby tom.” Lobeliafur rushed out, wanting to get through the naming as fast as she could so she could talk freely again. Heronstar’s eyebrow raised slightly at that second description, but Lobeliafur really wasn’t sure why.
xxxxHeronstar paused complentatively for a moment, before she spoke again.
xxxx"Cairngormkit, I think, for the brown, if you don’t think it’s too long?”
xxxx"Well, I’m sure there’ll always be a suffix that fits any cat as well as their name, and there’s nothing stopping him from getting us to abbreviate it at so-"
xxxx"Okay. He’s almost the exact right colour on his tabby markings. Cairngorms were a type of quartz – shiny rock - around where my birth clan was from. They used to pop up all over, especially if you found a human’s tunnel.”
xxxx"So it’s like flint- or something? Just brown?” Heronstar nodded at Lobeliafur’s questions. “It’s a very different mix of sounds, isn’t it? Which is weird, it suits a rock just as well, I think, you know that “nt” but also all those weird “r” sounds you do, and the “c”-"
xxxx"Shall we name the other one first, and analyse my accent later?”
xxxxMoraine looked away, despite the others all still watching in fascination. Their leader showing annoyance was too bizarre for her to want to witness, but she couldn’t exactly leave to avoid it. The best she could do was turn her head away and try to imagine it was some other cat instead. Osierfang just looked amused.
xxxx"Oh. Right, sorry…”
xxxxHeronstar came closer to the pile of kits and their mothers, trying to identify her granddaughter, before picking up on her, pinned beneath another kit by Osierfang.
xxxx"I was thinking Moth- maybe, for those pale ones that flutter by sometimes.”
xxxx"I told her most moths are grey or brown, and that would confuse everyone.” Osierfang chimed in.
xxxx"And Moth- is just a weird noise, I don’t want my cousin called that.”
xxxx"What is a moth?”
xxxxHeronstar glanced across at Witkit and Knawelkit. She supposed they were old enough to want to comment on their cousins’ names.
xxxx"They’re little fluttery things, they look like butterflies but in duller colours, and they like night time.” Heronstar hastily explained, before turning back to her newest grandchild. “I’d want to check with Chubtail, but I think I do know a type of pale moth specifically. And if I’m remembering correctly, they even have the brown stripes running over the white. Rivulet.”
xxxx"They’d both have such fancy names.” Lobeliafur said, mildly uncertain as to whether she approved.
xxxx"If you’ve got a fancy name and you fit it – somehow - , I’m sure they can manage too.” Osierfang said.
xxxxLobeliafur tilted her head slightly in consideration. “I’ll think about it, at least.”
xxxxHeronstar’s attention now turned to the second quietest queen.
xxxx"When are you planning to name yours, Moraine?”
xxxxMoraine looked down, but at least closer to her leader.
xxxx"I… already did.”
xxxx"Oh? When?”
xxxx"Pearstone said he trusted me to name them, and I didn’t want them to be left without names longer than they had to be, but… I didn’t know how you’d react.” Moraine’s voice shrank slightly as she continued.
xxxx"Did you name them according to the traditions of your tribe?” Moraine nodded, a little more certainly.
xxxx"And in the language we normally spoke.”
xxxx"Oh?”
xxxxMoraine took a big breath in.
xxxx"I thought I’d name half of them after my birthplace, and half after things here, seeing as there were six! And-" ("What’s “six”?” Witkit asked, in the background.) “I thought they might appreciate that I’d tried to link them to their past a little nicer.”
xxxx"Well, as long as they’re also alright with abbreviations, I’m sure it’s fine.”
xxxx"Oh, we all abbreviated. It’s not practical to always call a cat by their full name.” Moraine took a little bit more of a breath in, before starting to point out her kits, one by one, from wherever they had found themselves (including one who had managed to climb up onto her stomach, and by the time she had finished, had done a neat roll off her back and onto the floor outside the warm bundle, and was squirming desperately, trying to return to the warmth). “The ones after my home – Eryr Yn Hedfan Heddychlon,” Heronstar’s eyes widened very far very suddenly, and all three other queens fixed Moraine with an uncertain look.
mine"She’d be Eryr, Eagle. Sgiwen Llywio Môr Eang. I’m not sure what he’d abbreviate to, but I suppose he could choose for himself once he’s old enough. Here’s Tymestl Yn Teithio I’r Dwyrain. Storms were by far the most memorable part of the weather back home.”
xxxxAll the mollies had wide-eyed looks at Moraine.
xxxx"This naughty little explorer-" The one who was just about to complete his somersault “- is Hwyr Yr Hawl Yn Llosgi Llyn.” Moraine pulled a slightly cheeky look at Lobeliafur as she saw the younger queen trying to mouth the “ll” sound she’d used so proficiently. “I think I know what he’ll abbreviate to. And then, little Gors Lle Fioled Yn Tyfu, or Fioled. I’m not sure what that word is for you, but it’s a flower.” Moraine paused for a moment as she relieved Llosgi Llyn from his squirming and replaced him by his littermate. “And, lastly, Awyr Goch Yn Olau Bore. Like the sky was when he was born - Goch.”
haha"I hope they’re not pawfuls as much as they are mouthfuls.”
haha"I can’t promise anything. I know what I was like as a kit.”


xxxx"JENGA!”
xxxxThe cold wind ripped his cry from his throat even as it formed, tossing it out into the gale beyond.
xxxx"JENGA-AAAA!”
xxxxHis little paws skittered in the leaf litter in front of him, each step making a lovely crunching noise.
xxxxXerxes couldn’t stop himself, he laughed lightly, and bounded right into the thickest part of the leaf pile, rolling onto his back and kicking up the leaves as high as his small paws could manage. A single leaf fluttered side to side, whistling where the veins had grown exposed from the decomposition that had already started. Xerxes giggled to himself, before he realised what he’d just done, and that he’d delayed to do it!
xxxx"JENGGGGAAAAAAA!”
xxxxXerxes could hear something in the difference.
xxxx"Jenga?” Xerxes rolled back onto his feet, and hastily shook himself, trying to knock the leaves free, even if, somehow, a leaf had managed to catch itself on his ear. “Is that you?”
xxxxXerxes could hear footsteps towards him, big footsteps. Lots of footsteps!
xxxxHe skittered backwards, diving into the pile of leaves, and burying his face deep in them. If he couldn’t see the world, the world couldn’t see him either! There was no way he’d be found by the – millee… millap… millionpee… millipede! His sister had said that millipedes were huge and had a bajillion legs, so he had to be hearing a millipede.
xxxxXerxes’ tail flicked in fear, high up in the air, while his face stayed pressed up in the smell of dead leaves, his brown paws over his blue eyes for good measure. He was invisible now.
xxxxThe millipede was getting closer! Xerxes could hear its feet flying all over the place, some far to his left, and some to his right. His tail curled in and his spine arched, trying to hide even better from the monster, but he was sure it was right behind him!
xxxx"Jenga!” Xerxes whimpered, begging to be protected.
xxxxHe could feel something big above him, and he found himself scooting with his back legs, trying to shuffle further away, before something pressed down on his back!
xxxx"Don’t eat me!”
xxxx"Why would I eat you?” Xerxes thought the voice said, but it was strangely warped, sounding just wrong. The vowels were all weird, and there was just too much consonant, and Xerxes didn’t like it, not at all.
xxxx"Because you’re a big scary millipede a-“
xxxx"Millipede?” That voice was far harsher, and Xerxes didn’t like it either. He wriggled, trying to get away from the heavy foot on his back. “Millipedes are the size of a paw, and no concern at all compared to a patrol of unfamiliar cats. Crying out in the woods in unknown territory – especially when our smell should be obvious is a total breech of the BASIC VIGILANCE that you should be showing!”
xxxx"Clarystorm! He’s a kit, you can’t expect him to make judgements like that. And he’s just lost.”
xxxx"Jenga…” Xerxes whimpered again.
xxxx"What is Jenga?” Said a third voice. It sounded a little bit like the first, but a lot softer, and a lot gentler. Xerxes slowly looked up, twisting his head just barely far and long enough for his eyes to register the white and grey tom above him.
xxxx"Not “what”! Jenga’s my daddy! He got lost, and never came back for us! I want to find him so he can find his way back.”
xxxx"I doubt that he will be coming back.” A fourth voice, a deep and stern sounding one, and Xerxes wiggled away again. “Toms have a h-“
xxxx"Stop it, Bugleclaw, you’re scaring him.” The first voice said, in an authoritative tone. "i’m sure Jenga would want you to be safe if he got lost. Do you know where your mummy is?”
xxxxXerxes curled up, slowly lifting his head out of the leaves, but still looking away from the cats of the patrol. He lifted his head up – well away from where the cats were, twisting more freely as the paw eased up againt his back – and sniffed deeply, trying to pick up his scent but-
xxxxOh. He was… He was sure it was that-….
xxxxHuh. Uh.
xxxxUm.
xxxxThat way?
xxxxNo, the trees looked wrong that way, they were too light.
xxxxAnd they looked wrong that way too, they were too thick and-
xxxxOh!
xxxxOh. Oh. Oh.
xxxxOh…
xxxxIt wasn’t just Genghis who’d gotten lost.
xxxxXerxes had too.
xxxx"No I don’t! What if mummy gets lost without me too!”
xxxx"Then I’m sure your ma will appreciate you having found somewhere safe to stay until she’s found too. Would you want to stay with us until we can find them for you, and make sure they’re not lost? Parents are very good at getting lost, but they aren’t helped by their kits getting more lost. Is that okay?”
xxxxXerxes slowly nodded.


xxxxThere were a lot of kits in the nursery.
xxxxMore kits than any of the cats had a name for the number of. Nettleflower had had two, and Osierfang had had one, and Moraine had had six, and Lobeliafur had had two, and now Osierfang was fostering Xerxes – until they found his mother, of course. And altogether, that was more than what could be counted. That was just many.
xxxxThe apprentices hadn’t missed this.
xxxxOr at least, two of them hadn’t. To them, it was obvious the opportunities this allowed for.
xxxxNone of the queens seemed to feel the same threat from two apprentices as they did from any of the warriors regarding their kits. Maybe it was because, even being several moons younger, Umbrapaw just looked fiercer than Ringpaw, and like xe could easily take Ringpaw down in a fight in just a few quick moves. Or maybe it was just that Ringpaw always seemed too gentle to be able to do anything bad to the kits.
xxxx"Umbrapaw!” Witkit called out as the pair of apprentices entered.
xxxxHer legs still wobbled under her as she ran, but ran she did, and straight into Ringpaw’s leg, stumbling and tripping as she collided.
xxxx"Hey, Witkit.” Ringpaw said, gently lifting her up with one paw. “What’s up with you?”
xxxx"I want to talk to Umbrapaw!” Witkit beamed at Umbrapaw, and Ringpaw shot a quick smirk at his new friend.
xxxx"What about?”
xxxx"I think I’m like you.” Witkit said, very matter of factly. Although she did manage to make that work rather less well by shooting a fertive glance around the room to make sure no one was watching too closely – paying special attention to the group of three queens who made an effort to act like they weren’t watching closely – and speaking quieter than some mice would.
xxxx"Oh, honey, you’re awesome, but I’m fabulous, alright. And Ringpaw’s just cool.”
xxxx"Hey. Cool’s a way bigger step down-"
xxxx"And everyone else is just mediocre or boring, cool is very good.”
xxxx"No! Not like you like that!” Witkit squeaked, loud enough that she felt the gazes of all four queens on the back of her neck. Her head bobbed down in between her shoulders, and she made an effort to speak quietly once more. “I meant, I don’t think I just feel like a girl.”
xxxx"Oh.” Umbrapaw said. And then xer ears twitched, and a grin started forming. “Oh! Mostly like a molly, but not quite, huh?” Witkit nodded. “Well, my little friend, I have a proposition. How about we – the three of us – make a secret society.”
xxxx"What’s a society?”
xxxx"It’s a group of cats who have something in common. Ringpaw… is just an honourary member, but we aren’t.”
xxxx"So it’s for not-quite-girl-cats?”
xxxx"No, no, no. It’s for cats with a different gender or orientation to most cats – that’s whether they like boy cats or girl cats, or neither, or both. And we can talk about the stuff that just concerns and affects us, which doesn’t affect everyone else.”
xxxxRingpaw grinned. “So it’s like a support group, for you guys? And I’m just the one who’s “cool” enough to join anyway?”
xxxx"Pretty much, yeah.”
xxxx"You up for that, Witkit?”
xxxxThe grey kit nodded furiously. Goodness, she was up for that. She got to hang out with the apprentices and be friends with them! This was going to be awesome. Just like her!
xxxxFrom the back of the nursery, a pair of blue eyes looked on, and then fell down into their owner’s nesting material.
xxxxYet more attention Witkit got that Knawelkit didn’t.


xxxx"Teaselpaw, I need a word with you.”
xxxxThe medicine cat apprentice looked up from where he’d been sorting herbs, spinning around to look at the deputy.
xxxx"Oh, Yeah? I think you overshot a bit, you’re done.”
xxxxChubtail rolled his eyes.
xxxx"I’m serious, Teaselpaw.”
xxxx"If you wanted serious, you should have spoken to Harrierpelt.”
xxxx"Somedays I’m entirely unsure why he chose you over Zinniap-“ Teaselpaw scowled fiercely at the deputy – don’t continue. “I have a question for you. And I mean you specifically, I want an answer, not to merely be told “no” in a grumpy voice.” Teaselpaw’s mouth twitched up in amusement. Chubtail’s judgement wasn’t inaccurate. “If I saw a vision of something bad happening, and I tried to stop it happening, are there any potential repercussions that could happen?”
xxxxTeaselpaw thought for a moment. “I think that’d depend on exactly what you saw.”
xxxxSo Chubtail told him. And after a long pause, Teaselpaw nodded slightly.
xxxx"Ah.”


xxxx"No, Witkit, you can’t leave the nursery now!” Witkit scowled at her mother and her aunt.
xxxx"Why not?! I’m big enough to explore!”
xxxx"Because you’ll get hurt.”
xxxxSparrowfoot was making one of her frequent visits to her sister.
xxxx"I want to go exploring.” Knawelkit said.
xxxx"You can’t on your own.”
xxxx"I need to go exploring.” Knawelkit said. “If I don’t go exploring, I won’t learn anything, and I’ll be a useless warrior.”
xxxx"No, Knawelkit. If you get to go exploring, and Witkit doesn’t, that’s unfair.”
xxxx"So I can’t go exploring because Witkit likes flopping.”
xxxx"I want to explore too, can’t Knawelkit and I explore together?”
xxxx"You won’t be exploring long if you get hurt, so, no.”
xxxx"I’d prefer being able to explore even if it meant getting hurt.”
xxxx"And I’m going to go exploring whether you like it or not.”
xxxx"No you won’t, Knawelkit, and every adult disagrees with that, Witkit. You’re precious to us, and we love you, and so we don’t want you to be hurt.”
xxxx"I want to explore with Knawelkit.”
xxxx"And I don’t want to have to be cooped up here because you only care about Witkit.”
xxxxSparrowfoot sighed heavily, and she caught a glimpse of her sister’s eyes rolling.


xxxxWitkit’s eyes slowly blinked open again, and she only had to see her mother’s face so close to hers to know exactly what had happened. She’d made the clicks again before, so it only made sense. She huffed just to herself.
xxxxSlowly, she rolled onto her feet. One foot spasmed slightly as she tried to put weight onto it, but other than that, she seemed to be okay.
xxxxAs she looked up, she saw Boulderdash and Harrierpelt right there in front of her. Harrierpelt who seemed to have replaced her grandfather just so she’d have enough cats telling her what she wasn’t allowed to do. And Boulderdash who’d stop her in a moment if she went past those silly rules that they all thought she needed.
hahaAnd she didn’t!
youaShe was fine.
renoOkay, sure, she lost consciousness sometimes… but… she had warning. Apparently Sealkit had had that too. He’d have one bit get twitchy, and he’d make weird noises before he did the thing, and now they knew that meant she was going to get twitchy after, that meant she could react and make sure she was out of harm’s way before it started. Witkit didn’t understand why there was an issue!
w!!!!Yeah, prolonged things where falling were an issue made sense to be cautious of, but it was hardly like she’d die from exploring the rest of camp! There weren’t exactly any big falls in camp that she didn’t know she could get down quickly from anyway.
xxxxNot letting her explore was just mean. And patronising. She’d never get to be a warrior if she was being barred off from doing anything at all risky just because she “might not predict it right”.
xxxxAnd Witkit was sure Knawelkit hated it too.
xxxx"Aaah!”
xxxxWitkit was sprung out of her thinking by the heavy weight that had pinned her down.
xxxx"Knor’lki’!”
xxxxKnawelkit slowly got off Witkit’s back, and Witkit could tell from the speed of it that their grandmother was being given a filthy look.
xxxx"Knorl’ki’, Wi’ki’ don’t need ya jumpin’ on ‘er as soon as she’s up. Jumpin’ on ‘er’s no’ ‘elpin’ anyone. Yer okay, aren’t ya, Wi’ki’?”
xxxxWitkit nodded resolutely.
xxxxKnawelkit’s eyes never left Boulderdash and Harrierpelt until the two older cats had left. And it was at that point that her focus turned on Witkit, malevolence in her eyes.
xxxxThe worst bit was, Witkit knew exactly why Knawelkit acted like that. She’d act the same way. Whatever happened, Witkit would always get more attention, because Nettleflower – and the entire camp, apparently – was scared for her wellbeing. Just because her dead uncle had had the same thing. And that was ridiculous! Almost all the time, she was completely fine, and she could tell when she wasn’t going to be. There was no way she wouldn’t be able to make a functional warrior, without having to have everyone doting on her constantly.
xxxxKnawelkit just didn’t like being ignored.
TrueIf their situations had been reversed, Witkit knew full well she’d act exactly the same way.


xxxxThe nursery was definitely getting crowded, now. Before, there had never been more than two queens in here, and now there were four. If they successfully found Xerxes’ mother, there’d be five. And now, Langoustinefang was making her nest in here too.
xxxxIt was a big den – all the dens in their camp were – but it felt rather less spacious now than it had done when she was a kit.
xxxxAt least her den was made now.
xxxxEven if it looked rather sad. Away from all the current mothers, and away from her mate.
xxxxLangoustinefang looked across at her mate, just before she left.
xxxx"I’m not sleeping in here yet.”
xxxxSparrowfoot smiled slightly, although concern was definitely the main expression on her face. They’d wanted to be queens together, after all, that’s what mates were for.
xxxx"How come?”
xxxx"I want to sleep alongside you. It’s not my nest without you beside it.” Sparrowfoot’s smile grew more. “Ringpaw’s almost ready to be a warrior. Once he is, we both move in here, and we’ll be queens together.”
xxxxSparrowfoot beamed at her mate and out right failed to ignore the quiet “awwww” from Moraine.


YoukKnawelkit huffed, looking around the nursery.
now,Witkit was doing it again. That flopping around thing. Witkit kept doing it, and Nettleflower was jumping in to the situation, and only paying attention to her.
you’rThey were both her kits! They were both important!
ealotAnd yet Witkit got all the attention, just because she could flop around well.
likemKnawelkit wanted to see what would happen if she started doing that. Actually, she’d love that. For once, she’d get some attention, she’d get some love from her own mother. From the other queens, too, hopefully.
e,KnBut Knawelkit was sure that it’d only last a moment.
awelWitkit was so precious to them. And whatever she did, no one could see it! It was so annoying. Sometimes, Knawelkit could only think of the rage it was causing her. And although she really did love her sibling, deep in her heart, it was so easy to hate her too.
xxxxIt was so easy to hate everyone.
IfeelKnawelkit’s face screwed up in rage, and she saw red, and… she wanted to hurt something. But the only kit she normally would want to hurt was flailing around already, and was far too precious for her to get away with it towards.
almoInstead, Knawelkit turned away from where she’d been playing just a moment ago, calmly, collectedly.
stbaThe queens were fussing over her sibling’s body.
dinaMeanwhile, Knawelkit had made her way over to the little swaying hole in the den wall, what the queens called the fin.
way,"Oh, look, a kit, leaving. A kit without any supervision. Something really bad could happen. What if a dog came, what if an eagle came and ate her. If I were a queen, I’d jump in and stop her leaving. Before she was eaten.”
xxxxThey didn’t even glance at her.
forwKnawelkit’s face screwed up, and her claws came out, digging into the fuzzy material of the floor.
hatI’She wanted to scream.
mdoBut she knew they’d yell at her. “stop distracting us, Knawelkit”/"Your sister needs our attention, Knawelkit” She wasn’t even Knawelkit’s sister/"Can you find something quiet to do while we focus, Knawelkit”/”In a moment, Knawelkit!” It was more than she could bear.
ingtSo, biting back her rage and (quite literally) her tongue, she whipped her head and jumped through the opening.
oyouFrost dusted the ground still, despite it being mid-morning. Up on the hills that towered over camp, fog clung, mingling with the lowest furs of the thick belly of the clouds. Instead of shadows on the ground, everything looked grey, where the sun refused to touch the earth, on a cold, late leaf-fall day. Within the apple tree that grew in that corner of camp, wind danced and played, smacking the branches together. Branches Knawelkit had been told she was never allowed to climb, in case she started dancing too. Branches she’d wanted to climb the moment she’d heard that – not because of the small risk, but just because she’d been told not to, and that was in her nature.
xxxxWhy not? Why couldn’t she climb them?
you’dKnawelkit grinned to herself.
bothHer claws flew out to the sides as she leapt at the tree, and she slowly (and highly inelegantly) shimmied her way up the trunk of the tree.
suppHer uncle had died on this tree.
ortmMost cats would find it morbid to explore where their uncle had died in their first bid of freedom, and successful rebellion.
e,IknBut to Knawelkit-
owthWell…
at,buAs soon as she made her way up to the first branch, she could feel the cold wind hit her face.
toneIt was freezing, and so forceful she had to press her stomach in flat against the bark so as not to fall, whipping up adrenaline in her heart-
hadtBut it smelt so clean. It smelt beautiful, and her nose sang with its song. Of a million plants growing on the flat land of their territory, and she was sure sharp enough ears would hear the lives – in all their beauty – of a thousand insects, a thousand mammals, a thousand birds, a thousand untold critters –
obeuAnd she longed to stay there, just so she could keep it up.
nlucBut she was mindful of the warriors sitting on the wall on the main entrance of camp.
ky,aShe couldn’t stay here long.
ndpaKnawelkit looked around sadly at the branches around her, the branches she wished she could stay in, instead of having to return back to a nursery where she was ignored in favour of her sibling. And she was no longer sad.
ranoBecause she’d spotted something.
iaisvThe branch above her was only a small, hopefully short, scramble away. And it stretched almost directly out from the tree, so that about two thirds of its length along, it intersected with a section of the wall. Knawelkit did not hesitate before climbing up, and bounding along the branch as fast as she could whenever the wind let her move. She dropped down neatly onto the wall, and- ah! Haha!
eryeYes, there.
asytThere was a little tree stump, about as high as a cat above the ground, but the wall where she sat wasn’t so much as that above what she could jump herself. And the stump was just outside the wall, too. It was near the corner of the walled section.
ouseKnawelkit snuck a glance at the warriors on the other wall, wanting to know for sure she hadn’t been spotted, before sprinting along the wall top, hopping neatly onto the stump, and springing off the stump, her legs already carrying her furiously forward.


hahaHer brother’s help felt like just a taunt now. Yes, sure, she’d asked for that. They’d agreed on that. If one of them didn’t get to be a medicine cat apprentice, if one of them had all their dreams crushed in a single ceremony, then they’d help each other out, they’d both at least learn. Then, when Harrierpelt retired, they could be medicine cats together! But-
hahaBut now, Zinniapaw had to look into her brother’s eyes. She had to look him in the eye, and pretend she was happy for him, when it should have been her too! They’d both deserved it, they were both good enough, why- why!
keepAnd she couldn’t express her anguish to her brother. She’d be happy too if she’d got it. She’d overheard Teaselpaw asking Harrierpelt if he really couldn’t have two apprentices, and… she didn’t honestly know if she’d-… yeah, of course she’d do that. He was trying. He was trying to help her, she couldn’t fault him, and she was the one who’d asked for that help anyway! No, she… she couldn’t take his success away from him by showing how disappointed she was. She couldn’t take show it to any of her family, she didn’t want them to know she – deep down, of course – she wasn’t really happy for him. How could she be happy for Teaselpaw when she was so sad for herself?
xupxHer face was buried in her friend’s warm fur again. The kits were all safe and long asleep, the other apprentices too, and the warriors who weren’t on guard. The only sound was her and her friend, and the gentle scratching of a tree branch on the vertical ice whenever the wind blew. (Wind blew, huh? It was only obvious when the wind blew… could there be a better name for it from that?)
thex"It’s just not fair! Harrierpelt’s n- not even really old yet, I won’t be able to get it for ages!”
goodZinniapaw felt a gentle lick across the back of her head, and the accompanying chest movements as her friend stretched for that.
work"You know, there is another way for you to achieve your dreams.”
yougZinniapaw’s breathing hitched yet again – as it had done every time she’d needed her friend this badly – and she buried her face yet further in the fur.
enius"What? What possible way could there be?” Zinniapaw said, rage obviously filling her voice.
HAHAZinniapaw could feel from the movements of her friends stomach, almost as much as she could hear it as she spoke, that smile slowly starting and widening. That smile she knew meant that there was already a plan, well enough, from Teaselpaw as much as her friend.
!!!!!!"Honour’s a luxury we can’t all afford.”

- 7190

[Chamrosh]

[ Xerxes joins Gustclan ]
[ Cairngormkit, and Rivuletkit are born ]
[ Cinquefoilkit is born ]
[ Gors Lle Fioled Yn Tyfu (Fioled), Hwyr Yr Haul Yn Llosgi Llyn (Llosgi Llyn), Sgiwen Llywio Môr Eang (Môr/Mor), Tymestl Yn Teithio I’r Dwyrain (Tymestl), Eryr Yn Hedfan Heddychlon (Eryr), and Awyr Goch Yn Olau Bore (Goch) are born ]

[ Vendacethroat and Cicelynose try for kits ]

[ Heronstar, Mosquitowhisker, Saffronstream, Lionfish and Garganeywhisker go hunting ]
[ Chubtail, Firepath, Merlindash, Vendacethroat, and Noctulepath go hunting ]
[ Pearstone, Boulderdash, Pheasantcloud, Lobsterclaw, and Camberfoot go hunting ]
[ Shellcloud, Bugleclaw, Martinwhisker, and Clarystorm go on patrol near where Xerxes was found ]

[ Harrierpelt and Teaselpaw gather herbs ]

[ Ringpaw and Langoustinefang, Dipperpaw and Droseratail, and Squirrelpaw and Ploverstripe train ]
[ Zinniapaw and Knotfish train ]
[ Minnowpaw and Adoniscloud train ]
[ Umbrapaw and Tabitha train ]

[ Nettleflower stays in camp to mind the kits – Witkit and Knawelkit ]
[ Moraine, Lobeliafur, and Osierfang stay in camp to mind the kits – Fioled, Llosgi Llyn, Môr, Tymestl, Eryr, and Goch - Cairngormkit and Rivuletkit, - Cinquefoilkit and Xerxes ]
[ Argusheart, Sparrowfoot, Cicelynose, Barnfish, Ospreystorm, Aspenfoot, Troutclaw, and Narwhal stay in camp ]

[ Gustclan consume 2 big fish, 1 frog and 3 mice – 10 portions ]

[ Cicelynose is expecting kits! They are due in two moons ]
[ Heronstar's patrol caught three rabbits while hunting ]
[ Chubtail's patrol caught three big fish while hunting ]
[ Pearstone's patrol caught three frogs while hunting ]
[ Shellcloud's patrol found Xerces worried mother and two littermates ]
[ Harrierpelt and Teaselpaw gathered blackberry leaves, broom and cob nuts while herb hunting ]
[ Ringpaw, Dipperpaw and Squirrelpaw learned the Stealth skill while training ]
[ Zinniapaw learned the Stalk skill while training ]
[ Minnowpaw learned the Fight skill while training ]
[ Umbrapaw learned the Agility skill while training ]

[Chamrosh]

Gustclan

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Gustclan Description
Writing Master Post
Original Version

xxxxUlyssa snuggled deep into her nest, wrapping her tail tight around her two kits. Her two… remaining kits.
xxxxWhere had he gone!
xxxxUlyssa knew she had to prioritise the wellbeing of her two remaining kits, that if she didn’t, they might both leave too. They might starve. They might die of the cold that was biting into her back.
xxxxShe’d found a niche in the rocks, a little cave, up a short way from the ground level, but not so high that a kit that went exploring would be likely to injure themselves. Just high up enough to keep away any risks of frost in bedding, or late-season badgers taking advantage of an … easy meal. It was hard to think about as a concept, that. She couldn’t bear to think of it now, despite it being a pivotal factor in how to find a nest.
xxxxWhen she’d been seeking a nest while she was pregnant, it had just seemed like something worth bearing in mind. Now they were born – and especially now that one was missing, imagining any more gone was more than her heart could take.
xxxxBut if she didn’t focus on her remaining kits… Genghis wasn’t coming back. He was… well, he was hardly the sort to be a faithful mate. He’d left her just a few days after she’d become pregnant – and then she didn’t know she was, of course. And her daughters would be all alone in the world, still too young to fight, with their brother gone, and their father vanished too.
xxxxOh, it was her fault.
xxxxXerxes had asked her where their father was, and she’d been honest. She’d made him think there was a chance of finding Genghis.
xxxxAnd he’d said… He’d said he wanted to make sure their father knew where to look for them.
xxxxAnd she’d thought he was joking!
xxxxXanthippe’s fur was wet where Ulyssa’s cheek pressed into her side. Xiomara’s weight shifted awkwardly whenever Ulyssa’s chest fell shakily.
xxxxHer kit was gone.
xxxxHer precious, precious son.
xxxxAnd what were the chances of ever seeing him again?
xxxx“I can smell something! It’s a trespasser. Young molly. How dare she trespass here! How d-”
xxxx“Shut it, Clarystorm.” Ulyssa curled in tight against her kits, as far into the rocky niche as she could get herself.
xxxx“Mama? Is that Pap-“
xxxx“Hush, Xanthippe.” Ulyssa whispered. “Genghis is… he’s dead.” The lie was painful to tell her kit, but what else could she say that would keep her darling daughter safe? And keep her quiet, if… if those toms were…
xxxxOh, it didn’t bear thinking!
xxxxShe knew what toms could be like near new kits. That’s why she hadn’t argued when he’d left. That’s why… she’d almost been happy. The pain in her chest, if there were kits coming, would surely be less than that if she…
xxxxIf she saw his fury, and the cold… No.
xxxxNo, she wasn’t going to think about it.
xxxxEven if Xanthippe’s fur continued to grow damper and damper. Of course she wasn’t thinking about… about all the horrible…
xxxxShe could hear they were toms. What if?
xxxx“Hello!” There was a voice from far behind her, slightly muffled. She could tell it was from just outside, but moving nearer. And her eyes flew wide, her tail twitched, and her back curled up, flinching as hard as she could away from the voice. Her head whipped round, and she hissed, teeth bared at the bicolour tom.
xxxx“Eu-lie?” The voice asked. There was no hint of malice, no hint of wanting to attack her or her kits, and no hint of interest in her at all. Ulyssa relaxed slightly, although she was still tense. At least she didn’t need to keep her teeth bared, and her ears flicked apologetically.
xxxx“Eulie?”
xxxx“Is that your name? Eulie?”
xxxx“No. I’m Ulyssa.” The hiss was still part audible in her voice.
xxxx“Oh. Well, we had a kit-“
xxxx“Xerxes?” Ulyssa couldn’t help the hopeful tone in her voice. It was stupid. He’d been gone for a whole moon in the middle of winter? How could she possibly think he was coming back, even for a second? Why was she distracting her focus from her living, healthy daughters?
xxxxAnd why was… Why did he look so pleased? He was just another tom, wasn’t he? Another tom who found a small kit. And he looked pleased. Oh no, oh goodness no, if he’d…
xxxx“We found him. He’s in our camp now, being cared for by three of our mollies. He said he was looking for someone called Jenga?”
xxxx“Oh!” Joy floated in her chest like a song bird on a summer’s day. She had no idea what he was talking about, but from his tone -and what she did know - it was clear it was good news. “Yes, that’s definitely him. Can you bring him back for me?”
xxxx“Actually, we had a different idea.” The tom recoiled as Ulyssa’s teeth started baring. “No! Not like that. It’s… It must be cold here, and we have medicine-“
xxxx“What’s “medicine”?”
xxxx“It’s… different ways to keep your kits healthy if they get sick. We have medicine, we have somewhere warmer than this, and we have lots of other mollies who can help you raise your kits. Five of them, although Cicelynose seems to have plans to change that.” The tom caught another hostile look from Ulyssa- “Not like that! She wants kits too.”
xxxx“Seven mollies all with kits?” Oh, that’d be wonderful. There’d be plenty of friends for her children, plenty of support, and as they grew, plenty of others to ensure they were well fed and healthy. Of course she’d go. They wouldn’t have spoken to Xerxes long enough to learn about Genghis and where she was if they were just planning to kill him. And if they hadn’t killed him, and she was there to defend her kits, alongside six others, they’d be beyond safe! Nothing would be able to hurt them.
xxxx“What’s “seven”?”


xxxxAspenfoot didn’t want to eat. She knew she had to, though. But the tiny little mouse she found in the fresh kill pile still felt large once it found a space in her stomach. Everything felt bigger than she was sure it did before now. Was this just what being old felt like?
xxxx“Aspenfoot, you have to eat.” Harrierpelt casually commented as he passed by her, without even having to look. He’d seen her eating just barely enough several times.
xxxxAspenfoot looked guiltily at the rest of the fresh-kill pile. It was dwindling now, as winter set in, and as the very last leaves fell from the trees.
xxxxA heavy head laid itself across her shoulders, whiskers tickling the backs of her ears.
xxxx“What if I got one of the smaller creatures and shared it with you?” Barnfish asked. Aspenfoot slowly nodded.
xxxx“Alright.”
xxxxThe weight shifted from her side, and her mate walked over to the pile, returning with a small bird – one that had been foolish enough to not fly south already. Barnfish kept stopping for her to eat, waiting patiently for her to have enough hunger to resurface.


xxxx“How much further, dad?” Gullkit asked, looking nervously around. He kept jumping back whenever there was any sort of movement he couldn’t identify. There’d never been so much movement in the caves, and it being everywhere terrified him. It was impossible to know what anything was, and even after walking the last few days and asking about everything he found, there was still so much around that was new and scary. “What are you doing Gannetkit?”
xxxx“This plant smells nice.” Gannetkit had jumped straight into the whatever it was, and was rubbing his face over one of the branches.
xxxxAdoniscloud was a couple of steps ahead of them both. “It’s not much further now? We’re pretty close.”
xxxx“How do you know it’s safe? What if it had thorns in it? Your face would hurt now.”
xxxx“Because I have eyes, Gullkit. I looked first. And it smells nice, I want to smell like it, too.”
xxxxAdoniscloud stopped in his tracks, looking back at his kits.
xxxx“Come on, sons, thyme’s great but it’s not as great as you getting a warm nest tonight, right? And I’m sure you’ll like the other kits.” Gannetkit bounded out of the thyme bush – and wow had the scent caught on his fur – and rubbed against his brother. Gullkit jumped, clearly nervous for a second, before laughing nervously and hurrying after.
xxxxThey were nearing the crest of the hill, having skirted around the south of Lambclan’s territory. In fact, the area that Troutstripe – and thus several of the younger warriors – had started to dub his hill, ridiculous as that sounded, towered to their right. Adoniscloud was taking the kits through the shallowest route he could find, and he knew that from the other side of this gap, it was only a short turn around the corner and they’d be there. The camp would be visible from the top though, especially with all the last straggling leaves having fallen while he was travelling.
xxxxIt wasn’t just the view that met Adoniscloud, but a bitingly cold wind, blowing from the West. He was glad for his thick coat, and glad as well for his kits’. Travelling with a shortfurred kit down this slope would have been precisely the opposite of what Softdawn wanted.
xxxx“Oh, wow!” Gannetkit cried as he stepped up behind his father. And, just as quick as his opinion was formed, he darted behind one fluffy leg.
xxxx“Our camp is around that old human nest. It’s warm and protected.”
xxxx“I don’t think it’ll be as sheltered as our old camp.” Gullkit said.
xxxxAdoniscloud kept one step ahead of his sons the entire descent down, both to ensure that any guards in camp would know what the kits would do there, and to act as a windbreak for them, to fight off the cold. He might only have known his kits for a few days – and known about them for barely a quarter moon more – but it tore at his heart to see them shivering, even with what little he could manage for them.
xxxxThe camp guard shot him a few looks as the kits arrived, and Adoniscloud could tell they were just dying to ask why he’d stolen two kits – not helped by Ospreystorm turning form her post and running headlong towards the main area of camp, vanishing through the fin in one smooth movement.
xxxxAdoniscloud followed not far behind, although he prompted his sons through first, reassuring them that it was fine, and he’d follow in just a moment. Gullkit clung to his side as soon as he was through, rubbing alongside and practically hiding under Adoniscloud. This new place was scary and unfamiliar. Adoniscloud was sure that he’d be fine once he knew the camp. He’d been fine within Seaclan camp before. And Adoniscloud would be making sure that his sons did indeed visit their old home regularly; the whole journey should become sufficiently familiar for his nerves before long.
xxxxAdoniscloud led them through the more open area, running alongside the edge of the space, until he reached the opening where the nursery was. He knew not to go far in, especially unannounced, and his point was proven by the sudden appearance of Sparrowfoot, wielding a predatory look at him.
xxxxClearly, no toms were going near her newborn kits – even if they were born by her mate, not her, and weren’t even actually born yet at all – without her prior permission.
xxxxAdoniscloud didn’t take a step backwards, he didn’t show any sign of intimidation. It was hard to find anything intimidating to him. But- he did stop moving forward. And clearly that was the goal. And then the molly’s eyes flicked down, looking at the two kits.
xxxxHe saw her teeth start to bare, and that was when he took the step backwards. Not for himself, of course, but to comfort Gullkit.
xxxx“They’re my kits.” He asserted. “Gullkit and Gannetkit. Their mother wanted me to take them here to be safe from the dangers of Seaclan.”
xxxx“Seaclan.”
xxxx“Stop it, Sparrowfoot. Chubtail said that’s where he was going. If he was being disloyal and aiming to join them, he wouldn’t have come back at all.” Langoustinefang said.
xxxxSparrowfoot took a deep breath in at her mate’s words, not wanting to have to admit she was right if it meant lessening the protection she was providing to her kits and mate. It was a strange conflict, wanting to keep her mate happy, wanting to recognise when her mate had a good point and to not diminish that – but also to not risk her safety in any way. If she had any doubts, of course Sparrowfoot was going to be reluctant to budge.
xxxx“Adoniscloud?” He turned his head, to see who had spoken, to see the leader and… was Gannetkit already trying to say hello by bounding around her? No, that was apparently too boring. Heronstar barely even looked phased by it though – just a gentle prod with one paw to push the kit away for a moment. “These are your kits?”
xxxx“Two of them. Gullkit and Gannetkit.” Adoniscloud gestured at his kits in turn.
xxxxHeronstar paused for a moment. “Are you sure that’s the righ-“
xxxx“Yeah. They’re six moons old, but, like, I think them getting to know camp at least a little bit before being apprenticed would be good, you know?”
xxxxHeronstar considered for a moment, and then sighed slightly. “Yes. There’s no point them becoming apprentices before they know any of our warriors or anything about our territory and camp at all. They’d be overwhelmed with new information, and it really looks like Gullkit’s had enough information for today at least.” Heronstar gave a pointed look at the kit, who was looking at the floor just behind his father’s paws. “It’s almost certainly enough just to meet his father, let alone be taken elsewhere for it. They’ll need some time to acclimatise.”


xxxxIn winter, there were rarely so many cats who wanted to go out on the daily patrols. And Chubtail knew this well. As a short fur cat himself, he knew well how the cold could dig into a thin pelt. He was a little surprised to see Droseratail volunteer for the patrol, due to his short fur, but after a moment’s contemplation, it made far more sense.
xxxxDroseratail had just broken up with his mate.
xxxxOf course he wanted to be outside of camp.
xxxxShellcloud hang near the back of the patrol with his brother, not wanting to talk to the other warriors. Not that there were many on the patrol. Their few long-fur warriors left just Bugleclaw and Lobsterclaw who had wanted to come. And, of course, they needed to leave a good number at camp to guard it as well. Sitting guard was pleasant during the summer, but the icy cold and blasting winds of winter turned it from that to something further than a chore.
xxxxThe father and son spent a lot of time together, as reasonably had to be expected from the two of them, due to their relation, but it was still a little unnerving. Or, it would have been a few moons ago.
xxxxDroseratail barely left his brother’s side now, bar for when Shellcloud was visiting his kits in the nursery. Patrols gave a nice excuse for them to spread out a little as well. The patrol dividing smoothly into two groups meant that the could check more ground – or such was the excuse that would be used if any of the warriors guarding camp were to comment when they returned.
xxxx“I still don’t get it.” Droseratail said, quietly. There were a few metres between their end of the patrol and the other, so he didn’t need to lower his voice too much to not be heard. Shellcloud cocked his head slightly to one side, unsure of what was being referred to. “I loved her! I loved her since we were kits, what am I meant to do now?”
xxxxShellcloud sighed gently, annoyed that this was always being talked about. It wasn’t that he didn’t feel sorry for his brother – of course he did, this was his brother – but it was annoying. He’d been talking about this since they broke up, two whole moons ago. Two whole moons of pestering.
xxxxSure, his brother had been in love since he was still an apprentice, but couldn’t he find anything else to distract himself with? Like spiders! Spiders were wonderful, they made beautiful patterns and their walking was very interesting. Far more interesting than yet another conversation about this.
xxxx“How are you and Nettleflower so happy?”
xxxx“What?” Shellcloud’s ears twitched. He was being asked for social advice? How did that ever happen?
xxxx“You always… seem to get along together so well. And she loves you too, you don’t argue and you’re happy, how did you manage that? How can I get that with Lobeliafur?”
xxxxWere cats able to bite their lips, Shellcloud would have. He wasn’t entirely sure what to say at first. They progressed quite a while further into the patrol, such that Shellcloud could see that Droseratail was about to press further before he’d finally decided what he wanted to say.
xxxx“I don’t think you can. I… You looked up to her, you… saw her as someone to be admired, but you never saw her as someone.”
xxxxDroseratail’s mouth fell. “What on earth do you mean, of course I did! Of course I saw her as someone, she’s beautiful and talented and –“
xxxx“And you’re not describing her. You’re describing an ideal, and that’s very different. I think you’d need to… I don’t know, you need to… have a break for a while, and learn to see her for her.”
xxxx“Oh.” Droseratail’s voice was barely a tiny squeak, a stark contrast to his normal strong tone, what Shellcloud had learned as a kit meant that his brother wanted to defend him. It was… almost painful to hear something so different. To hear his brother be the one who needed defending, rather than himself. His heart really truly had to be broken, didn’t it? “What could I do for that?”
xxxx“I- I don’t know?”
xxxx“Please, Shellcloud, anything? I need to know.”
xxxxThe look in his brother’s eyes physically hurt. Shellcloud looked down in shame at having no good ideas.
xxxx“Please.”
xxxx“The only idea I even have is learning to see another molly as equal. Maybe see if you can meet someone else, learn how to see someone beautiful as more than just a face? And then you can be beautiful with them, rather than fussing about Lobeliafur when she’s…”
xxxx“Oh.” Droseratail sighed heavily. “I’ll think about it.”


xxxx“Being old is exhausting.”
xxxxThe two elders lay curled up together in the soft nest the two-legs had left in the elders’ den. It was framed by twigs carefully shaped into smooth lines, woven in and out of each other in a density that had to be seen to be believed, with a huge green soft thing in the middle, just the right size for the two of them to bundle up together on top of.
xxxx“I know.”
xxxxAspenfoot sighed, warm breath on her mate’s back, paws wrapped around his shoulders.
xxxx“I don’t remember how the kits have that much energy any more.”
xxxx“Perhaps we’ll remember in Starclan.” Aspenfoot chuckled in dark humour to herself. “Which might not be that long now.”
xxxxBarnfish turned his head to look at his mate, nuzzling her side-
xxxxAnd his cheek stopped dead in the motion, caught on something he’d found.
xxxxHis one good eye looked up at her, and the look he was giving her was so full of concern that Aspenfoot couldn’t help but tighten her paws
xxxx“There’s a lump.”


xxxxHeronstar lay weakly on her side, breathing
heavily. Her very ribs felt heavy, digging into her side
without mercy as she tried to breathe. But at least...
xxxxNo, the detail escaped her.
xxxxBut it was something big, she was sure.
Something that had been worth the injury. But what it
was, she couldn't remember for the life of her. And that
scared her. It had been important!
xxxxHer tail twitched as she heard pawsteps from one
side of her den. She tried to lift up her head to look, to
see what was happening.
xxxxShe didn't need words to know what the plant
matter she was presented with was for. She was injured.
She was in pain. And they had two competent medicine...
xxxxNot yet, they didn't.
xxxxWhen even... When. Yes, when. When was she
seeing? Several moons at least, if they had a second
medicine cat. If - presumably - Teaselpaw had gained his
adult name by now... Huh. Probably a year or so, if she
was deeming him equal to Harrierpelt in responsibility.
xxxxContinuing the thought... she trusted them.
xxxxThe leaf lay in front of her nose, where the tabby
cat had laid it. And she knew that meant to chew it.
What harm could a leaf do? And by a fully trained
medicine cat?
xxxxThe taste was exactly what Heronstar had expected.
xxxxBut it felt like she was... drifting, somehow?
xxxxAt least it hurt less. Whatever they had found, it
was a very good pain killer. And from where she lay in
her den, where the stars had been cold and distant a
moment before, their twinkle looked almost like a warm
greeting. She smiled, as her head fell into her nest.
Please,
Please
HearUs
Properly
Heron-
star!
We’re
Trying
And
Yet-
WeCan’t
GetA
Single
WordTo
You
Right!
xxxxHer visions had not stopped. Quite the opposite,
despite the hopes she didn't dare voice. If
Heronstar had not been the only resident in her den,
perhaps the clan might have noticed...
xxxxBut she was the only resident in her den, and so
no one had noticed. Sometimes, Chubtail
would sleep beside her in the leader's den, seeking
the warm comfort of his mate's side. But not today.
He couldn't do it often. He didn't want it to be seen
that they were staying away from the warriors. They
had to be seen to be acknowledging their warriors as
equals. If he were always sleeping beside her, then it
might be seen that he was avoiding their presence.
Even if... well, Heronstar was sure he wanted to do
that far more often than he had a few moons ago.
xxxxThe branches of the apple tree outside tapped
against the glass (as Harrierpelt called it) sheet at
the edge of Heronstar's den. A single pigeon cooed in
concern from above, where the old two leg den's roof
sloped down. A gentle but persistent drizzle tapped
too, wordlessly asking - are you there? Are you
alright?
xxxxHeronstar was in - at the moment - perfect
health. In that sense, yes. But if they had seen her
dreams, they would know not even to ask. She was
not alright. She wasn't sure she ever would be again,
if she spent so long worrying over visions as she was
now into her future as well.
xxxxThe sunlight playing on her side warmed her
pelt even as the cold grasp of death caught her from
within her dreams. It was far more welcome than yet
another vision.
Hahahahaha!OhMother,YouMoron!ForeverGettingThingsWrong.Well,ICanHardlyBlameYou.I’dHaveToBeAMoronMyselfToAllowThisToBeEasyForYou.You’reWrongOnBothFronts!So,SoWrong.See,That’sTheProblemWithA-StoneCatAsLeader.YouHaveNoSenseOfWhenWhatYouSayWillHurtOthers,AndNoSenseOfHowBadlyThatHurtWillAffectThem.OfCourseYou’dMissIt.It’sSoObviousButYourStupid-StoneMindDoesn’tLetYouSeeIt.And,TheBestBit,IThink,IsThatYouDon’tSeemToHaveHadAnyProphecies,mm?Or-AtLeast-OnesThatYourFeebleLittleMindCanComprehend.No.No,YouHaven’t.EitherStarclanAreAcknowledgingInHindsightThatI’mRight-AndIAm,IKnowIAm,Mother,AndDon’tYouDareArgueAgainstThat,You’reJustAsBadAsThemIfYouDo-OrTheyHaven’tWorkedOutWhatI’mDoingAtAll.MM…IWonderWhyThatMightBe?IfThatIsTheCase.I’dBeHappyWithEitherExplanation,ForWhy…ButAnyway,Why?I’dLoveToThinkIt’sJustMeBeingThatCunning,ButTheyMustHaveNoticedThatSealkitAndFogkitAren’tWithThem?Surely?Oh.Oh.No.No,ItCan’tPo-Oh!Oh!OH!HAHAHAHAHA!IfThat’sTheCase?ThisIsEvenBetterThanIPlanned.HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!


xxxxOh, Starclan.
xxxxFour more kits in the nursery, and only one more queen.
xxxxAt least they were allowed outside now – that was Knawelkit and Witkit - so she didn’t have to be constantly faced with the adults who refused to pay attention to her. As they were now.
xxxxThe others hadn’t wanted to come outside in the cold after seeing Sparrowfoot describe it. Apparently they didn’t realise the were going to have to face this cold all the time once they were adults. Some cats needed to hunt through the whole of the winter, and avoiding that duty would just make them hungrier later, and colder too – she was sure that having less energy would make you colder, Knawelkit was sure someone had said that before.
xxxxWhy not get used to the cold now then?
xxxx“I want to go out for an explore too!” Witkit said, seeing where Knawelkit was going.
xxxxNettleflower’s tail twitched a few times, and Knawelkit knew what that meant; her sibling wasn’t allowed to do something because of their mother’s concern. Still. All that molly-coddling was going to make her sibling a terrible warrior! Witkit had said it herself, several times; she could tell when she was about to have an issue. And there was no reason she couldn’t extricate herself from whatever she was doing if that happened!
xxxxAnd even if she couldn’t, there were plenty of useful things that Witkit would be able to do as a warrior. Scouting for scents would be unlikely to get her hurt unduly, as would hunting small creatures, or guarding camp! Keeping her cooped up in the nursery was ridiculous. Just because the uncle they’d never known had died didn’t mean Witkit would! They knew better what to look for and all the kits now knew that Witkit wasn’t allowed to go climbing.
xxxxStopping her climbing, and taking her warnings seriously was all the precaution that was needed, but no. Witkit took all the attention, their mother constantly checking for signs of an incident that she wouldn’t even recognise, and ignoring Witkit’s own protests.
xxxxWitkit was miserable too. The constant attention meant that she couldn’t ever just act like a kit. Like now.
xxxx“Don’t pout like that, Witkit! If the wind changes, your face will be stuck like that.”
xxxxKnawelkit rolled her eyes.
xxxxShe’d much rather have the attention even if it meant the criticisms. At least someone had to care to go to the effort of criticising you. But no. Knawelkit was ignored, and constantly, and she knew it. And she hated it.
xxxxExploring was the only thing she had over her sister, she was sure. Attention was worth criticism. And Attention was also worth the cost of exploring. How couldn’t Witkit see how lucky she was to get that? Seven mollies doting on her constantly. Knawelkit was lucky to get scolded once in a day.
xxxxShe didn’t need to hesitate for it.
xxxxIf their mother was aiming only to protect Witkit, what was the point of staying in here?
xxxxKnawelkit would prove she was worth the attention. She’d be such a good warrior, no one could ignore her! Or she’d put in enough effort anyway. Yes. And what better way to do that than to get a head start? To learn the basics now so she could just be mastering skills later?
xxxxA pale flash of fur out of the fin into the small area, now long legs flying over the grass to the apple tree, tiny claws digging into the bark and hauling her weight up!
xxxxOh Starclan it was cold!
xxxxBut the wind, even with its icy bite, spoke of freedom, of adventure, and of later success in life. How could she not answer it?
xxxxNot in speech, of course. Speech was far too little to express how delightful the wind really was. How could speech compare? And the wind didn’t speak in words anyway. It spoke in pure exhileration, and what better way to talk back to it than by running as freely as it did? And the woods were so very beautiful, even in the winter, with the wind dancing, twirling, spinning between the trees, calling for her to join it there.

– 4825

[ Ulyssa joins Gustclan with her daughters, Xanthippe (Xanthe) and Xiomara ]
[ Adoniscloud returns from Seaclan, accompanying his sons Gullkit and Gannetkit ]

[ Langoustinefang has been gestating for 2 moons ]
[ Cicelynose has been gestating for 1 moon

[ Ringpaw and Narwhal train ]
[ Dipperpaw and Droseratail and Squirrelpaw and Ploverstripe train swimming ]
[ Zinniapaw and Knotfish train ]
[ Teaselpaw and Harrierpelt train swimming ]
[ Minnowpaw and Adoniscloud train ]
[ Umbrapaw and Tabitha train swimming ]

[ Chubtail, Merlindash, Firepath, Saffronstream, and Lionfish go fishing ]
[ Heronstar, Sparrowfoot, Pheasantcloud, Mosquitowhisker, Lobsterclaw, and Camberfoot go hunting ]
[ Boulderdash, Argusheart, Pearstone, Vendacethroat, Noctulepath, and Garganeywhisker go hunting ]
[ Shellcloud, Bugleclaw, Martinwhisker, and Clarystorm go on a border patrol ]

[ Harrierpelt and Teaselkit return to camp to mind the queens ]
[ Nettleflower stays in camp to mind the kits – Witkit and Knawelkit ]
[ Osierfang, Lobeliafur, and Moraine stay in camp to mind the kits – Cinquefoilkit – Cairngormkit and Rivuletkit – Fioled, Llosgi Llyn, Môr, Tymestl, Eryr, and Goch - Gullkit and Gannetkit ]
[ Ulyssa stays in camp to mind the kits – Xanthe, Xerxes, and Xiomara ]
[ Cicelynose, Barnfish, Ospreystorm, Aspenfoot, and Troutclaw stay in camp ]
[ Langoustinefang stays in camp in case she gives birth ]

[ Gustclan consumes 2 big fish and 1 frog, and the ferret (3 servings) traded from Azgeda – 10 servings ]

[ Ringpaw learned the Basic Healing skill while training ]
[ Dipperpaw, Squirrelpaw, Teaselpaw and Umbrapaw learned the Swim skill while training. Due to the freezing water, Squirrelpaw catches a cold ]
[ Zinniapaw learned the Oration skill while training ]
[ Chubtail's patrol caught three big fish while fishing ]
[ Heronstar's patrol caught three squirrels while hunting ]
[ Boulderdash's patrol caught a hare and a mouse while hunting ]
[ Shellcloud's patrol found Poppypaw of Mistclan ]
[ Langoustinefang luckily doesn't go into labor yet, but she's extremely close. Maybe the medicine cats should stay close by ]

[Chamrosh]

Gustclan

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Gustclan Description
Writing Master Post
Original Version

xxxxOh, it was glorious to be out and free. She’d been doing this for two moons now, coming out to explore out here on the hills, sneaking away from any patrols she saw. She was sure she was already better than any of the apprentices at sneaking around, and she hadn’t had any training at all officially.
xxxxKnawelkit’s tail wiggled while pointing high up out of the grass, waving gently as she walked. She was nearly the size of an apprentice now, so it was only because the grass hadn’t been cut in years that she was buried in the grass with just her tail showing. Imagine how Knotfish, that tiny tom must vanish into it! She was bigger than him now, she was sure.
xxxxYes, her mother had only allowed her to explore within the internal area of camp, and only in the last half a moon. And only with Witkit literally right beside her… But nevertheless, she’d taken the opportunity and deliberately spent as much time as she had the patience for getting to know all the warriors. If she was going to prove she’d be a good warrior by getting to play like a normal, healthily cared kit, and therefore learning useful skills early – even if it was on her own – then it only made sense to complete the job, to improve in any way she could sensibly come to manage.
xxxxEvery warrior would end up working alongside her anyway at some point, why not get to know them now?
xxxxKnawelkit laughed, and jumped up through the grass, spotting a patch of yellow flowers in front of her. She sprang right into the middle of the patch, batting them around with one paw and laughing at how they moved. She continued jumping around in the flowers for a good few minutes, until she found herself panting from the effort.
xxxxIt wasn’t that she’d been exercising for long. But she’d never been allowed outside for long enough to develop the strong lungs kits were meant to, and anything was exhausting now.
xxxxKnawelkit didn’t know that though. She just knew she didn’t like being cooped up.
xxxxKnawelkit rolled onto her back, exhausted, looking up at the sky. It was an entirely clear day, bright and sunny, and although the sun was certainly not shining down – still being winter – it was easy to see what spring was going to be like now, her first spring, and Knawelkit could feel the warmth of it on her stomach. She closed her eyes, enjoying the feeling of the sun on her fur, and the sound of the breeze rippling hrough the grass.
xxxxAfter a good few minutes, Knawelkit could see that the light reaching her eyes through her eyelids had decreased very briefly. Knawelkit’s eyes flashed open wide and fast, and ow the sun was bright but she caught a glimpse of a dark-coloured tail flashing out of her vision.
xxxxKnawelkit rolled back over, front legs low, and tail wiggling high in the air, watching the thing. And when it landed, she darted after for a few steps, getting close.
xxxxShe slowed though when she got vaguely near, knowing well how subtle she had to be to catch it and to play. The thing had landed on a rock, where she could see it properly, where it stood, looking in the other direction. It was mostly black, with a white semi-circle on its back, and white poking out where Knawelkit could see its stomach around its back. Its beak was a shimmering grey when she could see it, its wings painted with a deep blue that shone in the light it caught on their ends. Knawelkit couldn’t make out its eyes at all.
xxxxIt was beautiful.
xxxxKnawelkit wanted to grab it so she could take a pretty blue feather to play with. If she could just grab one feather! She was sure it would be a good toy. And she’d get to practice fighting with it! Feathers were good for fighting, she was sure one of the warriors had said that. Fairly, anyway.
xxxxYes.
xxxxShe was going to be a much better warrior than her sibling. She was going to be awesome. And when she was, when she was so good that no warrior could even stand up her, then there’d be no way they could ignore her. Whatever it took to be good enough to not be ignored, she’d do it, and then they’d see which of them deserved attention. And then, maybe, just maybe then, they’d pay some attention then. They’d never pay as much attention to her as to Witkit, even if she became a thousand times the warrior her sibling did, but at least she’d get some.
xxxxAnd that’d be worth it.
xxxxKnawelkit leaped through the air, and a whisker’s length away from the bird’s tail, it took to the air, one wing flap up, and sailing neatly just a few metres, wings fanned out to show their iridescent glory.
xxxxKnawelkit smiled, baring her fangs, and jumped again, using the height to move the distance.
xxxxThis time the bird took to the wing properly, and as Knawelkit saw it leap up, she ran after. It flew a few dozen metres away, and this time, sprang up again as she got close.
xxxxDuring the brief moments when Knawelkit was staying low in the grass, trying to watch after the bird to see where it flew to next, as it always flew whenever she neared it, she also had a chance to look around, and appreciate the sheer size of the territory. From camp, the outside world was essentially non existent, expanding only a few metres through the trees around camp. But when you left camp, and you went up the hill, and looked out, it was clear that the land went forever. There was space for at least 4 clans in most directions, and Knawelkit was sure that that could be no limit for such expansive land! She’d found the lake the first time she’d snuck out, and it had seemed to go on forever, but up here she could see that it was just nestled between steep hills on its opposite bank, and she could see an area of flat land on its other edge, with strange white creatures on it.
xxxxAnd to the south, look, there! Similar dirty grey creatures. A grey snake with glittering wet rocks rolling along it every few moments, crying out so Knawelkit could hear it. And little lines of rocks – were they what Moraine was named for – standing a metre tall with neat patterns, but breaks in them every now and then, and plants poking out of them in places.
xxxxBut the bird always caught her attention.
xxxxIf she could just grab one.
xxxxShe was vaguely aware of how far she was being lead.
xxxxThe ground seemed to be dotted with boulders here, on this side of the slope. She’d managed to move into a patch of them. They were good, providing cover for her to get closer to the bird.
xxxxAnd then the bird landed up in a tree.
xxxxKnawelkit looked up at it, pouting. It had taken her game away from her. She’d only wanted a feather! She hadn’t even wanted to hurt it – well, any more than it took to actually get the feather.
xxxxKyekekekekekeke.
xxxxIt was laughing at her. Laughing at her for snatching away her chance at getting the attention she deserved.
xxxxKnawelkit sat in place, and huffed, her breath rippling her fur.
xxxx“Why? Why won’t you let me have one feather. I’m useless at home, no one loves me at all. They just ignore me all the time, they think I’m useless. I only want one feather. One feather and I’ll leave you alone.”
xxxxThe bird’s head cocked to one side, looking curious, and then-
xxxxKyehyehyehyehyehyehye.
xxxxKnawelkit pouted up at it.
xxxx“You’re laughing at my family not wanting me. They just want Witkit, and I don’t matter. They think I’m a lump of food-wasting uselessness, and I just want to prove I’m not.” Knawelkit huffed again, looking away. “Why can’t you help me?”
xxxxKyekekekekekekeke.
xxxx“Right, because tormenting me is more fun. Sure.”
xxxxKnawelkit rolled onto her side, still looking up at the bird for just a second, before looking around.
xxxxOh.
xxxxShe’d gone a bit further than she meant to. And she was somewhere she was uncertain of. Well, at least she was on the same hill. At least she’d not wondered further than she knew the way back but… Those boulders weren’t boulders.
xxxxThey weren’t boulders at all.
xxxxAnd she was right in their midst.
xxxxKnawelkit rolled to her feet, slowly trying to back away from the closest creature.
xxxxThey really were boulder-colour, and boulder-size, but up close she could see the boney legs and strange dead-eyed face poking out at its front. It had a huge nose that dominated its face, its mouth easily larger than Knawelkit’s whole head. Its head turned slowly, one eye catching sight of her.
xxxxKnawelkit stumbled back a few steps, scrambling out of the way, and turning-
xxxxTurning just a step before she collided with the face of another, its lifeless eyes not even a whisker’s length from her own, but only for a fraction of a second.
xxxxThere are very few animals that won’t seize an easy free meal, especially when it’s a nutritious one.
xxxxBones are a good source of calcium. Grass is not.
xxxxBlood is a good source of iron – and several other vital nutrients. Grass is not.
xxxxMeat is a good source of protein. Grass is not.
xxxxAnd when a walking food parcel came directly towards your face, you could hardly be blamed for taking advantage.
xxxxKnawelkit didn’t have time to comprehend what was happening. She tried to take a step backwards, but the next she knew was darkness.
xxxxKyehyehyehyehyehyehyehye.
xxxxThe magpie’s eye glinted for a moment, before it spread it’s wings, and jumped off, leaving a single blue feather behind it, which drifted down gently, landing where Knawelkit had lain just a few seconds before.


xxxxPheasantcloud carefully placed a mouse in front of Garganeywhisker. Garganeywhisker was a very quiet warrior. At first, when Pheasantcloud had met her as an apprentice, Pheasantcloud had just thought that Garganeywhisker didn’t like her. Since then, she had just learned that she really was just quieter than a mouse.
xxxxShe hated attention, she hated feeling like she was putting anyone out of anything that they should have, she hated anyone going out of their way for her. Garganeywhisker just didn’t want to be a nuisance.
xxxxAnd Pheasantcloud had an enormous respect for that.
xxxxMaybe just because she could see something of herself in the older warrior.
xxxxAnd it wasn’t fair that Garganeywhisker was always too scared to grab food. She was too pure to always have to have her meals delayed because she didn’t want to cause a confrontation.
xxxxGarganeywhisker looked up at Pheasantcloud and smiled, “Thank you, Pheasantcloud.”
xxxxEven knowing Pheasantcloud well by now, Garganeywhisker was still often very quiet with her thanks.
xxxx“You’re very welcome.” Pheasantcloud beamed widely, and then walked back to the fresh kill pile to grab something for herself, ripping out her share from a rabbit, and lay down by her friend.
xxxxGarganeywhisker carefully picked over her mouse, nibbling at sections carefully and cautiously. Pheasantcloud was less cautious, going right in for it.
xxxxWitkit was going back for seconds already, though her mother was keeping a very careful eye on her (where was Knawelkit?), and Moraine’s kits had taken their food a bare minimum of the distance away from the pile to not be interpreted to be all eating directly from it (which would be unhygienic and inconvenient too, if they had to be pried off for anyone else to eat). Actually, all the kits were finding excuses for multiple portions. But that was perfectly fair – they needed the food to grow big and strong, and become capable warriors.
xxxxPheasantcloud really wasn’t ready for it yet, and she knew that, but she very much wanted to have some herself some day, having seen them now from the perspective of an adult. And she was going to be choosing carefully. She wanted to be entirely sure that she trusted any toms around their own kits, and she knew from the current queens what toms could be like.
xxxxShe wanted to be entirely sure that whomever she chose would help her kits thrive once they were born. And – hah! The only eligible bachelors – around her age - at the moment, she didn’t think would do that.
xxxxSo until she managed to find a (probably forbidden) relationship that met her criteria, her meals were purely going to be with Garganeywhisker. Probably most still after that, they’d spent enough time together that she didn’t want to stop that.
xxxx“Chubtail said he plans to keep us together on hunting patrols for a few days.” Pheasantcloud said.
xxxxGarganeywhisker nodded and smiled. “I hope we’re fishing.”
xxxxPheasantcloud’s feet shuffled, moving the remaining bones away from herself. Pheasantcloud didn’t know how rare it was to have a full fresh kill pile through the whole of the winter, but Garganeywhisker did. And she knew to savour food that she still had during it, and that had lasted through it too.
xxxx“I like fishing.” Of course Garganeywhisker did. Fishing was calm, and quiet, and it didn’t require anything other than calm and quiet. The calmer you were, the better you were. And of course, with the two mollies, they’d both excel at fishing. And, of course, Garganeywhisker was equally good at hunting, but she much preferred it on her own than in a group.


xxxxThe apprentice was found, flaked out at the edge of the lake, not far from where Aspenfoot had been found. Actually, only a few dozen metres away. Here, the rocks jutted out into the water, forming a thin line of rocks, some with little holes in, which pooled with water during rain fall. Near the end of the jutting line of rocks, where they grew shorter, such that a stretching leg could reach from the rock tops to the water’s surface, lay a tortoiseshell molly, probably half way maximum through her apprentice training, on her stomach, one leg dangling over the water surface.
xxxxMartinwhisker noticed her first.
xxxxShe looked half-starved. Fishing – from a bank - required less energy than hunting, and every warrior knew that. There was no running required, no strong killing blow, no final jump at a fleeing rabbit. It needed patience, and one single fast movement. If you were hungry, and wanted to save energy, it made a lot of sense to choose a method of hunting that required little effort. And this apprentice clearly was exhausted. She looked skinny – not so skinny as to be starved, but plenty enough to show she’d not been eating anywhere near so well as she should for a while – hardly a surprise with her seeming age.
xxxxMartinwhisker would be surprised if she were a full year old, and although she may well have learned to hunt already, if she’d had to travel a long way – as she probably had – then it would hardly be a surprise to want the most efficient way to gather food.
xxxxAnd, of course, she was fast asleep on her front. And, of course Clarystorm protested, but the other toms couldn’t stand the thought of an apprentice starving to death on their door step.
xxxxThey roused her gently, and provided her support as best they could to take weight off her weak limbs, walking back to camp. After gorging on fresh-kill, the apprentice spoke too-gently to them.
xxxxIt was hard to tell if it was the effect of hunger, or just her natural personality that left the apprentice so subdued, but her voice was only slightly louder than Garganeywhisker’s as she introduced herself as Poppypaw, from Mistclan, who’d become lost as her old clan had moved camp, in an accent similar to Aspenfoot’s and Firepath’s – what Lionfish, Troutstripe and Squirrelpaw had had before too (a strangely common accent). They’d been heading towards the sea for… some reason even Poppypaw didn’t seem to understand at all. None of the Gustclan cats objected – or were surprised – as her head lolled back in sleep again.
xxxxIt took most of the moon for Poppypaw to be back up to a healthy level of physical strength – according to Harrierpelt – and Poppypaw simply wasn’t going to be able to find her old clan again by then. Which of course, left only one option – giving her a mentor until her clan returned for her.


xxxxThe younger kits were old enough now to be able to play outside – under the supervision of their mothers, who really were doing everything together. Lobeliafur stood in the middle of the kits, playing with them directly, while Osierfang and Moraine kept an eye out on them with Pearstone. While Lobeliafur kept them entertained, the other mollies (Ulyssa included) ensured the kits weren’t going to hurt themselves.
xxxxGoch and Llosgi Llyn seemed to mostly be doing their own thing in one corner of the courtyard, seemingly chasing after a leaf together. Tymestl kept glancing over at the two of them, but ultimately stuck close to Mor, which was not an advantage to either of them when their game was about avoiding being caught by the warrior in their midst – although Lobeliafur was deliberately leaping and pouncing somewhat sloppily so she didn’t risk harming any of the kits. Eryr was proving to be very agile, weaving close to other kits so they got caught by Lobeliafur instead. Rivuletkit and Cairngormkit were running in what might have been smoothly coordinated movements to be as disorienting as possible if Rivuletkit hadn’t stumbled so often. Fioled kept well back most of the time, only ducking in when he felt up to it, and had his breath back fully. Cinquefoilkit stayed close to Lobeliafur, not caring how often he got caught if it meant he got to have fun. Xanthe (as she insisted her name was) sat outside the main group of kits, with a slightly superior look on her face, while her brother ran in circles around the group of kits, occasionally helping Lobeliafur by jumping onto the kits near the outside, and Xiomara was actively trying to grab Lobeliafur’s tail, instead of the other way around. Gannetkit and Gullkit had refused to play with the others, saying they wanted to get to explore properly now, and their father, Adoniscloud, had gone with them, under the ruse of “wanting to make sure they weren’t hurt”, but all the warriors knew it was really because he wanted to spend some extra time with his kits, and make up for not knowing they even existed until two moons ago.
xxxxAnd Witkit sat in one corner of the courtyard area of camp, pinned down under one of her mother’s paws. She desperately needed to know where Knawelkit was, she needed her sister back as the person who most understood her. Knawelkit was sure her sister loathed her on some level at least, for getting so much of the attention that she craved, but… she was the only company her mother seemed to trust around her. It was so lonely without Knawelkit here. Wherever she’d gone to… Witkit just needed her sister back.
xxxxLobeliafur was starting to pant from the energy needed to keep up with trying to pin ten kits in place under her paws, and as Narwhal emerged from the indoor section of camp, the other warrior caught her eye.
xxxxNarwhal didn’t even fail a need to express her intentions, she just walked right over, and when Xerxes came too close, smoothly pinned him with one paw beneath hers. The other kits who had been nearby squealed and scurried back from the larger molly.
xxxxLobeliafur shot her a questioning look, but Narwhal shook her head in the cat equivalent of a shrug.
xxxx“If you’re sure.” Lobeliafur picked her way carefully between all the kits, not wanting to risk harmin them even as they parted cleanly before her. The kits quickly swarmed around Narwhal in turn. Rivuletkit and Cairngormkit caught her tail entirely at one point, and pinned it against the ground. Narwhal hadn’t the heart to shake them off, so limply reached out in front of her at whatever kits Xiomara were brave enough to come near, deliberately messing up several strikes when the kit’s unpredictable movement might have brought her to more harm.
xxxxEventually, Rivuletkit grew bored, and knocked Cairngormkit off instead, scurrying over to their mother for a lie-down. Narwhal tried to head over to include Llosgi Llyn and Goch but Llosgi Llyn looked straight up at her, and in a perfectly calm voice, said:
xxxx“The chances of us encountering a single hostile cat while in a swarm is low, and to me it makes no sense to prioritise learning to handle one opponent in a group over one opponent on your own. That requires more skill, and therefore would be more useful to spend the time training. Attacking in a swarm could more easily be adapted from attacking individually than the other way around.”
xxxxGoch nodded insistently at his brother’s words, his mouth opening occasionally to mouth words in almost perfect synchrony at a few points. “And you’re clearly-“
xxxx“Pulling your strikes.” The brothers said in unison.
xxxxNarwhal wasn’t even phased – although she was very aware of how strange that was, she simply was not the sort to be affected by shock. Was that just how the two kits thought, or had they learned that by heart from one of their parents?
xxxxWell, the other kits in their litter seemed a little surprised at least, which… suggested which of those options was correct.
xxxxNarwhal took a single step back and reengaged in the game.
xxxxOr she did, for a while, until, beginning to grow tired from the energy needed, Osierfang stepped up to take over.
xxxxAnd there, lying near the queens, was her mate, small next to them, but holding an air of authority to him despite it. Not enough to be a leader or deputy, but enough that she trusted him. And besides…
xxxx“Hello.” Narwhal said, slowly lowering herself beside him.
xxxxThat had been the first word between him and any of the mollies present.
xxxxHe wasn’t one to want responsibility over more than just a couple of cats at a time.
xxxxKnotfish’s head leaned into her chest, smaller by far than her shoulder, and she nuzzled him in turn.
xxxx“You’d be a good mother.”
xxxxNarwhal laughed gently, her head coming closer to her chin, legs folding under herself, in a frankly futile attempt to make herself look small.
xxxx“No, I’m serious.”
xxxx“Would squash them.”
xxxx“Beneath a warm layer of motherly love.”
xxxx“And motherly fur.”
xxxxKnotfish rolled his eyes slightly. “You’d love those kits more than you love me, you know that. And I know that far less love than that would keep those kits safe from anything, even if it was you against an entire clan of humans. I know you’re just concerned for them. But don’t let yourself throw away things you want when there are easy solutions to any concerns you have.”
xxxxNarwhal looked away awkwardly for a moment. “Do not know if other kits would be alright, playing with my kits, they might squash.”
xxxx“With me as a father? They’d be lucky to be big enough to squash a bug.”
xxxxNarwhal licked her mate’s ear. “Suppose worst case is Sparrowfoot has second reason to be in nursery.”


xxxxThe clan sat gathered in the courtyard, where the kits had been playing through the whole afternoon of the day before. And they knew what Heronstar had called them into place for. The leader had clearly struggled to get up to her station, and a brief, quiet murmur danced around the space – how much longer?
xxxxHeronstar didn’t worry about officially calling them. The clan had already gathered naturally due to it only just have been food time, and it being the first night of the year warm enough for any of them to want to hang around outside when they didn’t need it already. The Gustclan cats were making the most of the first decent evening of the year. And Heronstar had wanted to delay just a few days from the relevant moon phase, knowing that the warm days were coming.
xxxxHeronstar cleared her throat, and silence fell across the clan cats.
xxxx“Gullkit!” The flame-pointed kit’s head snapped up to look at his new leader, looking mildly surprised. “You have reached the age of six moons, and it is time for you to be apprenticed. From this day on, until you receive your warrior name, you will be known as Gullpaw. Your mentor will be Lobsterclaw. I hope he will pass down all he knows on to you.” Bugleclaw shot his son a proud look, and Lobsterclaw’s tail flicked in pride too.
xxxxLobsterclaw stepped forwards, to stand beside Gullk- Gullpaw on the raised logs that Heronstar used to jump up to the wall.
xxxx“Lobsterclaw, you are ready to take on an apprentice. You received excellent training from Lobeliafur, and you have shown yourself to be a brave and persistent warrior. You will be the mentor of Gullpaw, and I expect you to pass on all you know to him.”
xxxxLobsterclaw dipped his head just a tiny touch down, just enough for Gullpaw to be able to reach up and touch his nose.
xxxxWhen Gannetkit’s name was called, he nearly wriggled in excitement, far more pleased than his brother to hear his name being called for an apprentice ceremony. His attention was taken away a few times, looking up at the clouds, gently nuzzling a flower that was near his nose, but only for a few seconds at the time.
xxxxNoctulepath’s chest swelled with pride, tail high in the air, broad smile plastered on her face at becoming a mentor.
xxxxGannetpaw nudged his brother, making a point – hey, you were only a rank higher than me for one moment.
xxxxAnd then came the clan seeing Poppypaw for the first time as a group. Most of the cats had, of course, seen her individually by now, but only a few in the last couple of days, since she had regained her strength, and never as a collective before this.
xxxxPoppypaw stepped up proudly, jumping so smoothly up the pile that she looked like a bird in flight for a moment.
xxxx“Poppypaw, you have been an apprentice of Mistclan before you came to Gustclan, but it would not be right to leave an apprentice without a mentor. Until your clan comes back to you – or in case you decide to stay here should they – you must continue your training here. Your mentor will be Garganeywhisker-“
xxxxGarganeywhisker and Pheasantcloud shot a sad look between themselves, not wanting to say anything, and not wanting to be apart from each other for the long moons needed for Poppypaw’s training. Garganeywhisker wasn’t sure she’d be able to talk to any of the other mentors properly. She didn’t need a lot of talking – and neither did Pheasantcloud – but she needed some, and she knew she wouldn’t find any from the other mentors. It would be a lonely few moons.
xxxx“I hope she passes down all she knows to you.”
xxxxGarganeywhisker stepped forward, ready for her aspect of the ceremony, glancing sadly at Pheasantcloud just once more.


xxxxSquirrelpaw sneezed loudly again, burrowing down in her new nest in the medicine den. Her nose was red, snot running out of her nostrils, despite her sniffling.
xxxxShe was the only cat who’d been stuck in the medicine den – as a patient – so far in her memory, and she wasn’t too pleased with this new situation. Her eyes drooped, her head still stuck on her forepaws.
xxxxHarrierpelt had left the camp to go to look for more herbs, preparing for the upcoming kittings, which left Teaselpaw alone in camp as their medicine cat. With so many queens in camp, he wasn’t getting to go out to train anywhere near so much as his siblings, and he knew he’d be far behind to receive his adult name, but he was constantly getting to hone his skills. And – most importantly – he had proven thoroughly to himself that he loved what he wanted to do, and he’d chosen well for himself as a young kit.
xxxxHarrierpelt had said that Squirrelpaw would recover just fine, and Teaselpaw knew well enough that most of his attention should be going to the queens, but at this point, Squirrelpaw was a sister to him in every sense of the word but blood. And he couldn’t stand to see his sister suffering.
xxxxHe slowly worked a piece of Lungwort out from where it lay in the pile, trying to be as subtle as possible, and gave it to Squirrelpaw.
xxxxUp close she looked far worse now than she had when she’d come back just a few days ago. And Hachoo! Squirrelpaw’s sneezing had grown more frequent and louder. He wasn’t so sure Squirrelpaw would be okay without any medication.
xxxxSquirrelpaw looked up at him, confused, and bleary eyed.
xxxx“I can’t, Teaselpaw, Harrierpelt said no.”
xxxx“I’m also a medicine cat, and I say you need it.”
xxxxSquirrelpaw was too sick for the willpower needed to say no.


xxxxRivuletkit jumped onto her brother, hitting him in the back with both front paws at once, and tried to bite him playfully on his shoulder. Cairngormkit rolled over, in such a way as that Rivuletkit rolled with him, flopping onto her back. But now? Lobeliafur’s kits were left looking up at the ceiling.
xxxxAnd there, up on a wooden pin near a joint in the structure making up the wall. The pin stuck out a good few inches. And on it, sitting there, looking like it hadn’t a care in the world, sat a single sparrow.
xxxxIt must have flown in through one of the gaps in the glass, right? There were only a few of them in the camp, but at least one of them would be big enough, surely? Or… maybe it came in through one of the fins at some point?
xxxxEither way, it was sure to go or die at some point, right? There wasn’t anywhere for it to nest that Rivuletkit had seen, and it didn’t have a lot of options. Maybe it was scouting out somewhere to nest with its mate later? But not here. Poor sparrow.


xxxxDipperpaw practically bounced around the warriors’ den, although by now she had the decorum to tone it down at least a little bit, as excited as she was.
xxxx“We’re going to be warriors soon!” She giggled, jumping up onto the soft platform where many of the warriors – priority to the senior warriors by this point, with how crowded the den was becoming – slept, wanting to try out where she might nest once she was one herself. There was talk of splitting out the den so that some slept in one of the still-empty abandoned section of the old two leg nest, down the narrow gap from where the current dens were. But no one wanted to be the first warriors in there.
xxxxRingpaw smiled up at her, from where he lay, flaked out on his side, in a patch where sun shone through the glass. “It’s going to be amazing!”
xxxx“Heronstar said we’re doing our assessments in the next few days, I can’t wait.”
xxxx“Did she say I’d be doing them?” Zinniapaw asked, from the corner of the den. She hadn’t wanted them to make a noise, but as they now were, it seemed futile. Dipperpaw and Ringpaw’s expressions turned cold.
xxxx“No. You’ve not been training long enough to be a warrior.” Zinniapaw looked down at the floor between her front paws. And she knew what her sister was thinking. “You spent so long thinking you were above us, that you deserved a different rank to us. You thought that so hard that you were willing to try arguing with the leader. And then you were proven wrong, and you expect us to think you want to be our equal now?”
xxxxBut that was what she wanted. If she couldn’t achieve her dream, she could at least achieve a basic standing in life. She didn’t blame Heronstar for delaying her assessment – she had started warrior training later – but she so wished Heronstar hadn’t stoked the flames of her siblings’ taunting. And by getting his dream, Teaselpaw had avoided that, and pushed her into it instead. Her siblings hated her because they thought she looked down on them for their dreams, and that she thought it was lesser to be a warrior. She didn’t – it just wasn’t what she felt was right for her. But the more they derided her for what they thought she thought, the more she resented them all in turn.

– 5494

[ Knawelkit has died ]

[ Knotfish and Narwhal try for kits ]
[ Langoustinefang is in her 3rd moon of gestation ]
[ Cicelynose is in her 2nd moon of gestation ]

[ Ringpaw, and Dipperpaw are ready for their warrior assessments. Should they be successful, they would become Ringflower and Dipperfish ]
[ Squirrelpaw has to delay a moon as she’s recovering from her cold; Teaselpaw secretly uses 1 x Lungwort to help her recovery ]
[ Gullkit is apprenticed to Lobsterclaw and becomes Gullpaw! ]
[ Gannetkit is apprenticed to Noctulepath and becomes Gannetpaw! ]
[ Poppypaw is apprenticed to Garganeywhisker! ]

[ Zinniapaw and Knotfish, Minnowpaw and Adoniscloud, Umbrapaw and Tabitha, Gullpaw and Lobsterclaw, Gannetpaw and Noctulepath, and Poppypaw and Garganeywhisker train ]

[ Chubtail, Boulderdash, Firepath, Merlindash, and Vendacethroat, go hunting ]
[ Argusheart, Martinwhisker, Camberfoot, Troutclaw, and Narwhal go hunting ]
[ Pearstone, Pheasantcloud, Ospreystorm, Saffronstream, and Lionfish go fishing ]
[ Heronstar, Bugleclaw, Shellcloud, and Clarystorm go on patrol ]

[ Harrierpelt and Teaselpaw stay in camp to mind the queens ]
[ Cicelynose and Langoustinefang stay in camp ]
[ Nettleflower stays in camp to mind her kit – Witkit ]
[ Ulyssa stays in camp to mind the kits – Xanthe, Xerxes, and Xiomara ]
[ Lobeliafur, Osierfang, and Moraine stay in camp to mind the kits – Cairngormkit, Rivuletkit, Cinquefoilkit, Fioled, Llosgi Llyn, Môr, Tymestl, Eryr, and Goch ]
[ Droseratail, Sparrowfoot, Ploverstripe, Barnfish, Mosquitowhisker, Troutstripe, and Aspenfoot, stay in camp ]
[ Gustclan consumes 2 big fish and 2 squirrels – 10 portions ]

[ Narwhal poked her head into the nursery for a moment before deciding to go inside all the time, padding happily towards Langoustinefang and Cicelynose. When asked what she was doing, Narwhal proudly announced that she was expecting Knotfish's kits! ]
[ Langoustinefang gave birth to three kits. The labor was hard and took a heavy toll on the queen's body, but she manged to survive. Sadly, one of her kits died shortly after being born ]
[ Ringpaw and Dipperpaw hold their heads high, proud to finally receive their warrior names: Ringflower and Dipperfish! ]
[ Gullpaw and Gannetpaw circle each other excitedly shortly after receiving their apprentice names, chattering before being told by their mentors that it was time to start their training. The two new apprentices tag along with the older apprentices on their training sessions, observing as Zinniapaw, Teaselpaw, Minnowpaw and Umbrapaw learn the Run skill. After watching the successful training session, Gullpaw and Gannetpaw are eager to learn their first skill: Hunting. Sadly, Gullpaw clearly doesn't have a high affinity for hunting and can barely pounce on a leaf, failing the lesson. Gannetpaw passes! ]
[ Chubtail's patrol caught two squirrels and a big fish ]
[ Argusheart's patrol caught a frog, a mouse and a rabbit ]
[ Pearstone's patrol caught two big fish ]
[ Heronstar's patrol found Coralkit of Brineclan! ]

[Chamrosh]

Gustclan

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Gustclan Description
Writing Master Post
Original Version

xxxx“Help!”
xxxxKnawelkit’s eyes opened slightly, and as she saw darkness around her, she shrank backwards quickly, trying to get out and away and to safety… and her back slammed against something hard and firm and thin-
xxxx“AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!”
xxxxKnawelkit sprang forwards, eyes wide in fear in the darkness around her. Her head span round, trying to comprehend what was around her. Her paws felt weak and shaky, like they weren’t really there, and her vision slowly swam back into existence.
xxxxKnawelkit’s ribs swelled and fell quickly, air whipping up in visible puffs in front of her mouth with each fall.
xxxxShe was in some sort of wood, all alone, as far as she could tell, with not even starlight reaching the forest floor. There was so little light, that instead of shadows falling in clear darkness, they fell like snow, coating the ground with some almost other worldly wrongness.
xxxxIt wasn’t just her memory which sent a violent shiver down Knawelkit’s spine.
xxxx“Help!”
xxxxKnawelkit’s head whipped around again, locating the sound.
xxxx“Anyone!”
xxxxKnawelkit shrank back for a moment, hearing the fear in the other voice, and not wanting to know what had caused it, but… disgust in herself swelled in her stomach. How… could she ignore it? How could she want to be the best warrior, to prove she deserved some attention if, even now when she was so obviously in Starclan, when nothing could harm her, so far as she was aware, if she would ignore someone weaker than her asking for help?
xxxxShe’d never be able to hold herself up as a standard for her sibling’s descendents.
xxxxOh!
xxxxShe’d never get to be an ancestor. That stung. A cat could be remembered through their descendents continuing to survive, even if it was as no more than a vague knowledge that they had to have existed and nothing more. But now… no one could ever have that relation to her.
xxxxIf she ever wanted to be remembered, if she ever wanted to be valued, she had to be a good cat in Starclan. She had to prove she deserved to get here now.
xxxxThough she had a bad feeling in her gut…
xxxxKnawelkit took a deep breath, and ploughed forward, plunging into the undergrowth between her and where the voice had come from. The leaves whipped against her face, leaves flicking towards her eyes and bristling awkwardly against her whiskers and ears. Twigs dug into her side, and there was only just enough space for her to squeeze through. Ideally, she would have run around, but there really wasn’t enough light to see properly. If she’d run the wrong way and not found her way back onto the course she was following, and therefore failed to help that desperate voice… She’d be useless. She’d have deserved to be ignored all her life. And she couldn’t stand to think that.
xxxxAnd as she erupted through the bush on the other side, there lay a tiny grey kitten, curled up and feeble on the ground in front of her. It was only just beyond new-born status. Knawelkit was sure that if she’d wanted, a single tap could have knocked it off its tiny feet. Its ears looked freshly opened, and its eyes were still that bright kitten blue she’d learned so well from seeing so many new Gustclan kits.
xxxxAnd it was mewing, high pitched and helpless, and desperate for anyone to defend it.
xxxxKnawelkit stepped forward slowly, trying to look big and strong and able to defend the kit, but the kit recoiled away from her, scared. She wasn’t being a very good warrior at all.
xxxx“You asked for help, I think. I don’t know how useful I’ll be, but I’ll do my best to look after you if you want it.”
xxxxThe kit nodded slowly, still uncertain.
xxxx“I’m Knawelki-“ Well, if she was never going to get to earn her way to being a warrior herself, and she wanted to be reassuring, and she wanted to prove that she really did want to be seen as a good warrior, what was the harm? “Knaweldash, of Gustclan, and I want to be a good warrior, and a good warrior doesn’t abandon kits.” Even if they’re still just a kit themselves.
xxxx“I’m Cloudkit, of Seaclan.”
xxxxHaving someone nearby, even someone obviously weaker than her, was far more reassuring.
xxxxAnd she was sure she’d need it. The fur on the back of her neck was rising up, and she could feel an ominous something nearby.


xxxxCoralkit trodded along wearily, retracing the steps that her clan had taken a moon ago. Or, trying to. She was fairly sure she wasn’t heading in the right direction anymore. She’d been meaning to trace back to where Poppypaw had gone, knowing she’d become lost on the way they’d taken, and that she might at least know someone if she could work out where Poppypaw had gone.
xxxxCoralkit had got lost too, when her clan had scattered. She’d got lost with her family in turn, much like Poppypaw had. It made sense to try to find Poppypaw again.
xxxxBut she was very sure she’d headed the wrong way. Her feet felt heavy as she walked forwards, like a heavy weight had been attached to each limb. She was almost ready to be an apprentice by now, and she’d been walking long enough to prove her maturity by now, but it was still the furthest she’d walked without a rest in her short lost, and it wasn’t a long time since the previous time she could have said that.
xxxxCoralkit’s head hung low.
xxxxShe was exhausted.
xxxxShe wanted to sleep, but there was no where she felt safe. She didn’t know how to hunt yet either, and her stomach almost burned from its emptiness. Taking any more time than was absolutely necessary to get to somewhere safe was stupid. What if she starved on the way? Coralkit had barely slept in her whole time tracing her movements and the movements her whole clan had taken moons ago.
xxxxShe had found a wall running along a road that at least, when she walked at its base, gave her a side where she could be sure that nothing was going to attack her from.
xxxxWhere there had been more foliage, she had run between the patches of it, deliberately staying in the plants until she had her breath back and she was sure that she felt safe to continue and that she couldn’t sense any signs of anything prone to attack her. But now there was only grass and rocks that she could see. There looked to be trees a way away still over to her left, too far for a quick bolt, but they might provide more cover once she was closer. Until then, she was staying to where the grass was a bit longer, and here that meant right next to the rock wall.
xxxxShe wanted to get her way over to the forested area before nightfall, so she’d have somewhere safe that she could rest for the night. But in front of her, well ahead of her, she could see shapes rustling in the grass ahead of her! They’d been obscured by the grass before, but there they were, four tails poking up from the grass.
xxxxAnd, frankly, Coralkit didn’t even care if they were warriors or not. A group of cats were unlikely to want her dead given she was a lone kit. They stood nothing to gain through her death, but they could gain a lot by looking after her. Anyone to meet would be good, to avoid her poor attempts to feed herself thus far, and the hunger that paired with them.

color=transparent]xxxx[/color]It was a large patrol, but there was nothing wrong with that. Sometimes a patrol had to be large, and when wanting to demonstrate fully to the apprentices how to run a patrol themselves, and what they had to do for themselves in just a few moons, a large patrol was definitely a good idea. Four of the apprentices were there. Lobsterclaw had been assigned to this patrol without his apprentice; the younger apprentices were minding more minor tasks in camp today. Goodness, they needed someone to do them with so many kits and queens – and more to come.
xxxxWith so many warriors soon to be tied down with apprentices and therefore unable to fulfill their other duties, it was vital that the apprentices they had would be able to become good mentors for some of the kits, and definitely sufficient to fulfill the warrior duties they so needed.
xxxxFour apprentices, six warriors.
xxxxLobsterclaw stayed near the front of the group, ready to act guard if anything did happen. He was a -claw cat for a reason, and courage was definitely not something he lacked.
xxxxZinniapaw and Squirrelpaw were nearly ready to be warriors, and really, all the warriors knew they only had to do their assessment now. Minnowpaw and Umbrapaw were both about half way through their apprenticeships, and so it was worth training them now on specific warrior duties rather than skills at this point.
xxxxOf course, their mentors had to come with them. It looked a lot like Mosquitowhisker had been chosen so she could learn more about how to mentor well. And Lobsterclaw was here without his apprentice. He’d quickly nodded a goodbye to the camp guard, giving a little wink to the molly at one end of the line, and moved out to the front of the patrol. They all knew Adoniscloud was in charge of the patrol, but he was only a single step ahead of Lobsterclaw. Lobsterclaw was the only cat who could stand next to the larger warrior without looking like a kit on the patrol (Narwhal could manage it, too, but she never seemed to have the same presence as him. She could blend in anywhere if she wanted to). Minnowpaw deliberately stood a little behind, acting like he needed to learn how to be physically intimidating too, when not everyone could be intimidating.
xxxxAnd next to the two of them, he, as a nearly full grown cat, still looked like a kit. Not that Minnowpaw seemed to care.
xxxxWhen the other apprentices had commented, he had stayed silent, but his head had risen a little higher, almost in defiance.
xxxxMosquitowhisker stood at the back, keeping an eye as much on their environment as on the apprentices. Umbrapaw seemed to be trying to explain how she was going to become the best warrior in the clan even if Lobsterclaw had his own reason to believe she wouldn’t be in at least one way that he felt mattered, and he knew very well someone else who did. Tabitha, Knotfish, and Ploverstripe were barely bothering to explain anything to Zinniapaw or Squirrelpaw, with their apprenticeships so nearly over. And Umbrapaw… was frankly beyond being calmly spoken to when she was being taken on a patrol with the older apprentices.
xxxxThe patrol headed over to the eastern edge of the territory, initially following the path which lead eventually to the road, and then following along the stone wall – Knotfish jumping up to the top and walking astride it, while the others stayed beneath the stone wall. First they taught marking – to Umbrapaw at least, all the others had learned that well enough before. And then it was just demonstrating the normal patrol procedures.
xxxxZinniapaw – to anyone who had been watching – was quite obviously not looking at Squirrelpaw, and Squirrelpaw was quite obviously not looking at Zinniapaw either. Both thought the other thought herself superior. It was hard to get on with anyone – even your adoptive sister – if you thought she thought she was better than you. Life was going to be forever awkward for Zinniapaw, and she was sure of it. All the warriors her own age treated her awkwardly, and her only friend was older than her. She couldn’t help but resent Teaselpaw for meeting their dream when she couldn’t.
xxxxTo any outsider it would have been obvious. To the warriors though, it was too routine to be noticed. Umbrapaw must have noticed though, if she was choosing to show off to the warriors rather than the other apprentice. She didn’t want to choose a side.
xxxxOver the edge of the territory, into Lambclan territory, the warriors could see grey shapes flocking around, although they couldn’t quite recognise what they were from this distance. But… there was something small and damaged-looking down there, not far from the territory boundary, which Lobsterclaw could just make out, his vision of it half-obscured by the grass in front of him, as he crested a small ridge in the grass. There was a tree, one side of its roots dipping into the stream as it swung westwards and away from the road. There was a crumbled area in the stone wall not far from there, where a section of land was trapped between the stream and the road, and on the other side, no drystone walling at all – a clear path for animals to go through, if they dared to cross the road and the stream.
xxxxThe shape lay beneath the trees outer branches.
xxxx“I’ll go ahead to see what that is, Adoniscloud.” Lobsterclaw suggested. Adoniscloud paused, looking at the smaller tom with mild puzzlement until he realised it was likely a suggestion.
xxxx“Mosquitowhisker, go with him.”
xxxxLobsterclaw’s sister mewed a quiet agreement, and was at his side in just a moment. Flank by flank they descended the slope. Mosquitowhisker trembled and shivered slightly as she saw what it was, making it out clearly and realising a moment before he did.
xxxx“No.” Lobsterclaw walked a few steps further, but Mosquitowhisker failed to do so, one paw rising, only to take one hesitant movement backwards. He turned a confused look back at her, sceptical of whatever she’d realised.
xxxx“What is it?”
xxxxMosquitowhisker just shook her head.
xxxx“No.” Lobsterclaw huffed, then turned, a determined air to him, and strode onwards, intent on seeing and working it out for himself if she wouldn’t tell him. “Don’t, Lobsterclaw.”
xxxxHe could hear her moving through the grass behind him, trying to cut him off before he saw, before he knew. But it was already too late.
xxxxLobsterclaw didn’t hesitate at all. He turned, and in a sprint as fast as he was able (Mosquitowhisker easily catching up as she realised what he was doing), ran back up the hill to Adoniscloud, who had patiently kept the patrol up there before they would continue with their normal route.
xxxx“Adoniscloud?” Lobsterclaw called, asking him to join them away from the others. Adoniscloud took a leisurely pace forwards, and only after nodding at Knotfish to tell him that he was now in charge. Lobsterclaw couldn’t keep his impatience in, but Adoniscloud clearly didn’t see any reason to hurry – or at least, initially. Lobsterclaw waited, as much as he hated, until Adoniscloud was there, but it was Mosquitowhisker who spoke, and she clearly had deduced more than him.
xxxx“There were… remains down there. And I… they looked like kit remains. And what was there was pale. Get someone to fetch Harrierpelt, and tell Nettleflower Knawelkit’s not coming home.”


xxxxCoralkit stepped into the nursery, at the large black tom’s prompting. He wasn’t coming in himself, but was prompting her to instead. Which was odd, why was he being barred out of it? But she followed instructions; she knew that warriors wouldn’t trick a kit into anything dangerous for the sake of it.
xxxxAnd her jaw dropped. There were so many cats in here! So, so many! Easily as many kits as could be an entire clan’s members.
xxxxAnd so many of them seemed so close in age, even among kits! This was a huge clan she had found. There was a huge group of them all playing together, with one queen nestled around two newborns, with a grey molly (who didn’t seem to be a warrior) lying behind her, one foreleg on her shoulder, and tongue gently licking the queen’s ear. Three queens lay dozing together, though clearly at least one set of eyes was half-open. And one queen lay off in a corner, a kit almost large enough to be an apprentice pinned beneath her legs.
xxxxCoralkit stopped out into the nursery, looking around nervously, wondering who to speak to.
xxxx“Hi?” she asked. It was definitely a question, rather than a greeting, and a few eyes looked up at her, including the grey molly who lay beside the ginger queen and her two kits. “I was told that someone might be willing to look after me? I was looking for Poppypaw-“ A few kits’ eyes – those looking at her – widened a little. “She got lost when our clan moved, and then our clan had some problems and… well, I… I wanted to find someone where I knew where they might be, and we were around here I think when we lost her? It seemed like a good place to come, anyway. She’s about 10 moons I think?”
xxxxA few eyes glanced between each other, before looking at the queen in the corner. Bugleclaw had said that there was a queen called Nettleflower who had fostered two kits before and might be willing to now, especially as her litter were about her age. But… that grey molly was whispering something to the ginger queen and fairly loudly, so that Coralkit could distinctly hear something about it not being a good idea for Nettleflower now.
xxxx“Is… is there anyone who-? Who knows where Poppypaw is and can… can-?”
xxxx“I will. Poppypaw’s here – or at least, a Poppypaw who fits what you’ve said, I think, she’s safe, and I’ll be happy to foster you.”
xxxxAt least one of the queens breathed a small sigh of relief.
xxxxCoralkit beamed, proud to have been successful at finding Poppypaw, and trotted up to the queen. It’s not that she needed fostering at her age, but having someone who was known to look after her, and someone to come back to as family would be nice, even if having her own parents would have been infinitely preferable. She at least wanted to get to know this new queen, and the new family she’d have while here, until she – hopefully – found her birth parents.
xxxx“Coralkit. I was from Brineclan before.” The sandy queen’s head tilted in mild curiosity to one side.
xxxx“Osierfang. What’s coral?”
xxxxCoralkit drew her head back quickly, unsure of the question herself, and sure she should have asked that long before as soon as she heard the question.
xxxx“I… don’t know? No one explained it to me, and I never saw anything that anyone said was coral.”
xxxxOsierfang sighed a little.
xxxx“It’s not very helpful to have a prefix that no one knows what it refers to, is it? I won’t force you to change it, names are important and you might want to keep it as a reminder of your old clan, but it might be an even stronger reminder to choose something you saw a lot around your old home. Where was your old home?”
xxxx“Well, it was… It was that way?” Coralkit gestured a bit with one paw, but soon realised that she wasn’t sure exactly where she had come from at all. “It was by a sea, water that went on forever and ever, and was so big and wide and cold that the sun drowns in it every day.”
xxxxOsierfang looked a little perturbed by the thought of the sun drowning. Something so fiery and warm shouldn’t be allowed to drown. But apparently, drown it did. But how did the sky become so red with blood at night sometimes when it was drowning killing it?
xxxxOh! What if it were that the red in the sky was the fire from the sun trying to escape? That would make sense. That the sky set fire from the sun’s struggle to survive.
xxxx“Perhaps you could pick something from the sea? Something to remind you of it, if you wanted to do that. But you can select for yourself when you want to, if you want to. It could be a form of moving on, if you wanted.”
xxxxCoralkit nodded.
xxxx“I’ll think about it, but can I meet everyone?” Osierfang snorted in mild amusement.
xxxx“Introduce yourself to the kits first.”


xxxxIt was impossible to tell time here. Knawelki- No, Knaweldash had always assumed that the moon shone everywhere. But not here. If it did, in any way at all, its light was so obscured by tree branches and the seemingly half-solid shadows that pooled like water around the forest floor, that no one could make it out at all. Knaweldash thought they might have been there half a moon.
xxxxThe only way they possibly had to know how much time had passed was the aches in their stomach. Knaweldash had not proven very good at hunting, and there was very little prey around anywhere here, and she’d only caught a few scant items between them. It might have helped if she’d ever received training in hunting, but as she hadn’t, she had to rely on trial and error. The worst was when she was sure that there was food nearby, from seeing the tracks of small animals through the undergrowth, or finding traces of what they left behind on her path. She was getting better, yes, but she was still terrible, and it was so rare that she found anything that stayed around long enough for her to have any chance at catching it at all, that she was certain they would have starved if they weren’t already, well, dead.
xxxxShe was sure that they could find Starclan. They’d obviously ended up outside the edges of Starclan territory, and if they headed in one direction long enough, always towards the brightest light, Knaweldash was sure they’d get there eventually.
xxxxThe trouble was, that there was no bright light.
xxxxShe just had to pretend there was, for Cloudkit’s sake.
xxxxBut… strangely now, it did seem like there was something bright ahead of them, and Knaweldash couldn’t help running over to it, with Cloudkit struggling to keep up. Which was mean of her. Cloudkit was… well, in a way, he was her apprentice, wasn’t he? She shouldn’t be making things difficult for him.
xxxxBut there, yes, as she ran, it came more into view, as what seemed to be tiny tendrils of darkness floated away from the kit’s form. And it was definitely a kit. No larger than Cloudkit was when Knaweldash had met him No larger than Cloudkit was now. He was tiny, a little ginger thing, with a tail shorter than half of any of Knaweldash’s legs, and ears barely open at all.
xxxxAnd he was mewling quietly to himself, in what sounded a desperate tone.
xxxxKnaweldash felt a pang of sympathy in her heart, and couldn’t stop herself running over to the tiny ginger ball of fur, even if it forced Cloudkit to have to catch up. She pushed her nose into his side, forcing him awake, where he pressed into her face in turn. It was clear from here that he’d been begging for his mother. And judging by how he looked, she was a mother he’d never know, and likely would never have come to know.
xxxx“Hello. Who are y-“
xxxxThe kit’s eyes opened slightly, directing their gaze directly at Knaweldash, wobbling desperately at her. And Knaweldash felt her heart melt even further than it already had. She lay down beside the kit, and wrapped her forelegs around him. Cloudkit caught up then, and, in his attempts to join in, ended up flying over Knaweldash and landing awkwardly beyond, but not by far, and in a moment, he had easily recovered enough to have pressed in to the two of them as well.
xxxx“Hey there, it’s alright, I promise we’ll get to Starclan.”
xxxxBut the kit didn’t seem to understand her at all. It was like… well, it was like he’d never been spoken to before. He seemed to be entirely terrified by her.
xxxx“I don’t think he knows what you’re saying.” Knaweldash nodded, acknowledging the attempt at being helpful from Cloudkit.
xxxx“Well, he’s clearly not been named if he’s not heard talking before. I think he needs a name.” Knaweldash paused, thinking hard, and after a moment, realised that she didn’t know the names to most of the red things she had encountered. No one had known she’d gone out exploring, and so she’d had no one she could ask to learn what things were called, and she’d had no way to learn them. She was rather limited, then, to things she had seen around camp, but she knew at least one thing that matched a ginger pelt, and it was something she liked. “Tulipkit of… Well, Tulipkit of Kitclan I guess, until we find Starclan.”
xxxxKnaweldash nodded proudly to herself. Look at her! Not only was she being a mature figure to a kit, and being a good warrior like that, but here she was, naming kits and providing them comfort when they were desperate. She was sure she’d proven herself worthy of basic attention now.


xxxxLangoustinefang lay, curled around her two kits. Or rather, her kit, and the kit of the two toms that had fathered them.
xxxxAnd there they were above her. Lobeliafur had firmly insisted that a strong contingent of female warriors had guarded them, and stopped them from acting inappropriately – in the way that toms might – but had finally been persuaded to accept just a few of them, and as she, Osierfang, Moraine, and Sparrowfoot were all residents in the nursery anyway, and did not have kits that relied on them being still for their comfort, they had seemed like a large enough force. Even in her sign language, Nettleflower hadn’t indicated anything about wanting to join in the guard, which was unusual, but there were plenty of mollies around to do the job of minding two toms.
xxxxTwo gay toms, who were unlikely to do anything anyway, even if they weren’t desperately outnumbered.
xxxxThey were still near one edge of the nursery, so that if something went horribly wrong, there was plenty of space between Cicelynose and Narwhal and where the toms were currently.
xxxxObviously, their roles as fathers would grow as they proved themselves more to the queens, and as their kit grew. But here they were, deciding which kits would be fostered by which parents.
xxxxSparrowfoot had made it clear that both of those who had survived were equally precious, and she really just wanted both her mate’s kits to grow up strong and healthy, and that whomever brought that to happen didn’t matter so long as it happened.
xxxx“So that’s a tom, and a molly.” Firepath reiterated.
xxxx“Yes.” Langoustine said, having already confirmed that twice.
xxxx“We’re taking the tom kit.”
xxxxSparrowfoot snorted in mild amusement. Merlindash also looked confused that his mate was deciding for him and that rapidly.
xxxx“All that checking and you’re deciding that quickly?”
xxxx“…and how come?”
xxxxFirepath looked over at his mate a little shyly.
xxxx“All kits get colour from their mother, so they’re both ginger. And girls get it from their father. The molly’s ginger, which means I’m her father by blood, not you. So the tom must be yours. I want your kit, so I want us to raise the tom.”
xxxxLangoustinefang gave a puzzled look over her shoulder at Sparrowfoot, sure that didn’t exactly hold up logically. She was sure that Firepath was their only father, and that even if she’d tried to surrogate for both of them, that it was very possible that only one of them would get any kits from it.
xxxx“I thought we wanted your kits.”
xxxx“Well, he’d be mine too, of course, because I’d be helping to raise him.”
xxxx“Alright, so you picked out which kit, can I at least name him?”
xxxx“I want ours to be Carnationkit.” Sparrowfoot said, trying to be helpful. “They’re beautiful, just like Langoustinefang, and just like our kit. Carnationkit. And Martinwhisker said it had a nice meaning. You could always consult with him?”


xxxxPearstone had managed to hitch up a piece of wood on the barn on the western end of camp by sheer persistence, and in true cat nature, had explored the whole thing before deciding it really was safe to be in. It was a little drafty, with the frequent gaps in the woodwork, though clearly some effort had been put in my the humans to minimise the number of them, and there were large sections where a cat could sit without feeling it. One of these was near the southern end of the barn, with a large number of bales of a sort of yellow-biege material dotted around initially, and then stacked together at one end.
xxxxAnd it was to there that Pearstone had brought his kits, and brought Moraine previously. She was not here now, but that was because they were taking turns to teach their language. Unlike Witkit, who only had one to learn from Nettleflower – and could learn in a busy environment, as it didn’t need sound – his and Moraine’s kits were forced to learn somewhere a little more private.
xxxxThe nursery seemed to get constant visitors, with so many cats related to the current kits, and so many cats who just wanted an excuse to play with the kits. Even if it had proven necessary, though, Pearstone somehow doubted that Witkit would have been allowed out of the nursery to learn. It wasn’t in keeping with how concerned Nettleflower always seemed to be for her remaining kit, especially now they knew what had happened to Knawelkit. She’d seemed a lot more subdued since that, as had her mate, which was concerning, even if her slightly relaxed mothering of Witkit was probably a good thing.
xxxx“It’s very important that you do not lose your héritage. To lose any knowledge is a désappointement, and a shame for your descendents, which is why you must learn the skills that your ancêtres had before you. Even if you only have use for one reason, or for one purpose, it is still good to know.
xxxx“And language is notamment important. A cat can give whatever image he wants of himself through language. Maybe he wants to give himself an air of authorité, so that cats do not doubt his judgements once he is sure he has carefully considered what information he has. Then, there would be fewer arguments back to him, as he is known to be sophistiqué. Cats would know to act on what he said, which could be vital with important décisions, especially if those involve how to treat a code-breaker. Or maybe, if he seems to not know how to talk too well, then maybe another cat thinks to himself that he is stupid, and so will tell a little more when information is wanted. He thinks that what is said will not be worked out so well. And maybe, though this I do not know well at all, if he speaks in a unique way, he finds that mollies might be a little more interested, non? There are many points, though, I am sure.”


xxxxKnaweldash’s breath rose cold and frantic in the dark air, floating and twisting out of her mouth in a semi-liquid state, white claws snatching at the air for purchase, grappling their way out. If Knaweldash had a choice, her breath wouldn’t be leaving her mouth at all. She just wouldn’t need to breathe, and she’d have enough air in her lungs that she just didn’t need to take in more for any reason, and wouldn’t need to waste that precious energy.
xxxxHunger bit into her ribs and stomach, but that was nothing compared to what she feared.
xxxxShe could hear it behind her, despite her efforts. Both kits were trying to run, but they were too small, and Knaweldash was easily faster, even when she picked one up. She had to keep ushering one to continue while going back to grab the other, and catching up herself. She’d carry each kit for as long as she could manage. Look at her! Referring to kits as though she wasn’t one. She really must be a warrior now!
xxxxIt was those moments when she turned her face to whatever was pursuing them that were the worst. It wasn’t that there was anything definably there. If Knaweldash had been asked to point out what was there, or explain why they were running, she wouldn’t have been able to do it, but she knew they had to.
xxxxIt was almost like a tide. Like a flood of – instead of water – pure fear. And not unfounded fear. Just the knowledge of something very wrong and very evil that they had to run from.
xxxxThey were now heading away from the direction that Knaweldash was sure would lead to Starclan, which hurt in its own sense, that all their effort was now useless, but she’d much rather, well, much rather exist. She was sure now that whatever place they were in really did have ways to be truly destructive to the point of leaving you as barely a cat any more, and maybe beyond that.
xxxxThere was something darkly oppressive about this place, and she had been sure that was just the effect of being not-quite in Starclan, but the longer she spent here, the less certain she became. Could somewhere this terrible really exist so close to Starclan? And where was she then?
xxxxIt didn’t help Knaweldash’s spirits that she was having to protect these kits so thoroughly. If she didn’t… well, maybe she’d have someone to talk to about her theories, and maybe they’d be able to put her mind at rest. Goodness did she need that.
xxxxIt felt like the darkness was aware of her somehow, and was trailing her and the two tom-kits quite deliberately.
xxxxBut…
xxxxThat was ridiculous, right..?
xxxxThere was something deeply wrong about this place, and about everything she saw here. It was like… it was a dark shadow of what it should be. And that thought had been arriving in Knaweldash’s head far more frequently than she wished it would.
xxxxNo, no, they had to be near Starclan. This darkness was trailing them because of going in the wrong direction, right? So they just had to head the other way to where the darkness was, the other way, from which they had come. They had to keep going. Knaweldash couldn’t explain how she knew, but she knew that if she fell behind, even for an instant, something terrible would happen.
xxxxIt would be so, so easy to leave the kits. They were taking precious energy from her, and she could never afford to run her full speed or the kits would fall behind. With them there, she was limited, and she could feel the darkness so often gaining on them, and her tiredness was only increasing. If she could get rid of them, maybe she’d last. She needed to abandon them.
xxxxIt would be so, so hard to leave the kits. They were her only calm in this bewildering place, the only comfort. She was only holding herself together by them being around. Without them, she’d have long since fallen into a panic on her own. She’d have been entirely non-functional. She needed to protect them.
xxxxTulipkit was falling so far behind. At least he’d come to understand her talking well enough to know he needed to hurry, and he needed to run, and that was a major improvement, even though it physically pained Knaweldash that he genuinely didn’t know – nor would he know until they reached Starclan – what such a basic thing as a mother or father was. But he still had those tiny, just-functional legs, that could achieve nothing on their own. No matter how much more he now understood than he had when they’d met, he still was just physically capable of keeping up with them.
xxxx“Keep going, Cloudkit.”
xxxxThe tiny grey kit nodded at her, acknowledging her instruction.
xxxxKnaweldash turned her head, looking behind her.
xxxxShe just restrained her gasp, knowing Cloudkit would stop for her if she didn’t. He couldn’t afford to stop. She wasn’t even sure he could afford to keep going. What if they couldn’t outrun this thing? What would be the point of keeping running if they’d just be attacked anyway?
xxxxBut…
xxxxNo.
xxxxNot Tulipkit.
xxxxThe point where the darkness grew so thick that the scratchy, yellowed grass couldn’t be seen was only a few fox-lengths behind Tulipkit.
xxxxFor one awful moment, Knaweldash hesitated. There was no way she could make that, it’d be moronic to try, she’d only suffer the same fate – whatever that was. And her being lost would only mean that Cloudkit wouldn’t then have anyone to protect him either. No way would Cloudkit manage here on his own. She couldn’t save Tulipkit, she just couldn’t, or they’d all suffer whatever fate that the darkness brought.
xxxxAnd then her jaws closed around the scruff of Tulipkit’s neck.
xxxxShe hadn’t even had the time to realise what she was doing. While she’d been thinking why she shouldn’t, her body had acted for her.
xxxxThe solid darkness was so close!
xxxxSomehow her legs found a way to move even faster, moving so fast that it was hard to discern there were even legs there to be moved.
xxxx“Help us!” she screamed, desperately, though the sound was muffled around the fur in her mouth. “Starclan, send us some help!”
xxxxShe could feel the darkness that was so much thicker around the solid black beginning to spread around her, and wrap around her. Tiny wisps of a black so black it wasn’t just dark but almost seemed to look like nothing was there at all, that something was wrong with her eyes, a black so black that it wasn’t just a colour any more, but part dread too spread out in front of her vision, weaving together like a spider web.
xxxxAnd then there was a flash of something in front of her, that bounded past her.
xxxxKnaweldash stopped in place, somehow, despite how the darkness built in her vision, though she had the sense to fling Tulipkit further away – hopefully he’d keep running – and turned her head to look at whatever had parted the way.
xxxxA grey bicolour cat – another kitten – had jumped in the way.
xxxxAnd the darkness was thinning from around Knaweldash’s fur. It was thinning everywhere, almost like it was filtering out to the sides and away. It parted around her, like a jet of water meeting a large round object, spraying way out to the sides, far too diffuse to hold any power any longer. For the first time in a long time, Knawelkit could see brightness, around the kit. Or maybe it was just finally seeing a spot where the Darkness wasn’t, and only darkness was.
xxxxThe kit’s head turned to look at Knaweldash, a calm look in her eyes. She’d known that would happen, then?
xxxxKnaweldash kept staring in shock at the smaller kit, even as the darkness finished passing her, diffused away from them and who knew where.
xxxx“Wh- what? H… how” Knaweldash spluttered. The kit just gave her a tilted head expression – the cat equivalent of a hug.
xxxxKnaweldash kept staring, even as the other kit kept walking around, to where the trees had parted, and the small ridge that Cloudkit had been about to bound over when Knaweldash had turned back as briefly as she had. Tulipkit cowered under the base of a tree, but not alone. There was Cloudkit, and another pale-coloured kit.
xxxxAnd then it hit Knaweldash.
xxxxShe’d asked for help from Starclan and here it was.
xxxxWas it really that easy? Could she just have asked?
xxxx“Do you know how we can get to Starclan?”
xxxxIt seemed too simple, in a way, but if there was any chance…
xxxx“Of course I know the way to Starclan. I told Palekit that too, and we were looking together. Do you want to join us?”
xxxxKnaweldash looked uncertainly between Cloudkit and Tulipkit for a moment, but she knew what she had to say. There was no way she could turn down the opportunity to find Starclan after what she was sure was a whole moon of searching. If there was any chance of this working, for their sakes, Knaweldash had to take it.

– 6767

[ Gustclan gains “small fish” (2 portions) as a food source for reaching size: 50-75 – V4 addition ]

[ Peonykit, Carnationkit, and Tulipkit are born ]
[ Coralkit of Brineclan joins, and is renamed Dulsekit ]
[ Tulipkit has died ]

[ Cicelynose has been gestating for 3 moons ]
[ Narwhal has been gestating for 1 moon ]

[ Squirrelpaw is ready for her final assessment; if she succeeds, she will become Squirrelclaw, for her audacity, and skills at fighting ]
[ Zinniapaw is ready for her final assessment; if she succeeds, she will become Zinniapelt – jack of all trades, master of none, but better that, than master of one ]

[ Harrierpelt and Teaselpaw go herb-hunting, looking for kitting herbs or funerary herbs specifically ]
[ Heronstar, Shellcloud, and Clarystorm go on patrol ]
[ Chubtail, Pheasantcloud, Saffronstream, Ringflower, Dipperfish, and Lionfish go fishing ]
[ Boulderdash, Pearstone, Martinwhisker, Vendacethroat, Camberfoot, and Troutclaw go hunting ]
[ Argusheart, Bugleclaw, Droseratail, Ploverstripe, Mosquitowhisker, and Ospreystorm go hunting ]

[ Minnowpaw and Adoniscloud, Umbrapaw and Tabitha, Gullpaw and Lobsterclaw, Gannetpaw and Noctulepath, and Poppypaw and Garganeywhisker train ]

[ Harrierpelt and Teaselpaw return to camp to mind the queens ]
[ Nettleflower stays in camp to mind her remaining kit – Witkit ]
[ Osierfang, Lobeliafur, and Moraine stay in camp to mind their kits – Cairngormkit, Rivuletkit, Cinquefoilkit, Fioled, Llosgi Llyn, Môr, Eryr, and Goch ]
[ Ulyssa stays in camp to mind her kits – Xanthe, Xerxes, Xiomara – and Dulsekit ]
[ Langoustinefang – along with her mate (Sparrowfoot) her surrogate father (Firepath) and his mate (Merlindash) – stay in camp to mind the kits – Peonykit and Carnationkit ]
[ Cicelynose and Narwhal stay in camp ]
[ Barnfish, Knotfish, and Aspenfoot stay in camp ]
[ Gustclan consumes 5 mice and 3 squirrels – 11 portions ]

[ Starclan sadly brings the new, tiny star into its skies. Tulipkit will be well looked after ]
[ Cicelynose gave birth to four kits. Sadly, one had trouble breathing and died later that night ]
[ Squirrelpaw and Zinniapaw passed their final assessments and are now warriors: Squirrelclaw and Zinniapelt! ]
[ Harrierpelt and Teaselpaw gathered lavender, mint and rosemary ]
[ Heronstar's patrol found Dashkit and Wigeonclaw of Wildclan ]
[ Chubtail's patrol caught three small fish ]
[ Boulderdash's patrol caught three mice ]
[ Argusheart's patrol caught three squirrels ]
[ Minnowpaw learned the Swim skill ]
[ Umbrapaw learned the Climb skill ]
[ Gullpaw, Gannetpaw and Poppypaw learned the Fight skill ]

[Chamrosh]

Gustclan

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Gustclan Description
Writing Master Post
Original Version

k-xxThere is no pain worse than that of a parent who knows their child to have suffered.
v-xxExcept, perhaps, if your whole life had been defined by the deaths of your loved ones.
v-xxYes.
t-xxThere is no pain worse than that of a parent who knows their child to have suffered and genuinely believes that they caused the suffering, and wishes with all their heart that they hadn’t. That there was something, anything they could do, to bring back their beautiful baby girl.



o-xxWitkit really did feel like she belonged with Umbrapaw and Ringflower, as a friendship group. She was going to be an apprentice soon, Nettleflower had said that it had to be this moon, and that meant that she wouldn’t be that much younger when she was made a warrior, and they could stay friends once they were adults.
m-.xAnd Witkit needed somewhere where she felt she belonged.
i-xxxKnawelkit’s death had been a hard blow to her. Nettleflower never let her play with anyone else, being far too worried about Witkit’s safety to care about her social wellbeing. Knawelkit had been her only friend her own age, and the only relief from her mother’s constant nagging presence. No one else wanted to try talking to her with her mother around either, in case she lashed out at them, wanting to protect Witkit.
p-xxAnd Witkit knew Knawelkit had resented her.
r-xxThey were both jealous of the other.
v-xxIt was suffocating to be paid so much attention to. Witkit couldn’t do anything without her mother finding out, and it was hard to get any freedom at all, as no one wanted to do anything at all that could put her in harm when Nettleflower might find out. Witkit was never going to be able to become a proper warrior! And all she wanted to do was prove herself. She and her sister were alike in many ways, all the ones that counted, but none of the ones that were noticeable.
t-xxWitkit aroused to find her mother’s constant presence gone. Now was her time to act. Nettleflower was almost certainly going to the dirt place, and hadn’t thought that that would take so long as to allow Witkit to wake up in that time. Witkit dreaded to think what her mother’s plan would be once she was an apprentice. How was she planning to mollycoddle this badly once she wasn’t in the nursery any longer?
v-xxBut whatever her mother’s plans – and as intimidating as they were – Witkit knew she wasn’t losing this opportunity. Her eyes flicked around the nursery, checking everyone was occupied already, before she ducked low, and swept like a flying bird’s shadow across the den, into the medicine cat’s den first, to brush against the herbs she found there, to disguise her scent a little better in case her mother came back too soon. And, just as fast, she nipped around the corner from the medicine cat den to the other exit of the nursery.
e-xxGreat wooden objects of human design stood elevated off the floor on tiny, brittle-looking sticks, leaving just large enough of a space for a kit to worm their way underneath, legs moving furiously.
q-xxAt the other side, her nose poked out, sniffing the air, whiskers twitching, eyes darting back and forth, and, once she was entirely sure that no one was around to see, lead her small grey form like a bullet straight across the main interior area of camp, through the fin, out into the courtyard. Without hesitation, Witkit hurried over to her right, burying herself in the plants that fringed the courtyard area of camp. She only had to be exposed for a moment – in which her eyes remained fixed on the warriors keeping watch over the entrance of camp, who, fortunately, didn’t notice her – to spot the slight gap in the wooden human den that Pearstone had found before. She hopped over the wooden lining at the base of the wooden wall, and through the tiny gap swiftly, and breathed a massive sigh of relief as she looked around the space.
n-xxHopefully she still had a few seconds before her absence was even noticed.
m-.xAnd there were her friends, already over by the dividing wall, Umbrapaw sitting upright, Ringflower lounging, both of them on a bale of the dirty yellow stuff the humans had left everywhere.
g-xxUmbrapaw looked up at Witkit, and smiled widely.
g-xx“Nettleflower let y-“
k-xx“No.” Witkit said emphatically. “No she didn’t. She never lets me do anything.”
o-xxRingflower looked uneasily at Umbrapaw, whose expression had fallen faster than a diving kite. The atmosphere between them chilled at the same rate.
e-xx“Witkit, it’s great to see you here, don’t get me wrong, but your mother wanted to keep an eye on you still.” Until her mentor had scoped out what was and wasn’t safe for her. Not that they could judge. Only she and Sealkit had ever had what she had in the clan, and they didn’t know of anyone else who did either. She knew it the best, because she was the only one who knew what it was like. And, therefore, she knew what she was capable of better than anyone else – and that was just as much as anybody else could do, just not if she was having foreshocks. What about that was so hard for everyone else to understand? “We do love seeing you, but Nettleflower has a point, and neither of us can stop… repeats.”
v-xxAll pretenses of Umbrapaw’s normal flamboyancy were gone, his (and Witkit knew Umbrapaw well enough to know how to recognise that by now, a feat only she and Ringflower had managed) posture drooping, hating what he felt he had to say.
s-xx“You should go before Nettleflower comes and sets us all on nest-cleaning duty.” Ringflower clearly sounded as annoyed about having to say that as Umbrapaw had, and he stumbled over his first few words obviously, trying to move the subject away from the pain that came when remembering a family member’s death. Umbrapaw was never the most tactful cat.
x-xxWitkit huffed heavily. It was her grief stricken state that fuelled the anger in her, but as soon as it emerged, she couldn’t fight it down at all. It was like a pot that had been boiled too hard, and now the contents were frothing up over the top, leaving a horrible mess on the stove in its wake. It was like a match, burning bright and beautiful and brilliant for just a few seconds, but leaving nothing behind but the hurt from burnt fingers. And it was like a tidal wave crashing against the shore, overwhelming all semblance of order that had been there just a moment before, and washing it away to sea, never to be seen again.
d-xx“I hate her. It’s her fault Knawelkit’s dead. If she gave her some of the attention she keeps trying to force on me for no reason, maybe Knawelkit would still be alive.” Witkit puffed up her chest, fighting down her tone so it couldn’t reach a yell. “I need to be able to look after myself to be a warrior, and her stopping me doing things I want to is just robbing me of skills I could actually manage later! I know why she does it, she lectures every single night. But I’ll be in far worse danger if I can’t do things and I can’t look after myself. Knawelkit died because of her fussing over me. And I might die too, later. I already know I’m not as fit as I should be. I’ve never got to play fight, I’ve never climbed anything, she doesn’t let me play anything. I’m missing vital skills and it’s all her fault.
s-xx“And you all saw it too! You know how she treats me killed Knawelkit, but you’re continuing! She’s trying to be a good mother, and without my twitches she would be, but that makes her doubly dangerous and you’re all just fueling her because you can’t see what’s right in front of your whiskers!”
e-xxThe walls were only wood, and ever so draughty.



a-xxCicelynose couldn’t help thinking, as she lay curled around her four new kits, all freshly dried, that they were a little bit useless presently.
o-xxThey’d grow up into big strong warriors – Cicelynose would make sure of that – but now, in the few hours after their birth, they were little more than a wriggling, squeaking mass together. One had sneezed as he had been licked off by Teaselpaw, but that was the most exciting thing any of them had done.
e-xxAnd that was just a sneeze.
r-xxOne day, many moons from now, they’d make their mother proud, to have four mighty warriors to come from her – both for their actual contribution to clan life, and the beautiful chaos that the four of them would produce. If Langoustinefang and Vendacethroat had been a sample when they were kits, she couldn’t wait to see the chaos her kits would cause. They’d be the best apprentices.
i-.xxBut for now, they were just making their mother’s stomach sore with their wriggling, and her annoyed with the constant cooing of the older kits who came over to investigate. Peonykit and Carnationkit were still too small to really comprehend the concept of being “cute” but certainly Tymestl and Cairngormkit were making a big deal out of them.
o-xxOr they had been, when their mothers hadn’t decided it was sleep time (and their kit bodies concurred).
m-.xAnd now, when Cicelynose tried to sleep, not only was it their fidgeting that kept her awake, but the weird noises they just insisted on making. Constant little squeaks, sneezing, and one, the one closest to her head, kept making these strange rattling wheezing noises whenever she breathed in. From what Cicelynose could feel of her breathing, she seemed to be having a hard time of it, but Harrierpelt had said that the little they seemed to have done (after all, Cicelynose couldn’t see what they were doing) was all they could manage for a new born, and that they’d just need to wait out the night to see how the kit held out.
s-xxCicelynose wanted the wheezing noises to stop, and she wanted the constant fidgeting and attempts to climb over her side to stop too, but “actually lying still and trying to sleep for once, you stupid tiny lump” was her preferred method. She’d witnessed well enough what the loss of a kit had done for Sparrowfoot, how quiet she had been for days, and she’d not even seen that kit alive. The lump might be useless now, but one day it would be her beautiful, mischevious warrior child.
i-.xxAnd that made her precious beyond anything, annoying as her wheezing and fidgeting was for a new mother.



g-xxWigeonclaw was not as fast as she had been when she was a young rogue. And she was becoming more and more painfully aware of this as the kit that she had been intending to care for gained more and more of an advantage on her, struggling to stay above the surface of the water.
r-xxWhy did-
d-xxOkay, no that was an easy question. He was a kit, and a tom kit at that, of course he had to try jumping in the stream after being told a) not to and b) that he was going to be carried across safely.
r-xxAnd it wasn’t just some tiny gentle stream either, but a rushing ghyll. There were long sections where Wigeonclaw’s legs simply wouldn’t be long enough to reach him from the bank, and she was terrified that there’d be a waterfall at some point. They hadn’t reached any so far, and she couldn’t see any, nor any of the sudden drops in the slopes around the ghyll that would indicate one, but that didn’t stop the fear.
t-xxAt a couple of points, Dashkit had had a close run in with a rock or two.
t-xxOh no, some gentle stream just wouldn’t do. It had to be a raging ghyll in flood season.
x-xxThe worst bit was that she was sure she’d have done the same thing if she was a kit and had found this ghyll.
g-xxDashkit had clearly noticed how slow Wigeonclaw was compared to him. On two accounts. He’d managed to rush past her into the water after all.
l-.xxBy Starclan, he was just lucky his head had stayed above the surface so far.
e-xx“Help!” Dashkit spluttered, spitting water out of his mouth. “Quickly!” Because Wigeonclaw wasn’t quick.
h-xxBy Starclan, she wished she still was. It would break her heart to see him hurt and she’d only known him a few days – and that reluctantly. He’d only show any affection to her when she got him food after he finally accepted that he really didn’t know how to hunt yet at his age. But he was a kit, and as obnoxious as he could be, he clearly needed the care.
f-xxThere wasn’t a whole lot of foliage ahead. It grew thicker by the ghyll, although its fast current stopped it ever growing directly in the water. At a few points, trees grew up close enough to the water’s edge that roots dipped fingers into the racing surface, which played, making lines of bubbles in the rapids. It was a dangerous game for anything but a tree.
c-xxAnd ahead, Wigeonclaw could see something moving in the foliage. And she couldn’t help herself.
a-xx“Please, please help him!”
m-.xThere! Even more movement than she had seen before. Three patches of movement?
p-xxHer eyes were still following Dashkit, but that didn’t see her spotting it.
xxxxTwo pointed cats manoeuvring some old log into the water, and a grizzled grey cat bounding along the log and positioning himself in its center, directly in front of Dashkit’s course.
xxxxOne deft movement, muzzle dropping low towards the current swirling below, and one mighty heave. And there was not only a grey cat, balancing on an old log, but a sopping wet ginger kit, wide eyed, and clearly glad to be alive.
xxxxThe grey cat walked smoothly over to the bank, not even slowed by his precarious position, practically dropped Dashkit into a patch of grass – if Wigeonclaw hadn’t been so out of breath from running she might have gasped in shock – only for one of the point cats to swiftly curl up in the patch of grass too, presumably protecting the kit. She looked to be a molly, not much younger than Wigeonclaw.
xxxxThe tortoiseshell elder burst through the undergrowth as rapidly as her legs would allow her, only to see Dashkit clearly unharmed (though attempting to squirm away from the point molly just as insistently as he would have had he been).
xxxx“I’m caring for Dashkit, give him back so we can keep traveling to a safe clan.”
xxxx“We are a clan.” Wigeonclaw’s eyes opened a little wider, surprised to hear an accent so similar to her own this far south.
xxxx“You don’t look like much of a clan, there’s only three of you.”
xxxx“Much of our clan is made of kits and new mothers, and they’ve been following my guidance on the proper vigilance needed to protect them all.”
xxxxWigeonclaw looked back at Dashkit for a moment. Then she nodded.
xxxx“I want to check your camp, and what your cats are like. If we don’t like it, we’re going anyway. But Dashkit can have friends for one moon, and not annoy them away, can’t he?”



xxxxWitpaw’s chest swelled with pride at her new name, happy to finally be able to get out of the nursery. She’d make up for her moons of molly-coddling – no, far more than that, she’d make up for Knawelkit. Yes. Knawelkit had never gotten to live the life she’d deserved because of her, it was only fair that she trained as well as Knawelkit had deserved.
xxxxToday was the day everything changed. She was no longer some weak, sickly kit with an overbearing mother. Today was her first step on the path to being a mighty warrior, and proving that her illness didn’t define her, and nor would she let anyone define her by it either.



xxxxHeronstar came back from the patrol, hoping to check how Cicelynose’s kits had done over their first night, only to come back to see something rather different. Patrols couldn’t stop for any reason – the code demanded them – even to a grandmother proud to see her third set of grandkits. Cicelynose seemed calmer, somehow, but in a melancholy way. And one kit lay apart from the others, unmoving.
xxxxHeronstar knew instantly what had happened.
xxxxThe last kit delivered had had a horrible time breathing.
xxxx“Cicelynose-“
xxxx“Wheezekit stopped wheezing.” Cicelynose said. “I thought that would be a good thing.”
xxxx“Wheezekit.” Heronstar had meant to be gentle with what she was going to say. She really had. She wasn’t the sort for impulsive, unfounded anger. But it really was hard when you were caught by surprise.
xxxx“Yes. Other queens get to name their kits after what they find to be most distinctive, I’m going to do it too.”
xxxx“Didn’t Vendacethr-“
xxxx“He did! But I can name my kits on my own, mum, I can do some things myself.”
xxxx“So you named the kit with breathing difficulties Wheezekit.”
xxxx“You named me Cicelykit because Shellcloud wanted his sister’s name to start “sis”. You can’t talk.” Cicelynose, Heronstar’s youngest daughter, the only blind cat in the clan, really was the most observant of them all in some regards. It was just a shame that it had to manifest the way it did so often.
xxxx“She’s being renamed before she’s sent off to Starclan. And you’re waiting to name the rest until Vendacethroat is back.”
.So-ICicelynose cocked her head in the cat equivalent of a shrug, and Heronstar had a terrible feeling about what was coming.
Walk“They’re all already named, actually.” That hunch had been right, and Heronstar didn’t even have time to brace herself for them. “This one is Parakeetkit because she keeps constantly making annoying squeaky noises. This one’s Kachookit because he keeps sneezing.” And as if to illustrate the point. “And this is Chyak-kit because he makes weird loud noises when he snores which are about as annoying when I’m trying to sleep as a jackdaw’s cry when I’m trying to concentrate.”
AloneHeronstar sighed. “Vendacethroat is talking to you about those names.” Cicelynose had been right about them being distinctive.
DownIt was only after Heronstar left again that Cicelynose sank into her nest, curling tighter around her remaining kits, breathing rapid, jagged and uneven, with the other queens looking on pityingly. She’d seemed so proud to have four warriors who could cause chaos in the future as her children.



-The“I won’t mentor you. Not anymore, and not officially, either.”
DarkZinniapelt looked up for the source of the voice, confused for a second, and there was her brother.
estR“Why ever not?”
oadsTeaselpaw just huffed, and span around, marching out of the warriors’ den as fast as he had entered, not even delaying to answer the question, although Zinniapelt had seen his expression long enough to read it.
Cause“I don’t need you to, anyway! I’m sure Harrierpelt would be willing to have another apprentice after you!” Zinniapelt shouted after him.
I’veAlBut her face fell as he left. She still wanted the position. Of course she did. But… Teaselpaw seemed to hate her now for something, and she had no idea what. She hadn’t done anything, had she..?
waysBut. Oh. Their other littermates had been judging her since they were apprenticed and she was delayed. And Squirrelclaw had been in the medicine cat’s den last moon. Had… she had a whole moon to pit him against her too?



Know“I love those names, they’re not changing.” Was Vendacethroat’s first reaction to hearing his kits’ names. A few of the kits who were old enough to understand seemed actively confused by the choice in names, while a few others – largely the smarter or older ones – laughed or snickered. “Let no one claim they weren’t warned.”
nHowMoraine audibly snickered. She could say that with her kits too.
TheSShe couldn’t wait to see what those kits would get up to with the combination of both their parents and what her own kits would inevitably rub off. She’d known what she was like as a kit, and she knew what that probably meant for the clan over their apprenticeships. And if kits named for the ways in which they were already annoying their mother as newborns didn’t take inspiration to cause even more havoc than their father and aunt had, she would give a high likelihood to them being disowned by one or both parents.
toryGustclan probably had some fun in store.



GoesSemi-mature legs shook violently beneath Witpaw in a way only ever close to matched by her fits. But this wasn’t a fit. Not by any means.
!!!!!!Her father lay embracing her mother, the wind ruffling the fur on his back, eyes closed more gently than Witpaw had ever seen in her short life. Scattered around them, little green leaves that looked like goatweed, poking out of the tufts of grass where Saffronstream had wanted to train her today.
YES!“No! No I didn’t mean it! I never meant any of it!”

– 3586

[ Chyak-kit, Kachookit, Parakeetkit, and Wheezekit have been born ]
[ Wheezekit passes away, and upon death is renamed Sootstripe ]

[ Nettleflower passes away due to heartbreak, followed by her mate, Shellcloud ]

[ Narwhal has been gestating for 2 moons ]

[ Witkit is apprenticed to Saffronstream and becomes Witpaw! ]
[ Minnowpaw, Umbrapaw train Tracking with their respective mentors; Adoniscloud, and Tabitha ]
[ Gullpaw, Gannetpaw, Poppypaw, and Witpaw train Climbing with their respective mentors; Lobsterclaw, Noctulepath, Garganeywhisker, and Saffronstream ]
[ Teaselpaw and Harrierpelt train; herb identification ]

[ Boulderdash, Sparrowfoot, Ospreystorm, Zinniapelt, and Troutclaw, go hunting ]
[ Argusheart, Droseratail, Bugleclaw, Ploverstripe, Mosquitowhisker, and Lionfish go hunting ]
[ Pearstone, Pheasantcloud, Clarystorm, Dipperfish, and Knotfish go fishing ]
[ Chubtail, Martinwhisker, Camberfoot, and Squirrelclaw go on patrol ]

[ Ulyssa stays in camp to mind her kits; Xanthe, Xerxes, and Xiomara ]
[ Osierfang, Lobeliafur, and Moraine stay in camp to mind their kits; Cinquefoilkit and Dulsekit, Cairngormkit and Rivuletkit, and Fioled, Llosgi Llyn, Môr, Tymestl, Eryr, and Goch ]
[ Langoustinefang stays in camp to mind her kits; Peonykit and Carnationkit ]
[ Cicelynose stays in camp to mind her kits; Chyak-kit, Kachookit, and Parakeetkit ]
[ Heronstar, Barnfish, Firepath, Merlindash, Vendacethroat, Ringflower, Aspenfoot, and Narwhal stay in camp ]
[ Gustclan consumes 2 big fish and 3 squirrels – 11 servings ]

[ Starclan has several new stars among its skies. Sootstripe, Nettleflower and Shellcloud will be well looked after ]
[ Witkit is now an apprentice: Witpaw! ]
[ Minnowpaw and Umbrapaw learned the Track skill ]
[ Gullpaw, Gannetpaw, Poppypaw and Witpaw learned the Climb skill ]
[ Teaselpaw learned the Herb Identification skill ]
[ Boulderdash's patrol caught three small fish ]
[ Argusheart's patrol caught two squirrels and a mouse ]
[ Pearstone's patrol caught three small fish ]
[ Chubtail's patrol found a very young tempered loner. When trying to greet them, Chubtail receives a slash to his nose. The tom smiles broadly. They will definitely fit in with the other apprentices ]

[Chamrosh]

Gustclan

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Gustclan Description
Writing Master Post
Original Version

YouPThere are some hurts that only time can heal.
robaLlosgi Llyn and Goch were playing within the nursery one day when they heard a low, slow weeping, quiet and subtle, like whoever was making it didn’t want to be heard. They crept closer and closer to the source of the noise, only to realise that it must be coming from the medicine cats’ den.
blyD“That’s Teaselpaw, right?” Goch whispered to his brother, carefully speaking in a low pitch to avoid sudden and unwanted attention.
on’tRLlosgi Llyn frowned slightly, and his ears twitched. “I don’t know. I don’t know who else it could be though. Harrierpelt hardly seems the type to be crying over the deaths of cats he wasn’t close to.”
ememAnd indeed – to every other kits’ knowledge, Teaselpaw was currently flaking off duties in the courtyard area, entertaining the kits who wished to join in; Rivuletkit, Cairngormkit, Cinquefoilkit, Carnationkit, and Peonykit were all listening to a rather absurd story he was telling. Teaselpaw was too distracted by grief for his older sister, for her mate, and on behalf of his tiny… what was the correct word? Neice wasn’t exactly appropriate for Witpaw.
berWHe’d been snuggling with Cicelynose’s kits before that, and a close observer would have seen he was getting as much comfort from their presence as their mother did in being able to take a short break for once, and the kits did in still being able to dose with a warm adult.
hatITeaselpaw had very shortly even entirely been broken out of his morose state for a moment, when Parakeetkit had said the first word he’d heard from any of Cicelynose’s litter-
Soun“Fa’!”
dLike,He even smiled for a moment, recognising what she’d said as a word. And of course she thought it was a good thing. Teaselpaw knew she was referring to him as “fat”. To a kit, it would be an enormous compliment anyway, as it meant he was warm or snuggly, but to Cicelynose’s, they’d clearly heard their mother’s rather unusual term of affection for their father and assumed it meant even more than it should to a cat.
Ma.AnAnd then he sighed and, of course, Kachookit sneezed.
dThat’None of the cats in the courtyard had noticed Cicelynose’s longer-than-previously-typical breaks to relieve herself. She was strong and capable, and she’d long since proven she was useful to the clan in what she could manage without sight. But yet… she didn’t want to show weakness in front of any of them.
sFinePloverstripe and Droseratail asked to be placed on night-shift alone together several times, enough to make a sad father concerned for their lack of sleep, and sat up on the wall at the front of the courtyard area, fur pressed into each others’ sides. Sometimes they said nothing, not needing to. Other times, they both dropped their facades and couldn’t even articulate their words. But most times, they sat, and they talked.
.YouHAbout their brother, about his mate, and about their poor little niece, gone before her time. About poor, young Witpaw, alone and without a family now. And about how Droseratail would at least make sure she had a father figure, by doing it himself if he had to.
aven’Ploverstripe was terrified of whomever else might end up following. And Droseratail found himself making the same mental promise to himself now as he had for Shellcloud while they were kits. Ploverstripe was his responsibility, and he would make sure nothing happened to his little brother that he could possibly prevent. He’d failed his promise once before, he wasn’t doing it again.
tHeaNight after night, Witpaw had refused to sleep in her own nest, instead wedging herself awkwardly into the tiny volume of space in Umbrapaw’s den, seeking comfort. And night after night, Umbrapaw would hold her tight, feeling the damp patch on her fur spreading wider and wider. More than once, Ringflower had joined them too, and Umbrapaw would wait patiently until all his tears were gone too.
rdMeAll the apprentices had noticed how Witpaw often seemed distracted in training. Her feet dragged along the ground, and even when she’d been paying perfect attention just a moment before, her eyes would glaze over, and she’d be worse at whatever was being trained than many kits were. Saffronstream was often ending training sessions early for her.
SpeaBoulderdash was found hiding in a platform high up in the hay-filled human nest half a moon after her daughter had died. How she had got up there was a mystery, and her accent was hard enough to understand without the tears that bloomed every few words. She was eventually coaxed down by Sparrowfoot, who had adopted a stoney-faced expression, almost like she knew something bad was coming and had been prepared for it on some level beforehand. No one was surprised that Boulderdash had hidden from all her recent losses, especially when it hadn’t been long since the death of her (as far as the clan knew) mate.
kSinSquirrelclaw and Dipperfish had become virtually inseparable, refusing to be apart. When one broke into tears, somehow the other still knew what they meant. Most of the cats had seen one of them leaning into the other’s side at some point, and crying over their lost family members.
ceIWAll of these reactions were luxuries that Heronstar and Chubtail simply did not have.
asAnIt hurt.
ApprIt hurt so badly.
enticeBut if they couldn’t keep brave faces, the clan would collapse around them. They tried to ignore the concerned looks that many of their warriors gave them, and to get on with what needed to be done instead.


But,Two of Moraine’s kits were playing loudly outside in the narrow area connecting all the adult dens together. They weren’t meant to be there, but no one had the heart to stop kits playing, and there were only three warriors in one of the dens to be disturbed anyway.
Ma,PBut disturbed they were.
a,YoThose kits really were loud
ouHaMid afternoon was the time to nap, after having got back from their duties from the morning, and while the sun was at its hottest. They weren’t going to want to do anything difficult – as proven by the fact that many of the warriors were napping too, but outside, directly in the sunlight – and doing anything for a whole morning was tiring anyway, and often patrols had to go out again in the afternoon to cover the rest of the borders too.
veOtOspreystorm, Noctulepath, and Saffronstream were relaxing together (Ospreystorm not truly relaxed, her head regularly lifting off the floor, and slowly turning, to see if there was anyone around. She rarely even had both eyes closed when her head lolled. But dozing was still a useful form of rest in the brief seconds she allowed herself to), laid out in a row in the sunbeams through the “glass” as Harrierpelt called it.
herTHalf-asleep, Noctulepath suddenly shot bolt upright. “I just realised the greatest challenge!”
hingsSaffronstream turned his eyes towards her, ears twitching a little in surprise. Ospreystorm refused to stop her eyes scanning around, and didn’t even jump as Noctulepath moved, having seen the twitch in her tail before, and having realised what was about to happen.
ToW“What’s that, then?” Saffronstream asked, his voice starting mildly panicked, but clearly having relaxed at least a little by the end.
orry“An even bigger challenge than getting everyone to be properly cautious?”
AbouNoctulepath giggled slightly.
t,And“I bet I can get Teaselpaw to be my mate.” Her siblings shot her disgusted looks. Noctulepath huffed loudly. “When he’s got his medicine cat name.”
MyTi“That’s against the code.”
meIs“No, it’s not.” Saffronstream said, slowly shaking his head. Ospreystorm looked at him incredulously. “Medicine cats have their own code. It’s on there, but, medicine cats don’t bow to a leaders’ authority, so the warrior code doesn’t apply to them. It’s not breaking the code.” Saffronstream turned his sights back to Noctulepath, deadly serious.
Over“If a medicine cat did that without permission, and without fallback, I’m sure Starclan would disown them, and they’d never get to Starclan at all.”
Now.There was quiet.
I’mHaAnd then Noctulepath slowly spoke.
ppyHe“Then I’ll need to ask whomever replaces Heronstar when she and Chubtail retire nicely, won’t I? And I’m sure that there’s plenty of medicine cats who’ve had kits.”
re,Wit“Tons and tons. It’s against their instincts to not have kits. You’re not truly a cat if you can’t have kits. It’s probably why so many clans fall apart, if the medicine cat breaks the code and Starclan is no longer guiding them. The leader should be more properly vigilant and watch for it.” Ospreystorm nodded.
hShel“Or, alternatively, they could just give permission for it, and make sure there’s always a replacement for if they’re busy with kits. The point of the rule is to stop them being distracted by family, but the only way to stop distraction entirely is to kill their littermates, their older and younger siblings, their childhood friend, their mentor, their parents, everyone they ever talked to… there’s no point trying. You need to either give up on stopping them being distracted before anyone does anything stupid, or you need to kill everyone in the clan as soon as a medicine cat gains their name so they’re never distracted as a medicine cat. Anything else is logically inconsistent and makes no sense.”
lcloudA shiver ran down Noctulepath’s spine. Her brother had just talked about wiping out the whole of a clan so calmly, and just for the sake of one cat. Did their code… really mean that they had to kill whole clans whenever a medicine cat graduated? Or at least, kill whole families? If medicine cats were going to be distracted by having families… well, it made sense. And she hated it. That rule needed to go. To the Dark Forest with the medicine cats’ code.
.LifeNoctulepath shook her head slightly, seeking to lighten the mood.
Will“Do you reckon Harrierpelt’s had kits?” Noctulepath whispered to her siblings.
ContOspreystorm immediately yowled with laughter, and Saffonstream quickly joined in.
inue.“It’s a serious question though, isn’t it?”
AndIOnce they’d both calmed down, and couldn’t hear or see any signs of anyone listening in, or that could hear them talk (and to be sure, they waited a long time, so long Ospreystorm had got to nine nines of counting heartbeats before she nodded to continue).
Want“No way.” Saffronstream shook his head. “Didn’t you two hear that speech he gave to Teaselpaw and Zinniapelt about a medicine cat’s sacrifices? I don’t think he would say that and not believe it.”
YoursOspreystorm hesitated for just a moment. “Although… It would make a rather good cover. And if it weren’t a cover, he might still believe that from experience. He might have taken advantage of someone’s dropped vigilance…”
ToBe“Bet you a squirrel that he’s had more than ten kits.”
GoodOspreystorm shook her head. “I hunt for myself. With a huge pile of prey, it would be very easy for something to be rotting and horrible at the bottom, and poisoning the other food, and that’s quite apart from the far bigger danger, of someone poisoning something you’d trust is safe, and you dying from the poison. No. You might have pathetic vigilance, but I don’t, and I won’t eat poison.” Ospreystorm paused for a moment. “But if we switch to betting with things to play with, then I’m game. I bet he’s had fewer than ten, by the next bird skull either of us find after we confirm it.”
.SoSt“Deal.”


opWorMinnowpaw was roused by a strange something bumping into his chest, a something he wasn’t pleased with. It was only just dawn, and, with a cursory look around the second warriors’ den, he could see that even with the nights pulling later and later as spring progressed, and the dawn coming sooner and sooner, he could still see the moon shining brightly out there, whatever had roused him was not appreciated.
ryingMinnowpaw looked over at whatever was poking him, to see a ginger apprentice. And as there were currently no ginger apprentices within the clan…
AboutMinnowpaw straightened up fully, and leaned forward, hissing, at the newcomer who was stealing material from his bed.
Me,AnThe face that looked back at him was clearly far younger than Minnowpaw – probably only just old enough to be an apprentice, but definitely old enough to be able to understand not to steal if he was being put into the warriors’ dens to sleep (assuming he was meant to be in Gustclan – Minnowpaw had never seen him before at all, and so he thought it just as likely that they had sneaked in somehow). And so Minnowpaw didn’t feel bad at all reaching over and grabbing back some of his own bedding.
dLiveOnly…
.AndHe was instantly greeted by a flash of teeth.
I’llDoMinnowpaw didn’t care, and grabbed his bedding back anyway.
AllICThey snarled at him.
anFoMinnowpaw casually patted the material back into where it had been before the unwanted visitor.
rYou“I just fought off a deputy-“ There was a mildly questioning tone there, as if the apprentice wasn’t entirely sure they were using the right word. “I can definitely handle you.”
Too.Minnowpaw raised an eyebrow slightly, and pulled a slightly amused expression. “You’re, what, six moons? If you’re not lying, you only fought Chubtail off by luck or surprise.”
It’sOThe apprentice looked hurt for a moment, but Minnowpaw didn’t care. What he did care about, was getting more sleep before training. The newcomer disagreed with his plans, clearly.
nlyW“I’m not six moons.” Minnowpaw could hear the apprentice’s chest puffing out proudly. “I am seven and negative three quarters’ moons.”
hatMMinnowpaw’s head rose up from his bedding. What in Silverpelt did that mean? Negative moons? And what was a quarter?
yFam“And I’m older than that.” Minnowpaw was fairly sure of that anyway. “Now let me have my bedding back.”
ilyDeThe ginger apprentice sniffed, and grabbed back at what he’d stolen, looking Minnowpaw straight in the eyes, daring him to act against him. Minnowpaw’s forehead scrunched up, his claws unsheathed, and he almost clawed straight for the other one’s face, but stopped before his claws could make contact, not wanting to get in trouble so shortly before he might be becoming a warrior, and thus risking his (hopefully due) promotion.
serve“Who even are you?” Minnowpaw asked, venom in his voice. He wasn’t just automatically confrontational, nothing of the sort, but if some newcomer he’d never seen before was going to dare to steal his bedding, and wake him up early just to leave him tired through the whole of the rest of the day, he could be forgiven for his tone.
.Just“I’m Zircon, and good enough at fighting that I made your deputy wince.”
Look“Guarantee he was smiling in amusement.”
AfterZircon laughed to himself.
Witp“His face was pretty funny. Ma- Mother always did say I was best at fighting.”
awF“And do I have the delight of meeting her too?”
orMeZircon looked away, his fierce expression collapsing for just a moment.
xxxx“No. I don’t need her anyway. I’m seven and negative three quarter moons’, I can look after myself.” Zircon didn’t sound so confident as he had a moment before.
xxxx“Tell yourself that, Zirconpaw.” Minnowpaw tucked his head into the remains of his nest, and shut his eyes, wanting to get at least a little more relaxation before the apprentices all had to set out for training.


xxxxLlosgi Llyn’s eyes slowly blinked, open, and then, stunned by the glaring sunlight coming through towards his mother’s nest, half-shut them again.
xxxxHe slowly pushed himself up, figuring that he was awake now, and that meant he could now play with Goch if he wanted to. And of course he did. What else would he want to do in his mornings? His head spun around slowly, twitching his head so that his one good ear could hear what was around him properly, as he did each morning. It was how he worked out what the weather was, and where to play, and he’d noticed that no one else seemed to need to do it.
xxxxA few other kits were up. He could hear rain on the glass over there, where there was a ledge under the glass which made a good spot to sit to look out and see the courtyard area if you wanted, but a quick glance in that direction proved that there was nothing there beyond tiny specks spaced occasionally against the glass.
xxxxDashkit, Xerxes, and Cinquefoilkit were all already awake and playing together. Llosi Llyn’s head turned around right away, pointing his eyes directly at where he heard a body hitting a wall, and Dashkit stumbled for a step before pouncing straight onto Cinquefoilkit again.
xxxxIf they were playing already, and none of the queens were rousing to tell them to stop, Llosgi Llyn was definitely allowed to play too.
xxxxLlosgi Llyn wiggled out from his siblings, moving backwards (and clambering over Fioled) until he was out, and then looking among his four siblings.
xxxxHis h-
xxxxWait.
xxxxFour?
xxxxLlosgi Llyn turned, and, without any hesitation, ran straight out of the nursery, out into the entrance space to the indoors section of camp, out through the fin, and stopped exactly in place on the other side.
xxxxAs he stopped, the fin’s momentum continued, squeaking back, and squeaking forward, and hitting him in the back of his legs.
xxxxLlosgi Llyn took a tiny stumbled step forward, but he didn’t even notice.
xxxxSomething far worse had caught his attention.
OnlyHis ribs shivered heavily, his breath rattling his throat for just a moment, and it felt like his head was spinning. Like when a compass is put too close to a phone, and never points north again.
One-His ears twitched once, and his disgust was met with an equal dose of fascination, but still one far smaller than his shock or grief. But it was large enough that it compelled him to act, running over to the sight that lay before him.
MoreClaw marks – wider than his own spread out – ran down the figure’s face, over both eyes, clearly rendering them useless, and dragging further down in a messy, curved arc. What remained of the eyes were still open in death, hazel trying and failing to see the world around. One set of claw marks continued down to the nose, veering wildly at one point. The whiskers were all bitten off close to their roots, and more brutally than Llosi Llyn had seen that done before.
ToGoThey’d been trying to stop him fighting back.
!!!I--And successfully, by the multitude of scratch lines running across his pelt in every direction. If Llosgi Llyn hadn’t known better, he might have thought his brother was a ginger cat naturally.
Can’tWho could have done that?
WaitLlosgi Llyn sighed gently, rubbing one cheek against his brothers, and calmly turned, not shaking any longer, and stalked back towards the inside area of camp. His feet followed the familiar path upwards, up the square rocks, and to the second of the warriors dens, where his father was still sleeping. His legs didn’t shake at all as his mind ran, and his voice was entirely calm as he spoke. Though, of course, in kit style, he jumped on his father to wake him up, wanting him to be roused quickly and not knowing yet how the warriors did that for one another.
!!!!!!His father’s eyes rolled, and a pained breath made it clear he was winded, but they quickly picked out Llosgi Llyn and focused, delaying just a moment before speaking, but at least seeming to realise there was something at least vaguely important that had to be said, by the very slight frown on his face.
xxxx“Llosgi Llyn ... Pourquoi êtes-vous réveillé? Aucune des patrouilles n'est encore partie, il n'y a aucune raison d'être révei-“
xxxx“Papa, tu dois voir. Je veux aider, promettre de me laisser m'aider?” Pearstone sighed and nodded very slightly. Llosgi Llyn looked his father straight in the eye, and spoke with no hesitation, tone cold.
xxxx“Goch ne va pas être un guerrier.”


xxxxApprentice ceremonies were meant to be a proud affair. It was, after all, the night that Ulyssa’s kits reached their sixth moon. It seemed appropriate for Dulsekit – proud of her new name and excited for her new status – to have the ceremony at the same time. And, of course, just a few nights before, Zircon had turned up in camp. Thus far, Heronstar hadn’t deemed it worth the effort to rename him Zirconkit (which was likely inappropriate anyway, if she was vaguely correct in how she’d deciphered his rather unusual way of stating his age. He was eight moons, right?) when he needed to gain a mentor soon. A few days to familiarise himself with camp – he had insisted he didn’t need more time than that – and he would earn his apprentice name anyway. The extra ceremony would have been a waste of time.
xxxxXerxes, Xiomara and Xanthe had all refused to take -paw, although they had said they still each wanted to know their warrior name in time (though Xiomara looked a little less certain on whether she might not reject keeping it like her siblings).
xxxxIt was only the proper time to do things. If a clan didn’t keep moving forward, they’d be stuck in the past, and nothing would ever progress. They couldn’t stand by and mourn, as much as Heronstar wanted to. Her own son had died last moon, and his mate, and she’d found out about the death of her granddaughter only a moon before that. A kit had died this moon…
xxxxWith a clan this size – and a clan at all – death was inevitable.
xxxxBut it really did feel like Starclan was testing her, checking she was resilient enough for something yet to come.
xxxxAnd she wasn’t sure she was.
xxxxBut she was going to try her best to succeed in this crazy test anyway. If anyone was going to remain functional to continue the day to day life of the clan – herself included – she had to make sure everything kept working.
xxxxHer legs didn’t like the effort of jumping up to the usual perch any more than her heart did. She certainly wasn’t a -stone cat before becoming leader for no reason.
xxxx“Cats of Gustclan!” Heronstar didn’t really need to yowl for her clan’s attention by now. She had never been the best climber. All those outside had long since noticed her starting her climbing attempt, and, for her dignity and out of respect for their leader, had pretended not to. Bar for Cicelynose’s kits, of course, all far too young to comprehend such niceties (Chyak-kit going so far as to loudly ask if his grandma needed climbing lessons in a somewhat a-grammatic way, proudly displaying how much talking experience he’d had so far in his short life).
xxxxMoraine’s kits were far more subdued than usual, to an even greater extent than any other litter. But then, that was only to be expected, as only four of them were now playing at all, and they seemed to have banded together in response to their numbers being diminished. Except for little Llosgi Llyn, who was pacing up and down, up and down, and hissing at anyone who happened to get in his way.
xxxxVendacethroat slowly pushed himself up off the ground, slunk inside, and had quietly gathered up every warrior in there by the time that Heronstar had finished. Thus everyone had appeared before Heronstar announced her intent.
xxxxThe cats all gathered in a circle, the older kits with enough foreknowledge to know to sit at the front, and the younger kits sitting with their mothers (and fathers, in Peonykit’s case, with Wigeonclaw among them for Dashkit’s sake, too) to one side, able to sneak away should the kits demand it. The other cats all sat mixed together.
xxxx“Spirits of Starclan…” Of course, many cats who knew the ceremony drifted off after the first of the five - five - apprentice ceremonies. Umbrapaw, Poppypaw and Minnowpaw had each started drifting off as they had realised that them not being consulted for their warrior names meant this wouldn’t be taking a far more exciting twist soon. Though, Umbrapaw had overheard some of the senior warriors saying it was disrespectful to name a warrior just after a cat had died, and he had been able to at least brace the others for the disappointment of that.
xxxxIt was no secret that Sparrowfoot had been meant to be Sealkit’s mentor; clearly, Heronstar had been delaying her becoming a mentor since then until she was sure she was recovered. But this time, all the warriors knew.
xxxxHer final littermate had only passed last moon.
xxxxSometimes the only way to cope with pain was to try to get on with life as per usual, and Sparrowfoot had talked to the leader a few days before Goch had been found. There was no way she could have predict that too.
xxxxSo none of the warriors were surprised now at Sparrowfoot being chosen to be Zirconpaw’s mentor. There were a limited number of warriors with enough experience to handle him and enough youth to cope with his energy. She was a good choice, even if her emotional burden was more than most of them wanted to carry.
xxxxCamberfoot held his head high, as the second of his siblings to gain a mentor – after so long teased by them as a kit for being weird! – only for his limelight to be stolen straight from under his nose.
xxxxPheasantcloud beamed at Garganeywhisker as her being a mentor was announced – Garganeywhisker gaped for a moment, and smiled back shyly but genuinely straight after, clearly pleased her friend (and the apprentice too) could join her during training now.
xxxxOf course Ulyssa had asked to mentor one of her kits. She was far too concerned for their wellbeing to not want to be a paws-on parent, and though she could hardly mentor all three of them, she could certainly mentor one.
xxxxAnd Lionfish had grown so much, from the harsh official line of his old clan, into a genuinely mature warrior. Among the younger warriors, there’d even been a rumour that he’d turned it down as Heronstar asked him, not believing himself fit for the responsibility yet, although that had clearly been falsified by the ceremony. But maybe the large number of mentors to find so soon was putting undue pressure on Heronstar to choose anyone and everyone, regardless of fit.
xxxxAs the last pair was called, Heronstar said no more, but her yes flicked meaningfully between two cats, who had been sitting apart. But she’d watched their eyes each roving around the gathered cats, carefully choreographed somehow such that their eyelines never seemed to overlap, and yet they could never be said to be staring. Certainly, they were not losing the opportunity of seeing everyone together to start their investigations.


xxxx“Pearstone will be my mentor.” Llosgi Llyn said, very matter of factly, looking his leader straight in the eye. He’d walked straight in, no hesitation, while Heronstar had been settling in for a nap. There was no emotion in his voice; he was just stating a fact.
xxxx“I will help my father on the investigation, and no one and nothing is stopping me from doing so. You will tell no one that there is an investigation on-going, or how come he’s my mentor.” Llosgi Llyn wasn’t quite so confident as he finished, but he still had enough of that tone in his voice for Heronstar still not to know how to react from that. “Good day.” The kit turned, span on the spot, and walked out calmly, head held high.
xxxxHeronstar really wasn’t sure how to react to that.


xxxxMoraine was crying again, leaning into the side of the nest.
xxxxHer son was starting to lose patience with that again.
xxxx“Fine, I’ll confess! It was my fault! My fault, I was a tribe cat, I was always meant to be a tribe cat, and I left becau-… I left! And I wasn’t meant to. And now Goch is gone!”
xxxxLlosgi Llyn sighed in exasperation.
xxxx“If you hadn’t come here, yes, Goch wouldn’t have died, Goch wouldn’t have been murdered. But firstly, Pearstone would be sad and lonely, you’re his best friend. And – more importantly – Fioled, myself, Mor, Tymestl and Eryr wouldn’t be alive. If you say you’re guilty for him dying and you not coming here would have been better, bear in mind that having not come here would effectively be murdering all of us.”
xxxxMoraine blinked in shock at what her son had had the audacity to say to his own grieving mother.
xxxx“I wasn’t even accusing you. I just wanted to know if you’d been awake when I wasn’t and knew anything I don’t.”
xxxxMoriane shook her head solemnly.
xxxxLlosgi Llyn’s head tilted in the cat equivalent of a shrug. It had been a high hope. He knew full well that his mother was a restful sleeper and didn’t tend to rouse much in the night. He knew full well that he woke far more often than her. And he also knew well that if he were awake at the same time as someone else, his memory of events would be far more useful. Even in his very short life, he’d noticed his memory seemed to be far better than anyone else, and he certainly didn’t think it was just arrogance that made him say that (though several others, with Fioled as the loudest voice, would disagree).
xxxxBut it had been worth a try.
xxxxAs had been asking Osierfang and Narwhal, who had provided a grand total of nothing that had seemed useful. They’d said that the den had smelt a bit like adult tom, and, well, duh, the body… Goch, who he was demoting in his mind to mere object to make his grief at losing his best friend just a little easier had reeked of adult tom. The scents of all the adults had grown too similar over the moons for the scents to remain distinguishable in their traces, but the underlying “tom” scent couldn’t be denied.
xxxxHe supposed he’d just have to talk to Lobeliafur next, even if he knew that she was more likely to start ranting on about how toms shouldn’t be allowed in nurseries than she was to produce any useful information.
xxxxAfter that, he’d go around all the kits too. It might all be dead ends, but he was going to make sure he wasn’t missing any blinkingly obvious evidence. He’d do the same again, going around, asking everyone in turn about it, as many times as it took, and for as long as it took.
xxxxAnd he knew his father was going to be doing that on every patrol as well. There were so many cats to rule down between. There were several cats they had already ruled out, of course. Garganeywhisker and Pheasantcloud were both too gentle to kill so brutally, even if they were to kill, for instance. And Llosgi Llyn had worked out that that was the pattern to it, even before his father had told him. Work out how everyone would choose to kill the victim. If they wouldn’t use the same method as had been used, they couldn’t be the killer…
xxxxBut he wouldn’t be much use as a partner if he weren’t going to look for other things to use, would he?

– 5345

[ Zircon joins Gustclan ]
[ Awyr Goch Yn Olau Bore has died! ]

[ Xanthe is apprenticed to Camberfoot! ]
[ Xerxes is apprenticed to Pheasantcloud! ]
[ Xiomara is apprenticed to Ulyssa! ]
[ Dulsekit is apprenticed to Lionfish and becomes Dulsepaw! ]
[ Zircon is apprenticed to Sparrowfoot and becomes Zirconpaw! ]

[ Minnowpaw trains with his mentor; Adoniscloud ]
[ Poppypaw trains Swimming with her mentor; Garganeywhisker ]
[ Umbrapaw, Xanthe, Xerxes, Xiomara, Dulsepaw, and Zirconpaw train Fighting with their respective mentors; Tabitha, Camberfoot, Pheasantcloud, Ulyssa, Lionfish, and Sparrowfoot ]
[ Gullpaw, Gannetpaw and Witpaw train Tracking with their respective mentors; Lobsterclaw, Noctulepath, and Saffronstream ]
[ Teaselpaw and Harrierpelt train; healing ]

[ Argusheart, Vendacethroat, Dipperfish, and Squirrelclaw go hunting ]
[ Heronstar, Chubtail, Boulderdash, Mosquitowhisker, and Ringflower go hunting ]
[ Pearstone, Droseratail, Bugleclaw, Clarystorm, Zinniapelt and Troutstripe go fishing ]
[ Knotfish, Ploverstripe, Ospreystorm, and Martinwhisker go on patrol ]

[ Teaselpaw and Harrierpelt return to camp in case Narwhal kits ]
[ Osierfang, Lobeliafur, and Moraine stay in camp to mind their kits – Cinquefoilkit – Cairngormkit and Rivuletkit – Fioled, Llosgi Llyn, Môr, Tymestl, Eryr ]
[ Langoustinefang, Firepath and Merlindash stay in camp with their kits – Peonykit and Carnationkit ]
[ Cicelynose stays in camp to mind her kits – Chyak-kit, Kachookit, and Parakeetkit ]

[ Aspenfoot, Knotfish, Narwhal, Wigeonclaw, and Dashkit stay in camp ]
[ Gustclan consumes 1 big fish, 1 hare, 1 squirrel, 1 rabbit, and 1 frog – 11 portions ]

[ Minnowpaw learned the Strategising skill ]
[ Poppypaw learned the Swim skill ]
[ Umbrapaw, Xanthe, Xerxes, Xiomara, Dulsepaw and Zirconpaw learned the Fight skill ]
[ Gullpaw, Gannetpaw and Witpaw learned the Track skill ]
[ Teaselpaw learned the Heal skill ]
[ Argusheart's patrol caught a squirrel, a big fish and a hare ]
[ Heronstar's patrol caught two frogs and a mouse ]
[ Pearstone's patrol caught two small fish and a big fish ]
[ Knotfish's patrol Yewwhisker! ]
[ Narwhal gave birth to four kits. Knotfish purrs happily as he points out that the second and fourth kits have bobbed tails like Narwhal ]

[Chamrosh]

Gustclan

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Gustclan Description
Writing Master Post
Original Version

xxxxThere really was no good way to start his line of enquiry, but at least he wasn’t bringing up the subject from nothing. The whole clan had been talking about Goch’s murder for the last few days, and Troutstripe had been the one to bring it up now.
xxxx“Did any of you notice anything odd around then?” Pearstone asked.
xxxxThere was no possible way he could track everything from the whole clan now, especially when he had to make sure he met everyone so as not to miss important information. They’d probably be done with this stage late next moon.
xxxx“Not really.” Came Droseratail’s reply, before Clarystorm’s very helpful interruption;
xxxx“THERE WAS MOVEMENT.”
xxxx“There’s always movement with you.” Bugleclaw huffed.
xxxx“Can you describe each of your nights when that happened?”
xxxx“You can’t honestly suspect them, Pearstone.” Troutstripe said. But her tone spoke very differently from her words. Her tone was a warning. What if one of them – or all of them – really did kill Goch? Then goading them out here would be a terrible plan, even by her standards.
xxxxBut Droseratail didn’t even notice the tone before he spoke.
xxxx“It really was the same as most nights. I might have taken a little longer to sleep than most times, but I really can’t remember why. I suppose with so many more warriors around, it’s possible one of them might have disturbed my nest or something. I really hope that wasn’t the case, though. If they’d disturbed my nest and got that close while I was sleeping, I could have been in very real danger then, if, well….” Droseratail shook his head slightly, clearly not pleased with the thought at all. The others knew exactly what he meant.
xxxx“I don’t believe I was roused at any point in the night, beyond just taking a while to sleep. A few others looked a bit more tired than usual – all of you included-“ Droseratail’s eyes pointed at Bugleclaw, Clarystorm, and then Troutstripe in turn, lastly turning to Pearstone, although his gaze averted almost instantaneously, and he skipped Zinniapelt entirely. That had become a relatively easy task recently, with how quiet she was becoming. “But, beyond that, I didn’t notice anything.”
xxxx“And did any of the rest of you?”
xxxx“THERE WAS A MOVEMENT. Something was MOVING IN OUR DEN.”
xxxx“It was probably a moth. There’s a hole now in the big soft thing by where I sleep upon it. It would make sense if there was a moth eating that thing and fluttering around at night time, wouldn’t it?”
xxxx“Just because it could be something harmless doesn’t mean it was! I’m not trusting my life on you invigilant buffoons not spotting obvious danger.”
xxxxTroutstripe rolled her eyes.
xxxx“Lobsterclaw took a while to sleep.” Bugleclaw shot her a look. “AAH NO, I mean, I mean… Several warriors took a while to sleep.” She gave a single burst of awkward laughter. “There’s no reason I’d be giving him any extra attention over anyone else. Obviously.”
xxxx“Obviously.” Pearstone said, seeming to have taken that statement as fact rather than an obvious lie. Probably because he had. “Nothing else to add?”
xxxxThe patrol looked between themselves, though Troutstripe was avoiding the toms’ gazes, and Bugleclaw’s incredulous looks at her.
xxxx“I can’t think of anything.”
xxxx“Troutstripe was clearly showing proper vigilance. It’s certainly unusual for you lot, but I hardly call showing the proper respect for danger to maybe deserve to live to see the next day suspicious.”
xxxx“I didn’t see anything else unexpected, either.” Said Zinniapelt, her voice quiet, and from a few steps behind everyone else. “A good number of cats looked more tired in the morning, but that was about it.”



xxxxNarwhal wrapped around her kits, snuggling into them. They were still warm - well, all kits were warm, but warm enough to show how recently they’d been born. There were four of them. None of them had got the full white markings from Knotfish, but she could still see the resemblance.
xxxxThey were all beautiful. She could lie like this for hours.
xxxxThere were fewer queens in the nursery now, and fewer very small kits, and so each queen was rather less worried about seeing a small tom in the nursery now, knowing that their tom-ish-ness was far less likely to lead to anything. But even so, they kept a weary eye on Knotfish as he entered to look at his kits. Knotfish had been a clan cat for generations. There was no need for weariness around him. The aggression of a rogue tom had long since been bred out of his family, with those who acted upon it being killed by protective queens as every generation passed, until only the gentlest survived.
xxxxIt wouldn’t be unreasonable to suggest that the queens might well take their vengeance on whomever had attacked little Goch.
xxxxAnd it wasn’t unreasonable that they were all a little more on edge than reason called for.
xxxxKnotfish cautiously walked into the nursery, making himself look smaller, his tail high for friendliness, his head bowed to look less intimidating, not that he was intimidating at all, anyway.
xxxxAnd, despite this, Osierfang still hissed when he strayed from the path that kept him as far away as possible from the other kits.
xxxxKnotfish crouched down behind Narwhal’s side, using her to block himself off from the queen’s gaze. He didn’t mind attention at all, but there were certainly different types of it, and he wasn’t so fond of the sort that suggested his throat could be torn out at a slight transgression.
xxxxAnd there were his four beautiful kits, even more of a temptation to crouch down behind his mate to see.
xxxxTwo mostly white kits, and two calicos, like their mother. He purred, seeing them, and Narwhal gave him an amused look. There was nothing wrong with purring of course, and he was a proud father, it was well within his rights to purr! But he was purring at just seeing them for the first time, before he even knew them or knew how healthy they were. It had been a few days, as per Harrierpelt’s suggestion of not naming every kitten immediately, but only a few. Narwhal hadn’t wanted to keep Knotfish waiting to see his children any longer than she could manage to avoid being judged for.
xxxxAnd here he was, purring already at these tiny lumps of fluff.
xxxxNarwhal jumped a little as he suddenly gasped, too, pointing at one of the calicoes and one of the mostly white kits with his left paw, one after the other.
xxxx“They have your tiny tail.”
xxxx“My tail’s perfectly normal where a-“ Narwhal paused, actually looking at her kits. “They have normal tails where am from.”
xxxx“They’re adorable.”
xxxxNarwhal had known he liked kits, but the enthusiasm was certainly beyond what she’d initially predicted. It was… probably a good thing though, right? To have an enthusiastic mate about your kits?
xxxx“Three mollies and tom.” Narwhal said. “Was wanting for you to name two and me to name others.”
xxxx“Radishkit.” Knotfish said with no hesitation, looking straight up at her. “For the white bobtail.”
xxxx“Why Radishkit?” Narwhal asked, amused again.
xxxx“Because it’s a common plant and I never see it being used.”
xxxx“And does it fit how clans like it to fit?”
xxxx“The flowers are white, and the insides are white in the roots.”
xxxxNarwhal tilted her head in a cat-shrug.
xxxx“It is cute.” She tilted her head at the calicoes. “And good you chose her. Already got names in mind for calicoes. Dragonet is fish, small, fluttery, dappled. Fits this one.” Narwhal pointed at the bobtailed calico. "And octopus - big, eight legs without bones, very strong, also fish – for this one. Japatella.” The other calico was indeed larger than the bobtail, so that seemed to fit with the contrast between their names. “Japatella is type of octopus, with orange patches, and rest looks black in water. And it is cute, too.”
xxxxKnotfish made a gentle cooing sound at both the names as they were suggested.
xxxx“And a narwhal’s a fish too?”
xxxx“Yes, big fish, no scales, floppy fins, very long ‘nose’.” Her tone made it sound there like she knew there was a better word for it, but didn’t know what that word would be. Which was hardly a surprise, from what Knotfish had gathered, cats in her homeland had spoken something entirely different.
xxxx“So they match their mother in also being named for fish?” Narwhal nodded. “Then the tom should also be named after a flower, to match me. Two fish, two flowers.” Narwhal nodded again. Knotfish hesitated for a long time, clearly thinking over, and mumbling things to himself, with lots of “n” and “m” in, until, finally, he spoke.
xxxx“Anemonekit?”
xxxx“Ah! Do you mean white land flower or orange sea flower?”
xxxx“There are different types of anemone? I thought it was just the white ones.”
xxxxNarwhal did the cat-shrug gesture again. “Well, cats here will not be confused if they not know.”



xxxxLlosgi Llyn trotted up and down the nursery again. He’d done this this morning too, and then seemingly vanished, and had only just returned now that the sun was beginning to lower. Quite where he’d been, none of the queens were entirely sure, but how he spoke after pacing up and down the whole length three times (walking straight into Cinquefoilkit, Rivuletkit, and Cairngormkit, who were playing together - quite literally – twice and barely seeming to notice the confused protestations from the others. Walking into them was even quite an achievement itself, with how most of the kits were, by now, old enough to play elsewhere in camp through most of the day) made it quite clear.
xxxx“Lobeliafur, can you tell me again everything that you know happened during the night of Goch’s demise?”
xxxxLobeliafur groaned loudly.
xxxx“Llosgi Llyn, we already discussed this with you, I told you everything I remembered, that I was sure that my kits and Cinquefoilkit at least weren’t disturbed as when I went to the dirt place, I had to push them off me, and that I hadn’t witnessed anything else. None of us said anything much different at all, and we all went at different times – of those of us that went – and so our accounts can’t even be linked together to explain where everyone was at any point, even just among us queens. I am completely sure that none of the queens would have done that, even if we could have brought ourselves to. There’s no point questioning anybody in the nursery, so can you please find someone more productive to bug?”
xxxxLlosgi Llyn stood still for just a moment.
xxxx“No. I can’t.”
xxxxLobeliafur groaned again, frustration at Llosgi Llyn’s questioning evident in not just her tone, but every part of her body language. Her tail waved around wildly, and although Llosgi Llyn’s mis-matched eyes clearly looked in that direction, saw, and understood, he made no indication of caring. “Why ever not?”
xxxx“The only one I ever wanted to bug is dead.”



xxxxThe patrol met the elder at the Western edge of the lake, where tall peaks rose up seemingly miles above, and dropped down precariously to the waters, with scree plummeting down to the water in such large numbers that it almost looked like water. She was a ginger mackerel tabby, and quite obviously frail looking. How she’d managed to get past the scree was anyone’s guess.
xxxxOspreystorm reacted first to her presence, and darted straight out of cover. She leaped at the elder, and pinned her flat down to the ground, trapping her limbs under her own weight – and being so much younger, the difference in mass really was quite noticeable. The elder barely even struggled to push her off, only moving so far as to be sure that Ospreystorm wasn’t going to cut off her airways or injure her otherwise, and to lean her head backwards to keep her neck out of reach for a little longer should Ospreystorm decide to injure her. The ginger molly seemed resigned to her fate.
xxxx“Stop it, Ospreystorm!” Martinwhisker cried out. Ospreystorm’s tail lashed wildly.
xxxx“She’s a trespasser, and that’s against the code.” Ospreystorm spat. “And far worse than that, if we allow trespassers into our borders, they might start to think that we don’t mind them doing it, and if they all start crossing our borders and coming near our camp, we’ll be in a lot of danger. She needs to be driven off or we’ll be putting all our lives in danger.”
xxxx“She’s an elder, Ospreystorm, she’s not a danger at all.” Ploverstripe said.
xxxx“He’s right. You can’t honestly think an elder’s a threat, can you?”
xxxxOspreystorm’s eyes narrowed. She moved the paw that had been on the ginger molly’s chest back just a whisker’s length and then pressed down as hard again.
xxxxKnotfish sighed, but he knew he wasn’t going to get Ospreystorm to stop until the elder had convinced her she really was safe.
xxxxThe three toms stepped closer, although all of them had already broken cover after Ospreystorm, aiming to stop her. Reluctantly, Ospreystorm backed off from the elder, releasing her weight, eyes not moving at all from the trespasser’s face.
xxxxThe elder stumbled back a short way from Ospreystorm, although not very far at all really, and she winced slightly at each step. Clearly, each movement backwards was painful.
xxxx“I’m going to make sure that Ospreystorm apologises for that properly later.” Said Knotfish, giving her a pointed look, which her focused vision didn’t let her see at all. “At least some of us are of the opinion that elders need to be respected and deserve a safe place to live.”
xxxxThe elder’s ears perked a little.
xxxx“You’re clan cats then?” The elder’s voice was quite like Heronstar’s in a way; they both had a very similar way of speaking, in terms of the vowels and stresses they used. If anything, the effect was even more exaggerated by this newcomer.
xxxx“Judging by anyone but her, we are.” Martinwhisker replied.
xxxx“And from a proper clan, not one that revels in flagrantly ignoring the will of Starclan and only claiming the name so as to drag more cats into the Dark Forest with them?”
xxxx“Uh…” Ploverstripe cowered a little at what she said. “There are cats who do that?”
xxxx“We’re not like that.” Knotfish answered. “And why do you think we go to gatherings so rarely?” He added as an aside to Ploverstripe. It was true. Gustclan didn’t need any cats being drawn into the cult-like-state some “clans” existed in. There were too many clans now that really did only claim the name so as to trick innocents, and there was a far lower chance of their youth being corrupted if they went infrequently. And the proof that that was worth worrying about was easily supplied in how Troutstripe and Lionfish had been when they had first arrived, or in how Firepath spoke of his siblings. The code only said that four clans were needed at a gathering anyway, and with so many now (though no one now knew which four clans had been so important to warrant the rule then), no one was going to notice one clan missing.
xxxxThe elder considered them all in turn carefully, and then nodded.
xxxx“I’m Yew-whisker. I’m willing to join your clan on one condition.” She paused for dramatic emphasis, and slowly turned her head towards Ospreystorm as if she hadn’t just been assaulted by her. “That you at least try to teach her some respect.”



xxxxParakeetkit giggled loudly, rolling over and over and over in the flower patch, rubbing her head against the long stalks of flowers. Her giggles were only punctuated by her purring.
xxxxVendacethroat had peeked over the wall between the two enclosed areas of camp to work out what she’d been doing, worked out it was something mischievous, and had nodded in approval, returning to his lazing.
xxxxWhen Parakeetkit was entirely sure she was done, she giggled louder, and then charged back through the fin that connected to the nursery, and trotted over to her mother’s nest, where her brothers were playing together, head held high in the air.
xxxxShe rubbed her side against Chyak-kit first, totally ignoring the game they were playing or the interruption she was causing, (he made an odd happy sighing noise), and then she moved over to Kachook-
xxxx“KA---CHOO!”
xxxxParakeetkit broke into a fit of laughter.
xxxx“Hey!” Kachookit protested, before sneezing again. “Not fair! You barely even smell like cat anymore!”
xxxxParakeetkit giggled more.
xxxx“Mm yeah, she smells way too girly.” Chyak-kit puffed his chest for just a moment, and then seemed to deflate just a tad. “Way too girly, ew.” His tone seemed a little insincere, but neither of his siblings picked it up.
xxxx“Who gave you such a mean idea?”
xxxxParakeetkit flicked her tail happily, bouncing around between her brothers, barely pausing even with the sneezes punctuating her movements.
xxxx“Well, first, mummy, she said that dea… d-something-ing op.. op… oppo-something-ings without having to fight was good, and learning to do it now when I’m a big kit is best!” Parakeetkit’s voice was high and bird-like, in the sense that it was squeaky and probably quite annoying for anyone on the receiving end of her actions. Her name really did suit her in terms of the enthusiasm she put into anything vocal. “I saw Gannetpaw in the flowers yesterday, and he snuck right up to Gullpaw like he couldn’t smell him, so I thought maybe the flower-ness sticks. And it did, it did!” Parakeetkit’s laughter broke out again with enthusiasm. “It worked. Mummy’s knows I’m a big girl.”
xxxxChyak-kit opened his mouth, about to point out that their mum didn’t yet know at all, given she didn’t see it, and so the case was wrong, but then realised the much bigger issue.
xxxx“So mummy wants us to get crafty?”
xxxxParakeetkit looked confused at the last word, but nodded vigorously anyway.



xxxxThe patrol tentatively lead the elder into camp. New arrivals were hardly a surprise at all, but they still garnered attention, and several eyes were directed at the five cats entering camp.
xxxxMore and more cats seemed to be showing an interest in the barn, from which Mosquitowhisker emerged as they entered camp.
xxxxAs they entered the main section of camp, Martinwhisker gestured to the square rocks meaningfully.
xxxx“The leader’s den is up there.”
xxxxYew-whisker’s whiskers twitched with her nose.
xxxx“I don’t think I’d be able to climb up those. Stiff joints. Is there somewhere else where I can wait for the leader to come to see me?”
xxxxKnotfish nodded.
xxxx“The elders’ den is just through here.” He said, doubling back on his path, and slipping into the gap. It had been a much narrower gap when Gustclan was founded, with the wooden thing half-blocking it, but over the moons, it had been pushed out of the way, and the gap had widened further and further. Really, this was much to the elders’ chagrin – they had liked their previously very private space.
xxxxYew-whisker followed tentatively after him, and poked her head around the door ahead of her body, checking for any dangers that Knotfish hadn’t informed her of. Inside, there were several soft platforms. As a younger cat she’d never have dreamed of using them, but kittypets over her years had informed her of how soft those were, and she had imagined for moons how lovely they must be for an elder like herself.
xxxxOn one, there were two elders curled up, a mass of brown and ginger and white, with only the ears to inform of how many cats there were – or at least, until they heard her and their faces poked up. On another, a little way away, was a rather dignified and familiar looking tortoiseshell, with a short nose, who was now also looking at her directly. Yew-whisker felt her eyes drawn to her and not really wanting to turn away.
xxxx“Okay, Yew-whisker, this is the elders’ den. There’s Barnfish and Aspenfoot.” The little white tom gestured at the pair. “And there’s Wigeonc-“
xxxx“Wigeon?” Yew-whisker asked.
xxxxThe tortoiseshell’s eyes were slightly widened in recognition, much like Yew-whisker’s were.
xxxx“Wigeon? Wigeonpa-… well, you wouldn’t be a -paw anymore.”
xxxxThe tortoiseshell molly jumped down from her perch, coming closer.
xxxx“Yewkit?” She seemed to huff at herself. “Knotfish just said that.” Yew-whisker smiled. “I haven’t seen you in years! Where did you go?”
xxxx“I found another clan. For a while at least. You?”
xxxx“I was a loner again.”
xxxx“All that time?” Yew-whisker’s voice fell.
xxxxWigeonclaw hummed a moment, and then stepped forward and pressed her head into Yew-whisker’s side.
xxxx“It’s been so long. It’s so good to see you.”
xxxxYew-whisker couldn’t help smiling like an idiot.



xxxxThere were a lot of warriors who seemed to have an almost compulsive need to go in the nursery – or wherever the majority of kits were at the given moment – now. And each of those warriors seemed to have their own particular favourites who they seemed to melt into butter before the sight of.
xxxxTabitha was unimpressed.
xxxxPheasantcloud and Garganeywhisker were sitting in a corner of camp – while they were supposed to be on guard duty – cooing over Cicelynose’s kits. Admittedly, they were still watching the entrance, but their attention was definitely more directed at the three kittens.
xxxxWhich was ridiculous.
xxxxSure, she loved her children now, but as kits, they’d all just been useless lumps. She wouldn’t have changed having them now, that they were actually productive individuals, and, obviously, she’d done her best, with her highly limited knowledge, to be a decent parent, but that young kit stage was just exhausting to deal with. For her, her kittens had at least had the function of keeping her warm during a harsh leaf-bare. For these mothers, they didn’t even have that selling point. They were just useless lumps you had to wait most of a year to get a decent conversation out of.
xxxxWhy were they all cooing over them?
xxxxIf she could have skipped right past the kit stage, she definitely would have. Straight from newborn for a few days, through rapid growth, and, voila, adult cats.
xxxxTabitha really wasn’t sure what the deal with cute for the sake of cute was with so many mollies. She certainly hadn’t meant to have kittens herself, even if she wouldn’t change it now. They were just so much work, and it wasn’t worth it for cuteness that only lasted a few moons, anyway.



xxxxMinnowpaw and Poppypaw returned to camp around the same time from their training. It was both a warm enough day and a long enough walk that Poppypaw only had dampness remaining on her whiskers and the very tips of her fur.
xxxxYew-whisker laughed seeing as she saw them enter camp, from where she was in the middle of the courtyard.
xxxxPoppypaw looked at Minnowpaw, confused, but Minnowpaw was just looking at the ground, and hadn’t spotted it either. Their mentors – Adoniscloud and Garganeywhisker - were following along after, having met before they reached camp, and wanting to discuss something, which both apprentices were sure was to do with them becoming warriors and when Heronstar would start overseeing their training in order to assess them.
xxxx“You’ve got lake weed all draped over your back.” Yew-whisker said, nodding towards Poppypaw.
xxxxHastily, Poppypaw scrabbled to drag it off.
xxxx“No I don’t.” Her paws rested on the edge of it, in a bundle on the ground.
xxxx“You’re just like how Wigeonpaw w- Wigeonclaw was. She was always getting stuff stuck in her fur, and she used to have to spend whole afternoons cleaning all the little plant bits out.” Poppypaw glanced over to Minnowpaw, only to see that he’d already wandered off, not interested in whatever story this elder was about to tell. But there were a few other eyes looking over now. “And she wasn’t very good at it, she always used to just get more stuff stuck in there! It was hilarious.
xxxx“And she’d just keep trying to get it out anyway, and she’d spend whole days with her fur puffed out every which way because of all the detritus.” Poppypaw glanced nervously around the clearing, wondering when she was allowed to just leave. She wasn’t particularly interested in some random stories about grooming between the elders.
xxxxLuckily, Camberfoot sprang to her aid, having been among the cats who was watching. He walked up along Yew-whisker, such that the elder’s attention was snapped away, and Poppypaw mouthed a “thank you” at him as she crept away. He didn’t even seem to notice that.
xxxx“Yew-whisker, how come you’ve remembered that so well?”
xxxxYew-whisker hesitated just a moment.
xxxx“It was funny.”
xxxx“You made it sound like it was a little more than that to you, you know?”
xxxx“No, of course not…”
xxxxCamberfoot snorted. Poppypaw had managed to get well across the clearing by now (and had double checked her back for any other lingering strands of pond weed), so, even if this had been a distraction like Poppypaw thought, rather than a genuine commentary as he’d meant, he’d still have been successful.
xxxx“You know Peonykit and Carnationkit? Peonykit is raised by two fathers, and Carnationkit by two mothers. And that’s completely okay. If you liked Wigeonclaw, that’s your own heart, and no one can stop that. If you still like her – and it sounds an awful lot like you do – then you shouldn’t feel ashamed of that.”



xxxxIt was a lazy, hot summer afternoon, and such was always the best time for thinking. It might have been that Heronstar frequently fretted about her age, worried about the future of her clan, but she wasn’t alone in awareness of her age.
xxxxArgusheart, Bugleclaw, and Boulderdash were all within the range of thinking of retiring by now, and their frequent forays into the elders’ den hadn’t gone unnoticed by the clan.
xxxxThey were only a few moons apart between them.
xxxxBugleclaw had said a few days ago that Lobsterclaw might potentially be a father too before very long, and he seemed to be wanting to wait until he and his mate’s numbers in the warriors’ den were clearly going to be shortly replaced in order to retire.
xxxxAnd they were all three so close in age…
xxxxBoulderdash had been the one to suggest a semi-retirement first. That they retire – of course – but not entirely give up their duties just yet. There were still small jobs that each of them would be willing to do after retiring. She wanted to hunt near camp. Argusheart wanted to give tips to the apprentices. And Bugleclaw wanted to help guard camp. They could just do that duty and not worry about the rest, being retired and all.
xxxxAnd it was a waste to have the ceremonies one after the other…
xxxxArgusheart, the middle in age of the three, had been the one to suggest them all retiring together. It would be better for all three of them to do it together, anyway, but probably easier for the clan to have to adjust once to them all being retired, rather than having to adjust three times.
xxxxOnce this murderer was caught and exiled, they’d talk to Heronstar about it. But Boulderdash couldn’t help the feeling that it might not be all of them talking to Heronstar once a murderer was exiled.



xxxxTeaselpaw’s feet ached, alongside his knees, his hips, his very bones. His stomach rumbled loudly, the herbs the day before simply not enough. But Medicine Cats weren’t allowed to eat while travelling to the moon pool, and today he would be.
xxxxPerhaps this was why Harrierpelt travelled to the moonpool so rarely. It was a full two days’ walk. They weren’t even using a moonpool for their own clan.
xxxxGetting here required trespassing on another clan’s territory and sneaking into their moonpool. Despite Gustclan being around for moons and moons by now – all of Teaselpaw’s life – they had yet to find their own. They hadn’t been able to find a Moonpool anywhere within their main section of territory, and neither Harrierpelt or Heronstar were so keen on swimming as to want to go to the island just to check there, and to have to swim back again regardless of their success. Perhaps, in a few moons, he’d go himself to check.
xxxxBut for now, before he did that, it was a two day walk. They’d eat after he woke from visiting the Moonpool, and then they’d start back.
xxxxMedicine Cats were neutral parties in battles; they weren’t meant to be attacked, in exchange for not knowing how to attack others either. They weren’t going to be hurt by any of the clans they had decided to pass through the territory of. But they weren’t allowed to hunt on other clans’ territories, either, meaning that they would still need to travel for much of the time that the sun ascended before they could eat.
xxxxIt was all the more incentive to get his nerves dealt with quickly.
xxxxBut Teaselpaw really was nervous.
xxxxHe’d not spoken – two way and alone – to Starclan before (it needed to be done at some point, and for them it by far made the most sense to do it now, when to do it later would only mean an additional long and arduous trip). But even then, he was more nervous of what came first. This was the moment he’d been looking forward to his whole life.
xxxxThere were no other clans here. That was disappointing in a sense, that he wasn’t being recognised in front of others like he should have been by all rights, but it did rather help with his level of nerves.
xxxxHe and Harrierpelt stood on a slight tuft only a few foxlengths from the entrance to the cave, Harrierpelt slightly raised up, although Teaselpaw’s natural bulk meant that his eye level wasn’t much lower anyway.
xxxxHarrierpelt nodded at Teaselpaw, looking at him intently. He clearly really was proud of his apprentice’s progress, but it looked for a moment like he was checking for something else. Yet only for a moment. The medicine cat took a deep breath in, straightening his posture for the occasion. Teaselpaw was only slightly slouched.
xxxx“I, Harrierpelt, medicine cat of Gustclan, call upon my warrior ancestors to look down on this apprentice. He has trained hard to understand the ways of a medicine cat, and, with your help, he will serve his clan for many moons.
xxxx“Teaselpaw, do you promise to uphold the ways of a medicine cat, to stand apart from rivalry between clan and clan and to protect all cats equally, even at the cost of your own life?”
xxxxTeaselpaw swallowed, but he wasn’t hesitating at all. He was smiling, widely, at his mentor.
xxxx“I do.” He said that in such a matter of fact tone that no one could have argued with it.
xxxx“Then, by the powers of Starclan, I give you your true name as a medicine cat. Teaselpaw, from this moment, you will be known as Teasel-leaf. Starclan honours your enthusiasm and your skills in our art beyond your year…s, and we welcome you as a full medicine cat of Gustclan.” It shouldn’t have had to have been such an exclusive ‘we’.
xxxxHarrierpelt lifted his head high to rest on his apprentice’s, and that was even after Teaselp- Teasel-leaf had lowered his own. The thick grey fluff got stuck on Teasel-leaf’s tongue, having had to groom it the wrong way because of his angle.
xxxxAnd then there was an awkward silence.
xxxxThere really were meant to be more medicine cats here.
xxxxA bird screeched above them;
xxxx“Kyekekekekeke.”
xxxxThat would have to do by means of encouragement.
xxxxHe stepped off the tussock, and up to the mouth of the cave, and shot a cheeky look at his mentor.
xxxx“Bet you I’m their favourite.”
xxxxHe wasn’t quite so fast whipping into the cave so as to avoid Harrierpelt’s sigh.
xxxxInside was a dark and quiet space. It wasn’t a long walk into the cave, and it only sloped gently downwards, on a slightly curved path. The light quickly died away behind him, and he physically felt his eyes starting to shift for night vision.
xxxxHe could make out the rounded edges of the tunnel initially, and the wooden struts that held it up, but even cat vision has limits, and as he rounded the corner that died away, and he was left without sight. But that was no matter. There was a shute leading from the moonpool, through foxlength after foxlength of soil and rock, and up to the open grasses above. Occasionally, Harrierpelt had mentioned finding a dead mouse or shrew at the bottom of the shute upon rousing, body broken from the fall, and had taken it as a gift from Starclan.
xxxxThe pool was just around the second corner. Beyond the shallow depths, lined with rocks, was a collapsed area of rocks, and three long sections of collapsed wood, half-rotted and disgusting, their ends poking out of the rockfall. Similar struts – those standing – lined the tunnel, looking back, but they seemed to be in a better state.
xxxxTeasel-leaf bent his head down to the water surface and closed his eyes.
xxxxThey opened again – as far as he was aware, with no pause needed – to look out at a grassy clearing, somewhere where the sky was dark, and tiny stars poked their light in between leafy green branches. Starclan.
xxxxTeasel-leaf turned his head to look at the assembled cats. There wasn’t a huge party, but there were enough of them.
xxxxAnd his eyes grew wide, and he didn’t even have a mind for anything else.
xxxxTeasel-leaf ran straight to his father, practically jumping on him, and pushing his head against his father’s side. It had been too long since he’d since Myrtleclaw.
xxxxHe didn’t want to leave his father’s side, and stayed pressed up close, a lump in his throat. He didn’t need to say much. All the emotion he had could be summed up in a single word. “Dad.”
xxxxMyrtleclaw just nodded.
xxxx“And your sisters.” Myrtleclaw raised one paw, to point at two far younger cats. One was clearly a kit, the other a younger apprentice. It took him a second, but the he recognised her, and Teasel-leaf bounded over to his older sister (and her similarly rejuvenated mate), pressing up against them and purring.
xxxxIt felt odd to be larger than Nettleflower or Shellcloud, but he could hardly protest to see them again.
xxxxAnd the kit! The kit was calmer and more composed than any of the adults, and she didn’t look much like Myrtleclaw, really. But he supposed..? Oh, Elmfang! Elmfang.
xxxxOh, she was even smaller than Nettleflower was. This was truly bizarre.
xxxxBut it was good to see her!
xxxxEven if he hadn’t known her in life, she was still his sister. Teasel-leaf rubbed his cheek against hers in greeting.
xxxxHe glanced around at the assembled cats again. A few of their kits weren’t here now (though Sootkit was), but, he supposed, it was more than possible they had decided to reincarnate already. After all, they hadn’t really had a chance to live a full life now. Harrierpelt had said some cats got to reincarnate sometimes, and he hadn’t really said anything else on the subject, but Teasel-leaf doubted it would just be a baseless claim.
xxxxIt was a while before he was entirely done meeting all his old clan mates. When he finally was, Teasel-leaf sat down within the middle of the ring of old Gustclan cats, and listened enraptured to hear each of them talk in turn.
xxxxThere had been a few cats he’d wanted to talk to – not that he’d not wanted to talk to any of them, of course – and the absence of Sealfur really was conspicuous. He’d not seen his littermate in almost a year now, snatched so long before his time. It had been a year, though. If there really was a means to reincarnate, certainly a year would have been plenty of time to find it.
xxxxAnd when each of them was done in turn, and before Teasel-leaf realised what was about to happen, he blinked, and in the time in which his eyes were shut, he found himself back in the cave already.

– 6073

[ Yew-whisker joins Gustclan! ]
[ Japatellakit, Dragonetkit, Anemonekit, and Radishkit are born! ]

[ Wigeonclaw and Yew-whisker become mates]
(Never kits)
[ Droseratail becomes foster father of Witpaw ]

[ Harrierpelt brings Teaselpaw to the moonpool to be greeted by Starclan. Should they accept him as a medicine cat, he will earn the name Teasel-leaf for his exceptional ability in healing ]

[ Minnowpaw and Umbrapaw train with their respective mentors; Adoniscloud and Tabitha ]
[ Xanthe, Xerxes, Xiomara, Dulsepaw, and Zirconpaw train Tracking with their respective mentors; Camberfoot, Pheasantcloud, Ulyssa, Lionfish, and Sparrowfoot ]
[ Gullpaw, Gannetpaw, Poppypaw and Witpaw train Fishing with their respective mentors; Lobsterclaw, Noctulepath, Garganeywhisker and Saffronstream ]

[ Chubtail, Boulderdash, Argusheart, Pearstone, Ploverstripe, and Knotfish go on patrol ]
[ Heronstar, Droseratail, Martinwhisker, Mosquitowhisker, and Ringflower go hunting ]
[ Bugleclaw, Vendacethroat, Clarystorm, Dipperfish, and Troutstripe go hunting ]

[ Osierfang, Lobeliafur, and Moraine stay in camp to mind their kits – Cinquefoilkit, Rivuletkit and Cairngormkit, Fioled, Llosgi Llyn, Môr, Tymestl, and Eryr ]
[ Langoustinefang stays in camp to mind her kit – Carnationkit ]
[ Firepath and Merlindash stay in camp to mind their kit – Peonykit
[ Cicelynose stays in camp to mind her kits – Chyak-kit, Kachookit, and Parakeetkit ]
[ Narwhal stays in camp to mind her kits – Japatellakit, Dragonetkit, Anemonekit, and Radishkit ]
[ Barnfish, Ospreystorm, Zinniapelt, Aspenfoot, Squirrelclaw, Wigeonclaw, Dashkit, and Yew-whisker stay in camp ]

[ Gustclan consumes 1 frog, 1 mouse, 1 squirrel, 1 rabbit, 1 big fish, and 1 hare – 12 portions ]

[ Starclan welcomes Teaselpaw warmly as a medicine cat! Tealselpaw has been given his full medicine cat name: Teaselleaf! ]
[ Minnowpaw and Umbrapaw learned the Stealth skill ]
[ Xanthe, Xerxes, Xiomara, Dulsepaw and Zirconpaw learned the Hunt skill ]
[ Gullpaw, Gannetpaw, Poppypaw and Witpaw learned the Stalk skill ]
[ Chubtail's patrol found Swayingtrees! ]
[ Heronstar's patrol caught three squirrels ]
[ Bugleclaw's patrol caught a mouse and two rabbits ]

[Chamrosh]

Gustclan

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Gustclan Description
Writing Master Post
Original Version

xxxxThe newcomer was brought into the leader’s den by the patrol, although Heronstar was most certainly not alone in there. A few trusted members of the clan, now senior warriors, had found themselves gathered around, and the last few snippets of conversation before the interruption had been audible, slowly increasing in volume as they had approached. The first few lines were just a dull murmuring from above as they entered the internal section of camp, until the patrol had come right to the entrance.
xxxx“We aren’t immortal. Us leaders do have limited lives, and no matter how many we have left, our bodies eventually died out anyway. We need to be prepared for what will happen, and we need young warriors. There’s no point in us retiring only for our successors to both retire mere moons after.”
xxxx“And the point of the nine lives is that a leadership can be stable. If the leader instantly retires, there was no point in gaining those lives, especially if the deputy were to retire immediately after.”
xxxxThere was a slight pause, as though the cats inside were glancing between themselves.
xxxx“None of us, then?” A tom asked.
xxxx“No. I just want your opinions on our options. That is, to have run through the options one by one, and each of you to state how you think they’d be as a leader. I wouldn’t ask you unless I thought you were each worthy of the role, of course, but age is a rather pressing issue among all our number-“ The leader’s name seemed to be heavily pointed about someone – or possibly multiple someones – in term. “And among all the others I’m seeking to ask. We can spend a few seasons with, in effect, some extra deputies, so we can see how each would handle power before it’s handed over to them.”
xxxx“How old are you considering?”
xxxx“Younger than I was when I became a leader.”
xxxxChubtail cleared his throat, and loudly, reconising the natural pause in the conversation from inside the leader’s den.
xxxx“Heronstar?”
xxxxThe voices inside the leader’s den hushed, and Chubtail took that as his cue to step in around the wooden barrier at the entrance, which blocked the view of much of the room rather effectively. The other cats quietly followed, the six leading in the newcomer whom they had found.
xxxxThey sat down in an arc, having almost spontaneously been flanked and surrounded, but the glint in Chubtail’s eye made it obvious that that was in some way coordinated. Ploverstripe broke formation a little, sitting noticeably back from the main line, twitching his front legs occasionally in a motion much like treading down a nest to be more comfortable. Within the den already were a few of the older (in all but one case), more trusted members of the clan – Harrierpelt, Osierfang, Moraine, Martinwhisker, and Droseratail. With six cats already present, and with their voices so far away to begin with, it woud have been impossible to properly differentiate which cat had spoken which line, although it must have been obvious just from looking at them who was in charge, and who was, therefore, their leader.
xxxxThey were all resting atop a sort of soft platform thing, with Heronstar looking towards a loose half-circle of the others, and a fluffy grey cat off to the side even among their number.
xxxxThey had clearly all been lying down in relaxed positions, knowing that there was no immediate threat, judging by the varying levels of alarm between them. The leader was clearly alert, from what could be seen with the angels in mind, but hadn’t raised herself upright. The four tighter in the arc had done so.
xxxxThe newcomer’s ears twitched as he saw Heronstar draw nearer, piercing blue eyes fixed right on him.
xxxx“You found him on the border then?” She asked, looking among their numbers.
xxxxBoulderdash was the first to speak.
xxxx“Yep. Well, ‘e was a bi’ insi’ y’know, li’, ‘e-“
xxxx“What Boulderdash means,” Argusheart said, giving Boulderdash a look to tell her to hush, and having to speak over Boulderdash to be heard clearly, resulting in Boulderdash huffing at her. “Is that he was trespassing at the time we found him.”
xxxxThis was, of course, an understatement, as the patrol all knew.
He’d been well within their territory when he’d been found, and his reasoning had been that “no ordinary clan has a territory so large, and I thought that if you were really a clan I’d have left your territory by now” didn’t really explain why he’d even entered the territory in the first place. It was a failing explanation of why he might have stayed, come to think of it.
xxxxChubtail shook his head meaningfully. “He was trespassing with a vengeance.”
xxxxHeronstar nodded at his comment, knowing well that he meant to explain better later on behalf of the patrol, and then nodded at Argusheart too, recognising that she had merely been attempting to give a quick summary so that the loner himself could be dealt with.
xxxx“Moraine, Osierfang, unless I say otherwise, I want you keeping an eye on him.” The two black mackerel tabbies above nodded. Having both just been queens, and Moraine being about to transfer back to being a warrior from that, it was hardly unreasonable to expect them to take the slight deviation from duties as opposed to anybody else.
xxxxHeronstar turned her attention back to the newcomer.
xxxx“What were you doing so far onto our territory?”
xxxxBugleclaw and Knotfish both opened their mouths as if to speak, to recount what he had already told them, but the spotted tabby spoke first.
xxxx“I did not know it was yours. I did not believe that a clan could have so large a territory, and I thought that perhaps the scent markings had just been from travelers.” Pearstone’s tail twitched at hearing that, but on other counts, there was a general nodding of heads. “I was looking for somewhere safe to live, and to – should I still have a chance at it – perhaps start a family there. I did not expect to find a clan, and certainly not one with such an expansive territory.”
xxxx“I see.” Heronstar’s eyes didn’t budge even slightly away from the newcomer. Ploverstripe could practically see the machinations in his mother’s mind, evaluating what had just been said, and the tiny twitch in the hold of her eyes, betraying there was more going on than she was displaying. “And your name?”
xxxx“Swayingtrees.”
xxxx“Unusual, both for a warrior and for a loner.” Said Harrierpelt. “And I certainly wouldn’t have expected a kittypet to have a name like that.”
xxxx“I.” Swayingtrees paused for a moment, and Ploverstripe was sure it was a pause that was just a little too long. “I am like Moraine.”
xxxxHeronstar looked over at Moraine, questioningly. Did you ever meet him?
xxxxMoraine threw the cat equivalent of a shrug back at her leader. This would not have been a smart move if she weren’t so well regarded as she was, but a certain degree of familiarity showed that the gesture was a sign of friendship, rather than disrespect, even to a leader.
xxxx“A tribe cat, then?” Knotfish asked, mildly surprised. As they should be. They’d never encountered other tribe cats at gatherings, and Moraine had been the only tribe cat they’d ever met on patrol. Tribes seemed to be exceedingly rare, and they had only realised many moons later how unusual Moraine was.
xxxx“…Yes.”
xxxx“And which tribe were you from, then?”
xxxx“The tribe of Coastal Swallows.”
xxxxA few cats shot looks at Moraine again, and she pulled the cat-shrug once more. She had no reason to know of every tribe that had ever existed.
xxxx“The Tribe of Rippling Corrie.”
xxxx“Never heard of them.”
xxxx“Likewise.”
xxxx“Perhaps tribes are just so disperate that you couldn’t have maintainted communications?” Droseratail suggested. “We’ve encountered so few tribe cats…” He trailed off a little, in which time there were a few nods. It seemed reasonable enough, although it was strange to see a tribe cat in clan territories, certainly.
xxxxHeronstar’s eyes had fixed back onto Swayingtrees and stil hadn’t moved at all.
xxxx“What I said stands. He’s not to go unsupervised until we know more about him.”
xxxxHeronstar’s being on edge might normally have been suspicious, but the clan well knew why she was being so cautious around strange toms. Goch had been killed outside, after all.

------

xxxxThe new apprentices arrived back into camp proudly. All their mentors had felt it appropriate for their apprentices to learn the most basic skill in how to mind themselves if something dangerous was around. And perhaps, if they learned stealth early, they could even be useful in garnering potential threats to their clans more effectively. After all, should they be able to keep low and watch another trespasser who had come worryingly far into their territory, they could also watch and learn of their motions, and prevent harm to others.
xxxxAll the younger apprentices and their mentors had been able to go out. No member of the clan would have allowed them to become mentors to their youth had they currently be under suspicions of murder by the clan as a whole.
xxxxBut one mentor was.
xxxxNo one wanted to say it forth right, but certain toms… well, they raised suspicion.
xxxxGoch’s body had reeked of tom. It had struck any passer-by with a pungency that had far outstripped that of the fresh body (partly because bodies don’t immediately smell).
xxxx“Oh, don’t worry, I’ll take -paw out training today!” Had been a frequent statement for much of the last moon, with different cats saying it to different others constantly, depending on who suspected whom at any given moment – and not, of course, on who was actually most likely to be guilty, based on the evidence they were all provided. But one mentor had never escaped the comment, much to his irritation.
xxxxAt least the pestering individuals had had the good sense to use this as an opportunity to teach skills he couldn’t. In fact, a lot of them did that.
xxxxWhen Squirrelclaw or Troutstripe took over for someone, they’d often teach a new obscure battle move.
xxxxMartinwhisker and Mosquitowhisker had proven highly talented in demonstrating hunting, and Garganeywhisker’s help in stealth had topped that off.
xxxxDroseratail hadn’t quite embraced teaching how to climb, still feeling guilty about Sealkit’s demise, but, with some gentle prodding from his father, he was getting more and more willing to demonstrate, and some of these apprentices were really turning into keen climbers.
xxxxSaffronstream was the sole cat who specialised in swimming, but those who knew how to swim already – and those taught afresh this moon – got a new opportunity to develop speed and skill there, where before they had only known enough to get themselves to a safe shore.
xxxxNo one really trusted Clarystorm enough to allow him to teach apprentices who weren’t used to him initially – not because they feared he’d do anything bad, but because he was rather… intense, and that wasn’t deemed helpful for any of their current apprentices. But when he had at least a couple other warriors with him, he’d provide a good amount of humourous accounts afterwards to rather raise the moods of most of the apprentices.
xxxxThey really were trying their best to not allow their suspicions to shape the apprentices’ abilities to train, and when the time to apprentice yet another set of apprentices, Heronstar decided not to delay, matching up the kits to whomever she thought would best fit them.
xxxxCairngormkit’s gentleness earned him Vendacethroat, who might be able to bring some fire out.
xxxxRivuletkit and Dipperfish had gotten along well during the warrior’s visits to see her younger cousin.
xxxxMartinwhisker displayed a special level of affection for his young son, and Heronstar knew that he wouldn’t allow Cinquefoilkit to grow into anything other than what he was meant to be.
xxxxFioled always seemed rather reserved and held back from wanting to act, and would often comment about wanting to observe before interfering. This was not unwise, but Squirrelclaw should be able to show him how to act once he was done observing, and how to integrate those together.
xxxxLlosgi Llyn was assigned his father of course, as per his request.
xxxxTymestl’s reservedness, even from her own litter, was a source of mild concern, and so Heronstar had assigned her the most talkative warrior in the clan, Lobeliafur, to be her mentor, so as to get her used to talking with others.
xxxxEven at such a young age, Eryr had an enormous sense of self-confidence to her, and she often saw glimmers of that in Ospreystorm. In a sense, it often seemed that the constant calls to vigilance were really a reflection of her confidence, her assurance that she was guarding the clan as much as was expected from her. Maybe that confidence could be bolstered further; boldness was no bad trait. But if Ospreystorm was ever going to have an apprentice, they would need to already be confident and assertive, and surely Eryr fit that.
xxxxMôr certainly had a brain worthy of many leaders in that tiny skull of his. You could see flashes of genius in his eyes – and of course, this was true of all of Pearstone’s kits – but, unlike his siblings, he seemed like he mostly wanted to find some way to apply that, rather than to be intelligent for intelligence’s sake. Mosquitowhisker was a sensible choice, being intelligent herself, but also being able to apply that into her skills, being one of the craftiest hunters in the clan, and rightly earning her suffix.
xxxxIt was hard to avoid the feeling now, with so many warriors training apprentices, that the good choices for each new kit were waning rapidly. Not in that any warrior would be a bad mentor, but in that they might not match their future apprentice nearly so well as they had been able to achieve in the past.
xxxxBut there was probably no need to worry. Gustclan had, as of yet, always had plenty of warriors, and a few of their apprentices looked ready to become one soon.
xxxxAnd yet… Heronstar was deeply hesitant of promoting anyone to warrior just yet.
xxxxIf the killer had been an older male apprentice – and one of those ready to be a warrior was – then it would be a shame to appoint them now, only to strip their name immediately after Pearstone was done. No. They’d just train in something new this moon, and they’d become warriors a few days before the moon grew full. It wasn’t too long a wait. Not when thought of with the knowledge of the murderer in their midst.