DAWNSTAR
- The oldest cat in the Clan rose to her paws, arching her spinal column upwards, thus also stretching her legs, while the base of her tail curled upwards. Relaxing from the posture now her muscles were stretched, she flicked her right ear to show that she approved of his plan. A quick nod and slow blink to Sparrowpaw in order to wish him a good morning, she once more turned to her deputy. "I would prefer for the border patrol to wait for my hunting patrol to return before setting off: the patrols must remain as small as possible and will have to become more frequent until we have more warriors." It would be a long road until they had enough warriors. Just four seasons ago, in the previous leafbare, they had many warriors and were able to keep up border patrols easily along with many hunting patrols. The loss of so many warriors had left her Clan weak and prone to attack.
"I will head out now with Firelight and Robinpaw. We will not be long." Turning away, Dawnstar bounded across the camp to the warrior and apprentice, surprisingly agile for a cat of her age. "Robinpaw, could you please go and get Cinderpaw for me? We are all going on a quick hunting patrol so that I can assess your skills." Her haunches folded under her thickly-furred body as she waited for her ginger-pelted apprentice to appear. The sooner they set off, the better, as they could return sooner and then the border patrol could go about their business. Right now, finding food among the ash was more important than defending their borders: not many cats would come near such a cursed territory.
