The Exile wrote:whispers of confusion had been spiralling around the camp after the bodies of koisplash and pinefrost were brought back from the river- a puncture wound, a bite mark on the throat of pinefrost and a few recent scratches littering his pelt indicated there was a fight, a struggle, at least, but there was nothing visible on koisplash’s calico pelt that could say the same for her. was it murder, sabotauge, or an accident? the clan couldn’t tell.
“riverclan,” cranestar had called, the cats of her clan gathered beneath the rock where she was perched, “as most of you know, koisplash and pinefrost were found dead by the riverbank by patrols this morning.” a few murmurs had followed, but by now, the news of the pair’s death had made its way around camp.
“riverclan scent had been found along the bank where the bodies had been discovered, but that isn’t clear enough to tell us what happened. two of our clanmates are dead, and we need to get to the bottom of this.”
before she could continue, however, the odd-eyed leader was cut off by a cry in the crowd.
“this can’t have been an accident, cranestar, there must of been some kind of foul play.” daydream spoke, his fawn-coloured tail hooked as he gave a glance over his shoulder at the yet-to-be-buried bodies, “with her leg, koisplash shouldn’t have been able to take on pinefrost and kill him without being injured herself, and yet she ended up dead in the river with no visible injuries.”
spiderpaw nodded in agreement, and shifted his paws. mallardpaw's amber gaze, glossed over with tears, darted to the bodies. hawkgaze's tail was pulled in close to his body, shoulders tense. cranestar looked grim at the confirmations of her suspicions, and even more so when a hushed chatter began to float through the air.
"it was must have been a murder then!"
"what do you say we do, cranestar?"
"given the scent..."
"...but who would..."
"silence!"
the surrounding cats fell quiet at the yell of their leader, their attention pulled towards the molly on the rock. "we will cast a vote. the cat with the most votes will be deemed guilty and exiled from the clan."
the silence remained for a few moments longer. nobody wished to exile one of their clanmates out of a clan so already so small that it was struggling to hold it's ground. uneasiness filled the air, and cranestar's eyes locked with daydream's, the tom shying under her gaze. a few more eyes went the medicine cat's way.
"i believe it was daydream- he could had killed them out of jealousy that they were better warriors than he was."
it was cranestar that spoke up first, flipbeetle hesitating a moment before she nodded in agreement. spiderpaw looked over at the two mollies in shock, taking a defensive step towards his mentor, his ears low. the hairs on the back of daydream's neck began to bristle as frecklepaw voiced her agreement, and spiderpaw felt the tom's muscles stiffen beside him when she continued to speak. "he left his warrior training, didn't he? he must always have been jealous of pinefrost, that's why he took his brother under his wing to prove himself better."
"it wasn't me!" the tom's fur bristled as he straightened his posture, his gaze growing cold as he stared up at the snowy leader, ears pinned to the side of his head, "i would never do such a thing! i'm your medicine cat-" he tensed, "i'm here to heal, not hurt!"
"i'm not voting. i- i can't send a cat to exile without being 100% certain," spiderpaw paused, and shot a look towards daydream, "especially if they're my mentor. i can't. i won't lose him too."
the other cats in the clearing were silent. there were no more votes.
"daydream," cranestar mewed, her odd-coloured eyes unreadable as she stared down at the tom, "you are hereby banished from riverclan for the murder of koisplash and pinefrost. if you are seen on our territory again, we will not hesitate to kill you."
"no, please- you can't exile me! i'm your medicine cat!"
with a stiff nod from cranestar, flipbeetle stepped towards the cream coloured tom, and he stepped backwards in retaliation. "don't make this hard for us," she whispered, "please leave."
hurt flickered over daydream's features as he looked to his apprentice for help, only to find the red tom kneading his paws, clearly distraught. he had just lost his brother- he didn't know what to do. "spiderpaw, before i go," the older tom spoke up, shooting a sharp look at cranestar, who had stiffened as he spoke, before he looked back at his apprentice.
"i, daydream, medicine cat of riverclan, 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 in my place." flipbeetle stepped closer, trying to usher him away, and cause as little commotion as she could, as spiderpaw and the surrounding cats watched on in an uneasy silence. "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 life?"
"daydream-" cranestar attempted to interject. flipbeetle gave him a light nudge, but he stood firm, defiance in his eyes.
spiderpaw choked. he was making this harder than it had to be, and it hurt. "...i do, daydream. but please, i-"
"then by the powers of starclan, i give you your true name as a medicine cat. spiderpaw, from this moment you will be known as spiderleaf. save this clan where i obviously cannot."
and, with that, the exiled had turned away, and walked out of camp without a further word.
an innocent cat has been exiled! have you made the right decision?
spiderpaw is now spiderleaf, and flipbeetle has been appointed deputy.