Eskerhope didn’t know if this was a good idea, but she knew she had to leave.
Every day she spent in her den, managing the prey piles, and repairing the dens, she keeps hearing her clanmates talk about traitors that defy Starclan itself. It’s been the talk of gatherings, subjects of clan meetings, and even a cause of war.
She’s sick of it. The rumors of these so-called “traitors” existing might not even be true. She’s never even seen one, even though the others claim they’re extremely visible. Just the thought of them existing seems to be driving Zinniaclan mad, however… and if they’re being driven mad, she’s being driven mad.
That’s why she’s here now, searching the plains for anywhere suitable to live. The journey is quite exhausting… but her train of thought got interrupted by a booming voice from the nearby forests.
“Eskerhope! What are you doing out here alone? The plan was for all of us to go together! As a group!”
Eskerhope chuckled. “Where’s your apprentice then, Leopardscut?”
Silence. The long-furred tortie sat in silence before yelling for her apprentice, Eskerhope laughing at the thought for a whole 2 seconds…
Until she saw a hole that was too big to even fit a badger… crawling inside, she found a network of tunnels, along with several leaf nests, almost all of them growing mold. Clearly, this place used to belong to a larger community… but for some reason, it was abandoned…
Aside from all of that… She probably wouldn’t mind this place being her new home.
Eskerhope has joined the clan. (Eskerhope: A medium-furred tan and white she-cat)
The clan has encountered Leopardscut. (Leopardscut: A muscular long-furred orange and brown tortie she-cat)
Vortexcurl’s warrior ceremony was supposed to be exciting, and to be fair, it was. But Owlweb thought there was something more important to tend to.
Cats that aren’t pregnant can produce milk, sure, but usually it’s not by choice. It’s against the Warrior Code to neglect kits in danger, and Grousekit and Cometkit are in danger of starving.
During the ceremony, Owlweb slipped out of camp, approaching the Mooclan border. He talked with her before about this, and she said she’d ask Softstar. Now, she’s back, barely able to look Owlweb in the eyes.
“Well… he agreed, but I’ll have to come back to Mooclan eventually. I hope you can understand, Owlweb…”
“Coco, I didn’t even think he’d agree! This is amazing! Now I just hope Lightclan won’t be suspicious… especially since-“
“They’re yours? Yeah. Half-Clan relationships aren’t exactly a good thing…”
“…I was going to say “especially since this seems extremely improbable,” but… yeah. That too. Just follow me!”
Owlweb started to walk back to camp. The Mooclan cat hesitated before stepping into Lightclan territory. Everything in camp was normal after the ceremony, and Owlweb spoke with Eskerstar.
“This is Cocospeck. Softstar agreed to let her stay here for a couple of moons to feed the kits. She’ll leave as soon as everything’s situated, ok?”
Cocospeck touched noses with Eskerstar. “Pleasure to meet you. I’ll go right to the nursery.” She exposed a slightly swollen belly. “…For both the kits here and the kits that will come.”
Vortexcurl became a warrior!
Owlweb brings a Mooclan cat to camp. Cocospeck agrees to stay… temporarily, of course.
Cocospeck is expecting kits. She moves right into the nursery!
(Eskerstar: A medium-furred tan and white she-cat)
(Owlweb: A long-furred dark brown smokepoint tom)
(Vortexcurl: A medium-furred white and striped orange tom (PC: Body Biter))
(Cocospeck: A long-furred light brown and white she-cat with dark brown spots)
Yeah… you wonder what Owlweb did on moon 12? I’ll give you a hint: It could rhyme with fate or muck.
Also, the reason why I didn’t put a lot of attention on Vortexcurl’s warrior ceremony? I didn’t want to check the save to see what he was honored for.
Their first memories shouldn’t have been of their dying mother seeing them for the first and last time. Their first memories shouldn’t have been an argument about where they go… but they had to live.
It wouldn’t be right to leave kits to die. Owlweb was initially against taking them from Mooclan, but it was better than leaving them there alone, crying for their mother. Little Grousekit also protested with angry meeps, but nobody was listening to his side of things.
Once the patrol made it back to the clan, Owlweb approached Eskerstar, so she could have a say. She’s the leader, after all,
“We have a problem. We had to help a Mooclan queen give birth, but she died during the process. Her kits are alive, but we’re stuck on where to bring them.”
“Well, where was she?”
“The border. She was crying for help, too… there was no one with her, either.”
Eskerstar pondered for a moment… he made some points against Mooclan, but it still felt… a little wrong. So she decided to compromise. “We’ll keep them here for now, but if we find either parent or Mooclan warrior searching for them, we return them, alright? If not, they’ll grow up to be Lightclan cats. Is it ok if I see them?”
“…Of course!”
Owlweb led Eskerstar to the nursery, where Auburnkit and Clementine were having a small argument.
“There’s no way these are cats!” Auburnkit said. “They’re too small and weird-looking!” He shoved his face against Cometkit’s, who was currently under Grousekit. “Hello? Do you know what I’m saying, little mousie?”
“If his ears were open, he would have been really upset. These are baby babies! Before you know it, they’ll be able to see, hear, and play with you!”
“Nuh uh! They’re gonna be so weak!”
Eskerstar turned to Owlweb. “So… how are we going to get milk to them?”
Owlweb looked like he already knew the answer, but he still responded with… “Good question.”
Grousekit and Cometkit joined the clan.
(Eskerstar: A medium-furred tan and white she-cat)
(Owlweb: A long-furred dark brown smokepoint tom)
(Clementine: A short-furred dark grey and white tom wearing a blue harness on his back)
(Auburnkit: A medium-furred tom whose fur is various shades of reddish-brown (Pronouns: He/him/his/himself, hiss/hiss/hisses/hissself))
(Grousekit: A small, medium-furred tom whose fur is many shades of brown)
(Cometkit: A short-furred dark brown speckled tom)
The answer is: “We’re cats, Eskerstar. Apparently non-pregnant cats can still feed these things.”
Eskerstar had something special in mind for today. The clan probably needs some work on their fighting, so she called a clan meeting.
“Cats of Lightclan, I feel like we need to learn how to defend our clan. We’re gonna be hosting a sparring tournament! Everyone find a partner, and whoever wins a spar gets to match with someone else, until one cat is marked as the winner! Does that sound fun?”
Murmurs of agreement spread throughout the crowd. After that, Eskerstar led the clan outside, where the leaf-bare snow was starting to melt a little. “Then let’s get to sparring!”
The cats faced off in “battle.” Skuashriek and Crevasserise paired up (mainly to watch as they were tired and in pain), Rimeheart paired with Owlweb, Cinnamonpuddle paired with Taffy, Vortexpaw paired with Leopardscut, Doodle surprisingly paired with Clementine, and Trinity paired with Eskerstar herself.
On Cinnamonpuddle and Taffy’s side, it was pure chaos. Taffy had managed a bit of a pin, but Cinnamonpuddle used her back legs to kick Taffy in the stomach. Taffy lost his grip on the younger cat, and then she pounced right on him!
“Hey! Claws sheathed! Claws sheathed! You were scratching my-“ Taffy started to slip on the wet grass, and soon fell next to a bush. It didn’t have thorns, but when Cinnamonpuddle hit some of the sticks, the force of impact was enough to give her some scrapes.
“Not cool, old man! I was so close to winning!”
Taffy stood up, showing the claw-marks on his belly.
“Oh… right. That was… that was deserved, huh? Why… why don’t we take a break?”
Taffy laid back down. “If Eskerstar allows it… but I’ll say that you definitely won.”
Meanwhile, Vortexpaw was sparring with Leopardscut, but Leopardscut noticed a strange look in his eyes. Something was wrong.
“Hey… do you still miss Lightningbush?”
Vortexpaw stopped with whatever he was doing and looked down. “Well… I know he’s safe… but I’ve… I’ve just been having these dreams. Like locusts stripping the leaves off of a really tall tree… I… I don’t know.”
“That prophecy? Just… don’t let it get to your head. You have to get some sleep, ok?”
Vortexpaw nodded, then he went right back to sparring. He had a little more energy than the past few moons!
With Eskerstar and Trinity, they knocked over a large tree branch, and it was heading for Vortexpaw! Eskerstar threw herself in its path to save him… even though it hurt a lot. That was the only main thing that happened, and Eskerstar decided that Trinity should go ahead.
And lastly, with Doodle and Clementine, Doodle realized that Clementine was actually pretty good at this for a cat who spent all day in the nursery! Clementine seemingly just noticed his own skill too…
“Hey, maybe I should think about becoming a real warrior! Then, I’d be able to-“
He noticed Doodle glaring at her, and he backed off.
“…Never mind.”
Cinnamonpuddle overdid her last sparring session, and now has some scrapes.
Taffy has a stomachache.
Vortexpaw feels like he can rise with the sun instead of wishing it’d let him sleep.
Vortexpaw’s rash has cleared.
Eskerstar prevents something from falling on Vortexpaw.
Clementine wonders if being a warrior would have been more fun.
(Eskerstar: A medium-furred tan and white she-cat)
(Leopardscut: A muscular, long-furred tortie orange and brown she-cat)
(Crevasserise: A short-furred orange rosette tom)
(Skuashriek: A long-furred black and white she-cat with mist gathering at her paws (B-class Guide, PC: Lunar Shifter))
(Taffy: A short, medium-furred rosette dark brown tom with lighter brown highlights)
(Trinity: A tall, medium-furred black and white tom)
(Doodle: A short-furred, mostly black tortie she-cat with a white face, paws, and chest and orange cheeks and tail tip)
(Cinnamonpuddle: A medium-furred brown she-cat)
(Rimeheart: A short-furred greenish-yellow and white tom)
(Owlweb: A long-furred dark brown smokepoint tom)
(Vortexpaw: A medium-furred white and striped orange tom (PC: Body Biter))
(Clementine: A short-furred dark grey and white tom wearing a blue harness on his back)
Man… that’s a lot of cats. And it’s only been one year!
Also, Rimeheart and Owlweb are having a wimpy slap fight. /j
Skuashriek and Crevasserise were in the medicine den, making somewhat pleasant conversation. There wasn’t a lot of work that needed to be done as far as they were aware aside from checking on the current patients and making sure they’re alright.
“So, you’re telling me that you had a friend that could speak… to bees?” Crevasserise asked.
“Not just bees! Flora could understand and speak to a good few species… although, that does have the consequence of not being able to hunt without crying at the thought of killing something that has feelings. I always hunted for her because of that…”
“Yeah, I don’t think I’d be able to handle hunting if the prey told me that it had hopes and dreams.”
Eskerstar walked into the medicine den while the medicine cats were talking, with Auburnkit close behind her. “Skiashriek, Crevasserise, do you guys have a moment? Cinnamonpuddle and I found this kit- Auburnkit, while we were on patrol. We know he’s sick, but I just want to make sure it isn’t something like kittencough or silvercough!”
“Noooooo… dob’t… I dob’t… choo! I dob’t wanna…” Auburnkit was hanging onto Eskerstar’s leg for dear life, sniffing after he sneezed again.
Skuashriek approached the kit. “It’s alright. We’re not gonna do anything scary. Worst case, you might not like how the herbs taste.”
Skuashriek picked up Auburnkit, who loudly complained about this whole thing. Crevasserise poured some honey on a makeshift bowl made of dock leaves, before Skuashriek put Auburnkit down in front of it.
“Here’s a deal: We’ll give you this nice sweet treat, and you’ll behave, alright? Plus, if your throat hurts, then this might help it.”
Auburnkit, having absolutely no idea that lying exists, started lapping up the golden liquid in front of him. It didn’t taste as sweet as he was expecting, but it was still a nice gesture. While he was doing that, Skuashriek gently put two of her front toes on his head.
“Mmmm… he’s a little warm.” She pulled her paw back, then sat in front of the kit. “Auburnkit, can you open your mouth nice and wide?”
Auburnkit opened his mouth, and Skuashriek lowered her head to look inside. It just looked a little red, and that was it… Skuashriek hastily ended that step when Auburnkit looked like he was going to sneeze once again. Thankfully, it was just a false warning.
Skuashriek approached Eskerstar, with Auburnkit following her close behind. When Auburnkit was close enough to Eskerstar, he waddled up to her and plopped down by her side.
“It seems like he just has a cold. I suggest that he stays in the nursery for now until he heals. If he starts coughing, go to the medicine den immediately just in case it has progressed. Also, Eskerstar, I’d like you to visit us for a few days just in case you start showing symptoms. I haven’t heard a lot about kits infecting adults, but it’s still very possible. You got all that?”
“Yes, ma’am. Now, Auburnkit, let’s go to the nursery!”
“…ugh… ok…”
Auburnkit has a running nose.
(Eskerstar: A medium-furred tan and white she-cat)
(Crevasserise: A short-furred orange rosette tom)
(Skuashriek: A long-furred black and white she-cat with mist gathering at her paws (B-class Guide, PC: Lunar Shifter))
(Auburnkit: A medium-furred tom whose fur is various shades of reddish-brown (Pronouns: He/him/his/himself, hiss/hiss/hisses/hissself))
Even though Skuashriek is mentally ill, that doesn’t mean that she’s a bad medicine cat.
After the whole ceremony, Cinnamonpuddle and Eskerstar went to find a bite to eat in the cold, leaf-bare weather. Unsurprisingly, they couldn’t find anything that could fill their bellies.
“Eskerstar… can we go back to camp already? We’re going to be wasting energy chasing nonexistent prey!”
“Yeah, you’re probably right. Fine. Let’s go home.”
Eskerstar turned around, but immediately heard a cry from some bushes nearby.
“MUMMA! MUMMA! I GIBE UB! YOU CAN… you can cobe out dow… mumma? MUMMA!!!”
Eskerstar looked at Cinnamonpuddle and slowly approached the bushes. There was a small kit, no more than a moon old, crying for his mom. She hadn’t seen any other cat around since the snowstorm of last moon… oh. Oh fuck.
Cinnamonpuddle approached the bushes as well, and the kit noticed them. “Habe you seed my mumma? She… she wanded do play hide-and-seeg… and I can’t find her!”
Eskerstar had to tell the poor kitten the truth. He’d likely die out here. “No… I’m so sorry… look, can you tell me your name? I don’t know if she’s coming back.”
The kit started to tear up as he looked at Eskerstar. “Uh… my name… it’s… uh… au… AH-CHOO!” The kit suddenly sneezed, and tried sniffing up some snot that came out of his nose. Eskerstar visibly recoiled, but soon her look grew to concern.
“Oh… does kitty have the sniffles?”
“Does kitty have manners? Eskerstar, he sneezed all over you!” Cinnamonpuddle was clearly not happy with any of this.
Eskerstar turned towards Cinnamonpuddle. “Cinnamon, he can hear you!” She turned back to the kitten. “Look, my friend doesn’t mean what she says… just… we’re getting you back to camp as soon as possible. Again… what’s your name?”
“Au… Auburn… why?”
“Well, until we either find your mom or you turn 6 moons old, you’re gonna be known as Auburnkit, alright?” She grabbed the kit by his scruff and started to walk back to camp. “N’w c’me ‘n, there are cats here that w’ld l’ve to meet you!”
“Ah-choo! Ugh… ok…”
Eskerstar and Cinnamonpuddle find an abandoned kit on patrol and decide to bring him back to camp.
Auburnkit is sick.
(Eskerstar: A medium-furred tan and white she-cat)
(Cinnamonpuddle: A medium-furred brown she-cat)
(Auburnkit: A medium-furred tom whose fur is various shades of reddish-brown (Pronouns: He/him/his/himself, hiss/hiss/hisses/hissself))
See how much effort I put just to keep note of hisses pronouns? Here’s translations for the congested kitten speak and fur-in-mouth talk.
[“Mumma! Mumma! I give up! You can… you can come out now… mumma? Mumma!!!”]
[“Have you seen my mumma? She… she wanted to play hide-and-seek… and I can’t find her!”]
[“Now come on, there are cats here that would love to meet you!”]
Also, guess which cat isn’t a huge fan of kits. I’ll wait.
“May all cats who can hunt their own prey gather in front of the leader’s nest for a clan meeting!”
Once again, Leopardscut was startled awake from a pretty good sleep. She knew her mate was an early bird, but she didn’t think THIS early! She lethargically went and walked over to the leader’s nest, where the rest of the clan was already sitting. Leopardscut tried to blink the sleep out of her eyes as she sat down and looked at Eskerstar, waiting for her to start.
“As you all know, Flurrydancer, our deputy, has tragically passed away… though we had lost someone so important so early, we need to lift ourselves up and move on… and that means choosing a new deputy to take his place.”
There was a pause. Leopardscut looked around the clan while thinking… all of the warriors seem too young and inexperienced… and those that are experienced have never mentored an apprentice before.
“Leopardscut, may you please step forward?”
Of course, Leopardscut forgot about herself. She stepped forward anyway, though she was a little shocked.
“You have been a valuable clanmate for the entire clan. You make sure that we’re safe from any and all threats that might come our way. Do you agree to take over my position if things go south and be in charge of future patrols?”
Leopardscut’s voice shaked, but she knew this was for the good of the clan. She finally uttered two very important words… “I do.”
“Then for now on unless something changes, I hereby announce that Leopardscut is to be the deputy of Lightclan!”
Leopardscut didn’t expect any of this… the cats wanting her word… and accepting her for who she was… but she liked every second of it.
Leopardscut is appointed as deputy of Lightclan!
(Eskerstar: A medium-furred tan and white she-cat)
(Leopardscut: A muscular, long-furred tortie orange and brown she-cat)
Clementine’s been a little mad about Doodle rejecting him, so Eskertsar decided to give him some advice. They laid down at the entrance of the camp so that the sun that started to break through the dense clouds could hit them with warmth they desperately needed.
“I don’t get it. I’m the perfect cat for her! She’s just playing hard to get at this point!” Clementine just kept complaining and complaining…
“Well, maybe she doesn’t like it when you go too strong. I bet she would love you if you were a little more patient.”
“But that’s the thing! I can’t just wait! She’s a street cat! There was likely a time when she almost died just because she was walking the wrong way!” Clementine paused, his breath shaking. “I just don’t want to miss the chance to love her.”
“Doodle’s strong. She has a clan to protect her. You’re part of the clan that protects her. You have time. I promise.” Eskerstar’s face made it clear that she didn’t know what was going on happen. “Sometimes you just have to wait.”
Eskerstar stood up, looking in her camp. Leopardscut was looking at Flurrydancer’s body, just sitting there until Cinnamonpuddle accidentally startled her.
“I’m sorry, but I need to go. I need to appoint a new deputy. I understand where you’re coming from, but… please take my advice, ok?”
“…Ok.”
Eskerstar and Clementine understand each other more.
Lightclan has no deputy!
(Eskerstar: A medium-furred tan and white she-cat)
(Clementine: a short-furred dark grey and white tom wearing a blue harness on his back)
(Leopardscut: A muscular, long-furred tortie orange and brown she-cat)
