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tigerpelt is a first generation earthclan tom with brown fur and a lighter underbelly. he was born as tigerkit to crowflight and hareheart. as an apprentice he was given to palefur, and received his warrior name after a battle. as a warrior, tigerpelt mentored honeyshade and his daughter iceclaw. he became mates with blackflower and had two litters of kits with her- hawkflight and shadowflame in the first and iceclaw and whitestep in the second. he was made deputy after darkflight’s retirement.
Something is amiss in Crystalclan. Redstar is able to predict their every move, making it clear that there is a mole in their Clan. Shimmersky, Tigerpelt, and Mudfoot try to to reveal the traitor within their ranks, all while Shimmersky deals with the ghosts of her past
Tigerpelt and Shimmersky were huddled outside of Four Corners, away from everyone else. Shimmersky couldn’t risk someone overhearing.
“I’m going to lure Nightflower into the woods. You need to let every one of our clanmates know… discretely.” Shimmersky finished.
Tigerpelt looked nervous. “But… we’ll be putting Nightflower in danger if one of those patrol members were the spy.”
Shimmersky sighed. “I know, but we need to rule them out. If nobody goes to go attack Nightflower, then we know it’s not one of the patrol members.”
“What if… someone goes to meet her instead of killing her?” Tigerpelt said, vocalizing something that Shimmersky didn’t want to think about.
“Then…” she trailed off. “We have to consider that Nightflower was the spy.”
“But she’s the prophecy cat!”
“All the more reason to work with Redstar to secure her safety.” Shimmersky muttered. “Dozens to spare one.”
Tigerpelt didn’t respond.
“We’ll do it after the announcements. Come on, the Gathering is starting.”
With that, the two cats returned to the Gathering.
—
Badgerstar started the Gathering this moon.
“We have had a very eventful moon.” he started. “There are five new kits in the clan. Treeclan welcomes Starlingkit, Forestkit, and Sandykit of Lynxclaw, and Berrykit and Shrubkit of Gustfog.”
Treeclan usually announced the parentage of kits, she had come to notice. They had a large emphasis on bloodline, so that came as no surprise. Her friend Lynxclaw’s kits were not given the same cheering as Gustfog’s, she noticed. Gustfog was a cat with a higher viewed lineage.
“Though unfortunately, an outbreak of yellowcough has claimed four of our warriors. We honor Alderhoney, Shinewhisker, Stonepelt, and my daughter, Brokenpad.” he dipped his head down.
That was all he had. Next, Finchstar had his announcements. Shimmersky noticed that he also had a saddened look on his face. Likely, one of his children also died.
“We have two new warriors, Guppytail and Lavenderpelt.” he started. He paused to allow the clans to cheer their names.
“And, four new kits. All healthy.” Finchstar continued. “But unfortunately, one of our own has died. My son, Topclash… he will be remembered.”
He bowed his head down. So did the new warriors Guppytail and Lavenderpelt— they were Topclash’s children, Shimmersky reasoned.
Finchstar stepped back, and Redstar replaced him.
Shimmersky could see it in his eyes— there was a sense of humor twinkling in those serene pools of red. He was laughing to himself about something, she realized. But what?
“We have had a good moon. Nothing new to report specifically, though our kits are growing well. The queens have… bitten off more than they can chew, in my opinion.”
With that, he audibly chuckled to himself. He looked back at Darkstar. “Your turn now.”, his eyes seemed to say.
Darkstar took his place at the front.
“We have one new kit.” he said, “and our clan is thriving!”
That was all he had to say.
As he stepped back, Redstar whispered something in to Darkstar’s ear. Darkstar’s face went cold, and his eyes widened to show the whites. Shimmersky could figure what he said.
“Congrats on the new kit.”
Her claws dug into the ground. That lake-damned monster!
However, that didn’t narrow anything down. Everyone in the clan knew about Ravenkit’s miraculous rebirth. She just hoped that Redstar wouldn’t attack the clan to get to her.
—
It was strange, meeting with her other-clanned friends. Lynxclaw was nowhere to be found (due to giving birth, of course). Without her, it felt a bit odd. Firefall was very happy about her new siblings, though. Apparently the four kits announced were Rainleaf and Bloomfur’s. The two had found a donor outside of the clan. Shimmersky noticed that they were mostly given names associated with the forest. Branchkit, Twigkit, Mossykit… she wouldn’t say it, but she suspected that the donor was from Treeclan.
Shimmersky turned to Nightflower.
“Hey, do you think you could meet me outside of Four Corners? It’s important.”
“Just wait for me to go see Gingerclaw really quick, ok?” Shimmersky added.
Nightflower’s face immediately turned sour.
“No, no, no. You always take forever when you do that!” she said indignantly.
“You have to go wait out there for me now. I promise I’ll only take a bit!”
Shimmersky batted her lashes in an innocent manner.
Nightflower sighed. “Fine… I guess.”
With that, she turned and left the building, slipping through one of the rotted planks on the wall.
Shimmersky waited a moment, before stalking after her. She flicked her tail as she passed Tigerpelt. He nodded in response.
—
“Huh, I just watched Nightflower leave! How weird! I wonder what she’s doing?” Tigerpelt mused loudly.
“This is the fourth time you’ve said that, Tigerpelt. I think everyone in the clan knows already. N-not to be mean, of course.” Sandstone said, looking awkward.
Tigerpelt shrugged. “Ok, good.”
He didn’t bother to stick around, leaving Sandstone behind where he stood. Off to find someone else!
He saw his mother speaking with Gingerclaw. They were off to the side, so they were probably the only ones who hadn’t heard.
Well, besides Mudfoot and Darkstar, since he hadn’t talked to them. But he didn’t need to worry about them being the spy.
He bounded towards Leopardcloud and Lionmane.
“—I understand if you want nothing to do with us.” Leopardcloud looked down. “But… I figured… it was time for you to know. You deserved that much, Ginger.”
He stopped in his tracks. He… probably shouldn’t be hearing this. But he couldn’t look away.
Gingerclaw looked conflicted as he stared at the ground.
“I’ve… always wondered about my parentage, to be honest. I guess… I had my suspicions, but I figured it couldn’t be too easy.” he looked up at Leopardcloud. “I won’t fault you for not being there was I was younger. It wasn’t your choice. But… I want you to be my parent now. Can you do that?”
Leopardcloud nodded. “Of course, Ginger.”
“Shimmersky and I are planning on having kits soon. We’ve already started plotting our spot in the nursery. I want you to be there as a grandmother to our kits. Lionmane too. Shimmersky doesn’t really have parents… so you being there would be really helpful for us.” Gingerclaw explained.
“Of course. We’ll help you every step of the way.” Leopardcloud licked the top of Gingerclaw’s head. “Now, we just need to let your younger siblings know.”
“No need to tell me.” Tigerpelt finally said. “I— uh, heard it.”
Leopardcloud smiled to her younger son. “Tigerpelt. I hope this didn’t come as too much of a surprise.”
Tigerpelt was a bit uncomfortable. “I guess… I knew we had other siblings, but I didn’t expect Gingerclaw to be one of them.”
Leopardcloud looked down. “Yes… I suppose you wouldn’t have. I’m sorry for… keeping this from all of you for so long.”
Tigerpelt looked at his friend— no, his brother— who still looked sad.
“It doesn’t matter what happened in the past.” Gingerclaw said. “What matters now is what we do going forward. I may not have known you as my mother or you as my brother… but, my future kits won’t have to live a life where they didn’t know that. They’ll just grow up with a grandma and grandpa and many aunts and uncles.”
Tigerpelt nodded. “I think I’d be a cool uncle.”
Leopardcloud mrrped with laughter. “I’m sure you will be.”
—
Shimmersky had followed Nightflower through the brush, careful to stay hidden. Her dappled pelt was good for camouflage— it looked like pinpricks of moonlight on the foliage.
Now, Nightflower merely waited in a clearing, her displeasure evident on her face. Nightflower, who never complained much and would do anything for her friends, would sit in the darkness away from everyone, alone.
Unaware of the trap she was caught in.
It wasn’t long before rustling sounded ahead of Nightflower. Shimmersky unsheathed her claws and prepared to attack… either the assailant, or Nightflower… if it came to that.
But Shimmersky did not expect who came out of the brush.
In the night, the cat looked almost a bright yellow… glowing with the light of the full moon.
“Hey… are you ok?”
Nightflower noticed the interloper immediately.
“Sandstone? You followed me?”
Sandstone smiled.
“Yeah. I think Tigerpelt wanted me to follow you. Are you alright?”
Nightflower looked at the ground, then at her visitor.
“Shimmersky asked me to meet her here, but then she went off to go talk with Gingerclaw. So I’ve just been sitting out on this cold night alone in the dark— oh Sandstone, what am I even doing?”
Tears dripped down her face as she spoke, pain clearly visible even to Shimmersky.
Shimmersky felt a pang of regret.
Sandstone dipped down and nuzzled her reassuringly.
“I’m sorry, Nightflower. I’m here now.”
She didn’t speak for a bit, just standing in his warmth.
“Hey, Sandstone?”
“Mhm?” he hummed in acknowledgment.
“Do you want to be mates?”
He was quiet for a moment.
“I would like nothing more.” he finally said.
Shimmersky herself was almost on the verge of tears. What was she thinking? Doubting her own best friend… putting her in mortal danger? She… had to fix this.
She stepped out of her hiding spot. “N-Nightflower, I’m here. Sorry… for making you wait.”
Nightflower and Sandstone jumped a bit. He took a step away from her, though he weaved his tail around hers.
Nightflower looked at her friend. “Shimmersky, why did you ask me to come out here?”
“Well…” Shimmersky took a breath. “There’s a spy somewhere in our clan.”
Sandstone’s fur bristled. “A what?!” he looked at Nightflower, who looked calm.
“I knew it…” Nightflower said. “You’d been acting weird. So someone is a spy?”
Shimmersky nodded. “I don’t know who it is… but I know it’s not you or Sandstone. I want to keep you safe, Nightflower. Please tell me how.”
Nightflower looked down. “Who are you planning this with?”
“Tigerpelt and Mudfoot.” she responded.
Nightflower looked at Sandstone, who nodded.
“We need to test them. Let’s start with Tigerpelt.” Nightflower started. “Something harmless, but would definitively prove that Tigerpelt isn’t the spy. We’ll have to separate him from Mudfoot so that they don’t talk to each other.”
“Mudfoot and Rainfeather go out to collect herbs before sunhigh every day.” Sandstone said. “Maybe Shimmersky could lead a patrol with Tigerpelt at that time?”
Shimmersky’s eyes sparkled. “I have an idea.”
“Let’s hear it.” Nightflower said.
“The day half moon, I’ll say that I’ll be leading a border patrol to Swampclan. When Mudfoot and Rainfeather are searching for herbs, I’ll tell everyone still in the camp that the patrol will be at the Treeclan border instead. One of us will watch Mudfoot and see if Tigerpelt tries to tell her, just in case. But we won’t follow Tigerpelt until the patrol. We’ll go to the Swampclan border anyways, and if Redstar has a patrol to meet us… we’ll know the truth or not.”
Sandstone looks conflicted. “How will we know that Redstar will send a patrol to meet us?”
Shimmersky tapped her forehead with her claw.
“Simple. Redstar wants one thing above all else— control. He wants us to believe that he’s omnipotent. That’s why there’s always a Swampclan patrol when we go to that border. He wants to control the narrative. So yes, there will be a patrol there… as long as he knows we’ll be there.”
Nightflower nodded. “Let’s do it.”
Shimmersky looked at her friends. Part of loving someone is trusting yourself to be vulnerable with them. And while Shimmersky struggled with that, she knew that if she ever wanted to make it in this world… she had to trust someone. So in that moment… Shimmersky decided.
She would put her trust in Nightflower, as she put her trust in Gingerclaw. She would trust Sandstone. She would trust her friends.
