Honeyglow

A large broken mackerel ginger tom with rusty tones and green eyes

Honeyglow is a large, broken mackerel ginger tom with a rusty, rich warm cast to his fur. His stockier frame, once toughened by a warrior’s routine, is rounded with age due to a mostly sedentary lifestyle. He has long white whiskers and round, green eyes with a wide face in which they are set.

Honeyglow is a cat who tends to keep mainly to himself nowadays. He prefers to hear the things around him and provide plenty of time to think decisions, both large and small over. Rushing or worrying over things anymore doesn’t do him or his clan any good and while he understands that he only has one life to live and should live each moment to its fullest, he’s determined to enjoy the time he has left and not concern himself about the hard decisions of clan life or meddle in the lives of others.

His more gregarious side is revealed towards cats he may trust, and is more than willing to give those cats plenty of opportunities to share a moment of his life, or take interest in others. He would gladly bend an ear to those who just need to confide in someone whose had a lifetime of experience, and while he enjoys speaking to kits and younger apprentices himself, he would much prefer entertaining them with real-life experiences than filling their heads with fluff.

His patient side is balanced by a responsible initiative that gave him great intuition when he was once a warrior. Now Honeyglow prefers to use it for deciding on which sunning spots are the best around camp.

• Born in the Moon of Long Sun (2014) 057

[0-6 moons]

Honeyglow’s dame and sire were close since apprenticehood, only a moon apart and spent as much time as possible together while providing for their clan and trying to put Shadowclan first. His dame, Ratfreckle, was warm to the idea of having a family with her life long friend and eventually had a litter with him. Honeykit was born alongside a sister, Frondkit, whom was a perfect playmate. They got along well enough; he could never seem to sit still and she was constantly climbing whatever she could. Kept their parents paws full until it was time for their kithood to evolve into being apprentices.

[6-12 moons]

Honeykit was named Honeypaw at his apprentice ceremony beside his sister, now Frondpaw. For the most part it was a quiet and unassuming apprenticeship filled with hunting game, touring the borders, and learning combat techniques. His boundless energy as a kit transitioned a bit awkwardly into his apprentice duties, and was frequently restless and wanted to do more than what his mentor allowed in a given day to prevent becoming burnt out.

One such event during his apprenticehood involved a routine hunting trip to the Carrion Place where he as his mentor unearthed a den of rats when some rubble dislodged due to a strong wind. The rats scattered nearly onto the two cats, and had to fend off some desperate rats who fought with toughened perseverance to protect their revealed young. Honeypaw was swarmed and got quite a few rat bites and scratches from the ordeal, and since that event, has always made some excuse not to hunt at Carrion Place unless necessary.

[12-49 moons]

His rather sobering experience made him rethink his approach and how he wanted to better himself. If he hadn’t launched himself head long into that situation he might not have endangered both himself and his mentor. His sister became a warrior a moon before he did. Honeypaw needed the extra time to temper himself while learning the importance of rest and preparation.

His warriorship approached on his 13th moon and was met with the encouraging calls of his clanmates, his sister’s being the loudest in the crowd. As a kit he thought that being a warrior was glamorous adventure, a never-ending battle against other clans and scary invaders that might threaten their existence, but it wasn’t nearly the whole truth of it all and Honeyglow was alright with it. The last thing he wanted was to endanger his clan, especially if that danger could be prevented in the first place.

His warrior career was filled with little more than the usual comings and goings of clan life. He eventually came to enjoy hunting the most and relishes in the quiet times before and after waking from his den to start the day. He rarely saw more than harmless bickering over border skirmishes, although there were times where he thought claws would be drawn. If there ever were fights over borders he wasn’t on those patrols, and preferred to find peaceful solutions.

[49-Current]

His patience and lifelong duty was recognized later in life, and was awarded the leader’s trust earning him the title of senior warrior and an apprentice to train. That apprentice was Palepaw, who would later grow to lead Shadowclan herself. There were similarities between the two cats that almost stunned him, recognizing her and her sister’s potential while they were still kits. Palepaws competitive streak and robust attitude was a hard thing to temper and required every ounce of patience he had some days.

When she once tested him by weaponizing her incompetency by affirming she couldn’t understand how to perform a certain technique after constant drilling, Honeyglow was fed up and effortlessly performed the technique right in front of her, causing the cowed apprentice to be respectful once more. Honeyglow was immensely proud of the she-cat Palepaw would become and had become almost like a father figure to her. Despite the fact that their apprenticeship was over, they’d still find time to hunt or share tongues.

His sister, Frondpaw, had become Frondbristle, and was leading a successful warriorship herself and was, perhaps, his best friend in life, but the extremely harsh winter of 2020 led to her ultimate downfall. It started with white cough, which soon progressed to black cough before she made her way to Starclan on the (2nd Day of Melting Waters 2020). Devastated by her death, his malaise turned into a runny nose and then into whitecough, but later recovered under the medicine cat’s careful care.

When he recovered he found himself slowing down, and with Palestar’s blessing, retired to the Elder’s Den for some much needed rest and reflection.

• A Spot to Rest (13LG'20)
• Feeling Chatty (13LG'20)

Mentored: Palestar