I can go the distance

＊

Entering the den Ashcloud had led them to Glowkit's golden gaze surveyed the space. It was covered in moss, and it smelled like something sweet yet so familiar he couldn't quite place it. There were so many cats outside, but this den was empty. It felt good to get the eyes off their pelt, even if they were now surrounded by walls. It was strange not being able to see the sky though..

"Is this.. where I sleep now?" She murmured, pawing at the moss lining the den. It was so soft, he'd never felt something so soft before. They looked back at Ashcloud, awaiting the answer to her question. 

 

 

Once everyone was assembled at the bramble patch, the deputy meowed, "The sunhigh patrol will be led by Redthicket, the dusk patrol by me, moonhigh patrol by Heronsong, and tomorrow's dawn patrol by Hollyclaw. Sootbounce and Quailfeather will organize the hunting patrols."

In youth we learn; in age we understand.

‹‹‹‹ ››››

Sunshine made the day feel warm as Ashcloud made his way into camp. As soon as he led the way through the West Tunnel his eyes switched to roving around in search of the pale form of the leader. Seeing her as quickly as possible was necessary. He needed to know if his plan would be accepted…

“Palestar? Are you around?” His voice was hesitant. He’d never tried to directly summon the leader. He was a Warrior. Normally he was the one being summoned! “It’s important!” 

Screaming into the void counts as progress

❖ ⭒ ❖ ⭒ 𓆣 ⭒ ❖ ⭒ ❖

There was no telling when Brackenwing would awaken.

They had arrived, bloodied alongside their hunting companion, Emberdust, who described the harrowing experience of being brutaly attacked near the edges of their easternmost territory. Palestar had been notified, but now Flutterdream - and Muddypaw - had to try and save the life of another. It was a harsh introduction to becoming a medicine cat.

It was the next morning and Flutterdream entered the sick den with the intension of changing the poultices on Brackenwing's injury. A deep cut in their belly indicated both their discomfort and last night they slipped in and out of conciousness. They haden't awoken, it was likely a coma, but they needed to prevent infection and clean the wound again regardless.

 There would be tasks to accomplish today.

 

Being different means being unique and that's what makes the world an exciting place to be in.

∘◦✧◦∘ 🫀 ∘◦✧◦∘

The camp chores didn't bother Wolfpaw as much as they might have another apprentice. For him, it gave him something productive today instead of simply waiting for the sun to go by after he and Heronsong had finished up their training for the day. And in a way, he enjoyed that productivity as well as taking more of the workload off of the young warriors. 

Wolfpaw's dark shape emerged from the elders' den with a clump of moss in his jaws, the last clump of his round of chores. When he left the den, he turned to face a large, curly eared elder and gave a gentle nod to her before moving forward, as if to say that everything was new and refreshed for her and the rest of the cats that rest in the den. 

He heard Eaglecry hum a sweet 'thank you' as she walked past and he let a soft purr rumble in his chest as he saw her smile when she slipped into the den. He nodded to himself, ready to slip out of the camp to dispose of the moss. The young tom paused for a moment at the entrance, just a few days prior, he was forbidden to leave the camp, and now he was expected to. How peculiar was that? For things to change so quickly.

Though my soul may set in darkness, it will rise in perfect light; I have loved the stars too fondly to be fearful of the night
✧ ⭒ ✧ ⭒ ✧ ⭒ ✧ ⭒ ✧

Palestar had met with Emberdust who seemed all too excited to step into her den. When the pair left the den together Palestar easily made her way to her usual spot to address the clan in shortly before the sunhigh patrol left for the day.

"Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey join here in the shelter of the briar patch for a Clan meeting." Her call carried throughout the clearing. Her mismatched eyes searched for the kits in question and see if they would catch on to the attention.

"We are here today to give three kits their apprentice names." She allowed time for those able bodies to fall into place. Today there would be three new names to be set into the sky in witness of their ancestors. The pointed she-cat lowered her eyes as she spotted the trio.

"Come forward...Swampkit, Wolfkit, and Muddykit."

If you believe you can, that’s enough to try.

⋅⋅✦⋅⋅ 🪶 ⋅⋅✦⋅⋅

It had felt barely a few minutes since Emberdust had left Quailfeather to watched over her litter again, and he had only now just got them to sleep, after what was actually half the day. The evening settled in a cool, cloudy sky that followed the morning fog and yesterday's thunderstorm. But it didn't bother the chocolate tom greatly, that simply meant he had more time to spend comforting the kits if Emberdust wasn't there, and even then, he found his peace in watching the raindrops.

His sage eyes looked back into the nursery for a moment before letting out a soft huff, content, calm, without regret. Seeing those kits happy, seeing any younger cat happy, made Quailfeather's day, and now he was easily able to slip out of the nursery after playing with Emberdust's litter while she went out for her walk.

However he didn't really get far out of the nursery before stretching out his front paws, curling his tail and letting out a soft grunt like an elder trying to limber up in the morning. However he didn't really need to much, it was nice to stretch his paws after laying around playing with kits for most of the day.

I’m not different. Am I?

═════ ∘◦✧◦∘ 🐾 ∘◦✧◦∘ ═════

Wolfkit was the first to wake out of his sisters and mother in the nursery. Dawn had barely broken above the clouds scruffy black head emerged from the entrance. He was looking much more like an apprentice now, and had grown into his stature a little more.

He slipped quietly out of the nursery and moved to the fresh kill pile sniffing it for any prey that might make a fine breakfast for him and his family.

it was then that he found a plump mouse sprawled ay the corner of the pile, it wasn’t big but it was certainly mouth watering. He clasped his teeth stung the mouse’s tail and pulled it from the pile before moving to drag it to a comfortable place to eat it, maybe he could find something bigger for Swampkit, Muddykit and Emberdust later.

 

"The sunhigh patrol will be led by Ashcloud," he told the assembled warriors. "The dusk patrol will be led by Heronsong, the moonhigh patrol by Hollyclaw, and tomorrow's dawn patrol will be led by Specklenose. Dazzlebright and Brackenwing will organize the hunting patrols."

"Noooo that's not fairrrr!"

⊱ ━━━━.⋅🏞‧₊˚ ⋅🍃 ࣪ ִֶָ.⋅.━━━━ ⊰

Despite almost being an apprentice. It seemed that Swampkit was still as immature as ever, the young molly always getting upset and sulking whenever something didn’t go her way. And this time, she didn’t get the part of the prey she liked the most when she had been sharing a meal with her family.

Without saying anything, she growled and grumbled, padding away and over to her nest and sulking like it was the end of the world. What if she didn’t grow big and strong anymore because somebody else ate it!? What would she do in that scenario!?