Closed Thread Gathering Gossip (15LG2020)

Sunstrike:

Wrentalon was clearly shaken up about the last gathering, and Sunstrike was both relieved and dissapointed that she wasn't there. First - the arrival of kits at the gathering (which she worried about), then the animosity between the clans (again, also worried about) and the disorganized mess Wrentalon said it was - it all just added a new layer of worry ontop. 

She fell into step beside him, her eyes flicking over their surrounding to let him have a break from his vigilance. Better he focused on venting than worrying about her. She wasn't always a mess like Wildcry seemed to think.

"I'm happy you all came back in one piece." Her voice was quiet compared to his - but earnest none the less. "Savagefox was all bravado when the patrol came back. I was worried a fight had broke out. How did the other clans react to the kits?"

Wrentalon grunted at her mention of Savagefox. "One almost did. The furball got everyone's hackles up about the kits. Moosestar had to tell them to back down." He thought of the little orange-eyed kit the warrior had picked out. Coyotekit, as she was now known, seemed like any normal kit to Wrentalon, at least. "If Savagefox hadn't shut up around then, I think someone would've pounced on him. Probably the Riverclan deputy--Coldgaze." He still remembered his own muscles tensing up in preparation during the whole scene. "The other clans...I don't know, how are you supposed to react when a bunch of kits turn up abandoned? Each clan took one and left. A little chaotic, honestly."

"Coldgaze?" Sunstrike tried to conjure an image in her mind of who that cat was... for the life of her she couldn't "Is he a new deputy?" Thunderclan has been without a deputy for a long while - she hadn't been paying attention to other clans politics.

After a moment of silence she almost smiled. "Do you think you could have beat him in a fight? Coldgaze, I mean." Wrentalon was a very good fighter. With Savagefox helping, no doubt they would have been able to take down the other clan cat. "I think you would have killed Moosestar. He would have died on the spot from stress." A rare purr stuck in her throat at the thought of Moosestar's distress. He always seemed so busy - and worried about the clan. Perhaps not in the right way.

"Do you think Starclan was angry about the kits? About whoever left them defiling the gathering place?" The thought had been on her mind since the rainstorm. She had worried about Starclan being angry - and with such an odd gathering...

"He's Riverclan's deputy." Wrentalon tilted his head. "I could give him a good fight, yeah" He purred with amusement at Sunstrike's joke. If Moosestar could keel over from stress alone, Wrentalon wondered how many lives the tom had lost already. Savagefox alone was enough to kill anyone in that way.

Wrentalon paused in thought at her question. He had wondered himself about Starclan's role in the whole thing. "I'm not sure...Tigerrush said this was Starclan's will. As did the other medicine cats. And nothing stopped us from adopting the kits. No one knows who left them all there, and if Starclan was angry at whoever that was...don't you think we'd get some sort of sign of what to do?" He glanced at her, genuinely curious. No matter how he tried, he could never make as much sense of Starclan's ways as much as others. Sunstrike seemed to have a good mind for that sort of thing.

Sunstrike knew better than to question Tigerrush in Wrentalon's presence. She was his beloved sister, and Sunstrike somewhat envied their relationship. Still, she didn't have to agree with her on every little thing that Starclan said. She was pleased that he enjoyed her joke. There were some cats who wouldn't take kindly to jabs at their leader - it was nice Wrentalon wasn't one of them.

"Starclan hasn't stopped any of us from doing something that might hurt, or even kill us in the past." She pointed out, stopping to scent the ground, on a lookout for any trouble. "They simply send omens, suggestions - in the form of nebulous things that only the Medicine Cat's seem to be able to understand - or mostly understand." She doubted that a kit could do something to Thunderclan now... but at the same time, every cat in Thunderclan was a kit once. Even Savagefox.

"I just worry." She admitted. "I - we. Don't know who could be looking for the kit. Maybe their sire left them to avoid detection from rouges, or worse. Maybe he wants to cause problems in the clans by putting siblings in each of the clans." She didn't know the inner thoughts of the tom. Maybe if she met him she would have been able to talk some sense into him. But unfortunately, he remained elusive.

"I suppose you're right," Wrentalon sighed. The nebulous ways, as Sunstrike put had put it, were a mystery to him. Perhaps if this kit was so blessed by Starclan, he thought, she might become Tigerrush's apprentice one day.

He nodded as she theorized. "That's one of my worries, too. We don't know who could be looking for these kits. We're far from the only cats in the area. We can't even say for certain that their mother is dead--sure, they kits said she was, but kits misunderstand things all the time." He sighed, flicking his tail with the irritation that came with too much thought. "There's just too many things we don't know."

"I never considered that." Sunstrike stopped, and tilted her head in thought. "Coyotekit is just a child. We will never know if what she saw that night was accurate - perhaps the cat that brought her there wasn't even her sire." She shook her pelt out, and took a moment to groom her paw. Unfortunately, she had already rubbed it raw with nervous grooming yesterday - but at least she no longer had any hair to lose there.

"Either way, something is off. I'm not sure what, but with the strange gathering... the kit and the unexpected deaths..." She cut herself off and grimaced, trying to seem less overwhelmed than she felt. "I..." She wasn't sure if she wanted to admit how scared she truly was. She trusted Wrentalon - but he was still a warrior at heart. And warrior's weren't supposed to balk at the first sign of trouble.

Wrentalon paused as she did, glancing at the spot on her paw she had licked clean of any fur. He frowned, wanting to tell her she was hurting herself, as if she didn't already know. Perhaps he could ask Tigerrush if there was any sort of balm to help. But he knew that no balm would fix the worry that made her groom herself so roughly, and that was not a problem he could solve right now.

Her grimace didn't help, though. She was scared, or at least nervous, he knew. He'd seen her nervousness while they were apprentices, but this was something a little deeper. "It's alright," he said softly. "I mean, there are strange things happening very often lately...something is very off. But, we're warriors--come on, we've both earned our warrior names and we can be ready for whatever challenges are coming for us. The moment we figure out what's causing all the deaths, I'm going after it." That was certainly one thing he was sure of. He hadn't gotten his scars for nothing. It had taken moons of work to figure out he simply had to be stronger than his enemy, or at least less fearful. And if Sunstrike's hesitation was real fear...he'd just have to be stronger.

His assurance did help, but his recklessness made her stomach drop again. If she found him, cold on the ground like she had found Speckledfrost she wasn't sure if her heart could take it.

"I know." She butted her head against his shoulder. "Please, please wait for me when you do. I don't... want to hold a vigil for you too." Of course that implied that if something went wrong they both would be dead, which at that point might be more merciful on her nerves. Starclan sounded peaceful anyways... although if she could watch over the clans would she get secondhand anxiety?

He was right though. She had earned her name, no matter what Wildcry or Quailcall thought. She wasn't the only fierceblood who was deemed 'frail' or 'soft', but that didn't mean she had to lie down and take it. She hadn't in the past - she had fought off that rouge! And, even if she didn't succeed she had others to back her up.

"I hope nothing comes up at the gathering though... Starclan help us if we get sent again." She wasn't fully serious, it was now good natured complaining that real ire. "Bravesong will have to take the title of 'Experienced Queen' otherwise."

Wrentalon nodded, an indignant pride burning in his chest. "I have no intention of making anyone hold vigil for me soon." The very idea made his paws itch, and sparked a nervousness inside him. The way the others had died hadn't been in a fight. They were all killed unscathed, with no clear cause of death. He didn't know what he'd meant by 'going after it' but so far, it was entirely out of his reach and it was frustrating. So much so, that he almost didn't hear Sunstrike when she next spoke.

Blinking, he replied, "At least Bravesong seems to enjoy being a queen. I imagine both he and Coyotekit would get lonely sometimes. It's good they have each other."

Sunstrike:

Oh great - she managed to make Wrentalon nervous. Seemed it was a skill she naturally had. She pressed into him as comfort, and was grateful for the change in subject.

"You think Bravesong ever wants kits of his own one day? With all that free time on his paws he would be a great kitsitter. Then again, there aren't too many shecats in the clan looking for sires these days." She knew almost all of the toms in the clan were interested in siring litters - mainly her kin. Something, something 'fierceblood'. She laughed "He would probably have more experience than the shecat in question."

Wrentalon paused as Sunstrike pressed against him. He didn't dislike it at all, but...it was a surprise. Although, should it have been? "I'm sure he wouldn't mind them," he replied. "All he has to do is probably wait a few more seasons. The apprentices will age into warriors, Coyotekit will start her apprenticeship, and then the nursery will be empty. And I don't think it tends to stay empty for long." He looked up at the sun through the tree tops, the pleasant warmth of green-leaf combining with the scents of fresh air and Sunstrike's fur. It was nice now, but soon the leaves would fall and the prey would stop running. It made him anxious to think about. "I hope, if any new kits are born somehow, it's after leaf-bare is all thawed out. Don't need any of them getting sick or hungry."

He paused in his thoughts, which were now all over the place with kits and the future and dangers everywhere, with almost nothing left of the gathering he had wanted to tell Sunstrike about in the first place.

(This is a good ending methinks 🙂 )