Closing the gap (SparrowxCedar) L0S0V0

[Cloudbat]

[bg=3b5839][atrb=border,0,true][atrb=width,500,true] There she was. The brown tabby she-cat he had chosen as his successor, poised in hunting position in the tall grass. My third, he thought. Bramblefang, Rabbitstep...now Sparrowclaw. In a way it made him sorrowful; how many must he go through before he at last went to StarClan and one took his place? In many ways, Sparrowclaw is not what one would expect of a deputy, he mused to himself as he padded toward her over the soft, moist ground. She is young, barely thirty moons. She can be arrogant, ignorant even at times. Still, she cares deeply for her Clan, and she knows well what respect and loyalty mean, which is a precious gift for someone who is relatively new to Clan ways... In time she will be ready to lead MeadowClan when I am gone, and I can nurture her on the path of wisdom. I must trust her. Yet I must also speak to her about her unnatural dislike of rogues. It makes no sense, after all... "Sparrowclaw." He called in his deep mew. "I apologize for disrupting your hunt, but I must speak with you. Let us go into the peace and shade of the trees. We have important matters to discuss." Flicking his fluffy tail, he padded up next to the warrior and gazed at her expectantly. StarClan, let our talk go well.

[RiiRii]

Drat! That mouse scampered away.
She hit a stone with a paw and noticed a vole had come from its little nest and was eating some seeds... RIGHT in front of her.

Crouching low to the ground, body stretched out and poised. Waiting, watching. That mouse may of gotten away, but this vole wasn't going to get the chance. Taking a step forward, her belly fur brushing the ground. So close

Sparrowclaw. Did somebody say her name? Her ears perked as she recognised her leaders deep mew and the scent instantly covered that of the vole and she turned to look at Cedarstar, almost forgetting how big he was compared to her.

Sitting up, she brusquely moved her paws and settled her fur; trying to hide the irritation that emitted from her body.
"I apologize for disrupting your hunt, but I must speak with you. Let us go into the peace and shade of the trees. We have important matters to discuss."

Important? Cedarstar wanted to talk to her about some things? Her heart stopped for several seconds, did she screw up and he wanted to change deputies? Hiding the panic that shot through her body, she gave a curt nod. "Certainly. What is it?" She kept her calm and collected face on, meeting her leaders gaze and her head tilted just a slight. She was curious, if it was important then it surely had nothing to do with her messing up. Any deputy could do that, heh...

"You weren't disrupting my hunt, that vole was... Skinny, not worth the clans feed. Even though it was right in my grasp, it was too skinny to be of any use for the clan." She let out a soft sight. There goes my hunt for the clan.

"But, back on subject. What is it you would like to talk about, my dear leader? I am here to discuss as one of my many duties."

[Cloudbat]

[bg=3b5839][atrb=border,0,true][atrb=width,500,true] Ready as always. A trait to be treasured. Plenty of kittypets and rogues could become decent warriors, but ForestClan cats were usually more alert, as they'd been trained in the wild their whole life. Yet this young tabby equaled even some of his senior warriors in natural watchfulness. Wait. Do I really...did I truly just think that? The large tom was alarmed at himself. Perhaps Elkstep...maybe, despite his arrogance, he sees what I cannot... Yet he chuckled mildly as he began to pad toward the faint but all-encompassing smell of the tall trees. "All prey is worthy to feed the Clans, as long as we remember to thank StarClan for it. It was my fault you lost it; do not understate its use. 'A skinny vole is still a feast to a starving warrior.'" He quoted, remembering his father's gentle chiding of his own early, failed efforts at hunting. However, as they walked in the cool green shade of the trees, his tone turned serious and his yellow eyes grew earnest as he looked directly into his deputy's eyes. "As I'm sure you have noticed, the pranksters resent their punishment. They go along with it, but unwillingly. Particularly Elkstep. I...spoke with him, and he said some troubling things which have a grain of truth in them despite his arrogance. He said I am biased, and he cited my choices of rank and confidants as examples. While it is true that he is disrespectful and rude, he may have a point, and I aim to kill this weed of rebellion before it can grow into a strangling vine of internal dissent. He also mentioned your own dislike of rogues." Here the leader paused, giving the young she-cat time to absorb his words. It must be difficult for her, to be confronted without warning. He felt sympathy for her, as he would for a wayward apprentice, but she was an adult. She could handle this. He softened his deep mew to hopefully also soften the impact of his accusation. "Sparrowclaw, I know you bear a grudge against those who are either not of Clan birth or were not kittypets, and I have never asked you why because it is your affair, and for the most part you are an excellent deputy. However, circumstances demand that these things are put out in the open so we can work with them and close this gap of misunderstanding. Tell me where your prejudice of rogues came from, and why." His voice was soft, but held (in his eyes) an undeniable note of command. This is our duty, he thought to himself grimly. We were chosen by our ancestors because we can handle the awkward and uncomfortable facts of mental warfare as well as the blood and chaos of battle. This is who we are.

[RiiRii]

As she listened, her eyes widened and she couldn't help but hold her leaders gaze. Did he notice her surprise.
"Oh..." She dragged her paw over the earth.

What was her problem with rogues? Kittypets she didn't mind, but why was it rogues? Why? She didn't know.
"I guess it's because the influence I've grown up with int he clan. Also because they don't know how unlucky they are, they challenge us and not realize what they're missing out. They're far too oblivious of clan life. "

Her eyes flashed with confusion. Elkstep? Elkstep had made him curious?
"When I was younger, I was sleeping with my family at home in the kittypet life... Then a voice was talking to me, telling about clan life and how it is good and how I deserve to go there. When I woke up, I went ahead to smell and follow. Now I realized what I was supposed to be living. Rogues aren't aware of that, they're misreading into everything." Her head moved to the side, blinking her eyes she stretched out.

"Elkstep has a point though, I must admit. I just hate the fact he's causing damage to the clan." She broke her gaze away from her leader, walking past him and standing against a tree trunk. "I'll do whatever it takes from the clan and I'll tell everybody what they want to know about me. I'm not the kind of cat who will hide stuff, if you asked I would say." she laughed softly. "You never asked me until now, so I never felt the need to say. Why say what's not needed or blurt out, you know?" Sitting up straight once more, she took a serious gaze at her leader. "Now you know why I dislike the rogues that wander around. If they've left the clan, they've just simply chucked up a really great part, lost it and don't want it back. Make it worse they choose other clans or live the rogue or kittypet life. I spent moons of sadness trying to live a life I was not meant for, sure they might not be up for clan life, but that gives them no right to just refuse it. Why not just try living it the way they..." She realized it.

Elkstep was trying to live the way he wanted to, but the clan cats took a disliking to this and others just wanted to live with him. Elkstep was a rebellious tom, Sparrowclaw knew this.
"Abiding the clan rules of course. Now, what happened between Elkstep and you? A lot of strange things have been happening lately, so I'd like to know more information about this. Get the full understanding of this discussion."

[Cloudbat]

[bg=3b5839][atrb=border,0,true][atrb=width,500,true] I am troubled, very troubled. His furred brow had sunk deep over his yellow eyes as his claws extended and retracted in anxiety. "I feel you are wrong, at least in part, Sparrowclaw. There are plenty of former rogues - Bearclaw, Cindertail, and Flamestorm to name but a few - who live perfectly well under the code and are content with their lives. Most of them do not trouble us...yet look, there is a problem right there." He laughed softly at himself. "Even I have begun to say 'us' and 'them.' We are all of MeadowClan no matter our heritage, and clearly something is wrong." Then the muscular leader became confused. A voice? StarClan, perhaps? He couldn't think of any other guiding force that could have lead her here...it was strange to think of StarClan speaking to a kittypet, but perhaps they had done it so that she would be led here to become his deputy and she was meant to lead MeadowClan one day. The thought was reassuring. However, he was beginning to become irritated by her generalizations. "Our Clanmates who were once rogues do not 'misread' everything." He said sharply. "They are your Clanmates, and you will not speak of them in that degrading manner in my hearing." The large tom's yellow eyes narrowed sharply as he laid his whiskers back against his face. Dear StarClan...this truly is serious. Well...she is right that Elkstep is causing damage, though I think we have stopped him in his tracks. Still, I'm glad we're having this talk. In a way, he admired her frank answers, disturbing as they were. In another, it alarmed him that she cared so little for others' opinions. "It is fine to walk tall, Sparrowclaw, but you are as much a servant to your Clanmates as they are under your command. Do not forget that." He said with an edge of warning in his voice. "Even leaders must be humble enough to remember that we are more firmly bound to serve than any ordinary warrior." Now the younger tabby directed her gaze at him, and though disconcerted, he looked back. Cedarstar was confused. "I...I do not understand. We have no one who has left the Clan, with one exception that was long before your time, and most rogues do not harm us. We have had very few trespassers in all our moons since coming here. I commend your loyalty to your new life, but I cannot comprehend your grudge against the cats who live outside our boundaries." Then she trailed off, and he shook his head. Hopefully she could explain herself. His ears perked when she mentioned Elkstep...at first he was hesitant to tell her, as it was somewhat personal...then again, so was what she had just imparted to him. They needed to cooperate to solve this problem, so share he would. "It began with me explaining the restrictions I set him, and asking if he understood. He immediately started arguing and demanding that his apprentice be trained in medicine while he pays his dues serving Aldernose. Admittedly, it is not necessarily a bad idea, but an odd one. To be frank, I have not yet spoken to Aldernose about the matter...partially because I have not had the time, and partially because I wish to spite him. Kittish, true. Still, his rudeness will not soon be forgotten. He is a good warrior, but he acted as if he were the ruler of StarClan themselves to lay down the law. He will be put in his place along with Hawkheart and Shrewstorm. Still, it puzzles me - they are receiving precisely the same punishments as he, yet he claims favoritism...I suppose the separation from his apprentice makes it worse."

[RiiRii]

Listening to him speak, her ears twitching and frowning slightly. Wasn't her reason valid enough? she tilted her head and let out a sigh.

She had nothing to reply to as her leader spoke, unsure of what to say. As he then proceeded onto about Elkstep, her ears twitched once again as she heard him speak. Turning her head towards him and puffing out slightly in annoyance, she nodded.

"You are aware that losing an apprentice is much worse than you could imagine, but it doesn't count to his punishment fully if he lost his apprentice." Her leafy green eyes narrowed to slits as she thought, opening them again and allowing her pupils to adjust back to the small black dots as the sunlight touched them once again. "With the meeting, it's best to give his apprentice to a cat for temporary measures to watch over and teach the younger cat about what is right. His apprentice is going down under the wrong influence, I hope you are aware of that. I may not know much about the clan laws as the blood clan cats(*)but if push comes to shove, somebody is going to have to teach him about his mentors behaviour and why it's not ideal. If he is, as you say, acting like the ruler of Starclan themselves... It's up to them whether or not they agree to this."

Sighing, she shook her head and lashed her tail. "By all means, I'd be happy if necessary and take the apprentice under my paws for the time being until things settle down for Elkstep and his rebellious friends. Something tells me there will be more to worry about than just Elkstep, more cats may soon join in with him. Who knows what goes through their heads." She gently kneaded the earth with her small needle like dainty claws, the needles threading up the ground and causing small holes. Her fur ruffling with irritation, but taking a quick calm breath. No way in hell she was going to lose her patience or temper over something that got on her fur intensely.



((Ooc; * = clan borns))

[Cloudbat]

[bg=3b5839][atrb=border,0,true][atrb=width,500,true] The thick-furred leader growled softly as she once again pushed for what she had tried to take at the meeting. Ambition was fine, and he knew that as a deputy she deserved an apprentice, but Foxpaw was not hers. I need to make her understand that once and for all. "I am aware of more than you give me credit for." He said gruffly. "Elkstep and Foxpaw may have caused trouble, but they are also firmly bonded by their six moons together. It would not be kind or fair to either of them to give Foxpaw to someone else, even you. I promised you an apprentice, and I will keep that promise." With this, he leaned in slightly to look her directly in the face with his yellow glare, and lifted his mouth slightly to show his fangs. "I don't know why you keep pushing for this, but I will not change my mind." Calming himself, he forced his bristling pelt to lie mostly flat and stopped lashing his tail over the grass. "Foxpaw will not be best served by having lessons shoved down his throat. He plainly cares nothing for his superiors, and that will not change by force. I will let hard work and separation from his friends be the teachers. He will realize what he has done is wrong. I have faith in him, and you must as well." Proclaimed the leader, leaving no room for objection. Then his face softened, just slightly. "Sparrowclaw, you know our laws as well as any Clanborn cat. I would never think that you are ignorant of the code and MeadowClan ways. But I do think you have some agenda I cannot comprehend. We need to keep the Clan together, not destabilize it, and I begin to suspect you have other intentions." He ended with serious conviction. "It is possible that others may follow his example, though I doubt it, and you need to have more faith in your Clanmates, for StarClan's sake!" The ending of his sentence came out in a burst of emotion. He breathed deeply. It didn't alleviate his anger, but it did help him focus. He backed away and began pacing around the tabby she-cat, so agitated was the MeadowClan leader. "I don't know why you're acting like this, Sparrowclaw, but I am very troubled by your callous disrespect of others. Do you not trust the cats that are your Clanmates, your comrades in battle and hunt? Have you not patrolled with them, eaten fresh-kill with them? Why do you look down upon them so? Only four of them - four! - have caused some mischief. The others are guilty of no crime, like you, like me, they are honorable and brave. They deserve your respect and trust, and by StarClan you will explain to me right this instant why you do not give it!" He ended his tirade with a growl, stopping in his rapid pacing to stare down the smaller she-cat. Where is the warrior I made my deputy, and what has this cat done with her? He thought in disgust. The Sparrowclaw I know might not like rogues, but she has never shown such blatant disregard for her Clanmates. She is loyal and hardworking. She organizes patrols, she...she helps run the camp! She is levelheaded and thick-skinned. What is this creature I see before me? Is what Elkstep said true? Did I unknowingly choose a successor who is...not right? Cedarstar was not a cat of doubts. When ForestClan had turned into a wretched, bloody wreck he had known it was time to leave and face the unknown, whatever it would be. He had been certain that they would find a new home, despite the difficulties. He had been certain of the decision to split into four Clans. He had been certain of his choice of medicine cat, his mate - his deputies. But now...now I am plagued by doubts and questions. Are there more cats like Sparrowclaw? What do my elders think? Russetpelt? Littlewhisker? Gingerstripe? Aldernose? Do other former rogues truly feel the same way as Elkstep about my judgment? What about myself? Can I live up to my own words? I must. I swear to StarClan that I will stop this divide.

[RiiRii]

Watching her leader get agitated and surprised at the words that have slipped from his mouth... She wasn't after Elkstep's apprentice, she was just offering to take one under her paw. Need it not be the rebels.

"Cedarstar, you're taking what I said far too seriously. I did not mean to seem like I wanted Elkstep's apprentice, before I just thought it would be good to teach him a lesson before the wrong example has become too much for even us to handle.
What I was saying was, give him to a warrior who is skilled with apprentices or share the duties with several warriors.
Separating them might be a choice, if Elkstep has more intentions - he could persuade many clanmates one way or another. Just look at what he's done to you, he's made you on edge and made you distrust me." What was she saying? The deputy's fur prickled at the realization that had emitted from her maw. She pawed at the ground and then sighed.

"I'm not looking down at my clanmates, you're incorrect there. I love every one of my clan mates, even if I do not show it. I was bought up under the clan laws and guidance, despite me living a kittypet life. In other words, back when I was at my former life... Rogue cats would always walk over my fences and we would shoo them off for intruding on the small territory we owned. The territory that I once owned before I left following the words of what I believe would be a starclan ancestor of my own. I joined this clan because I wanted to be somebody new, let my fur loose and be free. I fell in love with how the territory was wide and there was more space to run, it was out in the open.. Then you have cats who just use this territory as dirt and invade it for their own pleasures and then we accept the ones in and then the ones that refuse just end up carrying on deflowering this beautiful land we call ours."

She was acting no differently then when she was brought to the clan, but she wasn't sure Cedarstar believed that. Her gaze softened and she walked past her leader, body low and submissive. "You're just reading far too into what Elkstep has said, you're a fine leader and you make wise choices. Now you have that feeling that you're doubting yourself and doubting me. You made me your deputy because you could trust me and you still can. You're taking what I say the wrong way and it's kind of hard to think straight myself. When I said take the apprentice under my paw, I mean help issue things with you and guide the young apprentice down the right path. I don't distrust my clan mates, but some cats who talk to Elkstep and seem to be warming up to him may join him, if not one thing, agreeing with him. It just pains me to think they'll do that and turn against this clan like it was nothing. Like they didn't grow up in this clan... Like this isn't their home..."
her eyes were saddened and she was gazing down at the ground. Now that she thought about it, she missed the kittypet life, when she was Oak.
At the same time, she wanted to make the clan the best if she became the leader. She wasn't ready for that, she had yet much to learn and she wanted Cedarstar to take the clan forward until the day she dies.

[Cloudbat]

[bg=3b5839][atrb=border,0,true][atrb=width,500,true] The tangle of emotions that bubbled within the thick-furred tom were so diverse and sometimes contradictory that even he was having trouble telling what he was feeling. His respect for his deputy was restored, he was chastened; yet he was also further frustrated by the subtleties of the she-cat before him and worried about the impact she didn't realize she could have. He longed to crawl into a cool, moist burrow and simply lie there for a time. No. I must deal with this, here and now. Soon it will be over. Then I will have to face the broader issues, he thought grimly. StarClan preserve me. "Yes." He said slowly and thickly, his tongue feeling heavy as he spoke. "I am. I did. Things are...difficult. The issues unfolding are greater than our own views on them. I should not have acted as I did, and while I do not regret what I asked, I repent the way in which I said my queries. You are loyal, and I want and need to trust you. That is more important than individual foibles. Still, I think you may be unaware of how your own demeanor affects others." He dipped his head to her in apology. It was not in his nature to be submissive and apologetic, but he admired her maturity in dealing with his emotions while still maintaining the proper respect for him. This, he thought to himself, is why I chose her. I must remember this, no matter what happens. "I understand your suggestions, but I will not reverse my decision unless it is truly necessary. I may have overreacted to your words, but I think you are being overly paranoid of Elkstep and the others' actions. Remember, Hawkheart was of ForestClan, and Shrewstorm - an utter mouse-brain though he may be - has ForestClan parentage and I mentored him myself. Even Foxpaw is Clanborn, though he might be loyal to his mentor. They may be tricksters, but I have faith that they will realize their mistakes." Yet he sighed wearily as she went on. Her zeal for the Clan was admirable...her way of wording her confusing feelings was not. "Forgive me if I find it difficult to believe you love "all" your Clanmates after your own explanations of your puzzling suspicion and dislike. Nor do you need to. All I ask is that you respect them. I sympathize with your past experiences, Sparrowclaw, but I do not understand your bigoted view of all rogues and former rogues, as it is neither true nor fair. Who do you even mean, may I ask? Who in the Clan has done you harm, or "deflowered" our territory? You are not making sense." Cedarstar shook his shaggy head. Then he chuckled sadly. Such faith, even after I questioned hers. I deserve it, but will I for much longer if I can't solve this divide? "I may have some wisdom and experience, but I make mistakes like any cat. My faith in you has been restored by your words, this is true. I commend that, and I also realize the difficulties of sorting everything out. I thank you for explaining what you meant, yet I also think you overestimate Elkstep. He is generally liked, yes, but aside from his partners in crime he has few other close friends, and as I've mentioned, they are all of Clan descent in one way or another anyway, so I highly doubt they would turn against me. I also doubt any of the former rogues would - Cindertail, Flamestorm, Bearclaw, Iceheart, Russetstorm, even Ratwhisker. They and the other non-Clanborns are all loyal and true. Unless you find direct evidence that they are plotting against the Clan, they are innocent in the eyes of both I and StarClan." He noticed the sorrow and...regret?...in her posture at her last words. He realized he knew fairly little of his deputy's past, so he couldn't truly guess at what she was feeling. However, he added one last gently spoken line. "If it means anything to you, Sparrowclaw, you are as much of a Clanborn cat as any who were raised to it, and I swear that by all the stars in Silverpelt."

[RiiRii]

All the young deputy could do was sigh. She replayed all the words she said throughout their whole conversation, like a record the words spun backwards into her mind and rolled about until she eventually realized she had been saying the complete opposite of what she had meant.
Please connect tongue to brain... she thought to herself shortly after, moments after she realized something else.
Cedarstar was staring at her, waiting for her to reply and she had heard his last sentence beforehand.

"It does mean a lot to me." She finally meowed. Really does. she processed that thought quickly, knowing she already had been silent for the very deep speech her leader had spoken. "Uhrm..." What should she say? She thought hard on what he was trying to say, her ears perked up and alert, her head down and she was sat up straight with her eyes closed tightly. Finally, she lifted her head up and nodded. "Yes, by deflowering I mean changing the beauty that has naturally overflowed the territory. Soon prey would become alert if many cats go over the lands and will know where not to hunt." She blinked, Forestclan? She had heard of it, but never bothered to ask.
"Do tell me, what was or is Forestclan? I'm afraid I've never got the full gist of it..." she licked her chest fur in a couple of embarrassed licks and smiled awkwardly.

As the she-cat licked her paw and cuffed it over her ears, letting out a sigh.
"Cedarstar, you're getting your fur in a bunch."She meowed softly, smiling a warm and kind smile. "Just relax,, okay?" She stretched out and then turned serious shortly after. "I understand I am getting paranoid..." She brushed her tongue over her ankle over her front forepaws and brushed them over her cheek, licking her fur softly and repeatedly until eventually done.

"I don't doubt our clan whatsoever." she purred after and wrapped her tail around her forepaws, tucking the tip neatly behind her paws.

[Cloudbat]

[bg=3b5839][atrb=border,0,true][atrb=width,500,true] He nodded, satisfied. He had meant it, but he had also hoped it would help bring them together again. A trick to being a leader, he mused to himself, is knowing what tools to use, emotional or physical. I still don't understand her odd 'deflowering' sentiments, but unless it interferes with her judgment as a deputy...I suppose I can't really command her to change her beliefs. That is not my right. ForestClan? Surely she had heard the tales as an apprentice...yet perhaps not, for whatever reason. "It was the Clan of my birth, as well as many others in MeadowClan, and some in the other Clans. It had no particular distinguishing features that I can recall, though my memory is somewhat blurred by time. It was somewhat similar to FogClan in terrain, though less rocky and evidently without the fog. It was simply an ordinary Clan with a distant neighbor, LakeClan, until Brownstar took over. But that is a tale for another day. I could tell you if you like, and Lichenheart would also recount it." He huffed at her suggestion to 'relax' as she put it. Something is happening in this Clan and I must work to fix it. Relaxing is secondary. "Yes, you are, but it is understandable. Something is happening that we do not yet fully understand, and we must find out so we can stop it. Relaxing is secondary. From now on, you will make discreet investigations. I trust to your own sense of judgment to gather information. Find who mongers rumors, sources of possible discontent, things such as that. Keep an eye out, but do not let it interfere with your normal duties. Appear natural. This is your mission." He cleared his throat, tail waving over the grass. "I have nothing more to say, but please ask any questions if you have them."

[RiiRii]

She slowly lifted her head to look at her leader, her gaze locked onto him - whether or not it was his gaze or his body. She tilted her head and thought for several heartbeats before sighing and kneading the earth with her claws.

Slowly, she turned and walked towards the tree that they were once stood under and looked up. Listening to his story of Forestclan, her eyes were filled with the inquisitive gaze that was once there and she pondered. Finally, listening to him say about questions, the younger she-cat briefly shook her head before pushing the topic back to Forestclan.

"What happened to Forestclan? Why had it separated everybody into four clans?" She would like to learn more and behind these questions, she wanted to bring his attention off Elsktep and the whole previous conversation in past and wrapped her tail around her forepaws. That elegant posture she had before was back and she held her head high and she smiled softly. "I would like to learn more about the clans history, if that is okay?"

[Cloudbat]

The brown-striped leader blinked, surprised. Had none of the elders ever told her the tale even once...? How very odd. Still, he was glad to oblige.

"It's a long tale. When I was born, the leader of the Clan was Elkstar. He was a fine cat - has his flaws like everyone else, but was very fair and particularly compassionate toward kits and elders. Unfortunately, both my parents died soon after my birth from greencough that was plaguing the Clan at the time, and I was orphaned at only a few days old." He stated it bluntly, having never felt particularly sad about the matter.

"I might have died if it weren't for the fact that Elkstar's own mate, Goldenflower, had only recently had her own kits leave the nursery to become apprentices and could still give milk. They died of the greencough too, before it ran its course. Anyway, Goldenflower took me in and she and Elkstar raised me as their own. As the leader's son - even if only adopted - and mentored by him, I was treated with great respect by my Clanmates.

There were a few battles with LakeClan and rogues, a few bouts of illness, but in short I led a fairly ordinary life. If you're wondering why all this is relevant, it's mostly to set the scene."

He paused for a moment, figuring out how best to narrate the next part of his story.

"I also had two best friends there, you may know of this - Littlewhisker and Russetpelt, who of course are here today. There was my father's deputy, Brownfang, who was also kind to me...though not so much to others." He added darkly.

"Brownfang was a strange tom. It was rumored that though his mother was ForestClan, but his father had been a rogue - strange, but not necessarily bad. Others whispered his father had been the previous medicine cat, which would have been blasphemous. No one seemed to know the truth. Either way, he had an odd temperament - one moment laughing, the next raging at some imagined slight.

He was always cordial to me, possibly because of my father, but I saw how he sometimes tricked other cats into doing things for him, and into fighting each other for his own amusement. When I was on hunting patrols with him he liked to...dissect his prey before he ate it. Not just play with it or skin it - dissect it and examine the organs before eating them. It was uncanny.

There are many more examples of his strange and unsavory ways, but I think you have the measure of him. He was a good deputy in practice, I'll give him that - he organized patrols as well as anyone, cleaned up problems in the territory efficiently. But when my father finally went to StarClan and Brownfang became Brownstar...things got very, very bad."

Here he paused, to moisten his mouth and to let Sparrowclaw absorb what he had told her so far.

[RiiRii]

Her eyes glinted with amusement, slowly she closed her eyes and listened to his tale. Focusing on every detail that was given.
Shivering at the image of the old deputy pulling and dissecting, she felt a purr build up in her throat, but suddenly she swallowed it and felt the purr seep down her throat like a big ball of bile.

Shaking her head, she moved swiftly slightly. Pawing the earth and then when she realized her leader had finished, she nodded. "What happened after?" she cocked her head, curious and her ears flicked repeatedly. She wanted to know more, especially from her leader.

[Cloudbat]

"When Brownstar became leader, his first decree was that medicine cats were to be lowered in rank below ordinary warriors and it was dishonorable to become one. It may have been to overstate that he did not have medicine cat heritage, I don't know. His second was that we were to exterminate all rogues who came onto our territory, even by accident - the same went for all LakeClanners. Punishments for apprentices were doubled and the elders and queens were no longer fed first.

Granted, I am shortening the tale - he did not put all these laws in place at the beginning. He subtly scattered suggestions among the senior warriors and a few apprentices, including his own, Owlpaw, who eventually became Owlstar of FogClan. With these few but strong followers who gave him their utmost obedience and converted a few others to his wicked ways, he gradually sickened the entire Clan with his clutch until I and my friends decided we could stand it no more.

I was his deputy, and though outwardly I had provided a mask of support, I had always hated what he did and conspired with Rusetpelt and Littlewhisker to overthrow him. When the time was right, I and the half of the Clan who secretly followed me unveiled ourselves and challenged our corrupt leader. As our forces were almost exactly equal, we could not afford to fight each other - there would be no ForestClan left. So a truce was created: I and my followers were given two days to leave the territory, after which if we were seen in it again, we would be killed. However, in exchange he swore not send anyone after us."

His mouth was beginning to get a bit dry, but he didn't have too much of the tale left to tell.

"Brownstar, traitorous to the code though he was, kept his word and we kept ours. For moons we roamed, always searching for a land of peace and plenty, suffering many hardships. Famine, disease, thirst, and predators claimed many of our group, though some kittypets and rogues also joined us along the way. Many stayed - one was Cloudstar of StreamClan.

When we were almost at the end of our hope, I received a sign from StarClan one night: my father told me that if I managed just one more day's worth of travel, I would find a land big enough for four Clans.

At the time I did not understand why that was important, but sure enough, he was right. But when I got there I realized why Elkstar had mentioned that: the cats I led were far too large in number now to fit into just one Clan."

He paused there again, lost in memories. Owlstar...he couldn't say he missed her. She had always envied his position as deputy back in ForestClan, and she had been loyal to Brownstar. He remembered the abuse he had let her take back on the Journey without intervening…his conscience twanged at the memory. It had seemed just at the time.

Where was she now?