[BlooRey DVD]

Hawkstar

may your dreams be larger than mountains

The big tom sat atop the Rock Pile, pale amber gaze surveying the sluggish camp. With Smokestorm out, the StoneClan figurehead had decided he was most needed in camp. As the day wore on, perhaps he would find someone to accompany him outside the camp. He could use the exercise; with age, he found his joints tightened uncomfortably if he stayed still too long. A quiet snort exited his nose, the sand-coloured tom considering his current state of being. He walked a very thin line with age. Not enough exercise, and he struggled with moving about. Too much, and he would be just as incapacitated.

Rolling his shoulders to loosen a creeping stiffness at the base of his neck, his pale gaze continued a sweeping path over the camp. Until they landed upon Eagletalon, pushing back into camp. Even from a distance, Hawkstar could see a distinct new scrape over the top of his brother's muzzle. Behind the senior warrior trailed Smokestorm, and Minkpaw. Eagletalon glanced toward his companions, muttering a few quick words before approaching the Rock Pile. With an inquisitive tilt of his head, the StoneClan figurehead dipped his head briefly in greeting to the approaching tom.

Any joking question he might have had disintegrated on his tongue when the scarred tom explained the events that had occurred. From Minkpaw's trespass, to the altercation with a LightningClan apprentice, ending in a fox encounter; for a moment, he thought he might have a heart attack right then. Making a mental note to speak with Smokestorm about the fox and its exit path later, his amber gaze landed upon the smaller form of his daughter. "Get Dawnblossom to check on that." He ordered the senior warrior, his voice already laced with a seriousness uncharacteristic of his every day mannerisms.

Stepping forward, he straightened himself and raised his voice to be heard from Minkpaw's position. "Minkpaw. My den. Now." His tone left no space for arguments, and the big tom didn't give her any time to formulate a response, for he turned and lumbered back to his den, waiting outside the entrance until the young she-cat appeared over the ridge. "You have some explaining to do." He said simply, before disappearing into his den. Taking a seat near the back, just in front of the nest he shared with his mate, Frozenrain, the large sand-coloured tom kept his gaze pinned on Minkpaw as she settled in.

"I'm waiting." He said simply.

leader of stoneclan

and may you have the courage
to scale their summits

background image | harley king | @kahani | table by phoenix

Note: 99 moons

@zen

[Deleted]

Don't wanna live as an untold story,
rather go out in a blaze of glory...

---

Padding back into camp behind Eagletalon, Minkpaw was more curious in the story of how her father got the scar her mentor had mentioned than she was concerned about the trouble she was about to be in. Everything had turned out fine in the end, so it didn't concern Minkpaw at all. Her tail flicked excitedly behind her as Eagletalon told her to wait there while he relayed the event to Hawkstar. She couldn't wait to tell Ashpaw about the day's adventure later. He'd be so impressed that she crossed the border and fought off a fox. Well, he didn't need to know she hadn't really done anything in the fight. Her paw still hurt a little from Eagletalon stepping on it... she could tell him it was because she hit the fox so hard. That would work.

Her father's voice calling her jerked her from her thoughts. Her ears flicked uncertainly. She wasn't sure she'd ever heard him sound like that before. He didn't wait for her either, and she quickly bounded after him up the rock pile. Uneasily, she followed him inside and stood, shifting on her paws under the weight of his gaze. It didn't seem like that long ago she'd snuck in as a kit and buried herself in the moss of his den, and he'd taught her his secret move.... He certainly seemed very different now.

Pelt bristling slightly, Minkpaw raised her chin, “I just wanted to show those mangy rabbit-chasers that I'm not afraid of them. StoneClan isn't afraid of them. I know the story. They chased us out. And they keep trying to fight with us. They don't care about our borders, so why should we care about theirs?” Her pale blue gaze, so similar to her mother's, flashed with challenge. There was a reason she had chosen LightningClan's border to cross, rather than heading the other way toward RainClan. She knew RainClan had helped LightningClan chase her Clan from her home, once upon a time, but the elders and warriors and other apprentices only ever talked about how LightningClan kept causing trouble. Well, she was good at causing trouble, so if she could cause some for their fox-hearted neighbors, then she was going to.

---

I'll live now 'cause the bad die last.
I can't hear you, I don't fear you.

BlooRey DVD

[BlooRey DVD]

Hawkstar

may your dreams be larger than mountains

With a deep sigh, the big tom reminded himself Minkpaw was still young, barely older than a kit. Her ideology on LightningClan wasn't her fault; rather, it was the culmination of too many stories told from the maws of bitter, older souls. He was still angry, disappointed, and it showed in the glint of his pale amber gaze. "It is not fear of LightningClan that keeps us at bay, Minkpaw. And you should care about their borders because in stooping to their level, you prove yourself to be no better than them." His tail flicked at his side, and the StoneClan figurehead eased his weight off his more heavily scarred side.

"This nonsensical, kit-like behaviour LightningClan has shown themselves so very willing to partake in... It has cost unnecessary lives on both sides. I've lost two lives to this idiocy. And Firestar, at least one. Feeding that fire... It is akin to dishonouring the memory of those lost, Minkpaw. My inaction is not for fear of those 'mangy rabbit-chasers', as you so colourfully described. StoneClan reset the border. We continue to patrol it regularly, to mark our territory. Now LightningClan stews with hurt. With anger. For this conflict robbed Firestar of a kit. As it nearly cost me two of mine."

The big tom did not mention the three siblings Minkpaw would never meet, the litter that perished unborn from the stresses of life in the mountains. Another set of casualties in an unneeded war. "We should care about their borders because such is as the Code declares. And showing disregard for the borders set disrespects the Code, and serves only to stoke the fires of a new war neither side is necessarily prepared for. We cannot afford another war, Minkpaw. Not to the scale LightningClan presented us with. It may be Greenleaf now, but a war ignited in Greenleaf will bleed into Leafbare. And what then? LightningClan has relented. They have stepped back. I will not tolerate initiatives intended to begin a new one, not even from my daughter. Do I make myself clear?"

leader of stoneclan

and may you have the courage
to scale their summits

background image | harley king | @zen | table by phoenix

Note: 99 moons