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Post by Justice on Feb 18, 2019 14:51:54 GMT -5
Silverstar 43 Moons RainClan Tom
So much had gone on over the past few days, so much stress and so much pain. New wounds opened up and needing time to heal, and so much sorrow and hatred flying around. Swanfeather was dead. The tom responsible trained one daughter, while the other was now their medicine cat. What a mess this was. The silver tom was on high alert and now he had to clean up this mess too. He didn't know what had gotten into Rushwhisker, what made him decide that killing Swanfeather would make things right, but the deed was done. Rushwhisker was banished, Dewfrost was their medicine cat.
It seemed like things had fallen into place for Rushwhisker to destroy his family all by himself. Ferngaze and Dewfrost were trained by the two cats involved, and now he didn't know if they'd ever get along again. He took a deep breath and settled himself, knowing that he had to be calm to keep Ferngaze calm.
He'd asked her to go on a walk with him, to get away from the prying eyes of the clan and the sometimes overbearing concern of Echoshade, who'd been worried sick over her daughters since this entire thing happened.
The future lies before you, like freshly fallen snow
Be careful how you tread it, for every step will show
author unknown |
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Post by Taxx on Feb 28, 2019 19:51:03 GMT -5
Ferngaze of RainClan Despite everything, Ferngaze hadn't shirked her duties in the days following Rushwhisker's exile. She missed him- she wouldn't deny that to anyone- but aside from offering to do more border patrols than hunting or fishing, and wishing she could see him to know if he was still okay- it hardly felt like anything had changed. RainClan moved on as it always had.
Except, of course, for her distance with Dewfrost. After her sister had told Rushwhisker that he'd never join StarClan, she had spoken up to include Swanfeather in that. If her mentor were guilty of murder, the former medicine cat was guilty of far more. She hadn't spoken with her sister since, avoiding her as best she could.
She'd been resting from a patrol when Silverstar had called her to join him, and she'd obeyed- confused but following anyway. The forest was still locked in snow and ice, her short but thick coat keeping out of worst of the cold as she trailed her father for a moment; picking up her pace, she moved to pad at his side, eyes watching him and ears flicking. "What are we doing out here? It's cold." STEADY AS THE RIVER RUNS |
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Post by Justice on Feb 28, 2019 22:06:51 GMT -5
The silver pelted tom looked around him at the snow covered territory, so used to the cold and happy with leafbare that he'd briefly forgotten that not everyone loved the season as he did. "I wanted to talk to you." He sighed, turning the weight of blue eyes to his daughter. "I know you and your sister are fighting, or at least not talking anymore. I'm sorry you two were put into the middle of all this between Rushwhisker and Swanfeather. Neither of you deserved the position they put you in." He took a breath then continued, "I took you with me to bring Swanfeather back to camp for vigil because, even if unintentionally, he was responsible for a rift forming in my family and I wanted you away from him and his hate. You and Dewfrost have been put at odds just like he and Swanfeather were. I didn't want there to be any chance of that rift deepening any further than it already had. I may not be much of a father, but I do care about you and your sister." Silverstar had stopped walking by this point, just focusing on Ferngaze. "No matter his reasons, or her previous crimes, he still committed murder. I don't know what got into his head that made it okay to him to kill her, but it was wrong. It was a senseless loss of life of a she-cat that couldn't even really defend herself in the end. I'm not on her side, and I'm not on his side. They both did wrong, and in the end its the clan, and my family that suffers for it." He wondered if she even cared to understand his rational, or if this would only make things worse. He didn't say either one was right, because to him both of them were wrong in their own ways, he just didn't want their hatred spreading further into his clan and his family. Hatred bred only hatred, and caused fissures and built up to something much worse. He was not allowing Rushwhisker's insanity to start the hatred and pain up all over again. Taxx |
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Post by Taxx on Feb 28, 2019 22:34:53 GMT -5
Talk? A brief sense of confusion followed understanding and Ferngaze's ears flicked back. A part of her hated the distance between her and Dewfrost, but she wasn't going to take back what she'd said and she couldn't change how she felt. Glancing away, the young warrior listened, let Silverstar speak, and sighed. “I care about her too, still. I just don't understand… how can she stand behind Swanfeather, with everything she did, but condemn Rushwhisker? You may not be taking sides, but I am. Swanfeather deserved what she got.” Blue eyes turned back to meet her father's, unrepentant. “After what she did, not just to our Clan but to StoneClan too, I hope she never finds peace in StarClan.” And if Dewfrost wanted to mourn the cat who had caused so much pain to two Clans, then she could go ahead. But Ferngaze wasn't going to apologize for speaking her mind about the murderous, lying she-cat, not when it was all truth. Justice |
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Post by Justice on Feb 28, 2019 22:53:17 GMT -5
"She deserved to be killed without being able to at least defend herself? Yes she caused allot of pain and suffering, caused a war and split the clan. I was in the middle of all that, just an apprentice. I remember being separated from my siblings, and how everyone demanded we take a side and when we didn't called us traitors to the clan. Everyone suffered through the war Ferngaze, and having Rushwhisker take the matter into his own paws and finish it was never his right. To me the only one he helped was himself. My point is that he blamed Swanfeather for every bad thing that ever happened both to this clan and to him personally. Or it seemed so to me. Rushwhisker needed help, and the poison in his heart wouldn't let him take it from the clan around him." His eyes darkened, tone going to a glacial one that he'd never taken with his daughter. "You sound like him. Swanfeather was her mentor, of course she'd side with her, just as with Rushwhisker being your mentor you'd side with him. If Swanfeather had been anyone else you wouldn't be surprised that your sister sided with her mentor. The context of loyalty is only being questioned because of who the cats involved in this were. Its okay to mourn someone, even if no one else does. Its okay to miss someone when they are gone, would you deny her that? Just because of the past? You weren't even born yet, not even a thought between your mother and I, when all this went down. You aren't apart of it and they made you apart of it." The ice in his voice let up finally, tail thrashing around behind him in the snow. "I'm sorry you both got involved in this. I had hoped, when I became leader, that I could move our clan past it all. I didn't choose to allow Swanfeather to return to the clan, but I am often forced to deal with the ramifications of that choice. I'm sad she's gone, because it is a loss of a life of a clanmate, and I'm sad that Rushwhisker is gone. I wish things could have been different, but they aren't." Taxx |
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Post by Taxx on Mar 2, 2019 20:12:24 GMT -5
Ferngaze of RainClan Ferngaze's ears pinned back, but her gaze lowered- not in submission, merely because she couldn't meet Silverstar's eyes. Her claws sank into the snow, her tail twitching as she glared. "She deserved it," she repeated in a softer mutter, fur prickling down her back, refusing to lift her eyes now. She wouldn't change her mind on that, and she didn't like hearing Silverstar talk about it so casually, laying it out as though it were so easy to point out the right and wrong of it. Or- just the wrong. How was it wrong? The murder? Sure, she could understand that; killing another cat had always been frowned on and doing so was cause for exile.
She'd never questioned that before. Not until now, when Rushwhisker was involved. And suddenly everything was confusing- she knew that murder was wrong, and yet she couldn't bring herself to label that death as such. It had been vengeance, rightfully wrought on a cat who had used her position for evil. Ferngaze trembled, partly from cold and partly from a turmoil of emotion- she could understand why Silverstar had had to banish Rushwhisker, could understand why Rushwhisker had been driven to kill, could even understand why Dewfrost mourned the late medicine cat. She just didn't know how to process it.
"Yeah..." she replied, "I wish things had been different too. If only Swanfeather hadn't decided to abuse her power, and lie and scheme and create a split in the Clan that lasted moons." She met Silverstar's eyes then, for a short moment before turning away again, still irritated by all of it: the parts played by the cats along with her and Dewfrost's involvement, because of their relationship with the cats caught up in the remnants of the war. STEADY AS THE RIVER RUNS |
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Post by Justice on Apr 3, 2019 12:35:31 GMT -5
Silverstar 46 Moons RainClan Tom Silverstar sighed and paused, flicking his tail across his daughter's shoulders. "Ferngaze." His blue eyes were sad, and it was at this time he remembered why it was he hated being leader. It was something he'd stepped into with difficulty, but something he accepted as meant to be. StarClan decree, and the choice of their former leader. It was a done thing. "Do you blame your sister for the wrongs of Swanfeather? My greatest fear is that the two of you will now be at odds because you seem to be heading along the path of picking up where your mentors left you."
He looked up at the sky for a long moment then back to Ferngaze, noticing that she was trembling from the cold. With his thicker pelt he leaned against her without hesitation, actually cuddling in against her to keep her warm even as he stopped walking to do so. "I love you both. Even though I'm not a fit father I am still your father and I worry about you two. I want you to be happy." He paused, staring straight ahead even as he leaned against the she-cat at his side to keep her warm. "I'm sorry I had to send him away. I didn't want to. Training you brought him so far in healing that I had hoped he was ready to move forward with his life. But some hurts never heal, and some cats can never let go of the past. He chose his path."
And so leaving his family in the state it was in now.
Taxx
The future lies before you, like freshly fallen snow
Be careful how you tread it, for every step will show
author unknown |
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Post by Taxx on Apr 9, 2019 15:14:07 GMT -5
Ferngaze of RainClan Ferngaze's ears flicked at the blunt question, her blues eyes flashing to Silverstar. She hesitated, just for a moment, and then shook her head. "No, I don't. I know I don't. But..." she trailed off, head ducking a bit, tail twitching at her uncertainty. "How can I hate her? She's my sister. It's not her fault what Swanfeather did. I don't blame her, not at all."
The press of her father's shoulder to her own was met with a half-flinch away, but she relaxed back into it a moment later, resting her head against his and feeling the warmth of his body and the softness of his pelt. "I'm so confused. Everything's all mixed up." And she missed Rushwhisker, and the only one she was sure understood that was Ashflight. She sighed, deeply, and tucked her head against her father's neck, closing her eyes as he spoke, one pricked ear showing that she was listening and taking in his words. And half of her hated how logical he had been about it. If he'd exiled Rushwhisker in a fit of anger, she could have blamed him. Hated him, accused him of whatever she wanted, even knowing that Rushwhisker had brought it on himself.
But he'd been decent. As much as he could have been, all things considered, and Rushwhisker himself had had no intention to stay. Both of them knew what he'd done, and they knew what had to be done.
It didn't mean she had to like it, and she wasn't the least bit happy about it. But what could she say, or do, to change it? Maybe that was the worst part of it, how much she was just an observer. "If he ever came back, asking to join RainClan again, would you let him?" she asked, pulling her head away to turn and meet Silverstar's eyes, waiting for his reply and wondering what it would be. STEADY AS THE RIVER RUNS |
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Post by Justice on Apr 17, 2019 15:01:02 GMT -5
Silverstar leaned against his daughter and purred, staying silent while she spoke of her feelings and how confused she was. "I feel partially responsible for putting you and your sister in this mess in the first place. Swanfeather chose her, but it was my call that sent you to Rushwhisker. He was good for you and you for him, and I don't regret it, I just wish things hadn't turned out this way. I hate this, I'm sad and hurt and I know you two are both hurting. But maybe, after the hurt has time to fade a little, talk to your sister? At least tell her you don't hate her. I think, of all of us, she needs to hear it from you the most." He headbutted her. "And maybe your mother won't kill me if I can make this right for the two of you." His tone was light, as everyone knew Echoshade didn't have an ounce of malice in her fluffy body. The next question gave him pause, and he considered it. "If he came back I would consider it after he'd proven that he was no further threat to clan or to Dewfrost. He'd have to regain the trust of the clan, but I wouldn't turn him away. And when his time comes, if he returns wanting to pass onto StarClan with the clan that birthed him, I will accept him." It was a way of explaining to Ferngaze why he'd brought Swanfeather home. No matter what someone did in life, he believed that for the most part they still deserved to be given proper respect when they passed on to StarClan. Taxx |
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Post by Taxx on May 15, 2019 8:47:20 GMT -5
Ferngaze of RainClan Ferngaze glanced over at her father again, considering his request. Could she give that much? Would Dewfrost even want to hear it from her? After their argument over Swanfeather's body, she wasn't so sure about her sister's response. She'd hadn't necessarily meant to upset Dewfrost, but her refusal to acknowledge Swanfeather's treachery had pushed both to say things they hadn't meant. Or- so Ferngaze hoped, in her sister's case.
She nodded, though. "I'll do my best." And then gave a puff of laughter at the thought of Echoshade doing any such thing. "Sure, RainClan can't afford to lose its leader just yet. I'll talk to her. Promise."
They sobered again at the next question, and Ferngaze's blue eyes dropped back to her paws at his reply. What other answer could he give, really? If Rushwhisker even wanted to return, which Ferngaze wasn't sure if he would. Would RainClan welcome him back? Aside from a few, that was. Ah, she didn't know. And going around in circles like this wasn't doing any good. "He wouldn't hurt Dewfrost. His problem was never with her." That much she knew for certain- but the rest?
A slow shake of her head and then a shiver as the cold crept through her fur again. "It's cold. We should head back. But- um, thanks. Talking helped." She just hoped she could clear things up between her and Dewfrost as effectively. STEADY AS THE RIVER RUNS |
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Post by Justice on May 19, 2019 16:08:39 GMT -5
"I don't wish to believe he would, but I don't know his state of mind and how much that hatred has changed him. I only want to protect my clan, and my children." He headbutted her, curling his tail against her shoulders for a moment before dipping his head towards home. She was cold, he should get them home so that she could curl up in her nest where it was warm and safe. He started leading them home, head held high and listening for any sign of danger. "Thank you for being willing to talk about it. I know it isn't easy, and you are very brave." He headbutted her again, offering a brilliant smile that he liked to think she'd inherited from him too. "Don't be afraid to come to me when you need someone to talk to. No matter what happens I am on your side. I try to be fair no matter the circumstances, but being neutral and leading a clan are difficult things." His tail flicked, and he changed the subject as home came into view. "Your mother threw a fish at me yesterday." He let the conversation turn to that, to something positive and funny, as they reentered camp and prepared to warm up from their cold walk together. [End?] Taxx |
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