[Justice]

It was early. Though the sun had risen over the snow covered lands it was still fairly early in the morning. Most of the patrols of the closest clan wouldn't start for a little while yet. At least she hoped so. She'd been leaving them gifts then running away, anything to help with their kits. Kits didn't deserve to starve when times were harsh. It was all Jade could do. She was thin, her bones beginning to show through her winter coat and making her appear even smaller than she already was. But it was okay. She survived each year on little food. The kits deserved more, and that was what she was doing today. She'd fished downstream some, outside easy scent of the patrols but inside the territory itself. She had never really cared for the scent markers and rules of the clans. She went where she pleased, but she never hunted within their borders. And now there was Rushwhisker to think of, someone she'd have to teach how things worked outside the safety of his birth clan. He was strong, so he'd survive. For now, however, they had to make it through leafbare. Normally she'd have been up in the mountains where there was a better spread of prey and not so many cats hunting for the same resources. And the Tribe cats shared much better. But the way was too ice and snow covered, and she didn't dare risk it with a cat who likely wasn't going to be used to the harsh reality of being outside a clan.

Jade sighed, sat slowly on the ground under the raised roots of a tree, and rested. She had so little energy, and her stomach was growling. But she didn't eat the fish she'd left for TreeClan's scouts to find. She'd get something later, a shrew or winter hare. Something small she could catch on her own and bring back. She just needed a moment to rest. That was all.

Fawn

Note : Jade is a very small she-cat. Lionstar is almost three times her size XD.

[Fawn]

Lionstar

The crown is getting heavy
But they've written my name in the stars

Clumps of snow had hardened into balls of ice, digging into his paw-pads and trapped in the long, feathery black fur of his paws. Lionstar winced at the sudden sharp pain that overrode the hollow groan of his empty stomach. The weather was unkind to someone of his, ah, advanced moons, but he had pushed himself to leave the warmth and safety of the Ancient Stump to provide for his Clan.

Hoping to catch a few birds in the early hours - he'd snagged a grackle. A skinny little thing that wouldn't make for much of a mouthful for a warrior, but might fill the belly of a kit or two. Lionstar set his kill down. The snow would keep it fresh, but there was a strange chance a predator or a strange cat might sneak over and steal it if he didn't keep it with him.

Leafbare wasn't such a struggle when I was twenty moons younger. Great StarClan, had he reached that age already, where he started grumbling about yester-year? Lionstar snorted, his breath clouding the air in front of his long whiskers as he began to chew and melt the balls of ice stuck in his foot-pads.

A sigh interrupted him, startling the golden tom enough that he chided himself for letting his guard down. "Who's there?" Called the tom, rising to his paws despite the discomfort. He idly scraped snow over the dead grackle, intending to leave his catch for now so he could investigate the source of the sigh. Fat flakes landed on a densely golden-and-black coat; Lionstar gave himself a shake, mane on full display as he followed a set of foot prints to the raised roots of a tree...

There, seeking shelter under the twisted canopy, was a tiny she-cat. At once, she reminded Lionstar of another young she-cat he'd found many many moons ago - a she-cat who had walked a long way, carrying two young kits, in search of a better life for her family. Lionstar's expression softened. He did not want to scare her off.

She looked young, and life in the valley in the grips of leafbare was hard.

"Greetings. I'm sorry if I scared you. Are you..." Lionstar scrutinized her, keeping his features benign, though curiosity made his eyes brighten. "Are you the tabby my Clan has been catching glimpses of?"

I've been building up all these kingdoms for so long
It's good to be king

96 Moons || TreeClan || 391 Words || Justice

[Justice]

She felt as though she'd only just sat down when a male voice startled her back to her paws, fur standing on end as the she-cat sought a direction to run. She didn't have the strength to fight, and wouldn't even if she did. Not against a well fed warrior cat as big as this one was. She'd lose. She was too small, he was too big. Her only hope was to outrun him.

But he didn't seem to be hostile, and she held her body close to the ground finally, still puffed up a little as she was scared and trying not to be, before she answered. "I didn't mean any harm, I just wanted to help feed the kits. Please just let me leave." She would have to make herself scarce for a few days while the heat from TreeClan died down after being caught here. At least she'd managed to leave them a fish. Maybe that at least would keep her from being killed.

Fawn

[Fawn]

Lionstar

The crown is getting heavy
But they've written my name in the stars

The spots and dark markings on her pelt warped as the fur fluffed up in alarm. Lionstar readjusted his stance into something a little less intimidating - choosing to sit down and speak softly. "You are in no danger here. My Clan owes you a debt of gratitude for your gifts." Words carried weight, but gestures - and tokens of meaning - carried a greater one. She was a loner, and from what he'd learned of loners, they did not always need shelter offered to them - but food was rarely turned down.

Hesitation clawed its way up past the tom's personal code of honor; could he really sacrifice a mouthful of prey for a cat not part of his Clan? That struggle was brief, and altruism won out in the end. Before offering up the grackle, however: "You are free to come and go through TreeClan's borders as you please," spoke Lionstar, voice as level as his gaze. "If you so choose, TreeClan can also provide shelter in inclement weather. I'll keep my Clan informed. What is your name, if I may ask?"

The golden tom wondered if it would be something familiar and Clan-ish, like Moonfeather, Amberkit and Fawnkit, or if it would err on the side of... strange. Zephyrfang had once gone by Zuma, a word that held no meaning for Lionstar or anyone else in the Clan. Zephyrfang's sister had been Amara, following that same pattern of... melodious nonsense.

Their names were pleasant to the ears, but spoke nothing of their traits, their strengths.

I've been building up all these kingdoms for so long
It's good to be king

96 Moons || TreeClan || 247 Words || Justice

[Justice]

She stayed close to the ground, ears lain back against her skull and eyes wide as she tried to calm her panicked breathing. The tabby she-cat shook from the cold, but slowly her fur started to lay flat again. "The kits don't deserve to starve." She felt the need to repeat that, because most of what she did was for the little ones. Who was this enormous tom anyway? A warrior she was sure, but the graying of his pelt suggested he was also quite aged. Still big enough and strong enough to take her she was certain.

Her ears perked when he said she was in no danger and that she was welcome to come and go as she pleased. "I'm not usually here in leafbare. I have a nest up in the mountains, above the freeze line. Not as many cats vying for food there. Leave as many resources for those here as I can. But...this time I had a friend that needed me here more. Now the snows have come and blocked the way."

She was super nervous now. If she stayed too long she would succumb to the cold. Though her pelt was thick and suited for swimming in cold water she had little fat on her bones and was very hungry at this point. "There are still places where the fish still swim, so its good for food if you don't do it all in the same place." Though she knew this clan didn't prefer the waters.

Jade was curious now. RainClan hadn't been completely hostile towards her, but they weren't this generous about her presence. "I'm called Jade." Green eyes flashed as she slowly shifted to stand, trembling at a cold breeze sweeping through the roots. "Does my being here not break your territory rules and lines?" She knew it did, but also didn't care and wondered why he was being so good about it.

Fawn

[Fawn]

Lionstar

The crown is getting heavy
But they've written my name in the stars

"Jade," repeated Lionstar, conscious of how strange it felt not to add a suffix to what he deemed a perfectly acceptable prefix. He looked to the shivering she-cat with a kind of reserved, almost paternal kindness. The cold was going to get the better of her, and so he would make this quick. "You're right, it does go against our rules. However, anyone who cares so much for the wellbeing of TreeClan's kits will always be welcome here."

He meant this. Though Lionstar's heart was a great big biased thing, it did not render him blind to the kindness and compassion of non-Clan cats. He was capable of recognizing sincerity when it was here, shivering and wide-eyed, right in front of him. "Do you have shelter nearby?" rumbled Lionstar. "If not, then allow me to repay a little of your kindness." A broad golden and black-tipped tail swept aside, gesturing to the heart of the trees where he knew of TreeClan's camp to lay. "You may stay with us until the weather clears, and you'll be given food and a dry nest to rest in. Alternatively, I can grant you permission to make a nest within our borders, under the condition that it's temporary."

As he spoke, the regal, aging patriarch traced his pawsteps back to where he had buried his prey. Scooping the snow from the grackle's body, Lionstar uncovered the dead bird and retrieved it, returning to where he had left the small, shivering Jade.

Setting it down, Lionstar gave the snow-cooled body a light prod. "This is for you. Winter is hard enough to survive on an empty stomach." Lionstar watched carefully, learning about her mannerisms and her nature in the short time he'd been given. It wouldn't be long before he would have to return to the shelter of camp, and present the Clan with this latest turn of events.

There were those who would scoff and spurn his compassion for a 'strange, Clanless cat', but Lionstar felt wholly justified in his compassion. What kind of world would this be, he wondered, if kindness went unrewarded and unacknowledged?

I've been building up all these kingdoms for so long
It's good to be king

96 Moons || TreeClan || 332 Words || Justice

[Justice]

"At least TreeClan doesn't throw their kits to the river when they don't want them." She muttered, bitter and all but tired of another so-called clan of cats she was familiar with. When asked about her shelter Jade could only shake her head. "Its far, in another clan's territory." Not that she cared. "I make my home wherever I please and I still don't understand why, when the river is generous, we can't share its bounty in good seasons." She lived in RainClan territory, though after leafbare this time, she'd have to relocate her nest, and Rushwhisker, somewhere far away from that territory and all its bad memories.

She shivered, watching the large tom walk away then come back with what appeared to be a half starved bird. A grackle. She looked at it, then at him, then back at the bird. "Don't your kits need it?" Even as she said it though she crept closer to the bird, sniffing at it cautiously as her stomach growled loudly. "I don't want to accept a meal, as generous as it is, if it means someone goes hungry."

Fawn

[Fawn]

Lionstar

The crown is getting heavy
But they've written my name in the stars

Lionstar exhaled a soft chuckle, glossing over her odd statement about tossing kits into rivers. "I'm afraid I'm not as selfless or as generous as I look; our kits and queens have been looked after already, otherwise I would not have offered you the grackle." It was, however unfriendly it sounded, the way things had to be. TreeClan's well-being would always rival that of any loner's or other Clan's - even if their intentions and actions towards TreeClan were good.

But when TreeClan's needs had been met - or at least reached a sufficient level where one starved grackle wouldn't go amiss - Lionstar could afford some generosity.

Jade's mentions of the river, and of sharing the river's bounty made it clear to the golden figurehead that she must settle near RainClan. Or at the very least had dealings with them. Tossing unwanted kits into the river - what was that about? Lionstar's whiskers twitched. Had she mistaken a swimming lesson for RainClan cruelty?

He would never know, and didn't want to rile her up by asking.

They were pressed for time, he knew it well. The thinness of her coat would not keep her safe for much longer.

"Take care, Jade." mewed Lionstar kindly. "If you do choose to nest in TreeClan's territory, a word of caution. North of our brook, or beyond our Great Maple - you'll recognize it when you see it - lies Demon's den. He is a monstrous cat, larger than any Clan cat or longer. We have not seen him for some time," a golden brow furrowed in concern. "But that does not mean he's lost his taste for cat meat."

I've been building up all these kingdoms for so long
It's good to be king

99 Moons || TreeClan || 270 Words || Justice

[Justice]

She gave him a smile at that. "At least you can be generous once your own are seen to. Can't say the same for some cats. Thank you." She nibbled delicately at the scrawny bird, pulling feathers out to bring home for her nest later and then digging in. it wasn't much of a meal, but meat was the best thing for a starving body. Sometimes fish just wouldn't do it for her, and Jade realized that she might have to start hunting things on the land if she was to survive this leafbare. She didn't want to, didn't want to pull already strained food resources from the clans, but she had to survive. She had to make sure Rushwhisker survived too. She knew he could hunt for himself, was warrior trained and knew how to take care of himself, but she still worried about the tom. He deserved better than what the clan that birthed him had given him.

Once she'd picked the grackle clean she buried the remains at her paws and sat on it to press the dirt down some. The remains would nourish the land and let something good grow there come newleaf.

"I would like to accept your generous offer of somewhere to stay until the weather clears. Once it has, and I've slept, I'll head back to my own nest. I have someone expecting me there so I don't want to make him worry. But I'm cold and wet and I would appreciate a dry nest."

She paused when he mentioned the giant cat that ate smaller cats, shuddering. "I know of Demon. My sire has an old scar down his side from where that monster got his claws after him. He was lucky. Thankfully, he doesn't seem to much like the water, so where we are is a bit safer from Demon. I thank you for the warning however, I didn't realize he makes his nest in these lands."

Once everything was sorted the she-cat would cautiously follow the massive tom back to his clan, thinking optimistically that she might yet find somewhere safe for her to move her nest to that would allow for some healing of her friend's spirit.

Fawn

[End?]