[Deleted]

Darkstar

I don't got time to look over my shoulder

Leaf-fall 30 - Frost was spotted in the early morning though it quickly melted away as the sun rose. The ground is not as warm as usual but prey seems to be active.

Darkstar lay atop the boulder ledge, a sentinel watching over NightClan’s camp with a burning gaze that missed very little. Though her pose was relaxed, indicating she had no intention of calling a Clan meeting any time soon despite her perch, she was alert, observing, bright eyes piercing the shadows of the forest around her. The moon shone brightly overhead, illuminating her form clearly. This was her home and she had no reason to hide here. NightClan was hers, to command and protect. Lying there atop the perch reserved only for the leaders of NightClan, she considered her time as leader thus far.

Had she accomplished everything she had hoped she would by this point? No. Absolutely not. But she had taken NightClan’s leadership when the opportunity presented itself. She had taken it because NightClan needed a new perspective. Some cats had called for an older warrior to take up the mantle, some cat with more life experience. Some had wanted Pinewhisker to return to the role. But NightClan needed to move forward, not backward. They had lost far too many leaders in far too short a time, all of them older warriors with more life experience. Darkstar was just coming into her prime, young, strong, bold. She knew she was not perfect, Foxstar and Briarthroat both had made that very clear. However, she felt a rush of pride and guarded affection as she recalled Blackwolf’s words to her when her mentor had given her his life, and Blackwolf’s opinion certainly ranked higher than either the former leader, whom she could only see as weak no matter how she looked at it, or Briarthroat, whom she had respected but not on anywhere near the same level as her former mentor.

She could handle the challenges she had faced thus far, the challenges that were continuing to present themselves. She had no doubt in her own abilities. However, just as a kit had to become an apprentice to learn how to be a warrior, so too did a warrior have to become deputy to learn how to be a leader. And she had completely skipped that step. There were those in NightClan that doubted her, she knew, because they had been the ones that wanted an older warrior to lead. She was not a unanimous choice among her Clanmates. She might not have even been the one with the majority support, but she had been the one bold enough to take it, in the end. And Darkstar was of the opinion that NightClan desperately needed a leader that would actually take action when it was needed, after Foxstar had allowed TreeClan to steal their territory and done nothing about it for season upon season. Darkstar would always see her predecessor’s reign as a stain of shame in NightClan’s history. Never again would NightClan sit by so idly when they’d been wronged, not while she retained leadership, anyway.

And yet, wasn’t she sitting here idly now? While Blackwolf’s killer walked free? Her tail lashed behind her once, twice, at the thought. And now Rookshade had been crippled. TreeClan’s debt grew and she had not acted. Some might say Rookshade had earned his punishment for his actions, and while Darkstar had not been pleased to hear that the tom had attacked when the goal should have been bringing prey back to the Clan, he was still NightClan. She had stood before all the Clans at her very first gathering and proclaimed that no wrong against NightClan would go unpunished. Her tail lashed once more and she pushed to her paws, feeling restless. She had spent enough time lying about doing nothing.

Movement and familiar ginger fur caught her eye just as she was preparing to leap down. Pinewhisker. Pinewhisker had been there when TreeClan had stolen their territory. That day was the entire reason she was no longer leading NightClan. Darkstar had never spoken to the older she-cat about that day and now she found herself intensely curious as to what Pinewhisker might say about it, among other things. Leaping down, she padded toward the senior warrior and dipped her head slightly in respect, “Pinewhisker. Do you have a moment? There are… some things I’d like to ask you.” Unlike Foxstar, when Pinewhisker found herself unfit for leadership because of her health, she had stepped down so someone stronger might take her place. Darkstar could respect that choice, the choice to put NightClan’s welfare above all else. It could not be easy to relinquish that power, that control, but she knew she would make the same decision, were she ever unfortunate enough to face what Pinewhisker had.

Leave 'em all behind I'm about to take over

@jet

[Deleted]

Pinewhisker has been feeling her old wounds more fiercely recently. The nights had a bite that pierced her leg with a painful ache as the jaws of leafbare grew ever closer. The senior warriors mind had been on much lately, particularly on Rookshade. He didn’t seem to be getting better, and although Pinewhisker helped when she could, she knew Shadowchaser had his paws full. His injuries were far more severe than hers, and some nights she questioned StarClan’s motives.

Rookshade was a fine tom who didn’t have the easiest life. His rebelliousness was a cry for attention, something Rookshade had rarely received positively. Jaystep. Pinewhisker thought angrily, tail twitching slightly as she moved towards the fresh kill pile. If only Rookshade spent less time trying to woo his father. If you could even call him that.


The ginger she-cat heard Darkstar’s voice sound near, and a soft nod accompanied her husky voice as she turned to the young she-cat respectfully.

”Of course, Darkstar.”

Not many had the confidence to take leadership in the realms of chaos. Pinewhisker had tried, but she was old and she knew it. She could feel it in her bones, and the last thing NightClan needed was another dead leader. Darkstar had Pinewhisker’s support, always. The ginger she-cat just hoped Darkstar wasn’t too proud to ask for help when she needed it. Rainfur seemed to be doing a fine job tempering the fires of Darkstar’s personality.

Pinewhisker faced Darkstar calmly, a dull ache in her hind right leg made known by the slight shift in weight to her other three limbs. Once she had felt pity for herself, shame for her failure to NightClan, but knowing they now had Darkstar as leader with StarClan’s support, Pinewhisker felt at peace. She may not be the fittest for fighting, the night Rookshade was crippled proved that, but she could still hunt and feed the clan. Memories of Pumafang and Brackenstride that night infested her mind. Her lip curled up slightly and her eyes glazed over with hate. Glancing back to Darkstar and erasing the disgust from her face, Pinewhisker apologized.

”I’m sorry, Darkstar.” The ginger she-cat started, dipping her head. “TreeClan has been on my mind a lot lately.”

Surely that was why Darkstar wanted to talk? Pinewhisker has been there when Rookshade attacked, and had she been younger and livelier, she probably would have taken the opportunity to kill Brackenstride too. Inexperience and lack of leadership skills left him fighting TreeClans massive deputy alone, and before Pinewhisker could jump in, it was all over. She hoped she would never have to re-live the worst moments in her life, choking under the weight of a larger opponent as her body twisted and snapped under the pressure...but it was worse seeing it happen to someone else.

Pinewhisker would never forget dragging Rookshade back to camp with Snakeflower. A low growl sounded in Pinewhisker’s chest, the she-cats mind straying to the darkest parts of her heart. TreeClan couldn’t get away with killing and crippling any longer.

@zen

[Deleted]

Darkstar

I don't got time to look over my shoulder

Being observant enough to notice little things that hinted at weakness which could be exploited in battle was something Darkstar had trained on, so it didn’t go unnoticed when Pinewhisker shifted her weight to favor her bad leg as the older she-cat agreed to join her. The fur along the dark tortoiseshell’s spine rippled in a flash of fury over what had been done to the she-cat. She might very well still be Pinestar now if not for Lionstar, if not for TreeClan’s greed in taking what did not belong to them. Darkstar’s tail lashed behind her as she thought once more about how long it had taken NightClan to reclaim their own land. TreeClan had not just shifted the border, they had taken territory that had always belonged to NightClan. Darkstar would never forgive Foxstar’s passivity in allowing their enemy to claim their land so long that kits were born and made warriors without ever owning what was rightfully theirs. She could not forgive that Pinewhisker’s sacrifice had not been immediately repaid.

So when Pinewhisker suddenly apologized, apparently for a wandering mind, Darkstar snorted in return for hers had been wandering as well. Apparently in a similar direction. “As have I,” she growled softly, burning gaze narrowing as though their enemy awaited before them, “Your time as leader was ended too soon, ripped away from you. I can’t help but wonder, as we stalk closer and closer to war, what your next move might have been, if you hadn’t relinquished the Clan to Foxstar.” Her disdain for Pinewhisker successor, her predecessor, was clear when she spoke the she-cat’s name. She turned to look at Pinewhisker then, “Surely you would never have allowed TreeClan to keep the Branch Trail for so much as a moon’s time.” Five seasons. Five seasons Foxstar had allowed it with no retaliation. And then she and Briarthroat had wondered why their warriors took matters into their own paws?

Her tail lashed again, thinking about how the group of them had been forbidden from meeting together after that, as if they were plotting to overthrow the leadership, treated like a bunch of traitors when they had been the ones to finally do what needed to be done, what should have been done five seasons previous. Foxstar’s first decree upon her return from the Moon Tree should have been to take back what had been stolen from them. But it hadn’t been. “I wanted to ask…. Do you think I’m doing enough?” She wondered if she was allowing Rainfur not just to dampen her fire, but to hold her back altogether when raining fire down upon their enemies was what really was called for right now. Was she allowing her deputy to make her too cautious? The warnings given her at her leader ceremony still rattled about in her mind. Her fire could consume all of NightClan, just as well as it could their enemies.

“Lionstar forced you out of leadership. I have taken his deputy from him,” she began, not with pride, only a statement of facts, “TreeClan stole our territory for five seasons. We stole their prey when our territory was flooded…. It does not seem like enough to me. Especially not now that Rookshade has been crippled as well. Yet my deputy cautions peace. Our herb stores are not what they were before the flood and leafbare is coming. These are the excuses Foxstar gave the Clan. I will not be Foxstar. I will not stagnate in passivity and allow TreeClan to believe they can ever take anything from NightClan ever again without it costing them far more than they gain for the effort.”

Leave 'em all behind I'm about to take over

@jet