In Regards to the Tunnels [Clan Meeting]

Consider her callosed, consider her heartless... But Coyotegrin was not necessarily mourning the death of Mallardduck. For one, there was no room to grieve a cat she hardly knew when her heart was already full and aching with grief over Goldenpaw and Hawkheart. Secondly, Coyotegrin was angry. The tom's absolute stupidity was his own fault, and only making her job harder. She had been warning cats to not go in the tunnels, they weren't ready, and it was known not to go into the tunnels. And yet, the warrior's death was supposed to be her fault? Absolutely not. There was no way in StarClan's great open skies she could sit and babysit every cat in this clan to make sure they were not going in the tunnels. So, she had spoken to Shrikestar. It wasn't exactly hard, convincing him to allow her to make an official clan meeting to discuss the tunnels and finally reveal their plans to the whole clan. In this meeting, she would lay down the rules and any deliberate ignorance of them would be on that cat's shoulders.

Was Coyotegrin being too harsh? Maybe. But this was life and death. And now she had another tunnel to excavate. She sat in front of the tall rock now, finalizing her speech in her head. Her tail twitched fiercely from side to side like an angry face, her grin she was named after now a harsh and locked jaw with determination and quiet anger shining through her eyes. Taking a deep breath, she called out for the clan. "All cats old enough to run the moors gather around the Tallrock for a clan meeting!" Her voice carried out across the camp and perhaps on the outer outskirts of it. She sat and waited- only slightly patiently.

What had been going through Mallardduck's mind when he'd so foolishly entered the tunnels, Brackenwing wasn't sure. It was tragic that a clanmate had died, but frustrating, too. She'd helped Coyotegrin with the initial exploration of the tunnels, and Coyotegrin had found other cats to help excavate and explore and begin to take care of the disreputable state of the tunnels. So why then, did cats think they were safe? Even outside of the fox she and Coyotegrin had fought, they were unstable and cramped at best, for the moment.

The call for a clan meeting was carried by Coyotegrin's voice, and Brackenwing's ear twitched. She padded silently toward the tallrock, tail flicking as she sat and gazed up at the calico she-cat. To say Coyotegrin had been upset over the news - who hadn't been, really? - was an understatement. And rightfully so. Perhaps this meeting had something to do with it, stars knew cats were already divided on the tunnels being worked on, and Mallardduck certainly hadn't helped matters.

Blazefang was already in camp this time, and was quick to sit down near the Tallrock. Since Coyotegrin had called the meeting, she was almost certain this had to do with the tunnels. Fidgeting like crazy, she waited for the clan to gather.

The summons that rang out over the camp had roused Owlshade from a light slumber. Blinking sleepily, he uncurled from his position in the sand and stretched his limbs as he climbed to all fours. It was Coyotegrin who called the meet - how interesting. The pale tom's eyes flicked around until he found Brackenwing in the crowd of gathered cats, and he sauntered slowly over to her, gently butting her shoulder with the top of his head before settling down beside her. "Any idea what this is about?"

Silverwing had never heard anyone but Smallbean and Shrikestar call a clan meeting before. Her curiosity was thoroughly piqued. Spotting Blazefang in the gathering crowd, the new warrior padded over to her mentor. She gave Blazefang an affectionate nudge before sitting down.

The sound of a clan meeting being called by a voice that wasn't Shrikestar's - or his own- quickly caught his attention. Poking his head out of his nest, his eyes fell upon the Tallrock, Coyotegrin standing beside it. It was strange, for sure, but surely Coyotegrin had talked to Shrikestar before calling the meeting. She was in charge of the tunnels, after all, surely it was about that.

Silently watching, he padded into the crowd, listening to the whispers of his clanmates. His stomach turned with anticipation.

Flutterpetal still felt weird. After the incident in camp the other day, tension among his Clanmates had been uncomfortably thick. Normally he would be trying to help, trying to make peace... but for some reason, he didn't feel like talking to Daisybreeze. He didn't really want to talk to Whisperear, either. They were both his friends. He liked them both. But any time he even thought about approaching them, the image played in his mind again... Daisy's fangs in Whisper's throat, with a sheer look of pain and anger on both faces. He couldn't stand it. So he... ignored it. And he wasn't proud of that.

From where he sat in camp, trying to sort out the strange and unknown feelings that were churning inside his stomach, he heard something strange. His ear flicked. A summons?... from Coyotegrin, not Smallbean or Shrikestar? How odd. She had been involved in the incident, too... she'd yelled at the fighting cats. She was Daisybreeze's mother, too. His paws didn't want to move. But, curiosity got the better of whatever weird bitterness lingered at the back of his throat, and so he forced himself to move up to the center of camp, beneath the Tallrock. A quick glance at his Clanmates showed that Adderdawn was there, too. Without saying anything, Flutterpetal sat next to his brother, almost close enough for their pelts to touch. Two dark-furred toms, awaiting further words from the unusual she-cat atop the rock. Adderdawn seemed to be filled with more actual interest than he, but it was nice to spend some time with a cat who didn't seem to be seeping in the negative emotions of the past incident.

Shrikestar padded out of his den and headed for the Tallrock, which he stood atop and looked down at Coyotegrin. Of course, he already knew that the meeting was to be called. It concerned the tunnels, so it made sense for Coyotegrin to call it. He just stood there as the main authority figure, as if to say that he knew what was going on, and it was okay. Hopefully everyone would listen, especially considering what had happened recently. This was of utmost importance.

Coyotegrin waited in the shadow of the Tall Rock as the clan Gathered. As Shrikestar joined, leaping above the perch above her, she gave him a nod before looking back around the clan to start the meeting. Their faces were filled with confusion and rightfully so. Even Smallbean's was confused, which surprised her. Perhaps he wasn't in the loop. It kind of made her feel bad for how she secretly felt about him... She tucked away a promise to get to know him better in the future. Maybe they didn't need to compete- even if he didn't really know they were competing.

After a few more minutes, Coyotegrin stood and took a deep breath. "Thank you all for heading my call. I know you are probably all confused about why I called this meeting, but I think it's time to clue you all in to what has been happening. Since Shrikestar has taken leadership, I have been working on figuring out a way to make the tunnels safe and usable as the new Tunnel Captain." The small she-cat began to pace; it was likely most of her clanmates wouldn't be able to see her unless they were in the front row anyway. She continued on in a loud and clear voice.

"I have put together a small team of cats to help me with this. Whisperear, Blazefang, and Adderdawn. We will be going to the Moonstone later with Batsong to ask StarClan for guidance. But first, I'd like to address the issue at paw right now. I know we are all mourning for Mallardduck's death. It was tragic and avoidable. And that's what the Tunnelers are working to. So I will make this clear and official, the tunnels are not safe to go in to. No cat besides the cats I listed before should be going in the tunnels, for any reason. For now, at least. When the tunnels are safe, they will be opened up. If you do still decide to go into them, then the tunnelers cannot be held liable." Coyotegrin paused. She knew she was sounding hard and calloused right now, but it was true. There was no possible way under StarClan's great sky that she could sit and babysit every warrior in the entire clan to make sure they were not going in the tunnels.

"With that being said, once the First Renewed Tunnelers and I get some guidance on StarClan on how to approach this safely, we will start taking on 'Tunneling Apprentices'. You'll get Tunneler Mentors, but keep your names and ranks. Just basically, an optional training. No cat will be forced to do anything with the tunnels they don't want to. It's all volunteer based. Necessary, and paying homage to our great ancestors. If you'd like to, please speak to me after this meeting or whenever you decide you are ready."

She ended her speech by pausing under the Tall Rock and gazing over her clanmate's faces.

Batsong gathered for the meeting with the rest of the cats she glanced up at Coyotegrin. The two of them had a comlicated history that was not always the most calm. Still, she respected her clanmate at tunnel captain as much as she privately thought the tunntels were a terrible idea and were esseintial to playing with fire.

Mallardducks death had highligted a key concern of hers that these things were not safe and that even a warrior could get trapped in them easily with no way out ... yet alone an apprentice.

The clanmates listed as tunnlers made her ears twitch uncomfortably... Whisper, Blaze and Scorch were some of her life long friends and the thought of losing them was not something she liked to entertain. She frowned uneasy that this was still going forward despite the recent loss of mallardduck... it felt that they were pushing their luck now more than ever playing with these dangerous things.

She was at least a little more at ease that Coyotegrin had at least agreeded to have her join them to concult starclan soon about this topic. She privatly hoped that starclan would hault all development of the tunnels. There was just no reward worth all this risk to her.

She had mentioned to Shrikestar how against this she was but it seemed he liked coyote's point of view more. Which was fine but she was still against this whole thing from the start. She knew that she for one would never be caught going into those death traps.





Daisybreeze sat in the back of the meeting. She still felt terrible for what she did to whisper but her pride was taking awhile to cool off to really figure out what to do about it. She knew that at some point she owed alot of her clan an apology but it was difficult for her to do that. The way that flutter and adder didnt want to hang out with her anymore was punishment enough it felt like and on top of that she had been socially demoted to apprentice for a while. The meeting dragged on and on to her and she was more so just sad and bitter that her friend mallard had died in some tunnel. She didnt really care beyond that one way or another.... just as long as no one else got hurt which to her sounded like her mom had figured out.

She nodded to coyote as the meeting finished but kept seated where she was.

Birchpaw joined Batsong's side as the meeting was called. They were curious about the tunnels, but did not necessarily have the desire to go in them. Nevertheless, they sat and patiently listened as Coyotegrin spoke. Their ears pricked at the mention of Batsong taking the group to Highstones. Does that mean I'll have to watch over camp on my own? Am I ready? Birchpaw's gaze flickered over to their mentor. She wouldn't have agreed to go without them if she didn't think they could handle it.

Straightening their posture, their gaze turned serious. They would keep everyone safe, they had to.