Captivity (closed)

Having to remain in the Highstones encampment was indeed a punishment, though to Sablestrike it seemed like an incredibly lenient one. Though his words hadn't come out the way he intended, the cats that had overheard his discussion had clearly been outraged by what he said, one of them going so far as to declare him a traitor. Just thinking about that made his fur bristle. He hadn't known that what he had suggested would take Nightstar's lives away. If he had known such a thing would happen there wouldn't have even been a mention of claiming new lives. Still, he could acknowledge that he was wrong for suggesting such a thing, even if he did have Shadowclan's well-being on his mind at the time. Sablestrike knew that he deserved to be disciplined, which was why he would grit his teeth and suffer through the humiliation of being a warrior assigned to apprentice duties.

Of all the cats that joined the conversation that day, only one had taken his side. Though she hadn't quite heard all that Sablestrike had said, she had supported part of his plan and even suggested that he take the role of temporary deputy. Even Sablestrike could tell he wasn't ready for such a role yet, but the she-cat's kind words had still meant a lot to him. He needed to thank her, or at least apologize for letting her get yelled at by Burdockpaw. Silently, the tom made his way around Shadowclan's makeshift camp, stopping only when he had found the she-cat. "Swiftheart," he mewed, "I'd like to talk to you for a little while, if that's fine of course." He wouldn't have been too surprised if Swiftheart refused, though he hoped she wouldn't.

Swiftheart looked up seeing the young warrior approach. She nodded with a warm happy smile. She was almost always in a good mood and today was no exception. And she was always open to chat about things so of course she agreed to his question.

Sablestrike! Good to see you, sure id love to chat she nodded getting up to join him on a little walk and talk.

Sablestrike had valid and good points during their clan meeting and swift heart also did not know that the lives thing worked that way so she didn’t hold anything against the young warrior for his suggestions. In fact she agreed with them a lot the clan needed stability and he was looking out for the clans best interests . She was very close to her brother nightstar but till his return they needed to keep the order.


The whole reason she had suggested him was because she saw the eagerness he held to help the clan and saw the potential he had. He was already a strong warrior even if somewhat new and she figured that he would be an incredible warrior indeed with just a little more experience.

Hmm tell me, what’s on your mind she asked curiously as they walked along.

Sablestrike was more surprised than he thought when Swiftheart agreed to having a chat with him, had he really thought that she would refuse? It seemed that she didn't want to stay in one place however, as she got up and started to walk around. He of course followed, though this was not how he had thought this would go down. It was just supposed to be a simple in and out, apologize, thank her, and leave. I guess I owe her more than that.

What was on his mind? What wasn't on his mind. There was way too much to think about at the moment, and more that he didn't want to think about, but he wasn't about to bother Swiftheart with all those insignificant thoughts. "I just wanted to say thank you for earlier. Y'know, supporting me when no one else did." He was still unsure why she had done that, especially with everyone else calling him out on calling Nightstar a bad leader. He didn't know what he had said to give that impression, but the cats that had joined his discussion with Leopardsun all had the same idea, so why had Swiftheart defended him? "Aside from that, I'm sorry for putting you in that position. Siding with me seemed to have been the wrong move, and I'm sorry for letting Burdockpaw accuse you as she did me." He really should have defended Swiftheart in the moment, though it didn't seem like she had even been bothered by the accusation. "I think you have the wrong idea about me though, I'm not deputy material." At least not yet. "Leopardsun was right about a lot of things, I'm still too inexperienced, and I gave up on my own clanmates way too easily. It was despicable of me to try and force her to take Nightstar's lives away, though I wasn't aware of that at the time. I've got a lot of learning to do before I'm ready for even the slightest bit of responsibility, but I'm hoping that Sunpaw can help me out with that."

Swiftheart listened to him nodding a little as he talked to let him know she was still listening.

"oh, it's really no problem she responded quickly.

She was grateful that he was willling to apologize for things but as far as she was concerned, there was not really anything he was in the fault of.  He didnt need to applogize for a misunderstanding.


she glanced at him momentarily. "You probably want to know why? Dont you? Why I defended you? Why I did all that? She paused looking right at him eye to eye.

"I did it because I believe in you Sablestrike.  I believed you are ready and I still do belive it. You didnt know it would take lives from Night and to be honest alot of us didnt know that either.  You said and did nothing wrong Sablestrike, alot of others took your words the wrong way.

She flicked her tail side to side

she shook her head when he began saying he wasnt ready
"you are doubting yourself now.  Listen, I support you and defended you because I knew you can do this.  Dont let me down, and dont you ever doubt yourself like that again got it? she said unwaiveringly.

She belived in him, and Swiftheart was not about to let self doubt that was unfairly put on him from everyone else in the clan eat away at him like that.  He had leadership skills, and she wasnt gonna let them be dampened by him second gussing at himself.

Did he need more time?  Yes, but they had time now, Night was back and things were back to how they should be.  He had time to get even more ready but this self doubting stuff was not gonna fly with her.


"Siding with you was never the wrong move.  And I dont ever wanna hear you say something like that again.  You have what it takes, you know it and I know it.  So you are not gonna get into some self pity thing and you sure as heck are not gonna get into a self doubting thing you understand?! she said shaper than she had ever really spoken before.


This wasnt normal Swiftheart behavior, she was normally much more relaxed and chill, but this was important and she really did belive that he could be a great leader one day.  Maybe not for awhile, but one day, and that meant not letting him slide into a thing of wondering if he was ever good enough even if that meant a harsher tone than she would have liked to use.

"So pick your head up, don't moap around and belive in yourself again. This is a minor setback but in stars it is not gonna become something bigger than that.