A Family Reunion [Closed]

Nightheart walked silently through the moors, looking at her father with an almost absent gaze. Her original plan was to come to this secret meeting on her own, but even if she was in denial to the fact of the growing weakness assaulting her elder father her most rational side convinced her to ask him to go with her to the gorge. Deep inside she knew…his age was catching up to him and it was only matter of time for StarClan to claim him and make him join their ranks.

He had to know…

She shook her head a bit, wondering how Thistleblaze would react to her decision to bring Cedarfur with her. She just hoped she would understand. Both she and Cedarfur weren’t in their best condition, both mentally and physically, and they needed as much support as possible. Silently, Nightheart looked up at the shy and prayed to StarClan for this meeting to go well, and the same relief and happiness she felt when she discovered that her little sister was alive and well for their father.

He needed to know…

The dark warrior looked at the narrowest part of the gorge, wondering if Thistleblaze was already there, if Cedarfur would recognize her…and if Thistleblaze would reveal herself to their father or deny the truth. She hadn’t tell the elder cat the reason of why they were going to that specific place nor why they had to go alone, as she wanted her sister to take the final decision, to let him know or keep her secret even from him.

Please…let him know…

Making his way through the moor at a much slower pace than he would've liked, Cedarfur walked next to Nightheart, silent and curious. It wasn't that he didn't enjoy the company of his daughter but the fact that she was acting so quiet told him something about their little walk wasn't... normal. Then again, nothing was normal these days so he couldn't really complain.

What he could in fact complain about was the aching pain that slowly grew in his back from walking too far. Ever since his incident where he'd injured his back, life hadn't been the same and the fact that he couldn't even take a walk without pain saddened the tom. Letting out a yawn, he continued to pad through the crunchy snow but soon couldn't take the silence anymore.

"Nightheart, how far do you plan on taking me?" he chuckled, the snow under his paws starting to become bothersome. "The cold and my joints don't mix very well," Cedarfur huffed, feeling pathetic for needing to ask. Such a great dad, not even able to follow his daughter all the way to where ever in StarClan's name they were going.

"Come on Lightpaw." Thistleblaze said to her daughter following behind her. "There is someone I want you to meet." The warrior said to the apprentice. The gray tabby padded closer to the gorge seeing to cats in sight. Immediately she froze.. Did Nightheart break her promise? She focused on the second cat for a moment and then recognized that cat as Cedarfur.

The warrior looked back to Lightpaw for just a moment, but continued forward to meet her sister, and her... father.. "Hello Nightheart. Nightheart I would like you to meet your niece and my daughter Lightpaw."

---

Lightpaw was unsure of why her mother was meeting up with Windclan cats. She hoped this wasn't some affair going on between them. As the white apprentice studied the two cats she realized that these cats looked somewhat similar to her mother. Who were these cats? Soon her questions were answered when her mother introduced her as a niece. So... this Nightheart was her mother's sister? And who was the brown tom?

OOC: I’m so sorry, for some reason I wasn’t notified of the reply

Nightheart looked at Cedarfur with a weak smile “We’re almost there” She meowed softly. This could be the only chance they had to meet with Thistleblaze as a family and she hoped she hadn’t overestimated the elder’s strength a bit too much.

Not long after she finally spotted the meeting place and smiled at the sight of her sister. She, however, couldn’t help but feel quite surprised when she saw the smaller cat at her side “Hello, Thistleblaze” She purred before she introduced Lightpaw to her. The dark warrior’s hear skipped a beat as she realized that the young cat wasn’t only an apprentice, but family as well. A wave of happiness soon washed over her as she looked at the beautiful white she-cat with different colored eyes. After all the losses she had been forced to go through, any addition to their family were amazing news for her.

“Lightpaw, right?” She meowed softly “It’s a true pleasure to meet you” She then pointed at Cedarfur. After Thistleblaze’s words it would be obvious for him who she really was if she could recognize the patterns on her fur like she did some moons ago “He’s Cedarfur, your grandfather” Nightheart really hoped that Lightpaw’s reaction to this meeting with her family would be positive “I would’ve brought my own kits but…” Her voice slowly went from joyful to gloomy and low as she spoke “M-My kits had to pay the price for Lionfur’s actions as StarClan punished him….and I fear that most of them won't make it…” She lowered her ears and looked down as memories flashed across her mind. Deerpaw’s crippling experience and disappearance, Squirrelpaw being mauled and almost killed by ShadowClan, and the sudden illness or disappearance that fell upon the rest of them.

Sighing at her reply, Cedarfur continued to follow the she-cat, keeping his gaze at the ground until the sound of rushing water made him lift his head in curiosity. Unfortunately for him, today wasn't simply about taking a walk and sight seeing and what the old tom spotted on the other side of the gorge was not what he expected at all.

Standing across from him and Nightheart were two cats, most likely from RiverClan. Of course his first instinct was to be on the defensive side and so the tom raised his hackles, although in doing so sent pain shooting up his spine, and bared his teeth. Why in StarClan's name was his daughter taking him to see these mangy flee pelts! But after a few moments of observing the two, he couldn't help but wonder why they seemed so familiar and yet, he couldn't quite put a paw on who they were.

Lowing his hackles ever so slightly, the elder looked to Nightheart, fire in his eyes. Yes, she was his daughter and he loved her with all his heart, but taking him to see RiverClan cats, she must have been crazy! Turning his gaze to the other cats and listening to Nightheart and the grey cat talk as if they've met before, the words "your grandfather," made his ears perk up. What? Grandfather?Was that little white cat related to him? And why did that grey cat look oddly similar to Sootkit...

Now with his curiosity at its peak, he wasn't going to stay quiet anymore. "Nightheart, who are these cats?" the tom meowed, tilting his head to the side as he looked to his daughter, but still stayed on guard in case they tried anything funny.

Apparently her father didn't get it or rather he was getting there. "My name is Thistleblaze. I'm a warrior of Riverclan. Formerly kit of Windclan under the name Sootkit. I am your daughter Cedarfur." The gray tabby said, shifting slightly so her father could see her bad leg. "When I was a kit I fell into the gorge and Riverclan saved me, but I was crippled. I would never be a Windclan warrior with this so I stayed in Riverclan, and I have a family." Thistleblaze explained.

The riverclan warrior titled her head towards her daughter. "This is your grand daughter Lightpaw."


Lightpaw looked between the cats that had gathered. So... So she was half windclan then? She wasn't full riverclan like she had taken pride in? Did others know? Is that why they seemed to think of her as weak? Or was it because she was small? She didn't know. She didn't like it, she wished she would have been pure clan blood but she couldn't change that. She would prove to them she was strong. Stronger than anyone before. Her odd color eyes looked up to the two Windclan cats. She dipped her head and greeted them. "Greetings."

Nightheart opened her muzzle to answer Cedarfur’s question, but was beaten to it by her sister. She didn’t mind about that fact and just closed her muzzle to let her explain everything to their father, shooting an occasional glance at him to see how he reacted to these news. Part of her was relieved, no longer having to keep this secret from the elder tom, but on the other side she was sincerely worried on how he would take the news especially after the whole tension that had been placed between the two clans lately. She just hoped this was the right choice to make.

“I apologize for not telling you before, father, but I made a promise” Her voice was cautious and slow as she tried to pick her words, not wanting to make things bigger than they already were and ruin the encounter “I…thought you should know, that’s why I brought you here today. I wasn’t willing to just break my promise though, so I decided to let Thistleblaze decide if you should know about it or keep it as a secret”.

Before Nightheart was able to reply, the RiverClan cat began speaking and what she said wasn't what he expected. She... she was his daughter? Sootkit? She was all grown up and with her own kits now, but through all the thoughts and emotions that raced through his head, all he could wonder was, how and why? How had the she-cat manged to survive the gorge and why had she stayed with RiverClan?

Sitting down, his gaze didn't leave Soo- no, Thistleblaze, and he almost didn't hear what Nightheart said. All his life, he had been positive that the kit whom he'd lost to the gorge was with StarClan, and seeing here alive and well with her own kit was a bit much for the elder. Was he supposed to rejoice at this news or be furious at her for leaving her clan? For what felt like ages, Cedarfur's world moved in slow motion, but he soon snapped out of it, more or less.

"W-why would you leave your clan? the tall tom started, looking to his daughter across the gorge, forgetting about her daughter's greeting. "All this time I thought that you were up with StarClan, but come to find out that you've been living with RiverClan right across the gorge. How am I supposed to feel?" that was it, he wasn't going to be fake, he was going to tell her how he felt, seeing she didn't care much anyway. "Joyful that you're alive, or furious that you've been right under my nose this whole time?" Cedarfur finished, though there was a pawful of other things he wanted to say. Sadness took hold of the tom's heart and for the first time since Icestorm had died, he didn't know how to handle the overwhelming emotions.