West Shore Gathering [Swept Away Topic]

Flurryshine was much slower in following behind Scorchclaw. It certainly didn’t help that her gaze was so misty and blurred with tears that just wouldn’t go away. Everything around her smelled of death, but she didn’t care. Her body felt so heavy and fragile, but she didn’t care. She was so tired and hungry, but she didn’t care. All she cared about was carrying the deceased cat resting limply and heavily on her back to the meeting place where all the Clan cats were now gathering.

A few days prior, Flurryshine and Scorchclaw had found Dewshine and Gingerstripe on the shore. Gingerstripe had already drowned, and Dewshine had been close behind in joining her mate up in StarClan. Before she did, however, she had given birth to her last litter of kits. As much as she wanted to care for and love them as if they were her own, she just couldn’t. She was never a good mother anyway — she had abandoned Sunpaw and had requested Sootcloud to be killed during his final seizure episode. Those kits deserved a much better foster mother than her.

Thus, carrying Dewshine and making Scorchclaw carrying Gingerstripe so the two wouldn’t ever be apart, and preventing anyone from burying them until they returned to RiverClan territory, has been her number one priority.

Crowfur weakly arrived to the group of cats. He couldn't speak with the little energy he had. He had been feeling weak since he was thrown onto the strange land. Maybe he was ill? The dark-furred Shadowclanner shook his head and chuckled. The days were rough indeed. He spotted Thornbriar and a couple of other clan-mates. At least he wasn't alone here.
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Birdflight had felt relief when she had finally seen her father again. He looked a bit worn but it wasn't that bad. She was a bit tired herself but she wasn't going to let herself rest until she saw that her clan-mates were okay. However, her mind still raced with the thoughts of where her kits could be. Maybe they had been able to stay grounded while she had been taken away by the water. She hopped that was the case. She couldn't even bring herself to think that maybe one of them had perished.

Scorchclaw half-turned to face Marshstorm, darkened green gaze flicking briefly over the other's features. Then he dipped his head in a stiff nod of agreement. There was no other option. They had to hope some cat had washed up on this shore, some cat apart from Mintwhisker, who was capable of nursing the kits. Even so, anxiety twisted and squirmed within him, clawing at his insides. Without the nourishing milk that they so desperately needed, how long would the litter last? On the off chance that no queen was found, what was he to do? Dapplekit, Otterkit, and Rowankit would undoubtedly perish. These young lives had been placed in his paws, and the last thing he would accept was allowing them to be extinguished. With one powerful leap, he joined the other clan representatives atop the rock. If Jaystar were here, the brown tabby would be taking a seat beside Marshstorm instead. But no, the RiverClan leader was not present, and the responsibility of leadership rested solely on Scorchclaw for the time being. Unsheathed claws clicked upon bare stone. With a lash of his feathery tail, he sat down by Thornbriar. His brow was furrowed, his pelt ruffled. The large tom was evidently agitated and in no mood for idle chatter. Fortunately, the situation demanded that the leaders cut straight to the point.

"Judging by your words, Leopardstar," He growled, levying a cold stare at the ThunderClan tom. "are you expecting the five clans to share prey and shelter with each other? To coordinate out patrols?"

Marshstorm listened intently as Leopardstar spoke. His gaze flickered to Thornbriar in acknowledgement. As Leopardstar spoke, he was beginning to think about the routes cats could reasonably patrol. The shoreline seemed fairly amicable and unlikely to harbour much threat. It'd be easy to see danger before it struck, but then there was the forest. The cliffs. The idea of sending cats into an unknown forest, full of dangers did worry him. They needed herbs though, they needed prey. Without either of those things, the clans would die.

Scorchclaw's tone at Leopardstar sent a prickle of unease down Marshstorm's spine. His jaw clenched with unspoken words, but he looked at Leopardstar openly. Trusting in his leader. Amber eyes filled with the belief and knowledge that he could and would, lead them through.

Dapplekit stared at Magpiepaw, her blue eyes wide as she listened intently to everything he had to say. It wasn't often that she sat still since she had figured out how to walk, but for once she sat still, not even her tail twitching. She hung to every word that came from the black and white apprentice, tuning out her surroundings with the only exception being to look up to the cats on the rock as Magpiepaw spoke of them, trying to commit them to memory. She was speechless for a moment as he ended, her mind struggling to grasp at all of the knowledge that he had shared to try to commit it to memory. Most of the names slipped her mind, but she did remember RiverClan, ShadowClan, and WindClan... The rest were lost as she found her words.

"Wow.... Magpiepaw, you know a lot! What does the river look like? Is it cold, like the lake? Does it sparkle? Is this not our home? Where is our home? What does a frog look like? What is a monster" Her tongue almost tripped over itself as all of her questions came pouring out, and after several questions she stopped, her face growing warm as she realized that all of the questions in her mind had been spilling out, providing no chance for the apprentice to answer. Her small ears flattened against her head at this realization, and she ducked her head to stare at her paws where they shuffled against the small stones. "I'm sorry..." She mewed meekly to both Wasppaw and Magpiepaw, refusing to raise her head to meet their eyes, for fear that they would be looking at her.

"Clearly." Mintwhisker grunted, furrowing her brow. "Cats from all clans are injured, and I can hardly be expected to heal them without the proper herbs. The fastest way to get herbs and prey is to organize a patrol, never mind which clan the cats are from. If we're going to survive much longer, we need to look beyond our prejudices and towards the greater good."

Great Starclan. She didn't know how she'd be able to stand Scorchclaw's temperament, especially coupled with his unwillingness to cooperate. She knew that as a Medicine Cat she was duty-bound to care for all cats, but if Scorchclaw ever fell ill... The taupe she-cat twitched her tail impatiently, feeling the need to reiterate her point. This is a waste of time... The Riverclanner sitting before her needed to know exactly how ridiculous he sounded, placing his clanmates above everybody else at a time like this, when peace was imperative. "I don't care about clans or old grudges. There are cats who are dying without my care, so for everybody's sake, could we please focus on the bigger picture?"

Leopardstar, in all honesty, had forgotten that he and Scorchclaw were supposed to be rivals, so the dark brown tabby deputy's coldly toned question caught the already stressed leader by surprised.  Narrowing his hazel eyes, the ThunderClan leader's tail twitched anxiously; was RiverClan's representative going to insist that their clan break off from the others, to wander in this strange land alone and vulnerable?  The thought, to him at least, seemed completely insane, but he decided not to strain the subject.  "Yes, I am suggesting that Scorchclaw, but I'm not your leader; I can't make your clan do anything.  In this dire situation though, it seems to be the solution that would make the most logical and tactical sense.  We all want to return to the forest...it only makes sense to work together towards that common goal."  Seeing Marshstorm's eyes find his face, he offered his deputy a tiny nod of assurance; I can handle him.  He was grateful, at any rate, that Mintwhisker was on his side.  He dipped his head respectfully to SkyClan's senior medicine cat, a wordless gesture of thanks.  "Yes, at times like this borders do not, and should not, exist.  I don't want to keep you from your work any longer Mintwhisker, I'll send a patrol your way to help you collect herbs momentarily.  Unless anyone has anything else to add, I think we should adjourn this meeting.  Our clanmates need us."  Gazing around, the golden spotted tom bunched his haunches and leaped down from the stone, his paws suddenly revealing their trembling.  His stomach roared with hunger, and muscles ached dreadfully, but he had to stand strong for at least a little while longer.  Bowing his head to hide a yawn, he made for a nearby group of warriors; patrols needed to be sent out.