Hawkstrike walked out of the warriors’ den, wearing the same serious expression he had since the clans had managed to return from the flood. He looked around, his eyes scanning the camp he called home…he just couldn’t get used to how empty it looked. His eyes finally landed on the leader’s den, his eyes narrowing lightly.
Now, while the smaller tom had slowly but surely managed to earn some respect from the chocolate tabby, his latest slumped state he had been stuck in lately was beyond infuriating for him. He knew he had lost his mate not too long ago, and knew the blow would be a strong one, but he was a leader, for the Dark Forest’s sake! He could let some grieving and maybe the occasional emotion-driven mistake slide, but to nearly ignore duties and the clan as a whole? Especially right now where the whole clan needed to be rebuilt, both in numbers and emotionally?
And on top of that, he couldn’t get rid of the paranoia of what would happen if any clan decided to try and invade their territory right now, when they were so vulnerable? He had seen the numbers of the rest of the clans compared to SkyClan in the gathering, they wouldn’t stand any chance. And to make things worse, he had noticed that most of the clan had started to make close friends with outsiders too. While before the flood he didn’t pay much mind to this, now he saw this as a potential opening the rival clans could exploit.
He let out a huff, his mind coming to a quick conclusion. He was no leader nor deputy, but if neither were willing to acknowledge the situation and act accordingly, he would take matters on his own paws. Later on he would need to try and talk directly with them, at least with Mistyrain…he doubted Tinystar would be willing to talk in his current state, even less think about the potential threats he would be presenting to him and take action.
As these thoughts crossed his head he accidentally bumped into another cat, causing him to shake his head to come back to the real world. Just when he was about to apologize, he noticed who she was, making him doubt how to even do it.
Firflower, who, in his eyes, was the most naïve warrior of the clan…and was also deaf
“S-sorry?” Would his words even mean anything if she probably couldn’t hear them? He remembered her and Nightstorm communicating in a non-verbal way, and now part of him felt like a mouse-brain for not trying to at least pick up a bit of it to be able to communicate at all.
His still battle-oriented train of thought caused him to feel sorry for the she-cat, as the obvious inability of her to hear approaching enemies could become her downfall one day…but it was then when the idea struck. While he had been thinking on only focusing on apprentices for now, maybe there were some warriors that could also use some extra battle training, toughen them up so they couldn’t be caught off-guard, or at least could defend themselves if they ever found themselves in a bad situation. Yes, his methods could be considered dishonorable and brutal by many, but when you are in a life-or-death situation, that’s the least of your worries.
How could she ask her to train with him when he had no way to speak to her, though…
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Stormkit
Windclan
Kit
[10HP || 30SP]
