New Skies on the Grass (Open)

Graybriar always seemed to be off on patrol when these things happened. When she walked in from the territory, a fat rabbit dangling from her jaws, she almost dropped it in surprise. That scent... she hadn't smelled it that strong, except for Gatherings, since her apprenticehood. Not one, not two, but three SkyClan warriors stood in the middle of camp, seeming to be waiting for Finchstar to come out and talk with them. What? Why? StarClan hadn't told three more cats to join this Clan, had they? She had been a somewhat special circumstance... But what was it about SkyClan that drove their warriors here? A little apprehensive, but mostly curious, the senior warrior surreptitiously dropped her rabbit in the fresh-kill pile and looped around to stand by her mate. Her tail brushed across his back, announcing her presence, and she turned her attention back to the debacle in the center of camp- Finchstar had finally come out, and asked a question, and the warrior who seemed to be in the lead answered.

The tale that this... Burningsun?... told shocked her to the core. She remembered how horrified she had been in hearing that Tinystar, a cat she'd once trusted as a wise tom, had murdered an apprentice. Maybe that was part of the reason StarClan had led her here. However, she hadn't known that the small and vicious leader had had a life taken from him by one of his own Clanmates! What StarClan said ought to be obeyed, she knew, but this? Killing another cat, even as one as deserving as him? With her own claws? The tabby shivered a little bit, sitting closer to her mate unthinkingly. She knew that they hadn't been on the best terms lately, but he made her feel safer. She'd always trusted her ancestors. Even with leaving her birth Clan to find her home. If they'd asked her to take the life of another cat... would she have done so? Sure, leaders had nine lives, but that was still an atrocity she didn't think she could commit. But it made sense that they'd fled, she supposed- Tinystar didn't seem like the kind of cat to let that sort of thing slide. And the thought of a medicine cat denying healing made her ears pin back. Aspenheart would never do that! But why- why had they come to WindClan, of all places?

She had nothing to say, nothing to add to the conversation. Not yet, anyway. All she could do was watch with curious, horrified and sympathetic eyes as she waited for Finchstar to respond to the tale being spun before them. It sounded like some crazy Dark Forest nightmare, that a Clan could be reduced to this. And her former Clan, no less.

Burningsun told her story and Finchstar watched intently, memory flashing back to the scars he saw on Tinystar's neck all those moons ago. "So those were your claws who brought justice down upon that tom? And now he seeks to kill you? A foxmother, he is." Finchstar laid his tail over Burningsun's good shoulder, yellow eyes glowing with empathy. The voices of his clanmates rose up around him, some in shock, others in understanding. But the emotion in Burningsun's words was enough to tug at Finchstar's heartstrings. "I do not have enemies, Burningsun. Instead I like to call them purposeful acquaintances. Do I know Tinystar well enough to be his friend? Perhaps. However my knowledge on him is not used to chat over prey flow and territory, rather it's to curb his horrific ego that served to kill an apprentice. Your situation is no different. If you three wish to find solace, then you have come to the right place."

Finchstar turned and gestured to Aspenheart, eyeing the oozing wound on Burningsun's shoulder. He worried for the fate of SkyClan and all those who rested within. What had happened to allow the small leader to snap so quickly? Was the clan of the trees really crumbling to pieces under their lawless actions? "A peace is being built here, in this forest. I pray for SkyClan and their troubles, and if Tinystar decides he needs to murder any more innocent cats, I will find him myself. However you are safe here, Burningsun. Lightfang and Swallowflight as well. I, of course would like to hear more of your story after we find some prey to sate your appetites. Whether your stay is temporary or not, welcome to WindClan, travelers. You'll find your haven here."