Frozen Resolves {open}

The sky was white, vast and cold, as snow was whisked through the air. A long trail of pawsteps led to a spot under a large rock, surrounded by four massive trees. The shelter they provided from the flurries was small, but it was still something. The white drifts of frost had been disturbed by a large tabby tom, huddled into the side of the rock as snow fell atop his frame. "I hate ze snow..." He grumbled to himself, body racked with violent shivers as his thick fur failed to protect him from the chill. Nikita was new to the forest, and while his massive body proved intimidating, he still bowed to nature as all cats did. Perhaps tonight would be his goodbye. The loner swallowed and wondered what he should think of it. He had done many things with his life. He had shed more blood than the sky shed water. But he did what he had to do. These were the words he clung to when the guilt would claw at his heart once more.

Nikita frowned and hunkered down lower into his shallow dip in the ground, angry with the snow. His wounded leg had healed by metaphorical fire. The tom pushed it to keep up with the rest, and so through many bruises and torn scabs, it slowly closed and quit bleeding. No predators could follow his scent, although Nikita was convinced he could take them. No prey had made an appearance. Ever since his battle with the annoying squirrel-cat, Nikita seemed to just be. The forest was no different than the twolegplace. The trees were pretty and the air smelled nice, but no redemption would be found here. It would freeze in the snow like his cold stubbornness. A shame. The loner's eyes slowly closed as he drifted off into an uneasy sleep. Perhaps he would dream of rabbits and long legged she-cats. A weary smile crossed his maw as the tom laid his head down, he still had some spark in him yet.

Today was the day - today was the big day! Dacepaw wasn't receiving her warrior name, no, although many cats were beginning to murmur that they suspected her time was coming soon. The apprentice was instead ecstatic for an adventure, a journey with a wonderful purpose: she was going to go and meet with her mother! She had woken up early and spent the time grooming herself that she rarely did most other days. After all, she wanted to be in her best shape to see her mom and talk with her for the first time since the Gathering before last. She couldn't wait for the Gathering which would come in a few days: Dacepaw wanted to see Dappleshine right away.

The tortoiseshell apprentice was bounding through the snow excitedly as she neared Fourtrees, glimmering in the dull leafbare daylight. She remembered the last time she had made this journey during the day. Mossbloom had been her guide then. This wasn't leaf-fall anymore, though; the white landscape was beautiful and cold and serene. She had seen a snowy Fourtrees at the last Gathering when she'd spoken with Honeytongue. How different would it look during the day? Would it be more fun, since it was snowy and she could see the entire clearing? There was only one way to find out, and with a chirp of excitement Dacepaw descended, her green-hazel eyes immediately searching for her mother, Dappleshine.

"Momma?" Dacepaw called out, just in case the warrior was around. "Momma, I'm here!" She slowed to a halt at the bottom of the slope, gazing around the snow-blanketed clearing and the Great Rock. Dacepaw thought that even the Great Rock looked cold under all the snow it was wearing. Did it miss the warmth of green-leaf too? As her eyes darted back to search for Dappleshine again, they landed on an uneven shape in the snow. Her ears perked up as she leaned forward. Dacepaw recognized pawsteps, she was certain. She hummed softly, looking around the clearing again. She scented the air then. Was her mother there already waiting for her?

The day had finally arrived, she had made arrangements with Oakstar and Dacepaw to see her daughter at Fourtrees, before the coming Gathering. The excitement in the air thrilled Dappleshine to her core, and she turned to look at the tom walking at her side with a wide, exhilarated smile. After making the arrangements with ThunderClan, she had approached her mate about coming along, to surprise Dacepaw with finally getting to properly meet. As Dappleshine's belly had swollen with the weight of kits, it made it all the more important that he was there, Dacepaw was her first kit, her love, despite the circumstances that had pulled them from each other, but through the distance she adored her minnow and thought of her regularly, and was so, unspeakably proud of her daughter's achievements. Perhaps at the coming Gathering she would hear her daughter's warrior name? Stars knew she deserved it at this point.

It wasn't long before they reached Fourtrees, and as they stood at the edge Dacepaw's voice echoed up to them. This time Dappleshine led the way down the slope from the moors, feeling the breeze in her whiskers as she sought out her daughter's pelt, joy practically bubbling from her. There she was, slowly walking in a different direction. "Dacepaw! I'm right over here, my minnow, I have so much to -" The breeze had kicked up, and Dappleshine's fur stood on end as a strange scent filled her nose. It smelled of the forest, and the marshes, but also the moors and river, a weird combination of all of the clan's scents. Her eyes narrowed as they picked up on the odd lump in the snow and she let out a low, rumbling growl, eyes cutting over to Raventail nervously. 


"Dacepaw. Come over here, darling."

With every step into the crumbling snow, Raventail tried to recall what Dappleshine had told him about her daughter—a difficult task not because he hadn’t been listening, but because there was so much to remember. “Nervous” was too strong a word. He had no reason to be nervous. He wasn’t always good at talking, but it had come naturally to him since kithood, and this, at the heart of it, was just a talk. Dappleshine had spoken of making introductions over a season ago. Everything had changed since then; the beasts had come and gone, Dacepaw had chosen to make ThunderClan her home, and Raventail, who’d expected to meet Dacepaw as her mother’s friend from across the Gorge, was meeting her as family instead.

…That was the simple way to put it. Dacepaw was important to Dappleshine; therefore, she was important to Raventail. (It helped that, judging from what he’d heard, she had a heart as admirable as her mother’s.) Whether she considered him family was up to her. There was the sticking point. Though Raventail could count the number of times he’d fretted about making a good first impression on his front paws, this, clearly, was meant to be one of them.

By daylight, more or less abandoned save any prey that might be scurrying about, Fourtrees looked nothing like the crowded clearing Raventail was used to seeing. He stopped beside Dappleshine, peering down from the top of the slope. Having only heard it once before, he didn’t recognize the voice that floated up to them; Dappleshine did, and when she started forward, Raventail shoved his nerves aside and followed her into the clearing. ThunderClan scent snaked through the trees—with it, something unfamiliar. Not beast-scent. Not safe, either; the smell of blood, fresh in Raventail’s memory, mingled with the mishmash of scents already present. A line of fur rose down the small tom’s back. He met Dappleshine’s eyes, then stepped forward, gaze fixed on the dark shape nestled in the snow. ”Dacepaw,” he called loud enough for the mottled she-cat to hear, hoping not to alert the other creature—hoping he was close enough to intervene. He was a WindClanner, after all; he could close the distance in a heartbeat if need be. ”We’re over here.”

"Momma?" Feliks? "Momma, I'm here!" Nikita's eyes flashed open and his body jolted with a start, shaking the snow and frost from his massive frame. Not Feliks. The loner grumbled and shook out his long coat, prepared to roll over and sink back into a cold sleep before he noticed the three very shocked cats staring at him. Their haunches were raised, ears back, clear signs of a battle. "Ah ratdung… Cool ze fur, jumpy vorest-cats." Nikita rose to his paws shakily, stifling a yawn as his dull green eyes slowly shifted from the smaller muted tortishell, to the pretty she-cat, to the short black tom. "I already fought for mouse, do I need to vight for place to sleep as well?" The loner stepped out of his indent in the snow, long tabby fur coated in frost and twigs. He blinked towards the sky as his pupils adjusted, the scarred part of his face looking more ragged than usual in the light. The forest was beautiful, the trees, the snow.

Nikita wasn't in the mood for a fight again, nor was he in the mood to move his spot. Slowly, he let his gaze fall on the two older cats, a constant frown on his maw. He opened his jaws for a moment, prepared to make some retort, but decided better on it and began to pad away. Nikita had been beaten by mere kitten, he did not wish to face three more. A flicker of longing swam in his heart, his strength was waning as he aged. He was not the fearsome cat he once was in the twolegplace. Perhaps it was for the best. He came to the forest to bury his guilt in the dirt; so now if the cause of the guilt was gone, would that assist in his journey?

The scent that Dacepaw picked up wasn't her mother, but she did detect the faintest tang of blood. The she-cat blinked with surprise. I wonder if some cat got hurt here? She continued to glance around, and just when her eyes landed on a conspicuous-looking lump of darkness in the snow, the tortoiseshell sprang into the air and twirled around at the sound of a familiar voice. "Momma!" Dacepaw mewed, her green-hazel eyes shooting up the slope and landing on the beautiful silvery-gray pelt that was Dappleshine. The apprentice's plume of a tail was held high in greeting, feeling relieved and delighted by her mother's appearance as well as wholly distracted from the dark shape she had noticed a moment before.

That was, until her mother's bright greeting was cut off, the queen's sharp blue eyes gazing intently at the dark mound. Dacepaw blinked, noting the instantaneous change in her mother's demeanor as well as the slight bristling of the she-cat's glimmering fur. The ThunderClan apprentice began to take a few small steps towards her mother, her curiosity overwhelming her sense of urgency despite the tone her mother was using. She gazed at the dark mound again that her mother was regarding with concern. Now that she put more thought into it--

Another voice called her name, and Dacepaw turned her head away quickly to the unfamiliar voice - though not completely unfamiliar. Where had she heard it before? This time, standing near Dappleshine, Dacepaw saw a lean, dense-furred black tom with a white chin and alert, attentive yellow eyes. Dacepaw let out a soft, questioning chirp - and then gasped with realization as she remembered: Raventail was coming. She was going to meet her mother's new mate - WindClan's deputy! This was Raventail!"Coming!" Dacepaw mewed, though she did turn to look at the mound again as the trio of Clan cats met each other in the clearing of Fourtrees.

Almost as soon as Dacepaw greeted them and turned to gaze with apprehension at the mound - mostly feeling uncertain about it due to the reactions of her mother and the WindClan tom - the dark shape in the snow moved. Dacepaw gasped and immediately backed up, pressing her hind end against Dappleshine and staring at the shape in awe. Slowly it rose, and when Dacepaw recognized a cat she tilted her head. The large, scarred tom spoke in a strange voice. He was agitated, and looked to have no desire to be near them. "Well, I don't wanna fight," Dacepaw told him, staring at him curiously. "I don't even wanna sleep right now. It's too late for sleeping. The sun's up - can't you feel it?"

The young, naive tortoiseshell glanced over her shoulder at her mother with a perplexed expression as the strange cat began to pad away. "Who is he?" Dacepaw asked her mother.

As Dacepaw made her way towards them, the figure rose and Dappleshine felt a claw of terror pricking at her heart. Dacepaw had been training for many moons now, but she loathed the thought of her daughter having to fight. Especially when she herself could do nothing, the kits growing slowly in her belly needed to be protected, and kept out of harms way should anything happen. Raventail would be able to hold his own against this mysterious stranger, but what if something went wrong? What if there were more? Raising her nose slightly, she scented their surroundings, feeling a trickling of relief as she noted there were no other nearby scents, at least, not that she could discern. As the figure gazed at them, she returned his stare, her tail lightly swaying in the breeze.

The tom seemed shaky, cold and tired, and Dappleshine felt herself relax marginally as he turned to walk away. Looking down at her daughter, she shook her head slightly and shrugged. "I don't know who he is, minnow. He smells of all the clans. Most likely a rogue or loner, as he does not smell of twolegs." As she watched the retreating back, she looked to Raventail guiltily, the stranger had not made any moves to attack them or threaten them, and here she was still holding on to the fear that it was a trap or a trick. She took a deep breath before calling out to the distant tom. "Hey, there's bushes that way that have space under them to fit a cat. You'll at least find some shelter, there, stranger." She gestured with her head in the direction of the small group of bushes she spoke of, a spot she remembered from her moons of traveling to Fourtrees for Gatherings and back while in RiverClan.

Regarding the tom for only a few moments more, not sure what he would do, she turned back towards Raventail with a tentative smile before sitting and placing her head on Dacepaw's. "Hi darling, I'm sorry we kept you waiting, are you okay? How are things?" Once she knew of her daughter's well-being, it was finally time to properly introduce her mate to her daughter.