promises to keep

Somewhere deep down, before she'd ever left, Batbite had known she would return home at some point. She started her life in some distant place, shrouded in mystery and faded memories - but that wasn't really true, was it? She'd started her life, the one she knew and cherished despite all that she'd left it behind, in ThunderClan. They gave her a name and sheltered her family (and expanded it), and to them she would return. A promise she'd made to her brothers the night that she left, and a promise that she meant to keep - one that she held on to whenever her careful steps toward the forest began to falter. She owed it to them to come home, safe and sound, just as she'd said she would.

Whether they wanted her there or not, she was coming home. She’d left the barn with Strom, but now she was alone - her mate waited on the edge of the territory to hear the final verdict; a plan she'd come up with to make sure he didn't get attacked for being an unfamiliar face.

Still, the end of her journey was just as bittersweet as her inital departure - she hadn't seen as much of the world as she wanted to, but she'd gone where others wouldn't dare to tread. She would choose a direction and set out, returning once she felt she'd gone far enough or found an unpassable obstacle. Never much longer than a few days, but it let her see things she didn't think she would have otherwise. She hadn't made any grand discoveries, but she had enjoyed her travels. She couldn't just leave ThunderClan for days at a time like she could the barn, she knew - assuming they took her back at all.

As she drew closer to ThunderClan territory, she started to wonder if they'd recognize her. She wasn't sure if she'd changed, really, with so little to compare to - it had just been her and Strom, mostly, amidst a large amount of comparatively empty space. She'd never really been the typical ThunderClan warrior, either - rather than large and bulky, she was small and lithe, fast where others tended to be strong and lacking in combat skill. Still, she'd spent her life honing other skills - she wasn't great at most of the things ThunderClan was known for, and that was fine, because she taught herself to be fast and stealthy and she'd even learned to swim.

Truthfully, it would have been simpler to wait for a patrol and ask them to escort her to camp, but instead she chose to lurk in shadows and tree branches as she slowly edged her way there. It made the trip take that much longer, which was part of the reason she did it, but she also wanted to remind herself of where she was. That however long she had been gone, she would always know this forest. It was her home, after all - she knew it better than any other place; knew how to move to keep her fur from getting caught on things and how to be silent on the forest floor.

However, no form of stalling could put off her homecoming forever, and so eventually she found herself a short distance from the camp, clearly visible to any cat coming or going (which went against all of her instincts, but practicality won out over her need to startle passersby). Slipping out of the undergrowth she'd been hiding herself in, she waited - at least here she wouldn't have to wait forever for a patrol or a particularly curious apprentice to spot her; the stranger in her own home, loner scent clinging to her pelt after moons away.

As nights passed, Oakstar felt himself relax in the peace that seemed to linger over the forest. The tension of unease he felt in in the gathering felt distant when he looked at the pure white snow beneath his paws. His shadow cast beside him interrupted by the shadows of interwoven branches. He stepped forward a few more paces, then stopped. Amber eyes narrowed as he scented an unfamiliar scent. One of two legs and strangeness. Unfamiliar plants and… thunderclan.

The scent was covered almost fully by the strange smells, but it hardly mattered as he pushed through bushes and followed it until he saw a pair of eyes and a black she-cat. All at once he remembered the she-cat, her introduction and her apprenticeship by his side.
"Batbite!" He yowled as he lunged forwards to greet the she-cat with a rumbling purr. Grooming a bit of her shoulder fur in full acceptance as he felt his heart swell a bit.

He had always hoped she’d return, and as he pulled back, he could see that familiar expression.
"Did you find what you were looking for?" He asked softly.

The one thing Batbite hadn't expected was for Oakstar to greet her - she'd expected a warrior she may or may not have recognized, or maybe one of her brothers, but not the mentor who had taught her most of what she knew. His greeting was warm, and her uncertainty faded, if only for a moment - she belonged here, this was her home and this was her family.

His question, however, wasn't lost on her. She hadn't found everything she wanted to find, that was true - but she thought of Strom, waiting for her return outside the territory once she knew whether ThunderClan would take them both, and she had her answer. "You know... I think I did," she told him softly. "I should tell you, I didn't come back alone - my mate is waiting outside ThunderClan territory. I thought it was best if I went ahead to ensure no one would attack us, so here I am... Here to stay, if you'll take me back."

A purr rumbled deep in his chest as he nodded immediately at her statement. The question wasn’t whether he’d accept her back, but that he would accept her mate.
"Bring him to camp. I cannot welcome him if I have not seen him." Oakstar responded, a light humour in his voice as he looked over Batbite’s pelt for signs of injury. She seemed fine despite her travels, though he was no medicine cat.

He frowned and glanced away for a moment. The stinging realisation that she needed to be told, before she rushed off to get her mate. Before she swore herself back to the clan.
"I should tell you… Lynxtail and Copperheart… they aren’t here anymore. They left… a few moons ago." He lifted his gaze back to hers. Sorrow and pain in his expression, but he pushed on. "They left on their own adventures. I cannot tell you when they will return… but I understand if it affects your decision to return."

He stepped back, his face returning back to a kind smile, though a hint of pain remained.
"Come into the camp if you decide to return officially. I will be waiting on Highrock to make the announcement should you come." With that, he turned and padded down the ravine. The choice was in Batbite’s paws now… and although he regretted having to give her that news… holding it back wouldn’t have felt right either. She had to know. Had to make the choice knowing it.

"I wanted to make sure you were still here, and - slightly less importantly - that I wouldn't be attacked on sight or something," she defended herself. Batbite's heart sank, however, as Oakstar spoke again. Her brothers... Were gone? They'd left, then, same as her. But she'd come back; so she had to have faith that they would, too. "They're not the only family I left behind," she said simply, gesturing to Oakstar. "Besides, one of us has to stick around to drive you crazy, and I clearly can't count on them to do it. I'm sure they'll be back eventually, anyway. I came back, after all, and they've honestly always been more predictable."

With that, she set off to fetch her mate - Oakstar did have a point, after all. "Strange, though, that I never saw them on my own travels," she murmured as she walked. "Where'd they go? When they do come back, I'm going to put bugs in their nests for a moon!" Finally, though, she reached the spot she'd left her best friend and partner in all things for the last several moons. "Come on, Strom, I need to introduce you to everyone," she called, and began slowly leading the way back.

Strom had been sitting in the bushes on the edge of the territory for how knew how long. Though, technically, sitting wasn't entirely accurate. There had been a good deal of pacing, too, in the limited space he'd confined himself to, his tail twitching slightly behind him as he waited for Batbite's return. It grated against every instinct he'd ever held to be on another Clan's territory, even if it was just at the edge. There was little chance of him being attacked, but with Batbite having gone on ahead.... He couldn't exactly stand by her side if he wasn't there.

A slight rustle in the bushes caught his attention, and he pricked his ears as his mate slid out into the open. Despite himself, a relieved smile slid up his maw, and he nodded as she spoke, padding after her into the territory. Time to meet all those Clanmates she'd told him about. "How did it go? Oakstar's still around?"

Judging from the fact that she'd come back and immediately told him to follow her, he could guess that the ThunderClan leader was, in fact, still around - but it didn't hurt to check. Besides, his nerves needed covering. The forest wasn't a place he'd grown up in, and though the abandoned barn'd had bushes and trees, it hadn't been quite as thick as this. The undergrowth and knobbly tree trunks obscured any decent view ahead, the gentle shadows cast by them in between slashes of light from above almost constantly moving. It wasn't enough to make him feel claustrophobic, but it was... new. Different. And - he noted to himself as his eyes caught a dark hole in a tree trunk, faint scuffling noises inside from what was probably a mouse - intriguing.

(OOC: For reference, this takes place before the prophecy.)

As Batbite retreated to go and get her mate, Oakstar leapt onto the top of Highrock. He waited, until he saw the silhouette of her climbing down the slope before he called out the meeting words.
"Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey gather beneath Highrock for a clan meeting!" Joy was obvious in his tone, as he kept glancing back up at the path. His gaze following the pair with welcome and delight.

"ThunderClan! Today is a day of celebration! For our clanmate, Batbite, has returned to us from her long travels!" He announced when she had entered camp. He looked at the cat with her curiously, but for the moment, he’d give the gathered cats a chance to respond.

Dacedream lay resting in the nursery when the sound of Oakstar's voice rang out in the clearing. The tortoiseshell raised her broad head, her green-hazel eyes glimmering curiously. He sounds happy, she mused, and she rose to her paws, glancing around at her kits bundled in the nest. "Remember, loves, you can't catch your prey yet, so you have to stay in your nests as Oakstar said, like good warriors would!" she cooed to them. Then a bit more playfully she added, "I won't be upset if you watch from the entrance, though. I promise I'll tell you what's happened." She touched her nose to each of her kits in turn before she swept around and exited the nursery. The leaf-bare daylight wasn't as warm as she would've like, but nonetheless she sat before Oakstar and waited.

What he announced at first made Dacedream perk up, happy to be swept up in any call for joy and celebration. She wondered for a moment what good news she would be telling her kits. He didn't keep her waiting long: ". . . our clanmate, Batbite, has returned to us from her long travels!" Dacedream followed the dark tabby's sharp gaze to a thick-furred black she-cat with piercing green eyes. She blinked, and then she grinned. Well, truthfully, she didn't recognize the she-cat, but that didn't mean she couldn't be excited for the she-cat and welcome her home! Dacedream asked curiously, only interest in her voice, "How long did you travel? Did you find anything exciting?" She paused to think of what Duskrain might have asked and chirped out, "Oh, did you fight any beasts?" Yes, that sounded like the right question to ask!

"For what feels like a lifetime," Batbite sighed in response to the first question. She wasn't sure whether she recognized the cat before her or not, but didn't want to ask. Do I know you, was, to her, a way of impolitely dismissing someone. "As for exciting... I saw some beautiful things, and I learned a lot of things I think I should have already known." That part of her heart was with ThunderClan, however far she traveled; and that somewhere along the line she'd fallen in love without ever noticing. "As for your last question," she turned a teasing eye to Strom, "does he count?"

The journey to the camp was uneventful, and Strom found his paws tingling with anticipation as he and Batbite approached it. Here was somewhere he'd never been before, its trees with their gnarled roots climbing over mounds of moss novel and intriguing.

His paws padded over stone as he followed Batbite down the path to the bottom of a ravine, the scent of cats wafting up from below telling him this had to be it. This is different from RiverClan, alright. For one, they didn't have to climb down a small cliff.... But the streams surrounding it did hold a similar purpose, he supposed. They were just... less high and more wet.

His thoughts paused as he spotted the first member of ThunderClan, the massive tom he'd usually seen on top of the Great Rock at gatherings, his white patches standing out starkly against his dark pelt. Oakstar. It was interesting seeing him during the day, for once. I wonder if I know anyone else here?

A voice pricked at his ears, a more familiar one, and his ears pricked. Is that...? He came around to Batbite's side as she replied, a grin twitching up the side of his maw as he returned her teasing look. "Only if you disturb my sleep with a mossball of snow-melt."

Then his searching gaze caught sight of a familiar pelt in the small crowd gathered, her curious eyes on Bat. She was bigger than she'd been when she left, her kitten-fluff long gone, but she still looked like the cat he remembered. His own eyes widened, and his smile turned into a full-fledged grin. "Dace!"

The new she-cat didn't seem to know her either, but they seemed to share the same mindset as the black cat kindly answered Dacedream's questions. Dacedream nodded along to the pretty she-cat's response. She'd never met Batbite in all her time in ThunderClan, so that fit. It also fit that there were beautiful things far outside the Clans - Dappleshine and Sparkfrost had told her stories of the flood and the mountains, so she knew for sure - but she couldn't seem to imagine what she could learn elsewhere that she couldn't learn in the Clans. Moreover, she wasn't sure what she might have needed to already know that ThunderClan couldn't have taught her. Dacedream's bushy tail waved as she thought warmly, Maybe I'll have to ask her more about it.

As for the answer to the question of beasts, Batbite turned to look at a second cat who had apparently been following closely and emerged close to her side. Dacedream's eyes widened at the sight, the sound, of the tom who spoke at the returned she-cat's side: a sleek, dark-striped ginger tom with a muzzle, throat, and chest of white. The good-natured rumble of his voice as he joked to Batbite was so familiar that the queen could have recognized him without his distinctive stripes, paws, and newleaf-green eyes. The tom turned to her then, his eyes shining into hers, and as soon as Minkpaw grinned she knew it was him then. He cried her name with cheer, and without wasting a single second Dacedream mewled "Mink! It's you!" and threw herself at him, sheathed paws outstretched to wrap around him as they fell with a thump to the ground.

Dacedream butted her head against his head and cheeks and nose repeatedly, nuzzling with unrestrained excitement for several moments before she finally sat back and stepped off of him. Her green-hazel eyes sparkled as she looked from Minkpaw to Batbite and then back to the tom from her birth Clan. "Were you on Batbite's long travels, too?" Dacedream questioned, and suddenly a whole flood of questions tried to worm their way out. How do you know Batbite? Does this mean you're not in RiverClan anymore? When did you leave? Does my momma know? Did you get your warrior name before you left? Instead, she asked a little more nosily, but with obvious excitement gleaming in her eyes, "Are you staying here?"

One moment Strom was standing, his tail rising to greet Dace with a grin on his face, the next-

The world tipped upside down - sunlight skipping away under thick mottled fur as she barrelled into him, her squeal ringing in his ears brightly with delight. He thudded to the ground, his fur cushioning the impact, and he let out a startled sound somewhere between a yowl and a yip that quickly turned to a deep mrrow of unbridled laughter as she practically smothered him.

Another difference to add to the list: she was a bit bigger than the smaller kit he'd known. Gasping with laughter, he good-naturedly flailed his limbs, bonking his head back against hers with a rumbling purr that didn't have a hope of competing with her own - one that someone had once compared to a monster's rumble. It was an apt comparison, for sure - he almost couldn't hear anything else!

He shook his head slightly as she stepped off him, grinning up at both her and Batbite for a moment, the green light shining down through the trees somehow making the scene even more light and dreamlike than it already was. "I was there for a lot of them."

His grin turned almost dopey as he considered her second question, finally rolling back around and glancing curiously at all the others looking with various expressions at all of them. "You know, I think I am. Especially after that welcome." Not that there had ever been any question of it, but he couldn't help his teasing streak, not right now, in this moment of pure joy.

Oakstar was a little startled at the yowl, but he chuckled as he saw it was one of delight as Dacedream tackled Batbite’s mate. His head tilted curiously, and he cleared his throat to draw attention back to High rock with a stern expression that did a poor job of hiding his amusement.
"Since you have arrived with Batbite, it is safe to say you wish to join ThunderClan." He began. His tail wrapped neatly over his forepaws.

"Every new cat that joins us, with the exception of kits, have one moon to show us your loyalty, bravery and commitment. That you can become a good and stable warrior of ThunderClan. Should you pass this, you will be granted a true warrior name." He looked down at Strom, a more serious look to his features as he looked around to his clanmates. Trying to sense any disagreement.

"Do you accept these terms, Strom?”

Suddenly it was back to seriousness again, the leader - Oakstar's voice ringing out and bringing Strom's head swinging automatically around, the grin on his maw turning to a more subdued smile as he listened to the tom's words.

Prove his loyalty, bravery, and commitment? A slight pang of guilt stabbed at his heart as he remembered the loyalty to RiverClan he'd thrown away. There would be no going back, even if he wanted to. As he looked around at the cats beside him and around him, that particular feeling hardened in his heart. No, no, he truly didn't want to, not after everything that had happened there.

His loyalty was owed to a new family.

He stood, determined, clear green eyes meeting with the older tom's amber ones before he dipped his head, the reply coming out of his mouth with as much solemnity he could muster after Dace's impromptu welcome. "I do. I accept your terms."

Dacedream thought her heart was going to burst with a need to know his answer in the few moments that Minkpaw took to look around and speak it. She could have squealed, but her tufted ears flicked aside at a pointed cough coming from the Highrock. The queen turned to look up at Oakstar with an expression of trepidation. She realized what her leader was asking Minkpaw - well, Strom, as Batbite and Oakstar had both called him: would he endure a moon of intense scrutiny and testing to prove his loyalty to ThunderClan, and maintain that loyalty for the rest of his days? Dacedream looked at her childhood friend hopefully, and his response didn't disappoint her.

That was when she squealed. "This is gonna be great!" she trilled, and she gasped and said, "Oh, I have to go tell my kits, Strom - I have kits! You'll love them." With a beaming look of joy up towards Oakstar, Dacedream swept around and disappeared into the nursery to let her kits know the great news. Well, she thought it was great news. A cat from the Clan she'd been born in had appeared in ThunderClan, returning with a cat who'd been been in ThunderClan: they all had two new friends to enjoy.