Another one down (TC's new deputy)

It was far too soon for this. Oakstar felt a pang if regret as he approached high rock. Houndheart has only been his deputy for a couple short moons… and yet tragedy had befallen the young tom. He had been injured so badly, that not even Mossbloom could fix it. His tail lashed as he glanced up towards the stars. Was his deputy’s fall a warning?

No. It had been an accident. Plain and simple. He leapt onto high rock with a soft sigh. Amber eyes scanned the cats who were mingling in the clearing as he interrupted the murmurs below.
"Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey gather beneath Highrock for a clan meeting!" He yowled, then watched as cats turned towards him, padded towards the rock he stood on. To announce the inevitable.

Icepaw padded to high rock and looked at oakstar. Fear and worry in her eyes.

Cherrypaw paused in her grooming and turned her attention to the Highrock. She felt a small pang of hurt as she realized that it was likely Oakstar choosing a new deputy, after her father had stepped down due to his wounds.

Coalpaw glanced at the other two apprentices as he came to sit near them, a questioning look crossing his features as he looked at the fear and worry in Icepaw's eyes. "What is there to worry about? He's choosing a new deputy! This should be something exciting," The young tom felt a pang in his chest and flinched as he glanced at Cherrypaw, remembering too late that Houndheart had been her kin. But, for him it was exciting. He wondered if one day he would be chosen as deputy, and he looked up at Oakstar with ambition gleaming in his yellow eyes. He wanted to be the best he could be, and defend his Clan with his whole heart.

Beepaw was very sad that Houndheart wasn't deputy anymore. He was grouchy... but they were brothers! He deserved better than that! The hulking apprentice made it his solemn duty to bring prey to him as long as he should live. He heard whispers of a near-death experience from some of the more gossip-minded ThunderClan warriors, but Beepaw didn't much want to think about it. Dovekit dying was sad, but at least she was happy. If a thorn in Beepaw's many-toed paw made him cry, he couldn't imagine how much the former deputy's snapped leg hurt!

He sat beside Cherrypaw and nudged her shoulder. He towered over her much more than he did the other apprentices. Coalpaw's needless insensitivity made Beepaw's ear-tips grow hot with secondhand embarrassment. There was no need to tease him further when he was already receding with shame. "Well, it's okay!" he said to both of them. "'Cause guess what? When we hunt for the elders and the kits and the queens, we can hunt for Houndheart too!" He turned his amber eyes to Cherrypaw. "We're kin. Your father is my brother, and one of my papas is your mentor. So we gotta look out for each other, so Houndheart and Dacedream'll be happy. Okay?"

---

Ferretnose felt a soft wave of guilt wash over her heart like the shore of the river on a windy day. Houndheart was an irritable tom who didn't take well to other cats at the best of times. Even so, no cat deserved to be crippled. Furthermore, all the StarClan business was making her head hurt. Maybe she was in the wrong for not being all that concerned, but really, what was the worst they could do? They had scared the daylight out of everybody enough already! How could an ever pure and well-meaning force ever mean to do harm? Dacedream, Oakstar, Duskrain: they belonged in ThunderClan! They had proven their loyalty to their clanmates time and time again. That should be enough. Sure, strictness, tight borders, and laws all worked, but it was the test of love and allegiance that made the cat.

Cherrypaw winced a bit at Coalpaw's comment, and opened her mouth to reply, stopping short as he seemed to realize why she was upset about the announcement. When Beepaw approached, catching what was said, she looked up at him, craning her neck a bit as he spoke. His words helped chase away a bit of the pain, and she brightened up with a smile.
"Yeah, I didn't think about that! I'll always be there for Dacedream, so it makes sense that I'll be there for Houndheart too!"
She listened as Beepaw told her about his kinship to her, nodding.
"Let's always have each other's backs."

Dacedream emerged from the medicine den with a look of sadness heavy on her features. Houndheart lay in the den that she left behind; he didn't look well. He was upset - understandably - and he was angry. The queen could do nothing for him, and her heart hurt to see him so helpless. Dacedream remembered the story that Mossbloom had told about when Houndheart had leapt onto the Great Rock before his Moonstone journey; he'd fallen and wrenched his shoulder. In the face of StarClan's recent fury, she couldn't help but wonder if that had been some kind of warning - a sign that he shouldn't be in a position of leadership. But why? If the impurity of blood in ThunderClan was what had angered the stars, why should Houndheart be punished? He was ThunderClan! The only thing he'd ever done wrong was have kits with her...

... and those kits weren't wrong. The she-cat's green-hazel eyes found Cherrypaw seated near Beepaw and Coalpaw. Her daughter looked as though she were upset, but Beepaw was quickly leaning over and speaking brightly and reasuringly to Cherrypaw. Dacedream shook her fur and stood a little taller. She needed to be stronger for her little ones while Houndheart recovered - without his confidence and optimism to cheer them for the time being, hers would need to do. Dacedream spotted Ferretnose and made her way towards the other queen. Noticing that she was approaching from her friend's blind side, Dacedream scuffed her big paws repeatedly over the earth as she closed the gap between them to give plenty of warning. "Beepaw is sweet to my little Cherrypaw," the tortoiseshell commented warmly as she sat beside her tabby-patched friend. She glanced up at the Highrock, but back down quickly as her stomach knotted. She wanted to see Houndheart there again... and she never would. It was all he'd ever wanted.

Cedarpaw was worried. It seemed that whatever cat that became deputy would experience some tragedy. Beartooth, one of her fathers died as deputy. And now Houndheart was crippled. She wondered who would take his spot. Her other father, Harefoot? Rainstrike, her mentor? Ferretnose, her mother? Another warrior? Inside, she hoped it wouldn’t be anyone she loved, so that they were safe. She sat down next to Smudgepaw, her pelt touching his.

Nettlefire sat and watched her father and her clanmates gather, completely focused on the here and now. There were plenty of things that could, and perhaps should, have been on her mind, but at least in present moment everything else was neither here nor there. What mattered right then was that a new deputy was needed. She glanced around at her fellow warriors, wondering who it would be. She didn’t care with any specificity really who her father would choose; just that, whoever they were, they were willing to give their all to the clan.

"As most of you already know. Houndheart’s injury… isn’t good. He has chosen to step down as Deputy, which means a new one must be selected in his stead." ‘but at least he’s still with us.’ The thought echoed silently in his mind as he watched the cats below him. His gaze picking at each one until he saw his choice.

"I say these words before StarClan, so that the spirits of our warrior ancestors may hear and approve of my choice. The new Deputy of ThunderClan will be Nettlefire." He declared, as he looked down at his daughter. "She may be young, but she is strong and brave." He looked up at the clan, before he began to lead the chant. To celebrate his daughter’s new place in the clan as he gazed at Dustcloud with saddened joy. Worry in his heart… his deputy’s have had rough endings… hopefully she wouldn’t be the same.

Nettlefire felt her heart skip a beat, and she swayed a little. For the first time in a long time, she felt like she might lose the tight composure she carried herself with on a day to day basis.

Me? I’m the deputy now…?

It was an incomprehensibly huge honor, and, well...a momentous task, too. Could she-- could she do it? Her whole life she had been focused on duty, and honor, and loyalty. Something like this was a dream for her. And now that it was real, she suddenly felt a creeping horror that she would mess it up. Especially with the mounting...uneasiness...of current times...what if she wasn’t up to the task?

No she thought, her doubts dissipating as quickly as they had appeared, I’ve worked so hard, and I’ve already overcome odds. I can...I can do this. Besides, I trust my father. If he thinks I’m ready...even if I doubt myself a little...I won’t doubt that decision

“I’m...truly, deeply honored,” she said, her voice soft, a deep contrast to the normal sharpness of her tone. “And...whatever...whatever comes next...I’ll do everything I can for this clan. For my clanmates, all of them. I promise,”

Streamsong smiled. He still hadn’t been able to really get to know Nettlefire just yet, but he hoped that would change soon “Congratulations!”.

He wanted to offer some words of wisdom, but decided to restrain himself from doing so for the time being, opting to join the chants instead. Not out of malice, but of precaution. He would rather give advice that could prove useful over redundant words that would fail to make any impression or, even worse, an advice that couldn’t be understood properly and cause trouble in the future.

Someday, he hoped, he would get to know the new deputy just enough to help her…..somehow.

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Bonewatcher looked at the ceremony and just smiled upon hearing the name of the new deputy.

“May your path be safer that of your predecessors, Nettlefire” He wasn’t about to simply forget about the unfortunate fate Beartooth and Houndheart were forced to face upon receiving their rank. But his wish was genuine.

No path in the life of a warrior was truly safe…but he could at least hope for hers to be a bit safer than the average. Maybe, just maybe, she would be the one to get to take Oakstar's spot one day.

Ferretnose chirped in surprise as a stamping of paws came from her blind side, and she turned to see who was making the noise. Of course, it was only Dacedream, standing a few healthy pawsteps away. Ferretnose smiled and welcomed her at her side. The talk shifted to their kits. "It's like he absorbed all the goodness in all three of us. Just sucked it all up!" she laughed. "I don't care how much you folk say he looks like Beartooth. That's Harefoot's son if I've ever seen one! Look at how quiet he is!"

Cherrypaw was rabbit-sized next too Beepaw and still quite young, but the queen had a feeling she would have beauty to rival her mother's. Dacedream had done a wonderful job with all of her litter, despite a rocky start. "We did good," Ferretnose decided pointedly. "We made good things. Those cats are good creatures. Good job!" In another few moments, Nettlefire had been initiated as the clan's deputy. Ferretnose was pleased. After a few guiding moons under Oakstar's watch, the young she-cat would easily become a capable deputy. "Nettlefire! Nettlefire!"

Dacedream smiled and let out a soft murmur of affectionate agreement at Ferretnose's comments on Beepaw's personality, even chuckling at the comparisons between Harefoot and the late Beartooth. He was practically a spitting image of Beartooth (well, with a bit of Ferretnose's more pale spotting) and was often reminded of it; it was, after all, the first thing that cats noticed about him, Dacedream included. Sure enough, though, he had the soft-spoken sweetness and occasional wholehearted excitement that Harefoot displayed. The tortoiseshell queen watched the young apprentices chatter away, her tail-tip flicking contentedly. At Ferretnose's sweet words, Dacedream nodded firmly and purred, "We sure did. You've been a lovely friend along the way."

Oakstar's voice called out then, kind words of sorrow and sympathy. Dacedream listened patiently for his choice, and when it was given she was surprised. "Nettlefire! Nettlefire! Nettlefire!" the queen called nonetheless as she considered the new deputy. She was a young warrior, and Oakstar's daughter. Dacedream had complete faith that she would serve her Clan the best she could, though. The new deputy spoke soft and awe-softened words of gratitude and promised exactly that: she would protect her Clan. Dacedream looked aside at Ferretnose and nodded once. They had a beautiful Clan - all these cats were good creatures.