Even leaders need advice sometimes

Dappleleaf, with nothing better to do now she was an elder, was basking in a ray of leaf-fall sunshine. The days had swiftly begun to cool and so she was trying to make the most of the good weather while it lasted. Soon the forest would be thrown into another leaf-bare, leaving the clan struggling for enough prey to feed their growing numbers. But for now everything was fine. The older she-cat enjoyed crisp leaf-bare mornings, far from the heatwave they had experienced in the past greenleaf. It was sun high, so there wasn't many warriors or apprentices around to disturb her peace. She wouldn't object to conversation, however, and so was pleasantly surprised when Nettlestar approached her.

"Hello there, Nettlestar. What brings you over to this side of camp?" she said cheerfully. The tabby leader was often here - her father, Oakheart was an elder, and her mother Dustcloud had moved in recently.

Nettlestar rarely deliberately pre-planned setting aside time in her day to speak with an acquaintance. She found casual chatter to be mostly a waste of time. But she also had a deep respect for the elders and senior warriors of her clan; age meant experience, and experience (usually) meant wisdom. And as the clan's still relatively new leader, she would take all the wisdom she could get.

"Hello, Dappleleaf. I hope you are doing well," the gray she-cat greeted the elder with a tone of deep respect in her voice. "You have seen more of life than I have, Dappleleaf, which means you know more than I do. So today I wanted to come and lend you my ear and see if you had any experiences or pieces of advice you would want me to hear as ThunderClan's newest leader,"

"Well, I am honoured!" she replied when Nettlestar asked for advice, "Come on, sit down here," she said, gesturing to the spot of sun next to her with her tail.

Whilst the tabby leader had settled down, she considered what to say. It caused a few moments of silence, but when Dappleleaf began to speak she was glad for it. "I know this may sound a little corny, and you've probably heard it thousands of times, but always listen to your heart. It will lead you wherever you may need to go. However, make sure it doesn't outweigh you head. A good leader needs an equal balance of both, as one without the other can be dangerous. If you always listen to your heart, your clan may go hungry, but if you only listen to your head then your clanmates may see you as too harsh and heartless." She knew that her leader would listen and take on the advice; she was young, but being in a position of power (first deputy, and now leader) had left her with wisdom beyond her years.

After she had paused slightly, she continued, "Cats need love just as much as they need fresh-kill to function. No-one can live properly without a little love. That's the main thing my injury taught me - if it weren't for my dads or Doeskip, I don't know if i would've made it through." Doeskip... just thinking about the lost she-cat brought a lump to her throat, and hoped that Nettlestar would respond soon.

Nettlestar took the elder's invitation, sitting down and listening intently to what she would say next.

The she-cat took a moment to think over the advice that Dappleleaf had shared.

But how do you balance the head and the heart? she thought, It's so easy to get distracted by feelings...isn't it best to minimize their role in making big decisions so they don't hurt your judgement? The silver-gray tabby wasn't sure how much of her question she wanted to share; it felt like a personal question, a question she'd been dealing with most of her life, the kind of question she had only barely learned to express to her own family. But still, she had come to Dappleleaf for advice; what would be the point if she did not find some way to ask the questions she needed to ask?

"This...idea of balancing the heart and head has always seemed a bit easier said than done to me, Dappleleaf," she began carefully, "How do...how do you do it in your life?" The scarred she-cat avoided asking 'how should I do it?'. In her mind, such a question bordered a little too close to admitting a kind of defeat...and she wasn't eager to do that.

How do you do it in your life? Dappleleaf had to think about the other she-cat's question for a short while. The mottled she-cat may've sometimes been good at giving advice, but following it was a different matter. This idea, luckily, was one that she did and to follow - she tended to be quite disorganised, yet her heart was definitely in the right place. If anything, the elder probably needed to use her head more, especially in her youth. "What I try to do is lead with my heart. Any decision I make I do so with my heart, then decide how logical it is after. It was a step I used to miss a lot, but now I have learnt that although it comes second, it is just as necessary."

"But you, Nettlestar, need to find your own way of doing it; I believe that you have all the pieces there already. Every time you decide on something, use your head, because that is already what you rely on." Her leader was clever, just like she had told herself so many time before, yet sometimes she forgot the important second step. She didn't blame her at all, as it was something you didn't realise your were doing unless another told you. "However, you must always consider your 'heart' side once you have decided. It might be anything from how it will make you seem to you clanmates, to whether its what's best for you. I know that it may seem hard, but part of taking care of your clan is taking care of yourself - there is no point in working yourself to the ground."

It had been a long time since she had had a serious conversation for this amount of time, but Nettlestar had come searching for advice, and so it was what Dappleleaf would provide. Something that made her smile was that her age alone gave her a strange authority: cats came to her for advice more than they would if she was a warrior, even if she only had a few moons on the more senior ones.

Nettlestar was almost startled by how much Dappleleaf's advice made sense to her. The idea she had always struggled to understand was how one could make decisions with both their head and heart in equal measure. It seemed to her the heart was too powerful to be given the same attention the head got; if you let it, it would always be fighting to take over, and then soon all your decisions would be made with emotions first and common sense last. But the idea of making decisions with one and using the other as a sort of check...that seemed to her like it might just work. It wasn't a perfect solution by any means, but it was a start. A start to the very thing the gray she-cat had long been searching for.

"Dappleleaf," the she-cat began, her voice filled with respectful gratitude. "You have no idea how much what you have just said means to me. I...have always... wondered," she continued, choosing her words carefully, "How one could possibly listen to their head as much as their heart, or vice versa. But the way you have put it just now...it makes more sense then anything else I have heard. Thank you, truly, for that. I hope there is some way I can repay you for the good advice you have given me,"

"You're welcome Nettlestar, I mean, that is what us oldies are for, isn't it!" Dappleleaf said. "I don't need payment for my advice - it is payment enough to watch you grow and develop as a leader. I've kept a close eye on you," she added, hoping the scarred leader wouldn't take it the wrong way, "Not because I don't think you are capable, but because I think you have all the potential to be one of the best leaders Thunderclan has ever had." Even though she was an elder, the dappled she-cat hadn't seen many different cats as leader of her own clan, but she had faith in Nettlestar. 

Unlike some of the other cats of her rank she had met, Dappleleaf preferred to leave the younger cats to live their lives. She watched it carefully, however, almost as a form of entertainment; there was little that happened in her area of the forest that she didn't know about. "Remember my advice, even when I am gone, and that will be enough for me." She sad to the silver leader. The older she-cat had a mental record of those who she had influenced in her life. Most (in her opinion) were for the better: helping Doeskip relax and open up to other cats, encouraging their children to be the best they could be and the apprentices she had trained. Now she considered it, one of the things she missed most from her warrior days was the training of young cats. The presence of them was common, but it had been a long time since she had been on a 'paw's first hunt.