SkyClan's new... uh... deputy..?

It was late by the time Wolfstar returned to camp. The moon had sunk low, and the camp was quiet and cold. By now, most of the warriors were asleep in their dens. With Asylum in the territory, there was no need for night guards or patrols, but Tigersong had still taken to sitting at the camp entrance once everyone else had gone to sleep. Tonight was no exception, and Wolfstar passed him on the way in, touching his son's former apprentice with the tip of his tail in greeting. Tigersong dipped his head in a respectful greeting, but no words passed between them as the leader headed for his den. He scaled the rock with relative ease, turning around and perching there, staring at the empty clearing for a moment before raising his voice. "Let every cat old enough to climb a tree gather before me for a clan meeting!"

He waited, and watched, the clan gathering beneath him with confused, sleep-bleary eyes. Hopefully, they wouldn't be confused much longer... Dawnhawk was right, SkyClan needed a new deputy. With Bloodstrike gone, and his return questionable at best, they couldn't keep going on like this.

Having been cowering in the corner of the growing crowd as he usually did; in order to minimize the risk of him embarrassing himself or messing anything up, one of the crude Asylum cats thought there was a better spot for him to be... the center of the crowd.

Being abruptly pushed by some-cat's large paw, the lengthy warrior let out a breath as the wind was knocked from his chest and he stumbled into the clowder of cats. His long legs began to shake violently and he tucked his long tail tightly under his rump like a cowardly dog would. Able to look above the crowd, he spotted the cat who'd shoved him in and watched as they snickered and sneered to their friends. He clearly wasn't going to risk going back there where they were and instead, shrunk down to the ground, wishing nothing more in the world than to be a turtle so that he could disappear into a shell. Why in StarClan's name had he even left the den? He was truly a mousebrain.

Ashstorm heard Wolfstar yell out to the clan and she stretched her legs out, waking up.  This was one of the few cold nights that Ashstorm slept through and this, of course had to be the day when her grandfather decided to wake her early.  Why do I need to wake up this early just to see an apprentice become a warrior? Her mind complained.  Still, she stood up and strode out of the Warrior den.  She walked over, and sat down beneath where her father was.  Her eyelids felt heavy, but she made sure to keep them open.  She watched as others crowded around.  She flicked her tail in a steady pattern to make sure that she did not fall asleep.  She looked up at Wolfstar, trying to figure out who was becoming a warrior today.

Smokefeather was curled in the nursery, bundles of soft, silvery-gray fur quiet at her belly. She was exhausted, more exhausted than she'd been after either of her two previous litters. This kitting had been long and difficult. Stress, Beechface had said, and the medicine cat wasn't wrong.

Wolfstar's call rang out across camp, and for a moment Smokefeather could only lay in her nest, unmoving. She was so very tired... But a clan meeting was being called. When her gaze flicked to the entrance of the nursery, she blinked. It was dark out, late. Far later than most clan meetings were usually held.

Why in Starclan's name is he calling a meeting at this hour? Smokefeather thought. Groaning, the exhausted queen heaved herself to her paws, careful not to disturb the sleeping bundles by her side.

She made it as far as the nursery entrance, then promptly sank to the ground. She could watch the meeting from here. That was fine. She did not have the energy for... whatever this was.

---

Beechface had been roused from sleep by the call, and blearily sat at the entrance to her den. She was pointedly avoiding Wolfstar's gaze, still unhappy with the rebuke she'd received from him during that argument with her siblings. What was so important that he had to rouse the clan for a meeting this late? He couldn't do this at a normal time? Her lip curled in distaste, the large medicine cat clearly unhappy at having been awoken. She'd helped Smokefeather's kitting earlier, and now she wanted to sleep, not attend some stars-forsaken meeting.

Leafpaw grunted as she rose to her paws, hearing Wolfstar even from a dead slumber.

What is going on tonight?

Her eyes flicked to overhead, wondering if the stars had answers. She took a deep breath of the icy air, grimacing from the cold.

Please, StarClan, do what is best. For all of us.

Sparkpaw was resting in his den, trying to stave off the bite of leafbare. Luckily, his fur was thick and long so he was already well insulated. It wasn't particularly difficult for him to keep warm, even in his nest near the wall of the den. Every so often, a particularly strong gust of wind would weave through the wall of the apprentice's den and find its way under his fur. After an especially forceful wind blasted against his back, Sparkpaw violently shivered and decided that despite the time, he might as well use this time to think. He sat up and began to groom his messy fur. It was a chore to keep himself free of tangles and mats, but Sparkpaw didn't want to bring down opinions of Skyclan. He found a bundle of tangled hairs and got to work.

The ginger and white apprentice's mind wandered for a while as he cleaned himself. He wondered about Skyclan's future and about his littermates. He didn't hold as much hatred for the Asylum cats as Flashpaw. Or most cats in Skyclan probably. That didn't change the fact that he wanted them gone. Their views were different, too different, and Sparkpaw just couldn't find an angle that would justify a takeover to this scale. Or any scale really. He fidgeted nervously and glanced around, hoping he wasn't bothering anyone by lurking out here like some starving fox. After an exceptionally long yawn, the young tom heard Wolfstar call for a clan meeting. Ears pricked curiously, Sparkpaw picked his way around a few sleeping apprentices before emerging into the cold air.

Fur puffed up to keep himself warm, Sparkpaw trotted to a spot near the middle of the clearing and took a seat. He looked up at Wolfstar and then around at a few of his clanmates who'd already gathered around Wolfstar. could this be an apprentice ceremony? Or perhaps an apprentice was being made into a warrior? There was always the possibility that Wolfstar simply had a few, non-ceremony- announcements to make. Why else would Wolfstar call a meeting so late?

Dawnhawk happened to be up at this hour when he heard Wolfstar's call for a clan meeting. His ears pricked forward and he moved towards the Camp. He saw that a bit of a crowd had gathered already. Without a word to anyone, Dawnhawk scaled the nearest stable tree and lie down on a branch within leaping distance of Wolfstar. Asylum cats were losing interest in all of the meetings as well, and took their sweet time getting there. That would need to be remedied, and Dawnhawk made a mental note of that for later.

For now he was content to watch the crowd gather and listen for Wolfstar's announcements.

A Clan meeting this late at night was something that Graybird had never experienced before. Surely if Wolfstar had the intention of holding a warrior ceremony, he could do it when the sky was bright and the sun was awake. Fortunately for her, she hadn't completely fallen asleep yet. If the Clan was being asked to meet at this time, then there must've been something far more important than a warrior ceremony in mind. She tilted her head slightly in thought as she made her way out of her nest and out of the warriors' den to join the rest of her Clanmates. At a time like this, the Clan could use some good news, but the aura in the air seemed give off any emotion other than hope and happiness. The warrior settled down in her usual spot, somewhere near the back of the crowd, and curled her tail around her paws. The light of the moon was the only way that she was able to tell her Clanmates apart in the midst of the darkness of the Leafbare night, and she began to hope that the meeting would end soon.

The slight chill of Leaf-fall had become harsher with the invasion of Leafbare, and the last thing Graybird wanted to find herself doing was freezing the tips of her paws off in the middle of the night.

"Ugghhh..." Groaning as she stirred in her sleep, hearing Wolfstar's call, Honeycomb sat up, wondering what in StarClan was happening this late in the night. "We're not ShadowClan cats and some of us are trying to sleep." Muttering to herself for another few seconds, Honeycomb slipped out of the warrior's den. Sitting at the edge of the crowd, the young warrior thought about whose warrior ceremony this might be. Mind whirling for a moment, the light ginger warrior shrugged. She didn't even know any apprentices anyway. Maybe that would change. If she was going to be stuck in SkyClan territory forever, she would at least have to make a few friends to rid herself of boredom.

OOC: I was so tired I forgot that Copperfox exists. Oops. Here he is! On phone so it's short.

IC: What an odd time for a clan meeting. Copperfox groggily slipped out of the warrior's den and more or less zombie-moded over to the gathering. He plopped his rump down loudly with a tired sigh. What could this possibly be about? It couldn't be a ceremony. Not at this hour. It had to be important though. Copperfox barely suppressed a yawn and blinked sleepily around to see who had come and who was still asleep.

Deerpaw stirred in his nest and sat up, skating his head groggily. Why in Starclan’s name was Wolfstar calling a clan meeting this late? Or was it early? He glanced out the entrance of his den, but the darkness outside gave him no answers.

With a slight yawn the apprentice padded outside into the clearing, just in time to see Sunflower being shoved through the crowd by a sneering Asylum cat. "Hey, leave him alone!" Deerpaw hissed. He wasn't particularly fond of Sunflower, but he hated to see any cat being bullied, especially by the brutish Asylum cats. Unfortunately his attempted intimidating hiss came out more as a mumble, as he realized the Asylum cat was nearly twice his size. The apprentice hurried to the center of the crowd, not waiting to see the other cat's reaction.

Primroselight's light and disturbed sleep was quickly ended by Wolfstar's call for a clan meeting. She followed the rest of the warriors out of the den, trying to think of why the leader was calling a meeting at this time of night. Maybe he had decided to make a change. To make a better deal with Asylum. If that was so, maybe she would stop disowning him. Maybe it's news about Bloodstrike, she thought hopefully. That would probably be more plausible.

She noticed Smokefeather at the entrance of the nursery, and padded over to join her. It was close enough to hear what was going on, and her mother had been busy with her new little bundles recently. "Hey," she said, sitting beside the queen. They hadn't really talked since the big argument Primroselight had had with her siblings, so she didn't really know how her mother felt about it all. "I hope it's about dad," She said, waiting for Wolfstar to continue.

Ravenclaw was asleep, as was tradition that late at night. However, the call of Wolfstar roused her from her slumber. She let out a groan of annoyance, struggling to get out of her nest before joining the growing throng gathered around their leader. As she finally got into the clearing, she felt a sense of unease washing over her. There was no reason to call a meeting so late, right? That meant it had to be something important. Something wasn’t right...

It was easy for him to see that the clan was none too happy about being woken like this, and for just a moment he felt a pang of guilt for them. They wouldn't be happy about his decision, now... quite a few would probably hate him for it. But Bloodstrike wasn't here, and he couldn't shoulder SkyClan's destiny on his own, no matter how much he tried.

Wolfstar closed his eyes, ice-cold doubt ruffling his fur along with a sharp wind that cut through the camp. Bloodstrike flashed before his mind's eye, in the same condition that he'd been in when Wolfstar had left: strong, certain... trustworthy.

Is he, though? he asked himself. After what I know now, can I still consider him trustworthy? Amber-gold eyes flicked open and surveyed the camp once more. Most of the clan was here, now. They were watching him expectantly. They trusted him to lead them, to guide them... but would they, for much longer? The leader desperately sought Beechface's gaze, but she was, as she had been, steadfastly avoiding him. Wolfstar dropped his eyes, and his ears lay back against his head. He shifted his weight from one paw to the other. Pull it together.

Another quick inhale, and his voice was in the air before he allowed himself to back down. "I apologize for the late hour, but I'm afraid this cannot wait," despite the nervousness he felt, there was no trace of it in his voice. He had to do this. The clan would understand. Bloodstrike would understand. They would forgive him.

"In these trying times, it is important that SkyClan remains strong and united in the face of our trials and tribulations. Since the Asylum has arrived, I know things have been rough, and I'm so very sorry that I was not here to support and protect you all when I should have been." Wolfstar paused, the tip of his tail flicking back and forth. "That being said, in order to move forward, as a clan, we need to adjust to the way things are going to be from here on out. Asylum is not leaving. They will remain in SkyClan's territory until further notice, and I expect you all to treat our guests with the same respect and grace that RiverClan treated us with, in our time of need."

Not about to let the inevitable outcry begin before he finished, Wolfstar continued quickly. "In order to mend the hurt that has been a result of this sudden undertaking, I have decided to appoint a new deputy in Bloodstrike's absence." Another brief hesitation, and Wolfstar's heart thudded in his chest like a trapped bird. "I say these words before StarClan, so the spirits of our warrior ancestors may hear and approve of my choice... the new deputy of SkyClan will be Dawnhawk."

No. Primroselight thought that she had been at breaking point several days earlier, but now she had met her true limit.

Nothing she had ever felt before compared to this. She wanted to scream. To run away. To do anything that caused a fuss. It must have been blackmail. Right? Or had the leader she had once held in such high esteem sunken lower than the very depths of the gorge. Maybe he was threatened. But now Dawnhawk had direct control over the clan and over some of the rouges. He could do anything. He was unstoppable. If he killed Wolfstar (granted, it would have to be at least nine times over, but he had enough power and minions to do that), then bam. He was leader.

There was no way in the world that Bloodstrike would accept this. Please dad, she thought, please com home soon. Once the real deputy was back to full health, he would hopefully tae over the position yet again. Or was that just her wishful thinking? But one thing was sure in her mind. Something needed to be done about this.