Putting Out Fires [Daystar, Hentooth?]

"Daystar!" Swiftspirit called, spotting the leader as she limped into camp. Her pale fur was bloodstained, though the bleeding from her wounds had slowed. Her leg hurt, and she was trying to avoid putting more weight than necessary on it. The last thing she wanted was to risk something more permanent than what she thought that injury would be, so Swiftspirit was being careful.

The walk back from fourtrees had taken longer than she would've liked, and the early-morning air was wonderfully crisp and cold as the bloodied warrior panted.

"Hey, Hentooth... I swear, I don't go looking for fights. It's a... bit of a story, I'll explain once Daystar gets in here." Stepping into Hentooth's den, she hoped that Daystar followed. She wasn't in the mood to repeat herself today. Dawnhawk, as infuriating as he could be, and as concerning as he could be, wasn't really her main priority right now. Most of the forest had it out for him, and he'd be dealt with sooner or later. She should have felt something more for a former clanmate, but he'd made his nest. What worried her right now was that filthy Shadowclanner, screeching about impurities and wanting to kill her and Bearspirit as well as Dawnhawk. And, well, hiding the injuries he'd given her was practically impossible, anyways. Daystar might as well learn what Swiftspirit had gotten herself into while Hentooth patched her up.

Hentooth had woken early, as usual. The crisp, cool air permeated her bones in a way she rather disliked, and the short-furred molly jogged in place, shivering. Alright, it wasn’t that cold, but she wasn’t built for the cold. Well, she was built for the moors, and that seemingly involved the cold… but the heat was more easily bearable. What was she to do today… gather more herbs, she supposed. Maybe grab a rabbit on the way. A nice chase would get the blood flowing… but it seemed that wasn’t to happen today.

“Oh, stars. SkyClan? Of course, who else would it be?” The molly didn’t smell of SkyClan… blood, of course, covered most of her scent but there was a bit of… marsh? What? Sh- no, that must be wrong. Maybe RiverClan smelled like that- but they had no motive, that made no sense. “Let me see- I’ll get this patched up in no time- thank you for coming to me instead of trying to ‘walk it off, oh yes, I’m fine’ and then collapse on the ground. Mousebrains.” She snorted as she sniffed the warrior’s shoulder… no infection, yet, but there was some dirt in there. “This garlic will smell, a bit, but it’ll prevent infection. Bit of oak leaf… goldenrod… cobwebs… oh, there are the poppy seeds if you need em.” Finished muttering to herself, she took a step back, gazing critically at the poultice. She’d done a fair job- but whoever had attacked Swiftspirit apparently didn’t hold back. “You should be fine… rest today, anyways. Take it easy. See me tomorrow, too. Infection’s a nasty business- anyways, what the dirty Dark Forest happened to you?”

Daystar's head snapped up the moment that she heard her friend's voice. There was no sense of happiness in Swiftspirit's tone. The she-cat felt her heart sink and her stomach fill with dread as she rose to her paws and let her gaze fall upon the warrior.
"What in StarClan's name?" She quietly muttered to herself in shock as she instantly followed after Swiftspirit.
What had happened now? Thousands of unpleasant scenarios began to race through the leader's mind. Was the culprit a Clan cat, a rogue, or a predator? Whatever it was, WindClan couldn't afford to make any unnecessary enemies with anything that lurked outside of their territory.

When she entered the medicine den, her eyes were still clouded with fear and worry. She gave Swiftspirit a quick scan from top to bottom before speaking again.
"Stars, what happened to you? Who did this?" She asked, anxiously padding forward.
She refused to stand too close in order to let Hentooth properly take a look at the wounds, but she still hovered by so that she could hear properly.

Hentooth was quick to speak and just as quick to find herbs, and Swiftspirit tried to keep still while the medicine cat worked. The garlic, as Hentooth had said, was indeed smelly, and her nose wrinkled slightly in disgust. "If you consider Dawnhawk Skyclan, still, then yes. But it wasn't him I fought." She muttered in response. Daystar had followed her into the den, and Swiftspirit offered the leader a tired smile.

"I'd gone for a walk, figured I'd clear my head and all that. Thought fourtrees would be quiet, right? Well, wrong." She huffed, "I heard fighting, and recognized voices. I got there just in time to see a Riverclanner slam Dawnhawk into a tree." Bearspirit, if nothing else, was impressive. "Not sure if he was trying to kill him, or drag him back to Skyclan. There was a Shadowclanner there as well, I'm pretty sure I vaguely recognized him from the recent gatherings. He threatened to kill Bearspirit and then take the credit for killing Dawnhawk. Said something about impurities. It was strange, though. There was no point in attacking Bearspirit if the goal was to kill Dawnhawk, they were both injured." That Bearspirit wasn't clanborn, and was likely the impurity that the Shadowclanner had referred to, was unimportant. And it was his choice to share that information, not Swiftspirit's.

"I attacked the Shadowclanner before he could go after Bearspirit while he was dealing with Dawnhawk. He was unconscious for a bit, I think... Bearspirit practically threw the Shadowclanner into a tree, but by that point Dawnhawk was awake and managed to get his tail out of there. If I hadn't been injured, I think I could've easily outran him, I've been here longer than he was, at this point. The Shadowclanner was... stronger than I gave him credit for. He was strangely insistent on wanting to kill us all, though. I've never seen a clan cat that bent on killing their enemies, at least." She shrugged. It was worrying, though... There was no way he could have possibly known that Swiftspirit wasn't clanborn, either. The only ones who knew that were Windclan, Dawnhawk and Bearspirit... And only Dawnhawk knew part of the truth. She didn't think that the crazed Shadowclanner had spoken to either of them before she'd shown up, though.

"The emphasis on impurities also makes me wonder... I don't exactly advertise that I'm not clanborn. The only ones who know that are Windclan, and even then..." The scar on her left shoulder was a single clawmark, inconspicuous on its' own. Easy to dismiss as being gotten in a random fight of from a predator... But that hadn't been the case. Dawnhawk had recognized it, and Swiftspirit was pretty sure than Tawnyflare had as well. With how she'd sworn and hissed at her throughout her apprenticeship, it couldn't have been just that Swiftspirit was an outsider, it couldn't have been just that Tawnyflare disliked most cats on principle. Had anyone else recognized it for what it really was, though?

Her eyes narrowed slightly, tail flicking with indecision. Should she tell them? Daystar was a friend. She was trustworthy. "He's younger than I am, and would have even less of a way of knowing who my parents are than most would." Her gaze lifted to meet Daystar's, then Hentooth's.

"Can I trust you not to share information?" She asked, tone more serious than it had been. "This is something I'd rather not share at all. I probably should have told Lilacstar when she accepted me into the clan, but given what the clans had suffered I didn't think it wise." She began to pace, tail continuing to twitch back and forth with nervous energy. Her paws itched for more open space than what the medicine den provided to pace, though with her leg she probably shouldn't do so. She needed something though, she couldn't seem to sit still, so pacing back and forth in the too-small space would do.

Hentooth nodded to Daystar, stepping further into the den so the molly could join them. Through an enormous amount of self-control, she managed to keep her maw shut throughout most of Swiftspirit’s speech… though her lashing tail spoke for itself. “Sure. Long as Daystar knows there ain’t no reason for me to open my big mouth. Real quick though- why did you stay with that RiverClanner long enough to exchange names? Swiftspirit, your wounds could’ve been infected, you could’ve been bleeding out, please please please next time get your tail back here as soon as possible. Thank you.” Slightly sheepish, she lashed her tail. “When I say I keep my maw shut, I’ll keep my maw shut. Even if it’s something I’d rather berate you on.” 


Okay, now she was curious. If Swiftspirit had gotten infected wounds from not coming to the medicine den… oh stars, she’d be hard-pressed to keep her maw shut. The young medicine cat glanced over to Daystar, then Swiftspirit, nothing but mild curiosity and a bit of is this serious enough to stop me from herb hunting? But Swiftspirit was a sensible Clanmate- whatever had her nervous was… big. Oh yay.

The name Dawnhawk made the fur on the back of Daystar's neck stand upright. It was only a sour reminder of everything that had plagued her and the Clan in the past. When would the forest finally be able to stop hearing his name once and for all? How as he alive still when it seemed as if every Clan cat alive wanted him dead? All the she-cat could do was listen intently as Swiftspirit spoke, but the slightest glimmer of worry in her eye gave away how she was feeling.

Hearing a cat that was so determined on extinguish any type of impurity startled her. Although she personality had nothing to worry about since pure WindClan blood raced through her veins, it was still concerning to say the least. She was well aware that there were cats within the Clan that came from different backgrounds, and if this unnamed ShadowClanner was going to pose a threat to them, then she wanted to know exactly who and what to look out for.

She continued to remain silent, even as Hentooth spoke. Of course she could keep a secret, and she trusted that the medicine cat could as well, and this was obviously important to Swiftspirit. She could feel the anxiety pouring off of her friend in waves as the warrior began to pace back in forth, and it only made the leader nervous as well. However, Daystar gave her a nod and placed a paw forward to urge her to continue speaking.

"I won't say a word if you don't want me to, I swear. Go on." Her reply was less wordy than Hentooth's, but that was just how their personalities differed. Still, the slight twitch of her tail gave away the slight concern that she held in her heart.

"I got back here as quickly as I could, I knew Bearspirit previously... He's the one who dragged me in here when that Skyclanner split me open." She responded to Hentooth. And what a lucky thing that had been, Swiftspirit wasn't sure she would have survived that battle otherwise. "He's decent, for a Riverclanner." ...Focus, Swiftspirit.

She continued to pace as the pair of cats responded to her question, ears swiveling in their direction as each spoke. "Okay... I'd rather this stay between us." There was enough rightful wariness surrounding rogues as it was. Revealing this wasn't likely to help.

Sorry, mother... They need to know. Relationships were built on trust, and not telling them was still a lie by omission. She wondered if mom was rolling in her grave, watching from whatever afterlife she'd found herself in and screeching at her in frustration. A part of Swiftspirit just hoped that she would understand.

"I... Wasn't lying when I said my mother was killed in battle... And I think some of our clanmates might be familiar with which battle. I'm not sure if Tawnyflare recognized me or not, but she hated everyone anyways. Dawnhawk recognized the scar on my shoulder for what it was, though I don't think he knows who I'm related to and I didn't recognize him, for the obvious reasons." She was rambling... Get to the point. She stopped pacing, turning to face Daystar and Hentooth, forcing her paws and twitching tail to be still.

"I was a scout, daughter of the Asylum head. Eris is my mother." And with that, she could only wait for whatever resection was to follow. If Daystar decided she was out of Windclan... Swiftspirit would survive. It wouldn't be the first time she'd wound up on her own, and she had much more experience under her pelt than she had as a kit.

Hentooth nodded as Swiftspirit continued, inwardly itching to sort some of the herbs the grey molly’s twitching tail was coming very close to knocking over… but Swift was a good cat, and whatever she had to say was important.

The young medicine cat pricked her ears. Hmm? Oh, right, Swift wasn’t Clanborn. Okay… so what? The words nearly came spilling out of her maw, but Swift genuinely looked worried (for some reason). To be honest, if she’d been in Swift’s position, this was exactly what she would’ve done- kept her maw shut until she was sure she could trust ‘em. Well, lucky for Swift, she could trust them.

“If we kicked cats out based on their heritage, dontcha think Ash, Timber, Soot and I would be looooong gone? I don’t speak for Daystar, but we’d be a Clan full of horsedunged fools to kick out one of our best warriors. The only thing that comes to mind is “I wish you’d told us sooner”, but, to be honest, if I were in your position, that’s exactly what I would’ve done.” The calico shrugged, glancing over at the rather precariously stacked herbs. “I don’t got nothin’ else to say. We keep it under our pelts til the day we croak.” If anyone else found out… yeah, there might be a bit of trouble. But there was no reason that they would.

The Asylum didn't bring good memories for Daystar. In fact, the she-cat had to force herself to keep a straight face upon hearing the name of the group of cats that had kept the Clan cats under claw for moons. She wasn't able to respond as quickly as Hentooth, and even after the medicine cat had finished speaking, the she-cat still couldn't find the words. Previous experiences with cats such as Dawnhawk and the Asylum had made Daystar strictly forbid any outsiders from joining the Clan for the time being with kits being the only exception, but she refused to turn a harsh eye to any non-Clanborn cats that had been accepted into WindClan before her time as leader began. Cats like Swiftspirit had proven their loyalty multiple times, and they were apart of the Clan just as much as those with pure blood running through their veins.

"WindClan is a mix of many cats from different walks of life," Daystar began, glancing at the warrior, "and if I were to kick out everyone that wasn't pureblooded, not many cats would be left. You're my friend, and one of the cats that I'd trust with my life, and I want you to know that I'm not going to look at you differently because of where you came from. This Clan is yours just as much as it is mine and Hentooth's, and I promise I won't speak of this to anyone else."

She ended with a small smile and a flick of her tail. The topic of the unnamed ShadowClanner could be brought up again later, but all that mattered to her at the moment was that Swiftspirit was alive and safe.

Swiftspirit forced herself to remain still as she waited for a response, the only outward sign of her anxiety the restless twitch of her tail tip before Hentooth started to speak. Her response was blunt and to the point, as she'd come to expect from the medicine cat. At any other time she might've quipped that she'd be more worried about Sootpaw than Hentooth, the tom was far more like his mother than his siblings were. That Hentooth said she would've done the same thing was expected, too, it was only sensible. Daystar spoke, and the tension eased from her shoulders at her friend's words.

"Thank you," She mewed finally, with a small smile, "Other cats would... Not be happy if they knew, I'm sure." Swiftspirit had busted tail to prove herself to some of the more wary warriors and gain their trust and respect. If they knew, whatever goodwill she'd managed to gain would've been gone in a heartbeat. Rightfully so, she thought.