Skyclan's Deputy of 2021

Bloodstar had had... a very eventful passed 24 hours. After he'd had a reasonable amount of sleep and answered the questions of his clanmates regarding his new orders, he finally found a moment to consider who he should pick for deputy. He had mulled over the available and reasonable options, but only one cat in particular stayed in his head. He'd considered that one for quite some time, even before Wolfstar officially stepped down. They had withstood the test of time and Bloodstar finally felt confident in his choice. The new Skyclan leader waited for the clan to return from the last of the patrols, satisfied to see that limbs, twigs, leaves and pine needles were being brought back to camp. It wasn't much yet, but it was a start and that was all he could ask of his warriors.

Bloodstar climbed the tree to sit upon Tallbranch. "Let all cats old enough to climb a tree gather beneath the Tallbranch for a clan meeting!" He yowled out. He had no doubt everyone would arrive quickly. A new deputy had to be selected before moon high... and the moon, nearly full, was already rising just over the horizon. The other clans were in for a surprise next gathering.

Dawnfeather trailed in behind the rest of her patrol, a rather pitiful amount of twigs clutched in her jaws. She kept dropping it every other step, or tripping over her own paws, or something. The ground was tricky, especially when leaves were covering roots and holes. Her skills in the treetops weren’t exactly useful on the ground- knowing how to tell which branches were rotten at a glance wasn’t useful when her enemies were holes.

To make things worse, she was getting a headache from carrying these twigs. How, she didn’t know, but there it was. The young warrior dropped the twigs with the rest gathered by her patrol, and filed into camp. Huh? Oh. Bloodstrike was calling a meeting! Maybe Beetle would be a warrior now! She was certain the only reason his ceremony was taking so long was that Juniperlight was gone. He was more skilled than she was.

Dawnfeather sat in the back of the gathering crowd, as usual. Maybe Olive or Beetle or Beechaunt or Dandelion or Smokema or Hollowpaw or Prima would sit next to her! That would be nice… she could use a tail across her back.

The sleeping cat's ears flicked, hesitant to open her eyes. Within seconds she peered them open, beginning to lick her paws after sitting up. No more napping, time to start her new duties. Right after this meeting. As Oliverain exited the den she gazed at the rising moon, taking a moment to understand this would be the meeting where the deputy were to be announced. She didn't know who it would be, but then again no one really did. Sitting down at the front of the crowd she waited, looking for any friends to join her. She liked being in the she-cats' company.

Beechface poked her head out of the medicine den at Bloodstar's call, expression bleary. She hadn't slept well, a mix of anxiety and other emotions having kept her awake. He needed to name a deputy... Right, that was probably what this was about. The medicine cat cat in front of her den, stifling a yawn and eyeing Skyclan's newest leader.

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Smokefeather had been stretched out in front of the elder's den when Bloodstar leapt up to the tallbranch, and sat up as he called the clan together for a meeting. Logically it could only be one thing at this point in time, and she was curious to know what his choice would be. She hoped that he'd remember the conversion they had had what felt like moons ago.

Driftpaw lumbered into camp, a hefty stick and a few leaves clamped in his jaws. The stick was jabbing painfully into his shoulder, poking through his thick fur every time he took a step. Finally, he grunted in relief when he was able to drop the stick and leaves into the pile. He was about to return to his nest to clean his fur of debris when Bloodstar called another meeting.

"Wonder who the deputy will be..." he muttered to himself, joining the gathering cats before the Tallbranch. Hopefully it would be Newtspring, that would be cool.

Ashstorm walked over to the Tallbranch as Bloodstar called another clan meeting for that day.  She knew what this was... as probably did the entire clan of cats that heard the meeting that happened less than 24 hours earlier.  She went near to Dawnfeather.  Her and her niece were not all that close, but she enjoyed Dawnfeather's company.  She leaned towards Dawnfeather, but her eyes were still on the new leader.  "Well, this has certainly been a strange day, right?"  She said trying to make pleasant conversation, even with everything changing in the clan that she had known one way her whole life.

Lynxpetal met Driftpaw at one of the branch piles, looking for another dead stick to lean against the rocks around camp. She figured the warriors and apprentices would have more time to patrol and hunt if she were to lend a paw with the efforts in camp. Bloodstrike—actually, she’d just recently been informed his name was now Bloodstar—called them all back before she could find a suitable branch. The queen padded after Driftpaw, and seeing the various bits of bark and leaves in his patched fur, took a seat next to him and began to groom his long fur.

Dandelionflight ate the last few bites of her mouse and approached the Tallbranch. Bloodstar had called another clan meeting, most likely to name a deputy. Ashstorm joined Dawnfeather, so Dandelionflight made her over to Oliverain. “Who do you think will be deputy?” She meowed to her friend. She hadn’t thought about it a lot today, but it most likely wouldn’t be her. Maybe Ravenclaw? Her former mentor was a good warrior and taught her well.

Cricketpaw slowly made his way after Driftpaw, batting some tiny twigs about as he padded forward. At some point he'd grown sick of trying to cram them between his jaws. But that aside, it was much more amusing to throw them about between his paws. Kicking them to the fringes of a growing pile, the apprentice trotted towards Dandelionflight. He'd heard the call and felt proud to finally be able to answer it. Being an apprentice after so long was so strange. For a moment, he still felt that Lynxpetal would wrap a paw around him and throw him back into the nursery, where good kits could watch.

"Deputy? He's picking a deputy? I think I could do it, don't you think?" They hadn't even had time for a training session yet and he could hardly remember the name of the she-cat who he thought was his mentor. It seemed it was just the previous sunset that had moved him to the apprentice's den - hardly any time at all. But now he'd seen the territory so he was more than qualified. Although, Cricketpaw pondered for a moment, he still had yet to see a Shadowclan cat yet. A deputy would probably a least need to know what their night-stalking enemies looked like. He settled back on his haunches and looked up with curiosity in his eyes.

A rasping tongue passed through his fur, and Driftpaw turned over his shoulder to see Lynxpetal grooming him. He rumbled a gentle purr in greeting, hunching down to let the queen do her work. She was probably much better at grooming fur than he was. Cricketpaw joined at his side as well and he cracked a smile at the tom's words. "I think y'can do anything, Cricketpaw. But I would maybe leave the deputy-ing to the older cats, I think we're...kinda young still. Didn't ya just become an apprentice a few sunrises ago?" There was a note of laughter in his voice, although he wasn't much older than Cricketpaw himself.

Ravenclaw had been in a sulky mood, which wasn't a big surprising event. She seemed to be sulking about something a lot, and this time it was about the previous meeting, and the thought of leaving SkyClan. Even Beechface was for it. She'd had an idea that would be the case, but it still hurt to know that this would pit her against her sister. Well, one of her million sisters anyway. She sat down in the clearing, eyeing Bloodstar carefully. It still felt weird to know that he was the leader. She kept expecting Wolfstar to appear in front of her eyes, but he never did.

Hailpaw had just finished dragging onto the camp border then Bloodstar called another meeting. Pine needles and leaves had collected in his pelt outside of his volition for once, his pale coat messy from the manual labor he had completed. The outside was already a bit tricky to navigate for him, but now there were extra fallen branches for him to trip over. Perhaps his excitement to leave the nursery had been unfounded. At least there he never felt like a bumbling fool.

He went to join the growing crowd, his attention more on grooming his pelt than the newly promoted leader. His ears could work just fine when his tongue was busy tidying his fur.

Bloodstar's eyes swept across his clan, then back to the territory out in front of him while he waited. Once the cat that he intended to have as deputy settled beneath the Tallbranch, he never looked at them so as not to give it away. Once the clan was all there, he took a deep breath. A memory of when Wolfstar named him deputy flashed through his mind... and the fact that he only stared, flabbergasted with a stupid look on his face when his name was called.

Dawnhawk had been beside him. His son had come to his rescue quickly, yowling his congratulations loudly so as to get the rest of the clan to say something and help Bloodstrike snap out of his shock and wipe that dumb look off of his face. ... Things had certainly changed. He blinked and cleared that memory away, now not as heart-warming as it could have been at this moment given the circumstances.

"I have called this meeting to announce my decision on the new deputy. The cat I am choosing is not like me and I did this intentionally. For every night, there is a day. For every greenleaf, there is leafbare. Everything exists in a balance and without that balance, the world as we know it would be very different and not necessarily a beneficial different. I have thought long and hard and used this as my guide when I made my decision.

Skyclan has had a cycle of leaders who were too set in their ways and unwilling to compromise, creating isolation and strife within their own clan. I am what I am, I am too old to change that now... but I can select a deputy who I believe will break that cycle and Skyclan will flourish from our combined efforts and council, until one day she receives her nine lives and I retire from leadership."

There was a long pause before Bloodstar's eyes settled on one cat in particular. A large, gray she-cat.

"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 Ashstorm!" He paused again, letting her name hang in the air for several moments. "Ashstorm, you have proven to be just as resilient as you are patient and kind. You express your emotions when appropriate but you don't let them control you, something that myself, Wolfcall and Spottedleap had a very difficult time with. You have proven yourself to be a very capable warrior on top of that. I trust you to lead this clan one day when I am gone and to choose your own deputy wisely when that time comes."

Bloodstar quieted down and allowed the clan to react. The meeting had concluded, but he would wait to see how everyone reacted and to listen to what they said. He personally believed he'd made a good decision. Hopefully he could make decisions as well thought out as this one for his entire reign.

“Yes. I’ve been tripping into holes all day.”. Dawnfeather replied, tail twitching. She liked Ashaunt. The tall molly made her feel safe… that was a good thing. Safety seemed to be scarce these past moons. After all, they were putting in a defense… system, to defend again rogues not Hawkuncle, her fantasy was cracked but not yet shattered.

Bloodstrike began to talk again. Maybe he’d been taking lessons from Hawkuncle. He sounded like some of the flowing words were springing from his maw. Ashaunt? Dawnfeather beamed and bumped her aunt’s shoulder gently. Bloodstrike had made a good choice. Ashaunt would be a day to his night, a good thing.

“Congratulations, Ashaunt! You’ll do wonderfully!” A purr started deep in her chest. Ashaunt could always count on her to support her and help her, just as Dawnfeather knew she could count on the grey molly. This- was good.

Perhaps Bloodstrike was right, and a new day was dawning on SkyClan.