Faded Feathers [OPEN]

A heavy snowfall was finally beginning to slow, and Smokefeather shivered in her nest, shifting awkwardly as she stared out of the entrance of the den. She was tired of being cooped up in the den, made all the clearer by how her fluffy tail whisked back and forth restlessly. Her injured leg made leaving camp and going for a walk difficult at the best of times, but with the heavy snows and bitterly cold leafbare making predators more common than prey, going out for a walk was pointless, so stuck in camp she remained. The lack of activity had led to her joints being much stiffer than she remembered, though Smokefeather herself wasn't an old cat by any means.

A low sigh escaped the elder, ears twitching back in annoyance. Smokefeather missed hunting and patrolling, anything to avoid sitting around doing nothing. The snow seemed to have only slowed temporarily, and Smokefeather stared toward the den entrance in silent frustration.

slightkit stared at the smoke tabby tom. the tom seemed to be frustrated and restless. curiously, he padded up to the older tom. "Are you ok? you seem to be frustrated." he asked Smokefeather, worry in his eyes. maybe the tom just needed something to do. "Could you tell me a story? about this Asylum thing every warrior seems to be talking about?" he asked politely, looking at the elder with questioning eyes.

Smokefeather glanced down at the kit, a soft sigh escaping her. The concern was unexpected and something she still had never get used to, but she offered the little one a smile despite herself. "I'm okay, kitten. Just... bored. And tired of being stuck in camp." She knew most kits often felt that way too, she certainly had when she was younger. The feeling had returned with a vengeance since her injury and subsequent retirement.

Her expression darkened a little at the mention of Asylum. Why did cats always want to hear about such a terrible time? Why dwell on the past? "The Asylum?" She asked, a hint of weary disapproval creeping into her tone despite her efforts. A low sigh left her lips. "Oh, alright." The pale tortoiseshell sighed.

"Do you know how the Asylum was driven out of the forest?" She asked, "A group of cats from each clan staged fights along the borders. The Asylum didn't care at all about our safety and wellbeing despite what they claimed, and when cats fought, they would sit and watch as if we were their entertainment. Terrible, but a few cats realized they didn't actually pay attention to the fights themselves. Calling themselves the mousehunt to disguise their intentions, they pretended to fight and passed on messages. A Thunderclan tom... Beecloud, I believe his name was, received a sign from the stars themselves. They needed to defeat the 'head of the snake' at a place where the stars shone brightest."

"I don't know how they figured out the message, but they did. The meaning could only be one place, the very place the Asylum wouldn't let us anywhere near: Fourtrees. And that was not all. It was learned that the Asylum had stolen kits from the clans moons before we even knew of their existence. These kits were raised by them, trained in their ways, and then sent back into the forest to act against the very clans they had been born into. All without ever knowing the truth. The brutes captured not just kits, but other warriors and clanmates who resisted them, our leader and a warrior now lost to us included, and why else wouldn't we be allowed there if they had something to hide? The mousehunt continued to stage fights, and gather support. The mousehunt knew that they could never defeat the Asylum head-on, for their numbers were simply too great. So they launched a surprise attack, slipping out of their camps at night and meeting at the thunderpath that separates our territory from Shadowclan. It was a good disguise, that place smells foul, and is dangerous, even at night monsters run along it."

"One of our warriors, Ravenclaw, was involved with the mousehunt. She travelled with the others along the thunderpath in order to reach fourtrees. The Asylum's head, Eris, was there, along with the cats who led their factions." Her traitor son among them, Smokefeather would not speak his name or mention him. He deserved to be forgotten... And she didn't want to explain all that the golden tom had done to Skyclan. To her. Her tail twitched restlessly, a flicker of anxiety making her heart pound at even the idea of it. Shaking her head, Smokefeather took a breath, and continued. "The mousehunt took the Asylum by surprise, and those that they had captured and lied to for moons turned on them as well. Ravenclaw brought Bloodstar and Blossomstep home to us." And Flowerthorn had never been found... But that detail was dark. Another thing that the kit didn't need to hear.

slightkit could tell he hit a very sensitive topic, and he wasn't sure if it was a good thing or bad thing. "Umm... that sounded terrible! Lets talk about something else! UuUMm, what's Thunderclan?" he asked, feeling his pelt warm up instantly. stupid slightkit! stupid! what kind of distraction is this?!

Smokefeather couldn't quite hide her relief at the subject change. The Asylum's reign had been... Unpleasant, to put it mildly. There were some days she wasn't sure if she was grateful to have come out on the other side of it.

"Thunderclan?" She tipped her head thoughtfully, "From what I've seen, they're reasonable cats, and honorable. Their territory is probably the most similar to ours, though the undergrowth is much thicker and they can't climb trees or hunt birds nearly as well as a Skyclan cat can." And there was pride in that. Smokefeather had all but lived in the trees when she was a warrior, being just as comfortable leaping through the branches as she had been on the ground. She was sure Slightkit would grow up to have the same love of trees that most Skyclanners did.

The elder seemed proud of her clan. at least slightkit had distracted her from the other ugly details. "Right, I have to go now! Hailfall just entered camp!" He said a hurried goodbye as he noticed his idol walk into camp.

OOC: sorry, but I'm trying to end all topics from his kit timeline since he is an apprentice now