Forging Bonds [Fawnshine]

"Uh, Fawnhsine...?" Featherfrost's somewhat meek, embarrassed voice carried into the medicine den as she limped inside, blood dripping from her shoulder. She'd encountered another bloody raccoon while hunting, and this one had managed to sink its' nasty teeth into her before she'd killed it. "I was out hunting and ran into a raccoon. It's probably fine though..." She added awkwardly. Fawnshine was one of Waterlily's kits... One of her half-siblings. Featherfrost had mostly watched them at a distance, though she had thought of trying to get to know them more recently. Winding up injured and seeking medical attention wasn't how she'd planned on going about that, however.

”Uh, Fawnshine…?”

Hearing her new name being called out was still something she had to get used to. She was grown now — a full medicine cat. Dovefrost would still be there to help, though she knew mostly everything already. ”Raccoons… I wonder why there are so many of them,” She’d mumble. Half to herself, but also just enough to be heard if someone paid attention. Her eyes scanned the wound. Nothing too bad, but it’d be troublesome if left untreated further. Using her tail, she gestured for Featherfrost to sit down on a moss bed.

Perhaps it was a strange coincidence that Featherfrost had fur somewhat alike with hers.. and even her siblings. Their ‘father’s’, as well, though her fur bristled just from the thought of it. Even if it was the truth that such a monster was their father. A strange coincidence.. that Featherfrost just had a similar fur pattern. Fawnshine attempted not to think too much of it, however. ”It’ll sting a bit, but nothing too bad,” The medicine cat mewed, ”Just please don’t bite me,” She lightly joked. Somewhat.

After cleaning it thoroughly with her tongue, and pressing cobweb onto it, she chewed the needed medicinal herbs into a poultice. The molly would then apply it to the warrior’s wound(s). ”It isn’t that bad of a wound, though do be careful. I’m sure you know that, though.”

So many raccoons, indeed, she couldn't help but overhear Fawnshine's comment. "You'd think Starlingflare and I would've made a dent in the population by now. It really doesn't feel like it." It seemed like raccoons were all she ever saw when trying to hunt. If only they were edible, Thunderclan would've never had a shortage of fresh kill. "At least their pelts are good for lining nests with."

She waited as Fawnshine turned to gather what she needed, not failing to notice how the medicine cat's demeanor seemed to shift slightly. "Something wrong?" Well, there were plenty of things wrong, of course. Like the dead cats outside the den. One of whom was Fawnshine's father. And Featherfrost's, though she was trying her best to ignore that. Did Fawnshine even know? Stoatstar did, of course, but it wasn't something she would willingly bring up with any clan cat. Especially now, after everything. The thought was dismissed however, as Fawnshine spoke again.

"Don't worry," Featherfrost mewed, blue eyes sparking with amusement. "I'm not a cranky badger, I promise." She sat on a moss bed as instructed, ears sliding back slightly for a moment as she remembered her first moon or so in Thunderclan's camp spent cooped up in a nest in this den. The scars from the dog bites were hardly visible beneath her long fur now, which she was grateful for. To hear that her current wounds were nowhere near as bad was a relief, even if it had been clear enough from the start, and Featherfrost relaxed once more.

Fawnshine snapped out of her thoughts as the warrior asked, though she shook her head. "No, it's nothing, just random... thoughts. Thank you for asking, though." And soon after, she emitted a small chuckle at Featherfrost's comparison, only giving a gentle shake of her head at the end. "I hope that's true." She mewed, sarcastically. Backing away to give the warrior some space, she put back the unused herbs before setting herself down beside the molly. "Maybe it's a bit too sudden... but if you wouldn't mind me asking, our pelts are oddly similar, isn't it? It's quite funny now that I think about it, I wonder why I haven't thought so sooner before."

"You don't need to answer that if you don't want to. It's a bit of a ramble, honestly." She was surprised. Perhaps it was much easier talking to her clanmates than she expected — especially to Featherfrost. It was like talking to Comfreypaw... like a sibling, or — well, a friend.

Featherfrost had been about to make a sarcastic remark of her own in response to Fawnshine's humor, only the new medicine cat asked a question that... definitely wasn't humorous. Yes, they had similar pelts. And it wasn't just to Fawnshine's pelt. For a moment Featherfrost could only stare in surprise. After Stoatstar had questioned her, Achlys and Achelois, nobody else had mentioned it to her, even the few who had known the truth. She'd been grateful for that, not wanting it to become widespread knowledge. She was just a friendly rogue who had disagreed with her father, after all. She was only in Thunderclan out of her goodwill and the desire to no longer be a rogue.

And onw her half-sibling was asking the question. One that had one very big, very obvious answer. Featherfrost stared down at her paws for a moment, glancing back up at Fawnshine. Her tail twitched back and forth, paws kneading into the soft moss of the nest in sudden anxiety. It wasn't a question she could get around, not with the answer sitting in camp, leading a horde of dead cats. Did Fawnshine ask because she suspected? Had she suspected this at all? Atalante didn't know the medicine cat well at all, beyond their shared blood. If she had, maybe she'd be able to judge how she might have reacted better.

"I was rogue-born. I was technically trespassing when I helped your previous leader, Minkstar, fend off a dog. Found him being chased into some rocks, trying to hide from the beast. I told Minkstar I had a... disagreement with my father and didn't enjoy the lifestyle being a rogue entailed. I was injured while fighting the dog and he let me stay. I decided to join the clan when I recovered." She sighed, "Well... We share a father. I didn't know I'd have half-siblings until he told me." Atalante continued before Fawnshine could speak, speaking quickly. "Yes, Stoatstar already knows. No, I had no idea Klaus... Morningstar, whatever you want to call him, was capable of... whatever all of this is. I'm not sure I can even call him father still, honestly." It was the truth... Most of it. Her disagreement with her father had become reality, though she didn't think anyone needed to know that she'd been sent here on his orders specifically to look after Waterlily and her kits. They'd turned out fine, she'd done her job, that was enough. It didn't need to be mentioned.

She noticed the sudden change in the mood as Featherfrost soon began to seem anxious. She'd listen, though. Something was up.

....

"Well... We share a father—"

"What—?" They — she — What? Her mind went blank, remaining silent... just in case she misheard things. But no, she didn't. And that was what surprised her. Baffled was an understatement — she was perplexed out of her mind, frustrated, confused... Just what was going on? It was just a thought that flashed through her mind, like a breeze, almost — but for it to be true... a half-sibling seemed so... impossible. Featherfrost shared part of her.. blood? The warrior's voice blurred, and it took a hard gulp for her to properly process what just have been told.

"All this time... What?" She stood, tail stiffly lashing. "All of... this — whatever it even is, like you said, had it always been a lie, kept hidden in secret? Who.. are you?" She gritted her teeth, anxiously flattening her ears down. A swirl of emotions threatened to spill out of her in a rage of fury — frustration — and she found herself dumbfounded by all of it. All of this, only told to her now. "Did father.. Morningstar, Klaus, if he even really has a 'real' name anymore — send you here? For us, and not really, or properly to join as a part of this clan?" Her eyes narrowed. If all of this was true, then Featherfrost, and whoever might be out there too, was her... their half-brothers and sisters. She didn't know who — or what to trust. "That means you're my half-sister, then. No wonder why our pelts.. and our siblings'... are so strangely familiar."

"Stoatstar knows as well, then. Of course, of course, he knows. Does anyone else know?"

Atalante forced herself not to flinch at Fawnshine's tone, ears flattening as the medicine cat spoke. "...Yes." She admitted through clenched teeth. There was no point in keeping up the lie, Achlys and Achelois knew, Thunderclan's high ranks knew at least in part. Sooner or later, one of Fawnshine's other siblings would've gotten curious. Klaus... Morningstar... Whatever, might've been upset, but Atalante wasn't sure he'd even care. They were all under his claw now, and Atalante didn't think his pets would go anywhere any time soon. Fawnshine deserved an explanation, at least. So would her littermates, Atalante supposed.

"My real name is Atalante." She inhaled, then exhaled slowly, tail tip twitching against the moss nest. "At first I was just to keep an eye on Waterlily, on you. Make sure you were all treated well and give him updates. He didn't know how the clan would react if they ever found out he was your father." She muttered, "It's... Complicated." Was it really that complicated, though? She had lied by omission. Deliberately. "He messed up by attacking... Thrushnose? And warned her that he was upset with me. Thrushnose came back to camp a bloody mess. That's how Stoatstar found out. And I'm guessing whatever other warriors were there when she came back to camp know. Minnowfin, I think Stoatstar would've told him at least, I don't know if your mentor knows. If others do, they've never mentioned any of it to me." She'd waited for the other paw to drop too. Nobody had ever questioned her origin, except for Stoatstar when he'd found out. The leader had been quite rude about it, in Atalante's opinion.

"Ata..lante?" She questioned, the name struggling slightly to roll off her tongue. She wasn't used to pronouncing non-clan names. As Atalante — or Featherfrost, whatever her half-sibling's name preferred to be called now, continued on — she gritted her teeth once more. "Perhaps waltzing into ThunderClan's camp after his army of cats and asking to see his children was the best way to keep our identities hidden that he isn't our father, then." She'd nearly growled underneath her breath. "Complicated. You're right, it is complicated," She mused.

Her claws threatened to unsheathe at the pure pressure she was putting onto them. A sense of anger — discarded information not given to her. "That.. Our father —" She choked out the word, "He was the one that had killed Thrushnose? Stoatstar, Dovefrost... what else have they been hiding?" Her anger turned into a bitter swirl of mixed emotions, and she looked away, attempting to calm herself down, before abruptly turning to Featherfrost again. "Featherfrost, Atalante... Whichever name you go by — there's a further question I want to ask you. Why did he choose you, out of all the other cats he could've been choosing? And why risking you that much...?"

Fawnshine stumbled over Atalante's name, just as she had done for the clan cats' names once. Atalante took no offense to it, merely listening as the other she-cat continued. Yes, complicated. It was what it was, though. "I don't-" Atalante shook her head. Thrushnose... She hadn't known the older warrior at all, truthfully. And she'd quit paying attention the moment Stoatstar had started shrieking like a petulant kit rather than the strong-hearted leader he should've been. Pathetic, really. If Klaus had killed Thrushnose, surely she must've done something. As for their leadership hiding things... "I would've thought Stoatstar would tell you as his medicine cat. Or Waterlily, at least." She didn't, not truly, he was a whining child pretending to be leader, but if he hadn't told his own medicine cats of what had transpired... Not Atalante's problem if they didn't trust him.

"I don't know why he chose me rather than one of my other siblings. My brothers... I love them, but they aren't the sharpest needles on the branch. As for my sisters... I couldn't imagine most of them in a clan. Loonpaw and Thistlepaw showed up here while I was recovering from the dog, but da- Klaus and I didn't know they would show up, much less be accepted here." She couldn't have ever imagined Aphrodite taking on a mission like this, nor Aoife and Anastasia, if for very different reasons. And definitely not poor Hyacinth, just as much an unsuspecting victim as the rest of them. Had Atalante simply been the one that was trusted most to do them? Or had he just wanted her out of the way? She wasn't sure she wanted to know the answer.

"We have a half-sister in Windclan, supposedly. Ashfall, I think Klaus said? He told me that meeting here wouldn't be the best idea... I think I might know why that is, now." The last was said absently, more to herself rather than meant to be part of the conversation. After hearing of what he'd done, after Klaus' confession... The gathering that had gone sideways with Klaus bringing the dead down upon them all... No wonder he was so heavily despised.