Fallen Stars [Astraeus]

She spoke with regret. Perhaps SkyClan had seen only her littermate’s crimes when they looked at her… yet he doubted that. She had made it sound like her exile was a melancholy event for both herself and the Clan alike… curious. The Dark Forest, hmmm. A ragged group of murderers hardly deserved a name, yet at least they did not call themselves a Clan. There was no love lost between Astraeus and the Clans, yet this… Dark Forest had all of the downsides and none of the upsides of such. He was willing to admit that there were upsides; not, exactly, ones he needed (the care for the young, the elderly, and the ill) yet for those who sought to cling onto life with a stubborn grasp well beyond their allotted seasons… well, if they wanted to be in a Clan, the more luck to them.

“StarClan,” he spat suddenly, ears flattening, “Is just as bad as the terrors they claim to oppose. I am not opposed to the idea of a happy afterlife- yet when cats long gone meddle in the deeds of the living- it is not natural. The Clans’ ancestors are far more petty and meddling than any others I have ever come across in my travels. They are still too attached to the earth they once walked- one life is all that is needed. Nine is, frankly, excessive, and just as much a denier of the natural order of things as the un-dead of the Dark Forest.” The very tip of his tail twitched. Astraeus supposed that the leaders weren’t as bad as his father… but still. He had never seen a leader come back, yet he was sure that it would fill his gut with the same visceral terror.

"You're preaching now." Beechfang said, the tiny hint of a smirk upon her scarred muzzle. "I don't disagree with you." Sometimes she wanted to believe that at least Dovefrost was watching over them, or Mossbloom or Blossomstep, but... It was hard to believe that such good cats would ever wield true influence. "They give leaders nine lives so they can serve their clanmates for longer... Or suffer nine times over at the paws of a crazed lunatic. They tell medicine cats prophecies and give them visions so they can help mitigate damage, but sometimes we can't even do that, much less prevent anything the crazed lunatic does. Sometimes those visions only lead us further to our doom. I've seen both break more cats than have been able to rise above it."

"For the longest time they never lifted a paw to stop Dawnhawk, or the rogues who he turned on us all for. The only thing that stopped them was a group of determined, living, cats, if I recall." Beechfang shook her head. "They've... Probably done just as much harm to me physically as my litter mate has, actually. Because a pair of mousebrained apprentices couldn't keep from arguing at a gathering. Sacred ground and all that, only they meant it. I was up in one of the great oaks when the lightning hit. The sky had been perfectly clear, not a cloud in sight. Then there was rain, dousing the fire just as it started." She scoffed. The rain had been too late to save her eye, or save her from the agonizing pain that had made itself her constant companion for moons. "The one time I opted to try and deescalate conflict by walking away, that happens." Even if she had been considering smacking Cloverheart herself... It had only taken her a few seasons to finally act on that anger. She shouldn't have, should've never even engaged the Riverclanner at that gathering. Should've just walked away.

Probably still would've been hit by the lightning anyways, because that was just how Starclan rolled. Beechfang was favored, clearly.

"Sometimes you see your loved ones at the moonstone and it's a nice reunion. Sometimes they can even offer advice that is worthwhile, though it wasn't for me. Sometimes you wind up with a random stranger seasons gone scolding you for not having faith after everything you've been through has ripped it from you. Starclan is full of dead cats. They can be every bit as misguided as the living, in my experience. Sometimes I can't figure out if they might just be worse than the dark forest, but I suppose a false sense of hope is easier to cling to for some."

Astraeus listened silently, sharp hawk’s eyes glazing intently at Beechfang. Aye, this was one he could speak with. “Aye- the dead are dead and gone, or should be. StarClan has not let go of the meddling, petty quarrels they were engaged with in life. One’s ancestors should not dictate their every move, nor call down lightning when they can hardly aim it.” The very tip of his tail flicked as he stood, claws digging into the bark. He wasn’t as graceful as Dawnfeather in the trees, and dared not go down head-first, but with a cautious careful step leapt from branch to branch, ending up on a particularly thick limb just above Beechfang, the bird hanging from his jaws, certain that in the unlikely event the other tabby attacked, he could slip away with ease.

“Are you, perchance, related to Birdchaser?” It was the tabby fur, and the enormous stature, and the green-tinted eyes, but also the weary tone to their voices. Beechfang had been through much more than Birdchaser, yet both held the same… weariness? It wasn’t exhaustion, not quite, that he saw in their eyes… just a broken innocence that could never be regained, and the dying embers of a raging fire which had consumed and consumed until there was nothing left to burn.

He wondered how long she’d last before her will broke and she joined the starry ancestors she so despised.

"There are some who cling to their guidance even as the world crumbles. It's easier to rip the cobwebs from your eyes when you don't grow up in a time of peace before the disasters hit." And they had hit, one after another after another. A few scattered moons of false peace here and there were what Skyclan had known. The younger generation of cats born after the dark forest had been driven out... Beechfang suspected they would turn to the stars in this time of need. She couldn't fault them for it. Perhaps with Dawnhawk actually gone the forest might see a few more moons of peace before the next horrors came along to break the living again.

The tom wasn't quite as comfortable in the trees as Ravenclaw or Dawnfeather, or Dawnhawk for that matter. He was competent enough, however, even if he lacked the skill that a true-raised Skyclanner would have possessed. Beechfang didn't think he intended harm as he moved closer, but the creaking of the branches with his movements still made her pelt ruffle and her ears slick back momentarily. It was only smart to be wary, of course. But then, Beechfang had never been the most comfortable in the trees, even before. Too many cats had fallen out of them, too many more had fallen beneath them.

Ah, so he did have a reason for lurking around, it seemed. He'd encountered at least one of the Skyclanners within the hollow. Her eye narrowed up at him, assessing, judging. He'd met Birdchaser, but she either hadn't driven him off, or he lingered anyways. Interesting. "My daughter." Up closer, the family resemblance was far more apparent than it had been. His strong haunches were not solely the product of a lifetime in the trees, especially with the carefulness of his movements that grew more apparent that it had been inherited. And there was the thick silvery fur, which she'd only rarely seen on loners and more often in her own family than most other places. There was a sharpness, a clarity in those yellow eyes too that almost reminded her of Wolfstar when he'd still been deputy, but tempered by a very different experience. "She's your cousin." Beechfang was reasonably certain now, there was too much she recognized in him to simply be a shot in the dark. Perhaps a cousin removed, but he seemed to be close in age to Crimsonflame and the age the kits she'd met that day past highstone would've been now, if any of them still walked the earth.

"Did you hear the name in passing, or have you spoken with her directly?" She was curious to know whether his presence had been allowed deliberately or not.

Her wariness did not escape him, and inwardly Astraeus resolved to never meet her in a place without trees. She was taller than he, and battle-scarred, and tough, and looked like she knew what she was doing- yet scared of trees. Got it. Beechfang wants to kill you, jump up a tree. Easy. WindClan territory was the only place that this strategy wouldn’t work… but he was probably faster than her on the ground as well; especially when fleeing from such a terrifying foe. Birdchaser was her daughter? Oh, he could see it now… Wolfblossom too, maybe- maybe even some of the other cats he’d seen in SkyClan, silver or grey with long fur.

His cousin?

Stars. Stars stars stars.

“What?” he asked, tilting his head to the side, a mask of perfect, perfect innocent confusion spreading across his features. He’d practiced this so, so many times- no one could know whose kin he was. No one. That would be a death sentence and a half- lucky Aether, with his mottled coat and green eyes that resembled their mother more than anyone on their father’s side. “Birdchaser? Yes, I’ve spoken to her… if you wish me to carry a message, I can.” Perfect ease, that was what he was, a languid sort of lazy decadence that characterized his every movement.

"You have ears, you know what I said." Despite her words, Beechfang seemed unbothered. "By your movements, you haven't spent a lifetime in the trees. But you inherited that from someone." Her whiskers twitched in amusement as she eyed him now. "You have the look, not many silver-furred cats in the forest, our family seems to have most of them. My littermate would've lived in the trees if there was never a reason to come to ground. So would our mother before her retirement, and a few other clanmates besides." Ravenclaw was another that came to mind, and old Spottedstar she'd heard stories about, though she'd never interacted with him much until he had been in her incapable paws with burned throat and lungs and a rasping, agonizing cough. "And you speak as if you knew him personally, as well as witnessed it. My condolences for being related to us all." She added, an undercurrent of dry humor in her tone.

"I've spoken with her already, there's no need." She hadn't wanted to be the bearer of bad news, but it had to be done. It was up to Birdchaser to move forward with her clan, now. "What was your business with her, if I might ask? Clearly you've been lingering around here, but you seem like a reasonable cat, at least, one reasonable enough to not stick around if he's not wanted. That means she hasn't driven you off with fang and claw yet."

Astraeus… he could not convince her otherwise. Scat. The silvery tom remained quiet, eyes sliding from side to side. Was this a trap? More than likely… beneath the carefully crafted air of languid laziness, he remained on high alert. “Forgive me, but I do not see how this concerns a cat who has admitted to being exiled from SkyClan.” Astraeus reassessed the distance between her and him, ears pricked and eyes flitting from her to their surroundings. It… hmm… he could probably make it to that branch, and from there out of reach.

"Relax, kit." Beechfang sighed, "I don't care that we're related." She hadn't for a while, she realized. She was just tired. "Don't harm my family or former clanmates, and I have very little reason to be in your way. And no, I suppose it doesn't - but they're family, like I said." Her tail flicked in the direction of the hollow again. "You aren't lingering around here without a reason, just as I'm not." She shrugged.