Echo of the Past [Perchstar]

Snow crunched softly under her paws as she neared the gorge, pawsteps slow and careful. It wouldn't do to slip and fall, and while the gorge was just as dangerous as the thunderpath, it was still a border Windclan would have maintained. Brackenwing had never spoken to any Riverclanners, and had only seen them at a distance when she patrolled near the gorge, but that didn't mean the border shouldn't be kept up with. She padded alongside it, green eyes keeping a careful watch over where her paws landed, and occasionally lifting to scan the other side of the gorge. To her surprise, movement on the territory beyond the chasm caught her attention, and Brackenwing stopped, head turning toward it, eyes narrowed slightly against the bright snowy backdrop.

Since the Gorge territory had not been contested for some moons now, the WindClan border was patrolled far more infrequently than Sunningrocks. However, patrolled it still was. With even less warriors now than they had ever had before, Perchstar found herself going on solo patrols far more often than was probably advisory. This had the benefit of being more stealthy, if slightly more unsafe. Her light gray and white pelt nearly blended in with the bright snow, ensuring she would likely see any intruder before they saw her.  However, she was not expecting to run into anyone. With every Clan's numbers so diminished, interactions at the border had nearly stilled to a halt. It was unlikely that anyone would be so foolhardy to intrude, let alone to speak with her from their end of the Gorge.

But just because something was unlikely did not mean that it was impossible, as proven by the light brown tabby pelt she saw across the border. As the other form halted, Perchstar did the same, peering through the stark whiteness to make the cat out. It was strange, but for a moment, she could have sworn that she knew that pattern... but, the moment passed, and the leader was barely able to make out the face of a WindClan she-cat she'd never met before. Huh... how odd. I wonder who some WindClan warrior could possibly remind me of. Instead, after a moment of sizing up the other cat--who didn't seem to have placed a paw nor a whisker over the border--she inclined her head in acknowledgement. "Greetings. How fares WindClan?"

The gray and white pelt across the gorge nearly blended in with the snow, but Brackenwing realized she had seen the she-cat before even as she spoke. Sitting on the great rock at fourtrees. Perchstar, if she had her names right. Her thoughts went briefly to her encounters with another clan's leader, and Brackenwing shook her head. It would be unfair of her to judge based on Nightstar constantly skulking around Windclan's borders and unpredictable behavior, she knew, but Perchstar was truly an unknown to Brackenwing. Riverclan and Windclan had never fought over this border in Brackenwing's lifetime, but that alone did not make them allies. She settled for a polite dip of her head in greeting, though wariness remained in her green eyes.

"As well as anyone can be, with the twolegs making a mess of things. I'm grateful to be back on Windclan territory." It was not her place to speak on their problems with Shadowclan or exiled warriors. Nor was it Perchstar's place to know those problems. "And Riverclan?" Some days, Brackenwing would admit, she was curious about the clan her father had come from. Most of the time it was easy to ignore... Most of the time she wasn't standing across the gorge from a cat of that clan, however. She didn't know that the she-cat across from her even knew the cat that was long dead, and even if she did... Brackenwing wasn't sure she should ask. She was Windclan, through and through.

Even if she really wanted to slap sense back into her clanmates.

"Similarly," Perchstar responded. Her voice was polite and neutral, even as her head attempted to calculate where the brief flash of recognition had come from. Who else did she know with that tabby coloring? "Life is difficult for everyone in the forest right now, but we are getting by. I agree that being in camp is far preferable to staking out Fourtrees." For some reason, she was thinking about how it had been last leaf-bare. When Jaystar was still in charge. Though that had been long ago now, she remembered many cats she had not seen since then. Senior warriors long since deceased. Dewlight, Turtlefur, Bearspirit.... Wait. Bearspirit. Her eyes narrowed imperceptibly, comparing the she-cat before her to a memory of the broad-shouldered tom who had given her one of her nine lives. The resemblance was... uncanny. Should she mention it? Though she would normally err on the side of caution and not speak to this warrior she knew so little about, for once, her curiosity got the better of her and she found herself speaking her thoughts. It must be Mallowmist's doing. "This might be a strange question, but have you ever heard of a cat named Bearspirit?"

Brackenwing nodded. Between the great shake and the twolegs, no clan had escaped unscathed, it seemed. But they were surviving, there was no other option.

Perchstar's words were unexpected. It was as if the other she-cat had read her earlier thoughts, but this was an opportunity, Brackenwing realized. Nobody in her own clan had known Bearspirit except for her mother... And she was gone now too. Both casualties of the dark forest. "My father...?" Brackenwing blinked up at the Riverclanner, curiosity sparking in her green eyes. "He died before I was born. My mother thought he was a good cat, but she never spoke much about him." And the dark forest had gotten Swiftspirit, too. The thought was a dark, unwanted cloud. "I know he was Riverclan and not much else." She admitted. Any other time, Brackenwing would not have dared to be so open with a cat of another clan. Or even among most of her clanmates. But Perchstar's question had picked at long-buried curiosity. "I'm guessing you knew him?" If she'd recognized her based on the alleged similarities of their pelts, maybe she was familiar with the warrior. He must've been her clanmate, of course, but Brackenwing was well-aware that just because cats were clanmates, that didn't mean they knew each other well, or even had to like each other. She hoped that wasn't the case.

Her... father? Perchstar felt her ear flick as she thought. She hadn't been aware that there were any cross-Clan kits that lived just across her border. Who had Bearspirit had kits with? Hadn't he been Dewlight's mate? And why would this warrior be in WindClan, then, if Mapleleaf had been driven out for her pregnancy with Owlshriek? She put the questions away, allowing herself to focus on the here and now. It felt... odd to be trusted with such personal information without even knowing the WindClan warrior's name. And yet, perhaps the anonymity made the conversation less of a risk. "Not well, but yes," she said. "I was familiar with him. He was many moons my senior, but he was a trusted and courageous warrior of RiverClan, respected by many. I would not have guessed him to be involved in cross-Clan romance. However, I do know that he rests safely in the stars. He... gave me one of my lives."

How strange to think that Bearspirit had lived some kind of double life. Apparently, it hadn't been much of a problem for their warrior ancestors. Interesting. "Though I never had many conversations with him myself, I knew him to have a good character. He was intensely loyal and defended his Clan with his last breath. Is... is his mate still alive?" It may not have been the most polite question to ask--but then, the politeness of not asking personal questions had long since dropped down the Gorge with their current conversation topic. She was not quite sure what purpose such an inquiry would serve, but her curiosity had--it seemed--once again gotten the better of her. What kind of she-cat would cause Bearspirit to put his love for RiverClan aside?

"Oh." Brackenwing listened intently to Perchstar's words. "I expect most of my clanmates weren't expecting it either, honestly. I know that sort of thing is against the code, but mom made sure none of our clanmates said anything to us about it. I don't think the revelation hurt her standing in the clan much either, actually. She was always honest with us about it. She said they first met when they were apprentices, neither of them were born into the clans, I think? I know she thought highly of him." It had been long enough that Brackenwing's memory of conversations held in her kithood were a bit hazy. She knew for a fact Swiftspirit had not been clanborn, though. A few minutes ago, and Brackenwing was sure she would not have been telling the leader of another clan any of this. But Perchstar had known one of her parents, however briefly, and it wasn't like she could get this information out of one of her own clanmates. She hung onto every word the leader spoke, an almost kittish sense of wonder and curiosity in her heart. Loyal and defended his clan certainly seemed like a familiar trait.

Brackenwing shook her head at the question of her mother, feeling a shiver make its' way down her spine at the memory. "I'd barely been an apprentice for a moon when Swiftspirit passed. She... A dark forest cat was harassing us - my mom, me, my siblings. Mom stepped between us and they didn't like that." She could still remember the arc of blood, the foul scent that had hung in the cold air. Mistysky and Swiftspirit both had died that night. She could remember the bits of hostile words before that night had ended in bloodshed like it had happened yesterday. "My half-sister had died days before, killed by another one of those beasts. I know my mother loved her just as much as she loved us. The dark forest cat seemed to think otherwise. That's a level of blind hypocrisy I'll never understand, for a dark forest cat to mock someone for their losses and breaking the code." Brackenwing shook her head.

Bearspirit had given Perchstar one of her lives? Huh. She hadn't thought a forbidden relationship would condemn either of her parents to the dark forest, of course, but she had never considered that either of them could do that either. "I'd hoped to see my mother when we had our... substitutes for moonstone journeys. The dark forest took that too. I never gave seeing Starclan cats much thought in any other capacity." She admitted. She had never quite grasped what going to the moonstone for anything would have been like, much less a leader ceremony. The concept was a strange one for a cat who had only seen the starry cats in the flesh when they had taken sacrifices to drive off the dark forest. "I'm glad neither of them wound up there, at least. Neither of them were bad cats, as far as I know." Bearspirit couldn't have been, with the way Swiftspirit had spoken of him, even if those moments hadn't been often.