The World Beyond the Camp? (c)

Number of posts : 703 Age : 26

Galekit

It was a misty morning in WindClan's makeshift lake camp. Cats had been busy building the camp for days, digging holes for dens, patching the walls, and taking turns keeping watch. It had been a long, busy few days for all the Clan, cats working through the traveling sickness, which in turn kept the medicine cats busy, too. Every cat was exhausted with their efforts, but it had paid off. WindClan had a decent camp built, and now cats could afford to rest.

Conversely, Galekit was growing more and more restless. Very recently had he opened his eyes and been able to take in the den around him. It was small, but it housed the queens and their kits just fine. Since then he had been outside the den a few times, usually under the watchful gaze of his mother. He blinked open his eyes and felt warm pressed up against his mother, Morningmoon, but this morning the crisp chill of dawn was wafting into the den.

Gently he wiggled away from Morningmoon's flank. He tip-toed towards the tunnel to the mouth of the nursery and peeked his head out, looking to the sky. The first streaks of dawn were visible and the warriors of silverpelt were fading. Scanning the camp, a thick mist shrouded even the camp walls. Curiosity prickled under his fur, and Galekit stepped out into the camp.

His eyes, having only opened a few days ago, were still a bit bleary, but his pawsteps were beginning to become more confident. He lifted his tail and padded curiously around the camp. All was quiet. Much more quiet than I can remember, Galekit thought. Where are all the warriors? Just then he heard a sound up ahead, and headed towards it. His ears took him up a slope of flat rocks towards what appeared to be one of the camp walls, but there was a hole here. It smelled of many, many cats. My clanmates! This must be where they come and go.

Galekit felt himself become overwhelmed with inquiries.
What does the world look like outside the camp?
How far does our territory stretch?
Where are the other Clans?
I want to meet them!

Before he knew it, he was slipping through the grose tunnel, tail high and nose to the air. The bracken pulled satisfyingly at his soft kitten fur. He soon found himself outside, with the pale sky stretching as far as he could see. Before him was a vast, open field that declined gradually down to meet the calm, reflective surface of an enormous lake! Galekit's eyes grew round in wonder.

"This place is huge!" he exclaimed aloud, completely unaware of the looming shape that had stalked silently up behind him.

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Subject: Re: The World Beyond the Camp? (c) Tue Dec 12, 2023 6:09 pm

The tall golden tom drug himself out of his nest, just like he did every morning he was able, joints aching. He cast a backwards glance to Goldengale, sprawled in a graceless pile of golden fur, still sleeping like the dead. Content he wouldn't wake her, he squeezed out of the medicine den, the undergrowth scraping his shoulders. He turned his face to the sky, lifting his long tail in silent greeting to Silverpelt as the last traces of the stars melted into the light. He blinked the haziness from his eyes, still dulled by fever. His muscles were weak from underuse and the toll the coughing took, and he hadn’t put on any weight since the famine, every sharp outline of his ribs and spine sticking up through his tabby fur. Still, he faced the morning with a sigh of relief. It felt a precious thing to even wake up and see the dawn colors touch the sky some mornings.

The lanky warrior caught a small flash of fur darting from the nursery. It reminded him of Goldengale when she was a kit, so much fierce energy that it radiated off her kitten frame and turned into chaos at every opportunity. Tallshadow padded after the kit in slow measured strides, it was an improvement over his usual pained hobble, whatever Daisypaw was doing brought a small measure of relief. He poked his head out of the makeshift wall around their new camp, feeling relived to find the wayward kit hadn’t gone far.

”It’s nothing compared to the moors back home.” He purred, settling down outside the entrance to camp. "Kits shouldn’t be out of camp, it’s still dangerous to go out by yourself. Though I suppose it's only natural. You're a WindClan kit, you should want to greet the sky and feel the wind on your face." He said, flicking his long feathery tail over the kit’s ear. He felt that familiar pang of homesickness, and a sharper stab of grief for everything he had lost of himself in the past few moons. He should be running the meadows, feeling the sky blur past and the wind urging him farther as it tangled in his whiskers. He should be providing, but instead his lungs were barely strong enough to manage the trek out of his nest, and sometimes not even that. ” We can sit out here for awhile, just promise not to go running off.” It was nice to get out of the camp proper, and enjoy the fresh sting of the chilly morning air against his nose.

______________________________________

Daisyfang-------Cricketpaw-------Tallshadow

WindClan Medicine Cat------SkyClan Apprentice-------WindClan Warrior

Rank up:

Number of posts : 703 Age : 26

Galekit

Galekit's trance was shattered by the abrupt, rasping purr of a cat just behind him, and he was unable to hide his surprise as he sprung into the air and turned to face the older cat.

"Hello!" Gale squeaked, "You're Tallshadow, aren't you?" he asked. "What was it like back home on the moor? Why did we go so far away? Will we ever be able to go back?" As usual, Galekit could not stop the flurry of questions from coming. At the warrior's mention of running, Galekit looked back again at the sweeping fields ahead of him and imagined running as fast as he could through the tall grass. His paws tingled with the wild feeling.

He forced himself to sit down and wrap his tail around his paws as he looked from Tallshadow back towards the lake, trying to look as dignified as possible. His gaze flitted to the distant craggy peaks of the mountains where the last shining warriors of silverpelt were fading. Is Hailstorm watching me from StarClan? he wondered just then.

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Subject: Re: The World Beyond the Camp? (c) Wed Dec 13, 2023 8:02 pm

Tallshadow dipped his head slightly in greeting. “You’re right, though I haven't been a warrior for very long, I was named on the journey here.” The warrior waited for Galekit to finish the stream of questions, and took a moment to answer. “The moors back home were beautiful, golden and green in new-leaf and vibrant with the smell of heather in green-leaf. We lined our nests with wool if we could find it, and from camp you could see almost every star in Silverpelt when it got dark.”

Fondness dripped through the weak rasp of his voice. Hopefully he would see the sprawling fields again, the familiar rabbit trails and his favorite sunning spot in camp. “The clans left because we were starving, the prey fled the territories. Our moors were barren, the river had no fish, and the forest was empty too. Things are different here, but at least WindClan is full fed. It has not been that way since I was a kit.”

He watched Galekit glance towards the open meadow, and the wide blue shine of the lake nestled at its feet. Tallshadow knew the feeling, the insistent tug somewhere deep in his ribs, the one that urged him to lengthen his stride and chase the sun to its zenith. “I have faith that we will return to our home when the time is right, we belong on the moor, but now it needs to heal.” He let the silence stretch for a spell, mainly to catch his breath, which caught painfully in his chest and forced itself out in a rattly wheeze. He watched the sun begin to peek out from over the water, cating everything in a bronze glow. “Has anyone told you the story of why the first WindClan warriors were so swift? Sootstorm told it to me, when I was young.”

______________________________________

Daisyfang-------Cricketpaw-------Tallshadow

WindClan Medicine Cat------SkyClan Apprentice-------WindClan Warrior

Rank up:

Number of posts : 703 Age : 26

Galekit

"No!" Galekit mewed, seeing Tallshadow in a new light. "Morningmoon sometimes tells us stories about Hailstorm, or other cats she knew who aren't here anymore..." he thought about the sadness in her eyes as she told those stories, determined to keep their memories alive through her kin. "Please tell me about the first WindClan warriors, Tallshadow!" Galekit bounced up and down.

He imagined big, strong cats prowling an endless moor beneath the shining stars of silverpelt. The moon full, calling the Clans together for the Gathering, and imagined WindClan to be the first Clan there. The biggest and the best. He thought about his clanmates now, worn from their travels, weak with illness. I want to make sure the Clan becomes the biggest and the best again, Galekit thought, ears pricked with anticipation of Tallshadow's tale as the sun began to peek out from behind the eastern mountains.

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Subject: Re: The World Beyond the Camp? (c) Tue Dec 19, 2023 9:23 am

Tallshadow purred softly at the kit’s enthusiasm. He curled his long golden tail around his paws, that day in the nursery left a bitter sting in his chest. The story Sootstorm told him still held nothing but fondness, despite the circumstances. “As you know, WindClan warriors are closest to StarClan.”He began, remembering the rumble of Sootstorm’s voice in the dim chill of the nursery, the tom’s warm fur in his cold, empty nest and the fading scent of dying heather.

“The cats that first traveled to the forest fought amongst themselves about where to settle. Some thought it wise to stay near the river, and grow fat from the fish. Others wished to stay sheltered under the shade of the trees, as they argued, a bright light lit up the whole of the territories, catching all the cats in its white glow. A single star shot across the blackness of the sky, past the cats and into the rippling grass of the moor. The cats were left wonderstruck, staring after it in awe. They tried to follow the star’s path, but only those who had not bickered amongst themselves were quick enough to catch up to it. Since their paws carried no ill-will towards others, nor were their hearts weighed down by selfishness, they were able to run like the wind. They found the hollow that the star had created, which was the same site of the old camp, before we traveled here. That is why WindClan warriors are so swift, we were given speed by StarClan, and guided to the land that brushes up against the sky. While the other clans hunt under the cover of trees or swim through the river, WindClan warriors sleep, hunt, and run under StarClan’s watch, blessed always under the open sky.” He flicked his tail over Galekit’s back. “So even when you can’t see Silverpelt, they are always looking out for you, just as you look out for your clanmates down here.”

______________________________________

Daisyfang-------Cricketpaw-------Tallshadow

WindClan Medicine Cat------SkyClan Apprentice-------WindClan Warrior

Rank up:

Guest

"Why didn't the other cats come with us?" Cloudykit interjected, having only heard bits and pieces of Tallshadow's story. She had only been eavesdropping for a few minutes.

This was one of the first days she had been out of the nursery on her own, having followed a few days after her brother. She was sitting nearby, with her tail wrapped neatly over her paws. She was squinting. The light hitting the mist was triggering a double vision effect, everything appeared overlapped with halos thanks to her left eye's cloudy lens. She quickly opted to close that eye altogether, as it was starting to turn her stomach.

"We could have all been closest to StarClan." She continued. "Morningmoon told me all cats go to StarClan, unless they have evil in their hearts. They could've come too, right?"

Number of posts : 703 Age : 26

Galekit

Galekit listened in wonder as Tallshadow told his tale, his eyes wide with wonder. He imagined countless cats streaking across a vast moor under the light of a full moon. Countless bickering cats who could not agree with one another, eyes flashing in the darkness. He imagined a bright star shooting overhead, and could nearly feel his own feet running to catch up...

Galekit was pulled from his daydream by the sound of an oddly familiar mew. He realized he had been kneading the ground, working his claws in and out of the soil as he imagined himself in the pawsteps of the first WindClan warriors. My ancestors! "That's amazing!!" Galekit exclaimed.

His head whipped around to see the fluffy face of his sister, Cloudykit, who had sneaked up on the older warrior while he was telling his story. "Mouse-brain," he teased Cloudykit, "He said that all the other cats were too busy arguing to see the star, because they were selfish!" Galekit puffed out his chest. "WindClan isn't selfish. We're the best!" He leaped at Cloudykit in an attempt at a mock fighting match, tumbling over Tallshadow's tail.

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Subject: Re: The World Beyond the Camp? (c) Thu Dec 21, 2023 7:02 pm

Tallshadow smiled fondly as the kits tumbled around at his paws. It was good to be curious at a young age. “Your mother is right Cloudykit. All noble warriors join the ranks of StarClan when they die.” He scanned the horizon, but the wind only carried the calm scents of sun-warmed grass and the chill coming from the lake. He gently stretched his long legs out in front of him, settling down to lay with his chin resting on his paws. They were still close to camp, and sitting up was beginning to strain his aching ribs.

“The other cats could’ve followed, but they were not seeking StarClan, and weren’t looking for the signs.” He said softly, answering the she-kit’s questions. “They all eventually forged their own paths, and the other clans still revere their ancestors like we do, and hunt and fight in the environments that suit them. Shadowclan cats stalk confidently across their marshes, SkyClan cats leap across tall branches to catch their prey, RiverClan fishes in the strong currents, and ThunderClan cats hone their skills in the thick underbrush of the forests. They are all a step away from the sky though. Many of them believe in StarClan, but they do not understand the comfort of silverpelt reaching through the darkness, watching while we sleep. We hunt in our ancestors' sight, beneath an open sky, we watch and listen to the wind, and the voices it carries, the way it bends the grass.”

The golden tom let the morning sun warm his coat, its shine dulled by sickness and famine, but pride burned bright in his fever-hazed eyes. “WindClan is strong and swift because we help each other, and we honor our ancestors. We will always be strong as long as we keep StarClan in our sight.”

______________________________________

Daisyfang-------Cricketpaw-------Tallshadow

WindClan Medicine Cat------SkyClan Apprentice-------WindClan Warrior

Rank up:

Guest

"I'm not a mouse-brain! I just want every cat to know how great WindClan is." Cloudykit protested, her ears flattening. She swatted at her brother's head, playful and gentle, taking advantage of his clumsiness as he tumbled.

She turned her mismatched gaze back to Tallshadow to seek understanding, her paw still resting on her brother. She was enamored with the story of the origin of WindClan. She felt her chest swell with pride for her heritage, but the questions she had picked at her pelt like thorns. She considered the perspective of the other clans, and she couldn't fathom why other cats wouldn't seek that same closeness to StarClan. Why would they choose a marsh, river or forest over the connection to their ancestors?

She questioned, her voice soft, "Wouldn't it be better for them to find comfort under silverpelt too?"

She was completely oblivious to the fact that Tallshadow wasn't feeling the best for her barrage of questions. Her opened eye was as wide as it could get. She was invested, and at this moment she was convinced Tallshadow knew everything.

Number of posts : 703 Age : 26

Galekit

Galekit flinched as Cloudykit batted his head and responded by curling himself around her and kicking her gently with his hind legs, eyes narrowed in mischief. He pushed himself back up to his feet and shook himself out, glancing back at Tallshadow as Cloudykit spoke. She's right, he mused, surely all cats belong under the stars. I can't imagine being trapped under the branches of trees or swimming in a river. Galekit thought he had enough of water just by getting groomed in the nursery by Morningmoon, or by squeezing through tall grass and finding his pelt damp with dew. He shivered to think that cats would soak themselves on purpose

"Me too! I want to be the best WindClan warrior who ever lived!" he yowled in response to Cloudykit. "We will show every cat how great WindClan is." At that, he affectionately butted his sister with his head.

"Hailstorm must be in Starclan," Galekit mewed suddenly, "Because he was the noblest of all! I bet he's always watching us. In fact, I bet he's watching us right now. " Galekit lifted his tail and looked up towards the sky, but silverpelt had disappeared, the horizon painted with orange and pink. Father, do you see us? Are you there? He asked silently, as he imagined his father's gaze. Are you proud of us? Morningmoon always said he was, but Galekit wished he could be sure.

He turned back to Tallshadow, grateful for his clanmate's tale. It filled him with hope and it inspired him. Galekit felt like every hair on his pelt was glowing with the pride of being a WindClan cat.

"Thanks, Tallshadow," Galekit mewed. Noticing how tired the Tom looked, Galekit had an idea. "Would you like us to fetch you some water?" He had seen Daisypaw soaking moss in the pool of water next to her makeshift den, and taking it to the sick cats. Galekit realized that Tallshadow must be exhausted. He felt a pang of guilt for keeping him outside of camp all morning. He hoped he could repay him for his wonderful story.

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Subject: Re: The World Beyond the Camp? (c) Fri Dec 22, 2023 7:19 am

Tallshadow purred, a deep raspy rumble that knocked around his thin chest. “You’ll both make fine warriors one day, WindClan will be grateful for your spirit.” He turned to Cloudykit again, amusement shimmering in his gaze. “You’ll find that the other clans often make choices that are confusing to us. Each of the five clans are different, and that is why we survive. No two clans are too close, so that each may stand on their own. They chose their own paths, as we are free to choose ours.” The warrior closed his eyes briefly against a wave of dizziness, thankful he was already off his paws. Blinking through the haze, he took a moment to catch his breath. He felt a twinge of empathy in his chest for both of Morningmoon’s kits. He hoped they would find the same comfort in Silverpelt as he did. It was not easy to battle the constant ache of grief, or heal the deep scars it left.

“I’m sure he is very proud, and as you both grow and learn the ways of our clan, he will walk beside you, as all our ancestors do.” Tallshadow heaved himself to his paws, wavering slightly as he found his footing again. “You’re welcome, I'm always happy to share our stories. The older warriors have some good ones to tell as well.” He beckoned the kits back into camp with a flick of his long tail. The golden tom dipped his head slightly in thanks. ”Thank you Galekit, but leave that task to the apprentices, I'm sure your mother is looking for you both by now.”

______________________________________

Daisyfang-------Cricketpaw-------Tallshadow

WindClan Medicine Cat------SkyClan Apprentice-------WindClan Warrior

Rank up:

Guest

Cloudykit listened to Tallshadow, her eye glimmering with admiration. The notion that every Clan can forge its own path resonated with her, though her expression was still clouded with confusion as why their path differed so drastically. I'll just have to figure it out myself! She thought, nodding and twitching her tail. The thought excited her. I'll ask them at my first gathering!

But, it got more complicated than that. What about loners and rogues? Surely they find StarClan somehow? Guess I'll have to ask them too.

Galekit's enthusiasm caused her to giggle, nudging him back with a spark of mischief glinting in her eye. He had completely snapped her out of her train of thought. "We'll show them all, Galekit. We'll be the best WindClan warriors!" She corrected him, rising to her paws.

The mention of their father caused her expression to drop, and she raised her head to meet the sky. Silverpelt had faded so long ago. I hope StarClan sees me. I hope he sees me. She shook her head, as if to shake off the thoughts and exist in the present.

She had failed to notice the subtle signs of Tallshadow's exhaustion. Her eagerness to hear his wisdom and reflect on it overshadowed any concerns. Her brother's thoughtfulness brought it to her attention. Her pelt felt hot with embarrassment. Tallshadow's gratitude and gentle dismissal tugged at her heartstrings. "Thank you, Tallshadow." She dipped her head respectfully, "I want to be as great as you when I grow up. One day, I'll have stories to tell you too!"

Her tail was held high with newfound pride for WindClan, and she was ready to go back to the camp.

Number of posts : 703 Age : 26

Galekit

Listening to Tallshadow, Galekit could sense a wisdom beyond his moons in the older cat's voice. It filled him with wonder and fueled an even deeper curiosity about StarCland and his own WindClan ancestors. If the older cats have more stories, then I should ask them. I want to learn everything I can about WindClan, he decided. Galekit felt his heart swell with pride. At Tallshadow's mention of his father, Galekit paused.

"My father will walk beside me?" Galekit softly murmured aloud, mostly to himself. He tried to imagine what his father might look like. Hailstorm... Sometimes when Morningmoon had told the kits stories about their father, Galekit could almost feel her grief in his own heart. He had missed the opportunity to know his father, to hunt beside him, and defend WindClan together. But he will still watch me become a warrior, Galekit knew. He will watch both of us, and we will make him proud.

He padded after Tallshadow, sparing a glance behind him at the open field. He felt his heart tugging him somewhere far, far away, his mind wandering as he tried to imagine what the moor looked like back home. WindClan's rightful home, he thought. I hope we get to go back someday.

"Thank you, Tallshadow," he echoed Cloudykit. "I can't wait to tell Morningmoon all about the first WindClan cats!" All his deep thoughts were swept away like a gentle breeze at the prospect of telling his mother what he had learned today. "Cloudykit, let's visit Tallshadow again and listen to more of his stories!"

His pelt brushed against his sister as they made their way back into camp.

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» A young kitten
» A Whole New World
» into the new world [o]
» Hello World!
» A World of Wonder.