Hey there everybody! Gosh darn, my hands are shaking while I type this, I'm so excited. So, before I explode or throw up, who's ready for My Name is Bluesage?
Only a few cats were at the Gathering tonight. it was windy, dark, and most of all, cold. Every other cat was at their respective homes, warm and safe. In the distance, a rumble indicated an incoming avalanche. The wind howled even more, sending shards of ice and snow battering against an exposed ledge above a valley coated in thick snow. Hidden behind a stubborn pine, the leaders of the Clans and their deputies huddled together, speaking in loud tones to be heard over the noise.
"Is every cat safe?" asked one tabby leader.
"Everybody except us, Freezestar!" Avalanchestar grumbled.
"Hey, we needed to meet, even if it meant that we risked our lives! Anyway, we do have nine lives." mewed a white striped shecat.
"Shadestar, some of us only have one life!" The PineClan deputy protested.
"Fishgaze, you could have turned down being deputy if you wanted to. Being here is your fault." Olivestar, the PinClan leader, spoke up for the first time.
"You're my sister! You'd think that your sister would side with you!" Fishgaze protested jokingly.
"Just because I'm your sister doesn't mean that I should favour you." Olivestar replied scathingly.
"Okay, before anyone else-" Avalanchestar glared pointedly at the siblings. "Continues to interrupt, I think we should get on with the meeting? I'm sure I'm not the only one who wants to go home."
"I can't believe I even came up here in the first place!" Aspencloud, the pretty ValleyClan deputy, groaned.
"Well, excuse me! I've got two kits at home, who I'd rather be with than here with you!"
"Stormlake!" The blue grey shecat's leader snapped at her.
"What?" Stormlake whipped back at her leader. Avalanchestar growled, his tri-coloured fur spiking as he glared at his deputy. Neither of them would back down, equal in wits, sarcasm, and most of all, stubbornness.
Right before the figures of BirchClan started lashing out at each other, Shadestar stepped in.
"Woah there." The quiet AlpineClan leader, Shadestar, slipped in between the Clanmates. The pale grey and white striped shecat blocked the two from leaping at each other. In doing so, she stepped outside into the bitter wind. Her thick fur was buffeted by the gale, but the leader was used to the cold, living at the top of the mountain, close to the stars. "Stormlake, I am sure that Avalanchestar offered you the choice to step down from deputy until your kits were of age. My fellow leader, I think that you picked your deputy wisely. She's as loyal, if not more, than you are to your Clan."
Avalanchestar sat down, his black, brown and white pelt relaxing as he calmed himself down. Stormlake followed him, but she couldn't resist sending him a sharp, haughty look. The dappled leader rolled his ice blue eyes. Just then, Sleetshadow, Shadestar's deputy, slipped in, formed of night and storm, carrying a warm, snow covered winter rabbit.
"Shadestar, I got a rabbit. Everything else worth eating has gone and hidden from the storm."
Shadestar smiled at her deputy. "Thanks, Sleetshadow. And you're just in time to hear Olivestar's announcement!"
Staring down Stormlake, Avalanchestar didn't hear her reply as he fought in a battle of wills against the blue grey shecat.
"We are going to sit here, and talk about our our Clanmates so that we can go home." Shadestar spoke into the howl of the wind. Her voice cut through it like a claw through fur, sharp and efficient. "Olivestar, you go first."
"What?!" Avalanchestar exclaimed, breaking away from his stare-off with Stormlake. "I wanted to go first!"
"Too bad. You snooze, you lose." Olivestar smirked at the leader, before regaining her professional attire.
Avalanchestar swore under his breath. Stormlake nudged him. Hard. Next to her, Sleetshadow shook his long, dripping fur, spraying the BirchClan leader and his deputy in melting ice and snow. Stormlake snorted.
After sending her fellow leader one last look, the PineClan leader stood up and shook out her fur.
"First off, I want to commend one of our warriors, Hopbird, for discovering a hibernating bear's den. I also want to announce the fact that Darkpaw and Cherrypaw have recently joined the apprentices den after six moons in the nursery. Additionally, we've found a one moon old kit wandering through our territory half a moon ago. With the bad weather, we wanted to wait for the Gathering to tell all of you. Is the kit any of yours?"
Olivestar scanned the few gathered cats before continuing. "Okay. Well, Fishgaze and I wanted to ask you if you've had any strange things happen in your territories? Kestrelcreek got trapped under a fallen pine, and then Shadepaw got stuck in a cave. Cherrypaw told us, but by the time we got there, Shadepaw was out of the cave and the branch trapping him inside was gone. Darkpaw got chased by one of those white foxes and was found with the fox guarding him under the hollow tree stump. It wasn't even trying to attack or hurt him! It was just sitting there."
Aspencloud, who was busy delicately nibbling at her share of the snow rabbit, swallowed her bite and choked out, "A fox?" She stared at the PineClan leader.
Freezestar spoke before his deputy could say anything else. "The storm caused the lake to melt even though it's colder. Bloomfoot fell in and almost died because the ice sealed over her. Oakmist got her out, but still, the lake never melts in the middle of leaf-bare." The tabby leader cast a glance across the small space.
"Eaglepaw tried to hunt an eagle by himself and succeeded. That never happens, alright." Shadestar burst out, a frown twisting her face.
"Nothing happened to us." Avalanchestar shrugged. "Guess we're just lucky." BirchClan's leader grinned. "Aaaaaaand, since no other cat has claimed this, I want to go next." He said it in such a blur that no one except Stormlake understood him.
"What?" Fishgaze squinted at the leader. His lazy right eye slid around, not quite following his left as it darted across the cats.
"Hah! Stormlake, it worked!" Avalanchestar acted like a kit for a second, staring at his deputy proudly.
"Yes, yes. StarClan kill me now. You're a leader, not a 27 moon old kit." Stormlake sighed. She caught some of the rabbit in her claws and sent it skidding across the icy stone floor towards the leader. He stared at it, eyes lighting up like the missing stars, and spoke to the prey.
"Anyway, nothing strange has happened in BirchClan. Thornflight and Robinflight became warriors just after the last Gathering. Meltpaw had his medicine cat apprentice ceremony, and now I'm jealous of Olivestar for pulling off such a polite announcement." Then the leader of BirchClan leapt on his share of the rabbit like a bear, demolishing it in seconds. After clearing it away, Avalanchestar sat and sucked on his claws, drinking the juices that were left behind.
Olivestar stared at him for a second.
"What?"
The brown shecat blinked. "Nothing." When Avalanchestar's back was turned, she hissed to Stormlake, "He really does act like a kit."
"I heard that!"
Stormlake muffled a laugh in Aspencloud's fluffy cinnamon fur. The disgruntled deputy turned and shoved Stormlake off her shoulder.
"Well, I claim going next." Shadestar stretched her legs out. Freezestar frowned.
"Wait, that means I'm going last."
"Yes."
"Stars above. You leaders are going to be the end of me."
"Actually, no. I'm planning your death right this very moment." Aspencloud joked. Freezestar gaped at her for half a second, then smiled.
"Funny. I'm doing that this instant."
Aspencloud's fur bristled.
Shadestar stood up and cleared her throat, frowning with her face and smiling with her golden eyes. Frozenstar grumbled. Pulling the remains of the rabbit towards him, he feasted on its tender flesh, keeping his eyes on Shadestar. Sleetshadow nipped it away from the leader and ate most of it, ignoring the leader's irritated stare.
"Before the sun comes up, I'd like to say that Eaglepaw did catch an eagle, Vixenstream and Ottermist have become warriors, thank StarClan. Those two caused too much trouble. Oh, and it's only a half moon left until Lindenkit and Creamkit become apprentices, so yay for Silverpoppy! Those two will at least be less trouble than they were as kits. And Sweetberry has found a new herb that cures frozen-cough, she's called it warmroot, and it's the visible roots of the stunted pine trees found on our territory. She wanted me to tell you that she has harvested a lot of it, and she has some ready for all of your medicine cats, as well as some pine sap from the Ancient Pine as she remembered that the other medicine cats might need it."
Shadestar sat down, and shivered. "Has it gotten colder?"
Freezestar poked his head out of their tiny sanctuary and gazed at the snowy valley below. Snow swirled around his face and ears, frost forming on his whiskers and snow clutching at his ear fur. The tabby retreated back into the considerable warmth of the gathered cats. Shaking, the tom could barely get the words out.
"D-definitel-ly c-c-cold-der."
Aspencloud frowned at her leader.
"Ermm, I think I'll take over from here while Freezestar warms up."
Freezestar nodded enthusiastically. He was still shaking. Sighing, Sleetshadow shoved the tattered scraps of the once rabbit towards Freezestar. The thawing leader smiled gratefully at the deputy before eating the rabbit flesh quietly, savouring every bite.
"Okay, as we've already said, Oakmist carved a hole in the refrozen lake to get Bloomfoot out. She's fine now, but she won't be doing any tasks for the next few weeks while she completely recovers. Clearsong took care of her. Oh, and Icepaw, Dawnpaw and Sunpaw became apprentices half a moon ago."
She sat down, to the confusion of many of the others.
"That's all?" Fishgaze asked.
"What do you expect to happen in a moon?"
Freezestar sat huddled in the warmest corner. All of the rabbit had gone. Aspencloud and Sleetshadow's stomachs rumbled longingly.
"Don't feel bad." Sleetshadow mewed. The ice on Freezestar was thawing and making a pattering noise as it dripped steadily onto the sheltered ground.
"I'm really not looking forward to hiking back down the mountain to get back to camp." The leader's earlier cheerfulness had vanished like growing saplings during a winter storm.
Obeying some unseen order, Sleetshadow flicked an ear and leapt easily out into the cold. The other cats could hear him as he leapt happily through the powder, laughing as the wind cut through his fur.
"How does he do that?" Avalanchestar stared after the figure as he vanished from sight.
"Let's just say that it's cold up in AlpineClan and leave it at that." Shadestar smiled briefly around at the remaining Clan cats.
"Shadestar!" Sleetshadow poked his flecked face into the overhang before leaping out again.
"We could take you down to our camp?" Olivestar offered. Fishgaze nodded.
"Yeah, the pine trees cut out the cold. We'd be fine having you."
Aspencloud glanced at her leader. "I guess we could. Even I'm not looking forward to heading through this storm."
"Sure. Just be careful not to lose us when we take you home." Olivestar bushes out her fur, then the brown shecat leapt out of the shelter, Fishgaze following with slight hesitation just before he left. Aspencloud gently prodded Freezestar in front of her, who paused at the exit before leaping gently out of the small enclave. Aspencloud followed him elegantly, leaving the rest of the leader's behind as the four trudged through the belly deep powder.
Jaws tight, eyes slitted, they made their way resiliently to PineClan's camp on the west side of the mountain. Aspencloud had the journey the easiest, following the tracks the others had made and trotting lightly through the firm, packed snow underneath the powder. A while later, the storm ebbed, and in front of them lay the start of the PineClan forest.
Tall, dark, strong trees started in small sputters, than grew into thicker, more frequent groves before congealing to form a large forest that sheltered deer and bears from the gales that howled near the peak.
"Freezestar, Aspencloud, welcome to PineClan."