Moonlight rippled over Frost's gray pelt, the smooth current of her fur broken with scars. Molefoot stared, his eyes wide as he watched her. All the other cats in the clearing had frozen, all eyes on her.
Even Goldstar and Mottledstar were quiet, appraising her with startled expressions. No cat had ever dared to interrupt a Gathering like this.
All the cats were so startled by Frost's appearance that they barely noticed a second she-cat slip in, a similarly scarred silver tabby. Molefoot tore his eyes away from the silvery cat on the boulder long enough to notice the second cat take her place near the deputies, her amber eyes on Frost. Molefoot's heart skipped when he realized that look- it was the look of a follower.
Mottledstar recovered himself first, sputtering, "Who are you?" The gray she-cat's long tail waved behind her. Molefoot could barely recognize her from the kit he'd first seen on the outskirts of the territory. She looked much older, wiser, and stronger.
"My name is Frost," she spoke, and her voice was full of power. Ruffledwing, beside him, let out a breath and pressed into him to catch his attention.
"That's the she-cat that attacked me all those moons ago," he hissed under his breath, and Molefoot nodded. He remembered. He'd forgotten all about trying to meet with Frost… Maybe he'd have been able to stop… this. Whatever this was.
"I'm moving into the mountain to start my own Clan, and we're going to make a camp on the mountain," Frost was saying, and at these words the rest of the Clan cats started to murmur, objections starting to present themselves.
"No cat can live on the mountain!" Spottedheart suddenly called, and, to Molefoot's surprise, Coppertail and several other GoldClan warriors yowled in agreement. Frost's eyes glittered with amusement, and she looked down at the tabby, who glanced up at her. "Aspen here has lived on the mountain for many moons, and he's taught me how to hunt there," she meowed, and the objections fell quiet. Aspen ducked his (her?) head in embarrassment at the dozens of sets of eyes suddenly on him, tail curling over his paws. "Our Clan will be a welcome place for everyone, we'll make sure that the forest is in balance again!"
Then Goldstar spoke up, standing. Her age only showed through when she shook a bit as she walked- she was a bit older than Mottledstar, though it didn't often seem like it.
"Does that mean you're going to be taking prey from the rest of us? And what do you mean, 'in balance'? You think we have a problem here?" she asked, eyes flashing dangerously, and Molefoot swallowed nervously, looking to Frost for her answer.
The much younger cat shook her head, about to open her mouth to speak, but Mottledstar croaked, "How will you ever feed a Clan? The mountain territory is split between us, anyway!" The cats below started murmuring to themselves again. This wasn't a big thing, it was just some flea-brained loner getting ideas into her head…
But Molefoot knew she was serious. He could see that in the set of her broad shoulders and the way her eyes glinted with annoyance at all the questions.
"We can teach them to hunt on the mountain. It isn't that difficult, if you're not a coward," she said, and there seemed to be a hint of challenge in her voice. At the second part she scoffed, turning to face the mountain she apparently called home now. "There aren't any scent markers, and there's no reason for any of your patrols to reach up there, since 'you can't hunt there'." Her voice rose in a mockery of Spottedheart's initial outcry, and Molefoot heard the tabby huff near him. "And yes, there is a problem here!" she said, and Goldstar visibly bristled.
"Two Clans apparently cannot coexist without a mediator between them!"
Goldstar and Mottledstar both hissed at that, their fur fluffing up and lips curling back to reveal fangs, yellowed with age but still sharp and dangerous.
Frost raised her tail, seeming to ignore them as she strode forward with an almost urgent expression.
"Anyone who wishes to join us will be able. We won't turn anyone away," she added, then motioned to Aspen. Both cats dipped their heads, as though thanking them for listening, then turned. Frost leapt off the boulder with ease, landing next to what seemed to be her deputy. Then they both took off, gone as suddenly as they had appeared.
The Clans were silent for just a second. Then chatter exploded out of them.
"She's crazy," Molefoot heard Thrushwing cry near him, and felt Spottedheart nod in agreement. The GoldClan cats had let down their guard, looking curiously amused as they talked amongst themselves. Rushfeather seemed to have forgotten his feud with Mistberry, and he was talking to her with wide eyes, golden-striped tail waving excitedly. He heard part of their conversation, something along the lines of "arrogant youngsters, thinking they can just change the forest!" and "who does she think she is, telling Goldstar and Mottledstar that there have to be three Clans?"
Mottledstar called for silence, but the Clans wouldn't hear it. Goldstar didn't even try, looking mildly confused herself. She even leaned over to mutter something to the FeatherClan leader, her ears flattening and claws glinting against the pale stone she stood on.
Molefoot started trying to slip out of the throng of cats, glancing up to make sure Eagleclaw didn't see him. Ruffledwing looked at him curiously, but he shook his head, mouthing 'I'll explain later' to the ginger tom as he slipped past his father and Coppertail, who were talking about the strange event, their voices hushed. At least Frost's appearance caused some good… he thought, looking back to see the GoldClan and FeatherClan cats mingling now.
He managed to slip away, hoping that he hadn't been seen. Then he took off, stretching out to run after Frost and Aspen, following their scent through the undergrowth. They'd started towards the mountain already… He didn't want to get caught up there, he didn't know how long he'd be able to survive.
Molefoot stopped at the foot of the mountain, panting slightly. The chilly air burned his lungs and he breathed it in in great heaves. His whiskers twitched as he looked around. He almost felt like he could still hear the faint murmur of the Gathering from here…
His ear switched back at the sound of a twig snapping, and he turned, face setting into a cautious scowl-who was it, had he been caught?
But Frost stepped out of the bushes, shrugging some dry twigs out of her thick fur. She blinked in surprise when she saw him, and her mouth opened, as if she were going to speak. He saw the flash of recognition in her eyes and felt a flush of pleasure.
"Who are you again? I mean, your name?" she asked, and his hopes were crushed.
Molefoot sighed. "It's me, Molepaw! Well," he trailed off awkwardly. "Molefoot now."
"They changed your name again? That's kinda lame," she mewed, and he puffed up. "It's my warrior name! I earned it in battle!"
She snorted. "Like that one that almost happened back there at your little 'Gathering' or whatever?" Aspen laughed, coming out of the bushed behind Frost. "Don't be too hard on him. You were the one who interrupted a big part of his life, you know." Molefoot instantly bristled, backing away from the new cat.
Frost noticed his hesitance and purred. She pushed up against Aspen, almost dwarfing him, and Molefoot was suddenly thrown into the reality that Frost was almost twice his size. His tail swished uncomfortably; she could kill him if she wanted to. The thought startled him. He was a warrior now, had survived several battles… And he was reverent of Frost, the crazy loner she-cat who never took the hint to actually leave?
"This is Aspen. I told you you'd get to meet him," she said, and her voice held such warmth that Molefoot almost felt jealous. The tabby tipped his head to the brown warrior, but didn't pay him much mind, instead turning to Frost. He had to reach up on his toes to speak to her to where the FeatherClanner couldn't hear, but the she-cat just shook her head.
"I'll meet you back at the camp, I want to talk to him for a second since he took the trouble of following us out here." Then she looked him over, an impressed look flitting through her eyes. Molefoot's fur heated; he felt like they were talking about him as though he didn't exist. "Despite the fact that he got here first." Aspen licked her shoulder respectfully and nodded, glancing at Molefoot as he passed. When he was close he murmured, "Frost thinks pretty highly of you, you know," before padding up the steep slope leading to the mountain. The praise took a moment to process, but Molefoot dipped his head in acknowledgement, seeing the way Frost's eyes twinkled at the move.
The large she-cat padded over to him, looking him over. She pressed her nose to the cut in his ear and he jumped back, startled. She tilted her head. "You're a lot more scarred than I remembered you." She meowed, and he shrugged. "Well you are too, so…"
She laughed at that, seeming jovial. "I suppose so. I think those cats were… GoldClan cats? Right?" She looked to him for confirmation and when he nodded she continued, "They keep really rigid patrols. They like to run after me, too," she added, motioning to a thick scar stretching down her flank. Molefoot winced in sympathy, and she shrugged. "It wasn't too bad. Aspen knows a few herbs, so he patched me up…"
The words stirred his memory, and Molefoot was suddenly all business again, standing. The gray she-cat at his side blinked, her fluffy tail curling into a little curious loop.
"A few moons ago," he began, and she tilted her head. "A few moons ago there was an apprentice who wandered up around here. He had ginger fur… You attacked him," he added, and Frost's face lit up, as though she remembered.
She sauntered to the side, and he watched the muscles moving under her thick fur with some sense of awe, remembering when she still had fluffy kit fur. "I remember that! He was really rude," she mewed, and he couldn't help but agree. Ruffledwing wasn't… not rude, that was for sure.
"Yeah, but why did you attack him? And Ivypaw? They were defending their territory! Our territory," he quickly corrected, and Frost shrugged. "He attacked me first, so I made sure to knock some sense into him. And then she tried to jump on Aspen for trying to talk things out, he doesn't like fighting…" The she-cat's tone changed then, dropping to an icy pitch. He saw sharp black claws dig into the moss under their paws and unconsciously stepped back.
"Ah, I see."
She looked up, eyes like ice shards, and his belly fluttered. "So you're really close to Aspen then?"
Frost's eyes softened slightly, and she nodded jerkily. "Mm. He saved my life," she let on, and finally relaxed. "I owe it to him to return the favor," she murmured, and Molefoot tilted his head. He'd never heard of owing something to someone. Cats just… did stuff.
"And you and her-him- are making a Clan now?" he asked. Frost nodded, not seeming to mind his slip up. "Yeah. A cat came to me in my dreams and told me to," she meowed, looking down at her paws.
Molefoot blinked. He'd never heard of a loner who'd had dreams of StarClan. It was rare for even a medicine cat, the closest link to their warrior ancestors, to receive a message nowadays. He brushed it off- maybe she had hallucinated something? He'd heard of that happening before… Not often, but enough to be heard about.
"Uh huh… And what are you going to call this Clan?" he asked, playing along. Frost shrugged. "I don't know. FrostClan, I guess," she mewed, and he laughed. "Conceited, don't you think?"
"Not really. I mean, GoldClan is run by Goldstar right? And it's not like you just make a Clan every day, I don't just have names lying around," she said bluntly, and he couldn't help but laugh harder.
"And who all's in this 'Clan' of yours?" he asked, amused. Frost started to answer, then paused, her ears twitching. She looked at him, eyes bright. "You should come see the camp some time! Aspen and I are still shaping it up, but for you I'll make a special exception." She turned, and Molefoot opened his mouth to protest. Then he heard Ruffledwing's voice, calling his name from deeper in the woods.
"I'm coming!" he called back to his friend, and he turned to add something to Frost, but she was already gone, her scent fading with the wind.
