When the sun rose the next day, Tawnykit's eyes squinted as the beams of light shined through the thicket of the nursery. She cuddled up with her mother Tulipleaf as she felt cold. It was the beginning of Newleaf but the snow was still deep in some places due to the very rugged terrain. The Leafbare before was really harsh, Frostcloud's kits perished from the extreme cold and Jaykit, her sister caught greencough and nearly died before they found the catnip that was used to cure it. Their other sister Sweetkit has died from Scarlet fever during the leafbare, a kit sickness upon which it was a death sentence for the kits who contracted it. Berrykit soon woke up as he stretched out across the nursery. It was clear they were old enough to become apprentices but all were excited except for Tawnykit.
"Wake up Tawnykit, today is a very special day." Tulipleaf mewed licking her pudgy kit awake. Tawnykit's green eyes opened as there were still lots of snow on the ground despite Newleaf beginning.
"Why is there still snow on the floor, I thought Newleaf was here." Tawnykit mewed as she and her siblings were starting to make their way out of the Nursery.
"Newleaf is here but since we're high up, it takes a while for the snow to completely thaw. Plus you must be alert on these mountain ledges. One slip means death for a cat, a goat and maybe even a hawk." Tulipleaf mewed. Soon all four cats were out of the Nursery as more cats were beginning to wake up.
Thunderclan's camp was unusual being high up in the mountains. Their camp was a large flat surface area, surrounded by mountains. Hardly any trees grew on these rough surfaces and because of this, their prey was very different. They ate Hares, Hawks, Mice, Groundhogs and the occasional Mountain goat that was abundant during the warmer seasons if they were willing to risk it. Shadowstep the medicine cat had come up with a genius idea to having herbs readily available since certain herbs were often hard to find on these mountain surfaces. He knew to grow them to ensure to having a good stock of them so they wouldn't go out foraging for herbs during the colder parts of the season. Rowanstar soon woke up as he stretched his legs as he felt the snow crunch under the pads of his paws. He looked over to see Tulipleaf pad out with her three kits while Jaykit and Berrykit were nudging Tawnykit along.
"Come on move it." Berrykit hissed as he pushed Tawnykit along to make sure she kept up.
"If you didn't eat so much you would be able to keep up." Jaykit hissed. Soon Tulipleaf turned around staring at her kits.
"That is enough you two; keep this up and Tawnykit will be the only one who gets to be an apprentice." Tulipleaf hissed scolding her kits teasing behavior on their sister.
"Yes Tulipleaf." Berrykit and Jaykit mewed as they knew to not tease her. Rowanstar looked at them.
"I see, your kits are ready to become apprentices, sorry if I had to delay their ceremony for half a moon since the snow was too much to bring us out to try to look for food. Luckily Newleaf will be able to bring new life to the mountains." Rowanstar mewed.
"Yeah especially since we spent a good amount of time hibernating through the Leafbare. We couldn't hold any gatherings since the temperature was too frigid for any of us to leave the warmth of our dens. Now many of us look half-starved except for my kits." Tulipleaf responded.
"Then it's clear we need as much prey as possible before the next Leafbare hits, I don't want any of us to dance around not doing anything." Rowanstar responded. He soon went up to the high ledge of the camp which was a cluster of rocks. "All cats old enough to catch their own prey, gather under the high ledge for a clan meeting." All the cats soon woke up as they padded from the warmth of their dens, many of them thin and starving from hibernation. "The great freeze has now lifted as we can begin life as normal but first Tulipleaf has announced that half a moon ago that her kits were ready to become apprentices but the snow and frigid cold have kept us all in our dens but I still kept that promise. Jaykit, Berrykit and Tawnykit step forward." The three apprentices all walked forth to where Rowanstar was standing above them. "Do you three wish to begin your training as warriors for Thunderclan?"
"We do, yes please." The apprentices mewed in unison as they were excited.
"Okay good. Until you get your warrior names you will be called Jaypaw, Berrypaw and Tawnypaw. Jaypaw, your mentor will be Sorrelfoot, Berrypaw your mentor will be Alderfur and Tawnypaw your mentor will be Crowstorm. I expect you all to learn the knowledge and wisdom from your mentors and good luck to all. We could use all the help we could get." Rowanstar mewed before his last sentence turned somber as it was like a cry for help. Tawnypaw trekked through the snow with her new mentor. Two other cats padded up to them as they were all thin from the leafbare hibernation.
"So you ready to hunt?" Crowstorm asked.
"We are but I see you got yourself a new apprentice, we might as well show Tawnypaw the clan's borders." Rosepetal mewed as Yewpaw bounced along the snow excitedly.
"Congrats on becoming an apprentice, I'm sure we can hunt and fight together as friends!" Yewpaw mewed excitedly as he continued to bounce up and down in the snow.
"Easy there Yewpaw, your always overly excited so calm down." Rosepetal responded trying to calm Yewpaw down. "Sorry, Yewpaw is kind of a pawful, he's always got boundless energy and he sometimes gets distracted from his job and comes home with little prey sometimes. Rowanstar had delayed his warrior ceremony for a moon and a half until he gets his act together."
"It's understandable, but we need to get a move on before it becomes frigid again." Crowstorm responded. The four cats began to trek their way through the snowy mountainside.
The sun was rising and the snow was beginning to thaw a bit as the four cats struggled to stay on top of the snow to try to not sink through. Yewpaw was racing far ahead while Tawnypaw was struggling to keep up.
"Yewpaw slow down this is Tawnypaw's first time out of camp." Rosepetal called out. Soon they came to their very first border."
"Over there over that ridge is Shadowclan's territory, they often have the best place to hunker down for the winter when those blizzards set in. They are often eating Groundhogs for their sustenance as they are good at digging them out. They can also prey on stoats and stoats are rare in Thunderclan territory so their always eager to start a fight." Crowstorm mewed. He soon turned to his left and continued on his way. The other three cats followed.
A little while later they stumbled across the carcass of a mountain goat that was getting picked apart by Golden eagles with a few ravens sitting in the background waiting for their turn. Soon the goat was picked clean when Crowfrost and the others arrive and all the birds fly off.
"You can see that generations of harsh climates have moved us further and further westward from the original forest to the great lake to the surrounding mountains after the biggest chunk of land that was inhabited and taken over by twolegs. We lost many cats in the so called push chasing the setting sun. But one of the benefits of living so high up in the mountains is that Twolegs become a rare sight. They have no intention of settling in these mountains despite the mountains being full of activity so we pushed northward to avoid the monsters." Crowstorm mewed reflecting on how their turbulent past has shaped them to become more adaptable to the climate around them. "Now one of the rules here is that you can scavenge the corpses of the goats since one goat might be too heavy to drag back to camp so we eat them out here." He soon began to tear away at the scraps of the goat as he began to feed the traveling cats. Tawnypaw had the first taste of warm meat in moons and she relished it. Soon they had their fill and kept moving,
"Also what's a monster?" Tawnypaw asked.
"You don't want to figure out. They are rarer than twolegs but when they do come they carry sticks upon which they set up their eyes alongside the mountain they even take up and write on pieces of stone with sticks before attaching a collar to us and release us. If a monster gets right on top of you, you're dead." Crowstorm responded. They continued to walk along the snow before they got to a little trickling stream. The stream was still pretty frozen but the thaw meant that the ice was beginning to release.
"Follow this stream and you will end up in Windclan. Windclan specializes in speed and the flat ground that grows abundant grass makes it perfect estate for hunting hare and goats sometimes are present on those grounds foraging for grass." Rosepetal mewed telling them about the stream. She soon turned southward as the other cats followed. They soon arrived at a large ash tree that was growing from the rocky soil.
"That's the tree that the gatherings usually happen when we are able to hold them. We often try to make peace here but everyone has different demands. This is a neutral piece of land and in the words of Juniperstar. A place for a gathering is meant for a time of celebration, spreading the news among different clans. A time of tradition and personal freedom, we should often celebrate our accomplishments and spread our ideas to other clans to benefit us all for many moons ahead." Crowstorm mewed as he crunched his paws up in the snow.
"Who's Juniperstar?" Tawnypaw asked.
"Juniperstar is a Tortoiseshell and white tom with icy blue eyes. He was one of Thunderclan's wisest leaders. He often had the knowledge to solve the problems of the other clans before all-out war would ensure over the smallest thing. He often said it's not size or numbers that won't win you the fight, it's about smarts and he was very knowledgeable. He was the first cat to discover spices and it became clan tradition to use spices on all of your fresh-kill. I wish he was the cat who also discovered the cultivation of herbs and said spices." Crowstorm mewed.
"Also another question, what are spices?" Tawnypaw asked.
"Spices are used for two purposes. First it makes fresh-kill taste a lot better and second it keeps Fresh-kill from becoming Crowfood for a longer period of time than regular Fresh-kill." Rosepetal responded before they moved south to go see what the last clan territory. "Spices that Juniperstar introduced were often very hard to find so we kind of made our own when Juniperstar was replaced with the next leader in line. And then it was Ripplestar of Thunderclan who discovered the Cultivation of spices. Our spices are large root tubers mixed in with catnip and seeds of Blackberries."
"Well we are at Riverclan's border. Their camp is right by a series of rapids that often brings the summer salmon up to spawn. The clans go crazy since the Salmon make up a good bulk of our hibernation fuel." Crowstorm respond. "They pretty much have the best territory out of us all. And Skyclan has the furthest to travel to get to the gathering. Wish we could take you through but we'll get caught by a patrol."
"I see you still have some of that Hibernation fuel left over." Yewpaw sneered poking at Tawnypaw's pudgy underbelly.
"That's enough, no need to push her around." Crowstorm responded.
"I'll take us all back to camp upon which we could settle down. We'll be feeding on grass and sedge until the snow completely melts." Rosepetal mewed. Soon they turned around and padded back to camp.
"Back at camp, Shadowstep was busy plowing his field for the growth of herbs and mixture for the spice they used.
"How was your tour of the territory?" Sorrelfoot asked.
"Tawnypaw had trouble keeping up but she did manage." Crowstorm responded.
"I guess one cat should be learning to get their bearings being outside the camp for the first time." Alderfur responded. "Berrypaw was falling into the snow as his stumpy legs couldn't support his weight."
"I believe we should all get some rest as the snow will be melting away." Crowstorm responded before he padded away with Tawnypaw.
[A/N]: Boy what an introduction. I wanted to experiment to see if the original clans adapted to mountain life and how the landscape influences their culture. It might seem strange but it makes sense the more you read it. So clan cats have adapted to the new terrain and they changed significantly. Keep reading to find out what is going to happen next.