It was a quarter-moon ever since Tawnypaw went out of the camp to go see the borders for the first time. All of Thunderclan was in their camp for a few days due to the snow thaw being hazardous for the cats attempting to cross the mountains since it could cause an avalanche which could bury many animals in its way. Shadowstep was beginning to plant and grow the herbs and spices needed for next leaf bare. One of the tasks was to get fresh snow from the mountain tops to turn it into water to feed the herbs and spices. But for now, they can rely on the melting snow to provide the water for the plants. Tawnypaw and Crowstorm padded their way out of the camp as they were heading off to go hunt.
"Be careful, the snow is unstable on these slopes and will crumble easily." Crowstorm mewed as he continued to walk along as their paws crunched under their paws. Soon they looked out to see a herd of Mountain goats looking for food in the thawing snow looking for mosses and lichens. Crowstorm looked up and began to smell the air around for food. The goats looked like they were going to kit sometime soon and goat kits were easy prey for a capable Thunderclan warrior. Tawnypaw began to move around to the right trying to balance her weight in the snow without breaking through. However she strikes too early causing the goats to scatter. Crowstorm knew it was now or never.
Crowstorm bounded out of the snow as he pursued the fleeing goats. His paws crunched under the snow as he gave chase. However the goats were ready to defend themselves and the billy goats began to form the defensive stance even with two cats coming at them. More goats gathered, realizing they were out-numbered, the two cats called off the attack and went to go look for easier prey to attack.
"Remember not to spring to early, prey like that is usually on high alert and instead of hare and Groundhogs that will simply bolt and run, Goats will stand their ground and fight back even when they have kits to protect." Crowstorm mewed to Tawnypaw about how to hunt. "We can try to hunt somewhere else where the prey is easier to catch."
A little while later, they padded to the south eastern part of Thunderclan's rocky territory to a small forest of pine and birch that over looked a massive boggy territory that grew three times bigger than its normal size due to the snow thaw, hares, mice and even animals as big as elk roam this boggy land for food. Crowstorm and Tawnypaw padded through the boggy territory as they looked around for food.
"Now this is the great bog. It marks the border between Thunderclan, Windclan and Riverclan. Prey runs through here from mid newleaf to mid leaffall before the animals go into hibernation. Some of our herbs and medicine are found in this swamp as well as half of our prey for Newleaf. We can practice hunting here since the ground is still hard and wouldn't give away our presence." Crowstorm mewed. Tawnypaw began to sniff around as she caught the scent of a mouse scurrying around looking for seeds to help fuel it up from months of rest. Tawnypaw began to shift her weight around to see where she was used to having her weight on. She soon began to sneak forward on the foraging mouse. The mouse looked up and saw Tawnypaw quickly close in on it. The mouse quickly bolted away as Tawnypaw swung her front paws out trapping the mouse with nowhere to run. She soon took her mouth clamping it around in her jaws. The mouse was lean and not worth much in meat but it was enough to get the clan going adding something to their meager plant diet for now.
"How did I do?" Tawnypaw asked.
"You did not bad but keep your weight from shifting forward that mouse was able to pick up your presence." Crowstorm mewed giving her some criticism. "Make sure your weight is much more balanced when you stalk so the prey doesn't know when you're coming." He soon began to lead her into another part of the swamp as a squirrel was looking for nuts it stashed away for the winter. Crowstorm turned and looked at Tawnypaw. "Watch and learn how I do it.
Crowstorm began to crouch down with his weight shifting to balance out all four of his legs. He began to sneak forward making sure not to alert the squirrel from fleeing. He soon leaped from the underbrush pouncing on the squirrel, biting the head as the squirrel quickly went limp. Crowstorm raised his head in triumph with the prize snagged in his jaws.
"It must have taken you a while to master that." Tawnypaw mewed as she was impressed.
"It takes a lot of practice to try to master so I suggest we should keep moving. I'll teach you how to fight once you master the art of catching prey." Crowstorm responded as they were beginning to pad through the boggy marsh looking for more prey when they spotted another animal lean walking around in the woods. A brown bear was awake from its hibernation and it was looking for food. While bears were completely omnivorous, they were super aggressive to those that approach it. And trailing behind the Brown Bear were three cubs. "That's a bear; I suggest not going near it as they are capable of killing a clan cat with one blow. It's a reason why we don't hunt in this part of our territory very often. The animals are capable of killing us easily if we're not careful and the mud can swallow cats whole if it's not hard." They soon padded away from the marsh to go look for prey in the open slopes.
Back on the open slopes they were busy trying to locate more prey in the slush as they spotted more mountain goats moving up the slopes in small groups. It was clear they were heading up the mountain but for what. They ignored them as they continued padding up the slope of the mountain back to camp. The creek that was flowing near their camp was swollen with melting snow. The soft path was inaccessible to the two cats due to the freezing water. A mink swam through the river looking for fish that were coming out from hibernation to feed. The two cats continued up the slope carrying their catches. Once they reached the camp, the cats were busy piling on what they have gathered. There wasn't much fresh kill on it but there was a good amount of early grass and shoots on there. There wasn't that many nutrients in the grass but it would be able to keep them going for a few days to curb their hunger.
"Great job on your hunt. I'm quite impressed." Daisypaw mewed as she saw the mouse and squirrel get added to the pile. "I heard Yewpaw managed to squeeze a compliment out of old Rosepetal."
"What did he catch?" Tawnypaw mewed.
"I caught a raven; it was a big one too." Yewpaw responded as he puts the raven down in the fresh kill pile.
"Congrats, I'm sure I will be a warrior first." Daisypaw sneered.
"That's enough Daisypaw, no need for your teasing." Ashpelt warned her sternly telling her not to get so cocky and bully those that just became apprentices. "It's a reason why your warrior ceremony has been delayed by half a moon." Rowanstar padded over to inspect the pile.
"Not bad for being gathering cats. We'll continue gathering vegetation until those goat kits come. Then there will be easy prey for a lot of us across all the clans." Rowanstar mewed. "But the goats will always come to into our territory since the terrain isn't as harsh or as steep and grass grows abundantly and quickly giving them a steady food supply for them to feed. Plus Snowstorm is our biggest warrior able to take on a 12 moon old goat kit and come out with the prize."
"How does Rowanstar know all of this?" Jaypaw asked.
"Rowanstar has been leader of Thunderclan for many moons. He knows a lot about this from his own experience and he knows how the patterns of snow, rain and sun work. Plus the goats having kits is a very important time of the newleaf season since they are helpless and have no defenses other than their parents protecting them. We seldom take on a goat as big as a fully grown tom goat but the seasons always have their fortunes." Pineshade mewed as she took the mouse from the pile to eat. The other cats knew they wanted to rest so they took their meager offerings to eats and they had to sleep off of them.
That night in Tawnypaw's sleep a strange white cat came to visit her. It greeted her as she was very confused.
"What is going on?" Tawnypaw mewed in confusion as she realized she was in an unknown place.
"We are here to deliver the prophecy that directly involves you and you will be able to take it and follow it since some cats think we are nonsense." The white cat mewed to her.
"Then what's the prophecy?" Tawnypaw asked.
"Out of the Bushes will be the tawny that will bring new life for the clans." The white cat mewed to her.
"New life? What do you mean by new life." Tawnypaw asked.
"Kits." The white cat mewed before Tawnypaw woke up.
"What does he mean by kits?" Tawnypaw mewed to herself.
[A/N]: So the pieces are slowly coming together now but not everything is set in stone. I probably would like to spend the next few chapters building up the clan's habitat before sinking further into the prophecy. Also big thanks to the user Feathershade for the first review and I still would like the help of making the other clans. So review and come up with cats for the other three clans since I don't want to leave them blank. Keep reviewing to come up with OC's and criticism (As long as there is a valid reason behind it, I will try to make it better. I'm open to feedback.) anyway's thanks for reading.