Spottedflight awoke the next morning to find the air thick and heavy with fog. The looming mountains before her only added to the dreary darkness. The warrior sighed. Maybe Ravenstar would delay the travelling due to the weather. With a relaxed yawn, Spottedflight curled up and closed her eyes, snuggling a bit deeper into the hollow at the base of the oak tree as she prepared to be taken by sleep.
Moments later, she heard Ravenstar's voice through the fog. "Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey join here for a Clan meeting!"
Padding out of the trees and into the clearing, Spottedflight was dismayed to discover that the fog was much less dense out in the open. She blinked her eyes to adjust to the weak sunlight, immediately noticing Puddlefrost watching her with a gaze of both sorrow and anger. What's her problem? Spottedflight thought angrily, the fur along the back of her neck rising slightly as Spiderpaw took his regular place beside her sister.
"Despite the fog," Ravenstar meowed, breaking Spottedflight's train of thought, "We will continue over this next mountain today. Thymeheart believes that the other Clans reside on the opposite side."
Spottedflight gave an irritated scowl as the cats around her cheered. Her heart lifted a little at the thought of the journey being over, but she quickly shoved it back down with her perpetual misery.
The weather wasn't helping.
With tremendous effort, Spottedflight stood and stretched her heavy limbs, padding towards the mountain with a pit of spite forming in her stomach. Despite growing up among the rocks, Spottedflight had grown to detest them since SkyClan had left the gorge. The gorge where she had been born had been friendly; the rocks were well worn with time and the thousands of pawsteps that had traversed them. These rocks were harsh and unforgiving, with few paths upwards and too many sharp edges. Even the color was sad compared to the warm red of the gorge.
But the gorge wasn't her home anymore. It was full of fallen rocks and painful memories. SkyClan had had no choice but to leave. Swallowing her sorrow, Spottedflight focused on the rocks. She could see only a few fox-lengths in front of her, which was unnerving. She bunched her travel-tough muscles beneath her and sprang upwards, scrambling slightly to get a grip on the next pawhold. She pushed through a wedge in the rocks and found herself on a comfortable trail. Several cats were already on it, padding with ease across the rocks. Spottedflight allowed herself to relax a little, releasing the tension in her limbs and breathing a bit more deeply.
At the end of the trail, Spottedflight found herself facing another nearly vertical path upwards. She contracted herself into a tight ball before flinging herself upwards towards a small platform sticking out of the face of the rocks. She landed easily enough on it, pausing to take a quick breath before leaping up to the next "step." She continued this process until she found herself facing another trail. However, the line of SkyClan cats wasn't moving. She gently prodded the cat in front of her with her tail, who turned to look at her.
"What?" Jayspots questioned. He sounded angry, his lower lip twitching slightly and his ears flattened to a degree.
"I was wondering what the hold up is," Spottedflight mewed defensively.
"There's a gap up ahead, as I understand," Jayspots answered shortly.
A gap. A jump. Spottedflight shook away the worry that formed in her stomach and put on a game face. She moved a few pawsteps forward as a space formed between her and Jayspots. She pictured the jump in her head as the line slowly moved forward. With the fog, Spottedflight still couldn't see the gap itself. Would it be easy, or would it be a looming stretch of darkness? Would she slip? Fall? Die? Spottedflight trembled slightly. She tried to envision herself leaping the gap with precision and excellence to the amaze of all her Clan mates as she inched towards the break. She pictured this over and over again, removing herself from reality and focusing only on this.
She hardly processed the scream.
Snapping her head up, Spottedflight saw Gingerflight scrabbling vainly at the rocks on the opposite side of the misty gap. Creekstone darted back to help her, craning his neck to try and grab her scruff. Gingerflight let out a terrified yelp as the rocks beneath her paws shifted and crumbled, sending her down into the yawning gorge below.
Creekstone hopped back in shock, his eyes stretched wide open. The cats of SkyClan slowed to a halt as one, all their eyes focused on the spot where Gingerflight had fallen to her death. It was silent for a pawful of moments as the Clan took in the scene.
Smudgenose broke the trance with a loud wail. Gingerflight had been not only his one denmate in the elders' den, but his mate since the two had been made warriors long, long ago. They had gone through everything together. Their ceremonies, their training, their kits…
Maybe it was better not to fall in love.
Forcing the thoughts of love and relationships out of her head, Spottedflight focused on the fact that it was nearly her turn to leap the gap. Thankfully, Smudgenose had already crossed when Gingerflight had fallen, or the situation would have been much worse.
Two cats in front. One cat in front. No one.
Swallowing hard, Spottedflight faced the break in the trail. It wasn't fantastically vast, but it wasn't exactly small, either. She breathed deeply, crouching and springing with all her might towards the other side. To her relief, all four paws landed safely on the rocks. The warrior padded forward, feeling twice as empty as she had before. Gingerflight was gone. It was then that it sank it. Gingerflight and Smudgenose were Sagepatch's parents. Gingerflight was Spottedflight's grandmother.
The journey only grew harder the closer that they came to the end. Cedarpaw, Icedew, Weaselstep, Beetlepaw, Fawnstep, Smokestripe, Aspenfrost, Gingerflight…Too many cats were lost before they made it to the new home of SkyClan. It wasn't fair. Everyone should have been able to make it there. Together. As one. That was what a Clan truly was. But SkyClan had lost so many cats in so little time. They weren't whole. They weren't one. Were they still a Clan? Or just a mishmash of cats with a common goal?
Sighing, Spottedflight took a few moments to realize that she was traveling down now. The looked up to see the sun sinking behind a beautiful lake surrounded by forest on three sides and a sandy moor on the fourth. She sped up a tad, her despair detaching itself just enough to let the hope of a new home seep into her heart.