Tension was prevalent among the Thunderclan cats as they returned to camp as quickly as possible. Time seemed to pass slowly as they walked with a rush and when they brushed through the Undergrowth that led to camp they found that Aldergaze was waiting for them.
"You're back early." Aldergaze said, and Brackenstar simply gave her a nod.
"There was an Incident…." Applefern said
Aldergaze's eyes widened with horror "Are you ok?"
"Yes, there was no fight." Brackenstar reassured her.
Aldergaze huffed, Looking at all of the cats for injuries.
Does she think Brackenstar is lying? Frostpaw wondered, he wondered why she would think that.
But it didn't take long for Aldergaze to realize Brackenstar was telling the truth, as her gaze swept across the cats she saw no extra wounds.
"Good." She breathed.
Brackenstar looked at the cats around camp, they were all growing curious over what happened for sure. The Tom bounded to the highledge and as soon as he reached it called out to the cats in the clearing.
"All Cats old enough to catch their own prey gather beneath the highledge for a clan meeting." Brackenstar meowed, his voice echoed throughout the clearing and the gathering cats arrived there first, followed swiftly by the rest of the clan.
"I'm sure this rumor has already begun to spread." Brackenstar meowed, staring at the warriors exchanging uneasy glances in the clearing, "But it is true, Oakstar has lost all sense of reason and supports the attack on Thunderclan."
Yowls of outrage and horror went up from the clearing as Brackenstar held his tail up, signaling for silence.
"Oakstar has forgotten honor and the code, he most likely directly authorized the attack himself, and he has shown that he no longer respects the warrior code above his own pride and ambitions." Brackenstar meowed.
"We must strike back!" Dapplefur yowled, thrashing his tail as Appledusk simply stood silently at the base of the rock. Frostpaw felt his ears twitching. Maybe we should strike Skyclan! He thought, Avenge his father and those other warriors!
"I must agree there should be retaliation." Brackenstar said, twitching his tail, "But we must restrain ourselves and follow the code otherwise we lower ourselves to the level of skyclan."
"No, we must show those who break the codes that Starclans will not go unpunished!" Said Nettlepelt. Frostpaw knew a bit about that warrior, he was ambitious and very much liked to enforce every aspect of the warrior code upon his apprentices. When he was a kit he had conversed regularly with his apprentice, Gorgeclaw. Neetlepelt absolutely never let them eat until the rest of the clan had eaten, not until every queen had eaten and their elder duties were done even if they said they weren't hungry or needed no assistance. Many queens ate just to allow his apprentices to eat sometimes and he wasn't unwilling to let the apprentices know the code they followed.
"Nettlepelt, I appreciate your objection but if skyclan wishes to break the code then there is no reason to believe they would follow it again." Brackenstar meowed, "This is a core issue, Skyclan lives on the edge of Clan territory and it has the least prey, this behavior must be a result of desperation on their part and can be fixed, and if we want to have any hope of fixing Skyclan then we must begin addressing those issues"
"But-" Dapplefur began to object, but Brackenstar silenced him quickly.
"The Warrior code still applies to us." Brackenstar said, his tail twitched in annoyance as they must have been getting to him with their calls of violence.
"However, I must say this. For Thunderclan to have peace and prosperity we cannot allow Skyclan to attack us, which is why I will offer them part of our territory in exchange for peace." Brackenstar said, immediately tensing up, probably expecting the clan's reaction.
To both Frostpaw's and Brackenstar's surprise the yowls of outrage were mostly contained to Dapplefur and Nettlepelt as most of the other warriors stayed silent.
"Give away our territory? To those codebreakers?" Nettlepelt asked with outrage, lashing his tail with anger. "Starclan or our ancestors would never approve of this, giving territory to a no-good codebreaking clan?!" Nettlepelt demanded.
"That's quite enough, Nettlepelt." Brackenstar meowed, "As I said, the chances of less death and more skyclan cats following the code will go up significantly if we show them respect."
Nettlepelt grumbled, the Warrior didn't seem fully content with Brackenstar's answer but he quieted himself for now.
"I will make this offer as soon as possible, and while me and my deputy discuss these matters Clan life will go on." Brackenstar said.
"This meeting is dismissed." Brackenstar said, and the gathered cats disbanded.
Frostpaw quickly turned to the apprentices' den, and found it empty. He sighed and cozied up to his bedding. He felt like sleep could overtake him but a light ginger paw fell onto him and jolted him awake.
"DAWNPAW NOT AGAIN!"
The She-Cat chuckled and soon the rest of the apprentices were in the den. His brother Shrewpaw must have been out training still with his Mentor Frostpelt, Shrewpaw had already started his training and took it to heart with great dedication, not that he himself wasn't dedicated to his own training, but Shrewpaw seemed to want to reach Warrior status as soon as possible.
"All of us in the den with the exception of Shrewpaw." Viperpaw said, his Ginger-White Fur ruffling in the gentle breeze of the camp entrance. "Just like old times…" Dawnpaw muttered, and Frostpaw fondly recalled those days they all spent playing in the Nursery. His favorite memories flashed before his eyes and he remembered that one time they almost escaped camp when they were hardly 2 moons old! He remembered his Mother Cloudwing having to run after Him and Dawnpaw on their little expedition.
He remembered Cloudwing herself, she passed away when they were 5 moons old from a Dog Attack. After the Vanishing of the twolegs dog's often formed large packs in the wild, decimating where they went before moving along. One smaller pack decided to go after the Thunderclan camp, and Cloudwing was one of 2 casualties, the Other being Dawnpaw's sister Rosekit, who had hardly been out of the nursery and been caught in their jaws.
It was a harsh memory, he remembered Dawnpaw's mother Foxstep comforting them while the attack happened, Warriors rushing to the Dogs and tearing into them as they tried to get to the Nursery. Cedarclaw himself had been too late to save Cloudwing and the whole clan had mourned her.
He realized for perhaps the first time now that he was alone, he had no family left other than his own brother. His gaze drifted downwards and Dawnpaw noticed it.
"Are you ok?" She asked, and Frostpaw hesitated. Dawnpaw had lost a sister, yes, but could she understand both of his losses?
"Me and Shrewpaw are alone now." He muttered.
"No, you're not." Dawnpaw said as he felt her tail sweep across his fur in comfort.
He felt warmer now, perhaps because all of the apprentices were laying in their bedding and were close together.
They're right, I'm not alone.