"What was the one thing that everyone has told you," both Ardere and Fuligo cringed as their mother, Consort Nubes stares down at them. Their father, Liege Flamma, sighs as his mate scolds their two youngest, "Do not go past the boundary of the Strath! Those...Kingdom Felis ," she spits out, "could had hurt you worse than they did," Fuligo crouches down, his tail curling between his legs, bristling.
"Now now…" there father step over, bringing his head over to press his cheek against hers, "Deep breaths now...the two of them were only curious…"
"Its your fault," she whispers, pulling back and narrowing her blue eyes at him, "Telling them those stories of Kesteraltail! Giving them ideas in their head...they belong here, not out there," she shakes her head.
"You know we can't keep them here…" Father gently said, placing his tail on her side, "There at that age that they want to explore, to see the world, to find out who they are," he smiles at Ardere and Fuligo, "I know I gave my mother a few gray hairs when I started wandering...we should be grateful that Rubinus doesn't feel the pull like I did," Ardere watches as her mother narrows her eyes at her father who grins cheekily, "Anyway...I think she should go,"
Ardere's head snap to him, while Fortis and Rubinus' jaw drop. The two had been enjoying watching their younger littermates being scolded by their mother, hiding their amusement behind their paws. But now, they couldn't hide the shok looks that were painted on their faces. Neither could their mother, "You...you want our daughter to join...they will eat her alive!" she shrieks, fur poofing up so much, it made her look like a giant compared to their father, "This is insanity...you finally have lost it. She knows nothing about them!"
"But how will I learn about them if I don't give them a chance," Ardere gently spoke up, for once since they had returned back to the Coalition. There mother had took one look at their limping forms and had hurried them to the Head Medic Hedera to get look at before she started to confront them as soon as she caught the scent of the Strath clinging to their pelts, "I mean," she shuffles on her paws, "They're only giving me a chance...I might not like it and they say if I don't I could always come back home...I just…"
"She will regret it if she didn't give them a try," Father gently whispers, "Her eyes have always been drifting towards the Strath...ever since she learned about it, when she not doing chores, you can always find her at the border, staring at it"
"And if I do like it...I will come visit," Ardere promises, "They said they won't keep me from my family, I just got to do it at my own time and not when I'm hunting or suppose to do something important,"
"Very reasonable," Father pointed out and Mother sighs, closing her eyes.
"Well, I think you're an idiot!" Fortis hisses, "You will die out there for a bunch of stranger that not only you don't know, but who attacked our brother!"
"Who have been attacking us for years," Rubinus hisses, tail lashing behind her, "don't you remember how many of us they killed?! The stories Commander Henricus about the Raids, that they only stopped after grandmother struck down the Deranged Bishop! The fact that you are leaving us behind to go frolic in the Strath. By the Gods, at least Fuligo is smart enough not to do something this idiotic,"
"I mean," Fuligo cringes as both their elder littlermates snap their heads and glare at them, "Bishop Blizzardstorm only offer Ardere...but I know that if she had offer me a place I would take it… well maybe not really, I don't see myself sharing a den with Tigerpaw," he grimaces, his ice blue eyes filling with fear "But honestly, I wish I could join a Kingdom," he smiles, eyes sparkling, "Learning how to hunt and fight, in a different way than other Coalition Felis can...I mean...I think this is the first time a Coalition cat been ask to join a Kingdom,"
Father nodded his head, "I think so too...Kesteraltail told me that they have welcome in a lot of Drifters into their ranks… though the last time I talk to him, he said that Windmoor isn't allowing anyone to join as of right now," Fuligo deflates at that, having grown an exciting look on his face, "But I do know that there's another Kingdom that allows outsiders to join. The Drifting Sun lives by them during the summer months, when Lady's Solta's eye grows the hottest. I could ask Overseer Apollo to allow you to travel with them and ask the Kingdom if you could join them," he then squawks when mother began to smack him with her paw, bapping him in the place.
"Mama!" she stops, looking at Fuligo, "Can I please at least try?" he looks up at her with icy blue eyes, big and wide, "The Drifting Sun will be staying around there all of spring and summer...if I don't like it, I'll be back home by winter,"
Their mother, with the same icy blue eyes as Fortis and Fuligo, stares at them before she closes them tightly, "My babies are growing up...leaving the nest so soon," she whispers before she curls around the both of them, licking at their ears,
"Well...I think they're stupid," Rubinus hisses, tail lashing as she glares at the two, "Go ahead and leave us for those...monsters," she hisses before she stood up, turning around and leaving the nest. Fortis frown at the two of them, before following after their sister.
"Give her time," Father whispered to them, "This is your decision. What you want to do in life is up to you, and how brave you are willing to be to do what you believe is right,"
The two littermates blink up at their father, wondering what he meant by that. But they didn't have much time to think of it as their attention was pulled towards their mother. The rest of the day and night wore on, seemingly endless as the two spent Ardere's last full day in the Coaltion. She could tell that there were some (maybe all) who didn't want he youngest princess to leave the safety of the ruins to join the Kingdom that had attacked them in the past. Thought their father eyed them before they could say anything.
When Solta's eye was high in the sky, Ardere sat beside the border. Tail high as she looks in the undergrowth for any sign of the two Felis that Bishop Blizzardstorm would have sent. The smells of Bishop Blizzardstorm, Voleclaw, and Tigerpaw were very faint, but they were swirling around her. She couldn't tell if they were here now, or if they weren't. Ardere frowns but her ears prick, as she heard the leaves rustles before a sandy gray tom pushed his way out. Ardere stared up at him, noticing that he was a little bit smaller than the other two Thundergrowth warriors had been, and had red scales painted across his shoulders and up his face. He has the same white horns as Voleclaw did, but his eyes though were a soft and kind green that shine down at her, "I am guessing you are Ardere?" At her silent nod he sat down, "so what is your decision?"
"I wish to join you," Ardere replied, "if the offer still stands,"
"I wouldn't be here if it wasn't," he chuckles a bit, eyes glimmering, "My name is Thrushcloud, a Caretaker of Thundergrowth" Ardere blink at this, taking a step towards him and took in a breath, smelling the smell of milk that mixed in with the strong scent of forest that cling to his pelt. But then she stills, fur pricking as a chill went down her spine when she not noticed another freshe smell hiding in the bushes.
Turning her gaze towards it, she hisses, "You're not alone," she whispers and a chuckle echo from the bushes as another cat pushes their way out of the undergrowth. She blinks at blue-gray molly that looked a lot like Bishop Blizzardstorm, but this one has the same rosette markings that Ardere saw on herself, her father and her siblings.
"Maybe there is some potential in you," the molly stated, eyeing Ardere up and down with her orange eyes.
"This is Rosetteanthem," Thrushcloud introduced, "one of Thundergrowth's newest warrior but one with great potential," Rosetteanthem cracked a smile a bit before her face went neutral once more, but her eyes kept staring straight at Ardere.
"I'll be watching your training with interest," she calmly said, before she turns towards Thrushcloud, "we better head back if we want to make it before the night patrol heads out,"
Thrushcloud nodded his head in agreement and eyes Ardere, "Think you can keep up?"
Looking at the two of them, with their long legs, and what look like strong muscles from moons of training, Ardere knew that she could not keep up. But she kept her head straight, her eyes glaring at them in determination, "Yes,"
"Confident," Rosetteanthem smoothly said, "let's see if you can keep it, Ruindweller," and then she bounded off, Thrushcloud close behind her. Eyes widening, Ardere scrambles up and quickly follows after them. Grateful that she already said her goodbyes last night and this morning, as the two kingdom Felis made no allowance for her.
Ardere gritting her teeth, trying to keep pace with them, but as soon as they left the clearing, it was made much harder to keep up. But Ardere was determined to not look weak to these Kingdom Felis. She was breathing heavily, trying to keep up, which was made harder when she couldn't make the graceful jumps that they did over logs, streams and rocks, or when they made a sharp turn that almost made Ardere run into a tree face first. They were easily bounding through the woods, weaving through all the obstacles like their fur was made of air. And even then, Ardere could tell they were not going as fast as they usually did.
But finally, finally, the two slowed down, allowing Ardere, with her sore paws stinging from sharp stones and thorns, was finally able to just be a step behind them. She eyes them, trying to hide her wheezing, as she follows them through a well-worn trail through the undergrowth, she noticed that the forest grew thicker and thicker. The smell of many felis grew stronger as well, mixing in with the scent of mice and birds. At last, Thrushcloud and Rosetteanthem paused, stepping onto a small rock that rested on the edge of a ravine, "We are very close to our camp now," Thrushcloud meowed, whiskers twitching in amusement as Ardere halted beside them, puffing for her breath. Glaring at him, she shakes her head, suckling in another breath before she strained to see any signs of life- moving leaves, a glimspe of fur among the bushes below, but her eyes saw nothing except the same undergrowth that covered the rest of the forest floor.
Rosetteanthem rolled her eyes, "Use your nose. You must be able to scent it,"
Grimacing, Ardere closed her eyes and sniffed. Rosetteanthem had been right, she was able to scent it, and how much different it was to the Felis of the Hearth.
"There will come a time, if you are accepted into Thundergrowth, even our own scent feels like home to you," Thrushcloud smiles, before nodding his head down towards the ravine, "Our camp is down here. It may look like a hard climb, but follow us closely and you won't fall," Ardere gulps at this but scrambles back up, grimacing in pain a bit from her pads throbbing, Thrushcloud as he led the way nimbly down the boulders to the bottom of the ravine and through a thick patch of gorse. Ardere push through the small gap in the gorse, Rosetteanthem behind her, watching her with orange eyes as Ardere's long fur got caught by the thorns and prickly gorse. Ardere looked down, noticing that the grass beneath her paws were flatted into a strong-smelling track.
"This must be the main entrance to the camp," she thought before looking up as they burst into a bare, hard earth clearing, shaped by many generations of pawsteps. Green eyes widen at the sight before her, though she took a bit of a step back when many eyes turn to her, gazing her with either curiosity, confusion, distrust, or worse anger. But Ardere held her head up high, just as her father told her to. The Hearth Coalition, leadership was inherited by blood, from mother to daughter, the heiress taking the name Hestia once they become Liege, taking the name of their founder. Many look down on her and her siblings because their father was the Liege, as their grandmother, the last Hestia, formerly known as Crystallo didn't give birth to any daughters. The Veterans, those who have retired from their duties, thought they had lost the favor of the Solta though it had settled down once her and her littermates were born.
So, she raised her chin, keeping her gaze steady as she stared back. It was so crowded, felis everywhere, sitting alone or in groups, sharing food or purring quietly as they groom one another. In the corner, Ardere could see three kits wrestling about, bapping each other and giggling, while a fourth was peaking his head out from the entrance of an impenetrable- looking tangle of brambles, "Over there is the Nursery," Thrushcloud smiles, noticing where Ardere was looking at, just as a pale golden molly, with patches of gray scales on her legs and face, her belly swollen with kits of her own, squirmed out through the small gap, her tail brushing the black kitten's head gently as a silver gray molly with teal-gold scales along her shoulds appeared around the bramble bush. The two mollies exchange a friendly lick between the ears before the gray molly slipped inside the nursery.
"The care of our kits is shared by not only the monarchs but also the caretakers," Thrushcloud meowed, "All felis serve the Kingdom, loyalty to the Kingdom is the first law in the Code, a lesson you must learn quickly if you wish to stay with us,"
Ardere nodded her head in understanding, but turns it to Rosetteanthem as she raises her head, "Here comes mother," she mewed as she sniffs the air. Raising her head herself, Ardere was please to recognize the scent of Blizzardstorm before she appeared from the shadow of the large boulder that stood tall in the center of the clearing.
"She came," Bishop Blizzardstorm purred, addressing the two as she walked over.
Thrushcloud chuckles, "Rosetteanthem was convince she would not,"
Rosetteanthem huffs, "We never had anyone from the Ruins join us...sure some of our own had joined the Ruins but.." she shakes her head, "She surprised me," Rosetteanthem admitted, "She kept up well on the return journey...she has potential I will admit that,"
Bishop Blizzardstorm nodded at this, before she turns back towards the large boulder and leap onto it. Ardere watches before she was gently nudged by Thrushcloud to stand underneath the rock. When the Bishop had reached the top of the boulder, she cried out, "Let all those felis old enough to catch their own prey join beneath the Highrock to listen to my words!" Her clear call brought all the felis trotting towards her, emerging like liquid shadows from the edges of the clearing. Ardere frowns when she recognized Tigerpaw's brown tabby fur among the cats. Beside him sat a large black molly with purple scales going down her spine, licking at his ears before she chuckles when he pulls away. A large dark gray tabby crouched behind them, the blue scales on his face making his yellow eyes glow as he stares up towards the Bishop.
When the felis were still, Bishop Blizzardstorm spoke, "Yesterday, I, Voleclaw and young Tigerpaw encounter a pair of fledgings on the border besides the Ruins. Tigerpaw had attacked one of them and had injured them a bit but before me and Voleclaw could put a stop to it, the fledging's sister struck him first. And as you can see, Tigerpaw ended up with some bruises and a wounded pride,"
"So that's why he was sulking in the Apprentice's den," laughter broke out at this and Tigerpaw hisses in fury, his tail lashing out.
"After seeing the fledgling's bravery to protect her brother, even though Tigerpaw is much stronger than her, I offer her a place into our Kingdom, to become an apprentice,"
"Lucky enough to become an apprentice," craning her head, Ardere blinks at the sight of the black tom with fur sticking up, teal-gold scales going across his throat, glaring defiantly at the Bishop.
"Really my Bishop...is this wise?" one cat inquired, an older dark brown tabby tom, with half his tail missing looked up at her in curisosity, "Its one thing to allow Drifters to join our ranks, but a felis from the Ruins?"
"But aren't Drifters from the Ruins as well?" a tortoiseshell that sat beside him ask, shrugging his red scaled shoulders, "I mean...whats the difference if we accept someone straight from the Ruins and not one whose been drifting around,"
"Its because Drifters at least know the harshness of the outside world. Ruindwellers stay inside the comforts of the Ruins, all but praying that the Others will come back and care for them," Ardere frowns at this, eyeing the black tom who spoke in pure disgust, "The Kingdom needs Kingdomborn felis, not another soft mouth to feed,"
"Whose the soft mouths you're talking about?" Ardere speaks up, the black tom narrowing his yellow eyes at her, "I pray that you aren't talking about the kits,"
"I'm not a soft mouth!" a wail erupted from the confines of the nursery, drawing laughter from the gather group of Felis.
"You're just a spoiled brat who doesn't know the meaning of hard work!" he jeers, barring his teeth at her.
"If anyone is the spoil brat its you," Ardere calmly stated, not showing the anger that made her stomach churn, that made her claws itch to rip into his pelt, "I mean, who speaks when their leader is speaking?"
The tom growls, but he shuts his mouth when Bishop Blizzardstorm gives him a look, "She may be from the Ruins, but she has plenty of potential, both Thrushcloud and Rosetteanthem agree with me,"
"I seen worse…" a ragged ginger tom wheezes out, "And we could do with some new fresh blood," he pointed out, "Let's give the fledgling a chance,"
"Nettlebreeze...you are blind," a gray tom with small ears pointed out, rolling his yellow eyes.
"He's right though," a gray tom with a long scar going down his shoulder pointed out, "It wouldn't hurt to give her a chance, Spring is here now so if it all fails it won't hurt us like it would have if Nixames was here with Winter...I support our Bishop's decision."
The gather felis quietly mutter to themselves, but no one else spoke up against the idea of Ardere joining. Bishop Blizzardstorm leapt down. Ardere raised her head, stepping into a shaft of sunshine, allowing the pool of light to blaze brightly on her orange pelt, making her fur glow. Bishop Blizzardstorm approached her, whose blue eyes were looking her up and down, "You look like a brand of fire in this sunlight," she gently spoke, and Ardere frowns a bit when she saw her eyes flash briefly, as if her words had more meaning. But she then duck her head, pressing her nose against Ardere's forehead, "Lady Solta, you know every felis by name but I ask that you take away the name from the felis you see before you, as with her new path in life, it no longer stands for what she will become. By my authority as Bishop, until this apprentice has earn her Kingdom name, she will be known as Blazepaw-in honor of her flame-colored coat,"
"Blazepaw! Blazepaw!" Ardere, no Blazepaw allow the voices of Thundergrowth wash over her as they cheer her new name. She kept her head up high, even as the felis parted, going back to what they were doing before the meeting.
"So you're the one who spoiled Tigerpaw's good looks," turning her head, Blazepaw watches as the tortoiseshell that spoke up earlier bounce over, "He's very close in getting his full Kingdom name, but that scar you left on him will make sure to never forget about you," he nodded his head, amber eyes twinkling, "I'm Flickerpaw, welcome to Thundergrowth!"
Blazepaw smiles, but a low yowl made both of them jump. They both turn to see the gray tom that who had sat beind Tigerpaw earlier glaring at her with his yellow eyes. Flickerpaw dipped his head respectfully, "Darkstripe,"
"Don't get use to being around here," Darkstripe sneers, "It will only be a matter of time before you go back running into the Ruins, where you belong," he spat out the word ruins scornfully before he stalked off.
"Don't listen to Darkstripe," Flickerpaw hisses to Blazepaw under his breath, "We have more important things to worry about," at this Blazepaw blinks at him and he smiles, "Like showing you around the camp! Can't have you poking your nose into something you shouldn't and get into trouble,"
Blazepaw merps at this, trotting after Flickerpaw to learn more about her new home.
Sorry it took so long to update this one, I fell out of warriors again but at least this time I'm not trying to start it all over. I do like what I have plan for the first arc. Anyway I hope you all enjoy! Please give me some reviews!