Chapter 13: Visitors: Windclan

The sun was beginning to set in the sky, a reminder of where we'd have to go on the morrow. After Shadowclan had left, Father and I had some time to relax. By our strange luck, the relaxation was short lived. Four cats came in from the Windclan side. They were Tallstar, Mudclaw, Crowpaw, and… ugh, Onewhisker. I held no love for my sire. While I loved the life I have, I had to wonder what my life would be like if he wasn't such a coward. The worst part was that he looked at me like he hadn't wronged me, like he was proud of me. I could feel my anger flare at the sight. How dare he even pretend to care! He abandoned me and my mother after he promised. I then breathed deeply, remembering Father's lessons. Don't let your anger control you. Breathe, 1, 2, 3, exhale. While acting upon anger is allowed, remember the repercussions. Attacking him would break this uneasy truce. Besides, he wasn't worth my time.

Tallstar and Father began discussions on how they would interact going forward. I could tell by Father's tone that he didn't have any positive relations with Tallstar. According to him, besides the battle with Bloodclan, Windclan had acted largely antagonistic to Thunderclan while calling upon them for aid whenever they were backed into a corner. While Father couldn't reprimand Tallstar on that as a Thunderclan cat, he did make it known that Windclan had a reputation as backstabbers because of their tendency to flip allegiances whenever it was slightly beneficial.

Tallstar was angered by the accusation, but he couldn't refute Father's claim. Windclan hadn't done anything in recent history to aid another clan in a time of crisis. Tallstar attempted to apologize to Father, but Father refused him stating that forgiveness is earned through action, not words. If Windclan wanted any decent amount of aid going forward, they'd have to invest their own resources into helping the other clans when the coming threat inevitably appeared.

While Tallstar and Father hashed out Windclan's gameplan. I was left with the other three. Again, I hated how Onewhisker looked at me. It felt so fake. He'd done nothing for me, and yet he looked proud to somehow be associated to me. What a vile joke. Not that the others knew this yet. Father and I would remain silent to my heritage for now. If Onewhisker slipped, well it wouldn't be our fault for his reputation being pounded into the dirt. At least Onewhisker seemed content to just watch for now.

Mudclaw trotted forward to meet me. Crowpaw hung back a bit, clearly uncomfortable with the situation he was in. Mudclaw seemed none to happy with Crowpaw's hesitance and shoved him forward. Crowpaw briefly stumbled, but he caught himself and sat at attention in front of me.

"You embarrassed me Crowpaw! If you weren't involved in this prophecy, I'd be having you pick ticks from the elders for a moon. You have no sense of discipline." Mudclaw chastised Crowpaw before turning to me.

"Now, you must be Smudgefoot's progeny. From what I've seen and heard about you, you're definitely a cat worth watching. Decisive, cunning, and brave. All traits I wish were in my disappointment of an apprentice, but I guess he has some worth. Starclan saw fit to grant him the mission over anyone else in Windclan. Maybe he has more potential than I thought. Now, I'm going to leave him with you. Maybe a fraction of what you've got will rub off on him." Mudclaw mewed before trotting off to join Tallstar's negotiations. Onewhisker looked with hesitance at me before padding off to join them, leaving me alone with Crowpaw.

The air was still as Crowpaw fidgeted in place. Neither of us knew quite what to discuss. Finally, I broke the ice. "I'm not sure I could handle a mentor like yours. He seems a bit abusive."

Crowpaw's fur rose at my statement. "Hey! Mudclaw's plenty good as a mentor. Sure, he's a little mean, and he gets on my case a bit too much, but he honestly means well. Yes, learning from him is hard. Sometimes I can barely keep on my paws after a day of training, but he's also kind when it matters. He's fought off a fox all on his own to protect me. I may not get praise all that often, but when I do, it's special. I won't have you criticizing him!" Crowpaw hissed.

I flinched a bit at his venom. "Ok! Ok. I get it. I'm sorry if I misread the situation. You obviously respect him. I was just concerned for your wellbeing. Smudgefoot would tear one of our warriors a new one if he heard them talking about their apprentice that way. It's not good for you to be belittled like that. I mean, I don't really know you, but you still stood up to me despite all the praise your mentor sent my way. That's got to mean something."

Crowpaw huffed. "Fine. I'll look past your disrespect towards my mentor. Talking to you now, I don't get what all the fuss was about. You seem pretty normal. Besides your choice of words, you don't act all that different to me. Does it bother you at all that everyone compares you to Smudgefoot? I mean, I get pretty annoyed when cats mention how I'm not as driven as Deadfoot was, or how Deadfoot could do this better when he was my age, and he had a bad leg." Crowpaw complained.

I nodded. "Yeah. I get it. Legacy is a curse in and of itself. Father is known as the cat who went paw to paw with Scourge and only lost an ear. Now, he's got this whole Guardian thing too. Yes, it is annoying when I keep hearing 'you're so much like Smudgefoot.' I'm not my father. I'm me, and I don't want them to just see me as an extension of him. Despite all that, I still love my father. He's never seen me that way. I've always just been his son, even though he never needed to adopt me. I do want to make him proud, but I want to do it as me."

Crowpaw huffed. "Lucky. I barely knew my father. I saw him briefly as a kit, but he was always on the move, off to do his deputy duties. Before I knew it, he was dead, and yet I felt nothing for him. How could I? I barely knew him, but his name hangs over my head every paw step. I'm the last of his line, so I've got the duty to somehow continue it. At least we agree that this whole lineage thing is a massive pain in our tails."

Tallstar's voice ended our conversation. He was calling his cats back to return to Windclan. Onewhisker hesitated as he looked back at me. I couldn't help but display a bit of my anger as my tail flicked in agitation. As they exited sight, I harumphed. My deadbeat sire hadn't been gone soon enough. He just had to ruin a perfectly pleasant day.