“Great catch, Mountainstar!” A cheerful voice called from the trees as Mountainstar killed the plump squirrel she had caught racing through the trees. She lifted her head and looked over her shoulder at Sorrelfern who had been her hunting partner.
“Thank you.” Mountainstar’s mouth watered as the taste of squirrel blood touched her tongue, causing her stomach to growl but she resisted any urge to eat the prey. This will be for Riverstep. She reminded herself, feeding the expecting queen was much more important that feeding herself. She would share something with Nettleheart before the gathering, but this squirrel would be perfect for Riverstep.
She was glad to see Sorrelfern full of life and back out hunting and patrolling. Sorrelfern had suffered a pretty bad injury after getting wounded by a piece of two leg rubbish, but with the help of the MoonClan medicine cat Oneflight and their new medicine cat, Owlbreeze. Mountainstar painfully remembered their first medicine cat, Mothflower, who had started as a kittypet but struggled in her role and left the Clan along with Antwhisker, Gingersky and Yewtail.
The amount of disappointment and failure she felt in herself, as well as anger she felt towards her former Clanmates had haunted Mountainstar for a long time. The arrival of Owlbreeze helped a ton, she had felt a lot of fear regarding the future of her new Clan, but Owlbreeze seemed to be keeping them together.
Mountainstar picked up her squirrel and helped Sorrelfern to gather her own prey before meeting up with the other half of the hunting patrol, Fireclaw and Mossypaw. Sorrelfern had managed to catch two mice and she noticed Fireclaw and Mossypaw had a squirrel and two more mice. Not bad. Mountainstar thought proudly.
They had the benefit of MountainClan being incredibly small compared to the other Clans so they had less mouths to feed, but there was still a heavy lack of prey in their territory, but MountainClan was surviving.
“Good work everyone.” Mountainstar said to her patrol mates. She looked to Mossypaw, who was nearing the end of her apprenticeship. She had changed a lot since her kittypet days. When she joined she had been a soft, plump, young kittypet. Now she was a lean, albeit skinny from the cold season, refined apprentice and Mountainstar would be happy to name her as a warrior. She felt the same way about the other former kittypet apprentice, Petalpaw, and the other kittypets who had joined the Clan including Fireclaw and Sorrelfern. Looking at them, it was impossible to tell they had ever lived under a twoleg’s roof.
“Let’s head back,” Mountainstar told her Clanmates. “We should all get something to eat and warm up before the gathering.” She glanced briefly towards the sky, it was nearing sunset and she wanted to be prepared for the gathering. With Sorrelfern, Fireclaw and Mossypaw behind her, Mountainstar led them back to camp.
Upon reaching the camp, Mountainstar nudged the squirrel to Mossypaw. “Will you take this to Riverstep?” She asked the apprentice.
“Of course!” Despite how much she had grown physically, Mossypaw remained a chipper and energetic young she-cat. She hoped that she would always have that personality as it always lightened Mountainstar’s day. Mossypaw picked up the squirrel and trotted happily over to the nursery where Riverstep was resting.
According to Owlbreeze, Rainstep should be giving birth sometime this moon and Mountainstar was overjoyed. She was so incredibly excited to welcome the first kits born into MountainClan. It was sad that they would never know their father as Antwhisker had left and Riverstep refused to join, Mountainstar knew that all of MountainClan would support the new kits as they already had been while she had been expecting the kits.
After Mossypaw ran off, Mountainstar picked up a decent sized mouse and headed towards her den. She climbed up the small, steep path that led to her den. As she expected, Nettleheart, the Clan deputy and Mountainstar’s mate, was waiting inside for her.
Mountainstar felt her heart flutter upon resting her eyes on Nettleheart. The beautiful she-cat was resting in her nest, grooming herself. Her soft golden eyes opened and softened upon resting on Mountainstar. “Took you long enough.” She purred playfully, her voice like honey to Mountainstar’s ears.
“Well someone has to feed the Clan.” Mountainstar waved her tail in a jooking matter as she approached her mate. She laid down next to Nettleheart and right away the golden-brown tabby began grooming Mountainstar, warming her up as Mountainstar pressed against her. She closed her eyes and allowed the warmth to comfort her.
They sat in silence, their tails intertwined as they shared their prey. After they ate, Mountainstar rested her chin on her paws and without realizing, drifting off for a few moments.
She awoke when Nettleheart nudged her and mewed softly. “It’s time to get ready for the gathering.”
Mountainstar slowly opened her eyes and let out a yawn. “I didn’t mean to fall asleep.”
Nettleheart gave a soft chuckle. “It’s alright, I made sure to wake you up.” She touched her nose to Mountainstar’s and they stayed there for a few moments, both purring loudly. “Now get up, sleepy head.” She licked Mountainstar’s forehead and stood up, stretching out her limbs.
Mountainstar did the same and the two of them stepped out of the den. Instantly they were both hit by a blast of cold air and instantly Mountainstar wished to return to her den, but there was a gathering to attend.
Both shivering, they stepped out into the main camp where the cats of MountainClan were already gathering to leave. She spotted Wrenpaw, Sparrowpaw and Finchpaw talking happily with Mossypaw and Petalpaw. She felt warmth deep in her heart seeing how much they had grown. I’m so excited to give them their warrior names. At this point, Mountainstar was convinced she was more excited than even they were.
She turned away from her kits and spotted Owlbreeze approaching the group after leaving the medicine cat den. “How are the sick cats?”
“Troutstream is…unchanged right now.” Owlbreeze replied, looking slightly concerned but wiping the fear expression away quickly. “But the other two are fine. I gave them their herbs and they should sleep through the gathering until I can check on them when I return.”
“Good to hear.” Mountainstar could tell she was a bit nervous, but she had faith in Owlbreeze. She had been doing great ever since joining the Clan. “Are we all ready?” She questioned, looking over her Clanmates. The cats of MountainClan nodded and gave small mews of confirmation. With her Clanmates ready, Mountainstar led them out of the camp and into the cold forest.
They crossed through MountainClan camp, most of the MountainClan warriors huddling together to try and keep warm. She made sure keep a quick pace so they wouldn’t be out in the cold for too much longer.
As they arrived at the gathering hollow, Moutainstar spotted Timberstar arriving with LichenClan behind him. “Good evening, Timberstar.” She greeted respectfully.
“Good evening, Mountainstar.” The LichenClan leader dipped his head and they began entering the hollow together. “How are things in MountainClan?”
“They’re good, all of our sick cats have been recovering.” She replied, which was mostly true as she thought about Troutstream, but he was recovering well according to Owlbreeze. She was doing careful not to show any major issues with her Clan, even if she did trust Timberstar, it was something the traveling Clan cats made sure to tell her. “What about LichenClan?”
“We’re doing well, despite freezing our tails off half the time.” Timberstar joked and the two of them shared a small laugh as they entered the hollow. SunClan and AshClan had already arrived and she couldn’t help but notice that AshClan seemed isolated from SunClan. Mountainstar was not surprised to see that Violetstar and MoonClan were no where to be seen.
The new MoonClan leader had been serious about her demands that she would not be attending a gathering while Riverstar was leader and Riverstar wasn’t showing any signs of stepping down from her position and neither Timberstar or Dawnstar were going to force her too. Mountainstar had been following their lead of not getting involved with the MoonClan and AshClan conflict. She had her own concerns, and she didn’t know either of the two leaders well enough to form an opinion, and she didn’t want the opinions and bias of other cats she didn’t know that well to influence her own.
“Welcome you two.” Dawnstar spoke, dipping her head to the two leaders, on her words Riverstar also lifted her head to look at the two arriving Clans, but didn’t say anything. “Now that the two of you are here, we shouldn’t waste any time. We know Violetstar isn’t coming and it’s freezing outside.”
“I agree.” Timberstar nodded and the cats of MountainClan and LichenClan settled down in front of their respective trees with the leaders taking their place on the large stone in the center. “I will go ahead and begin.” The LichenClan leader mewed. “ First, our medicine cat apprentice has earned her full name and we happily welcome Emberlight as full medicine cat.” Mountainstar spotted the ginger she-cat sitting with a humble expression on her face as the Clans cheered. “We also welcome three new warriors, Pineleap, Fennelfrost and Shrewbelly!” The Clans cheered once again and Mountainstar glanced at the new warriors, feeling a very warm sense of happiness. Fennelfrost had been one of the traveling cats who helped to build MountainClan. Fennelfrost had always been kind, respectful and incredibly helpful and it warmed Mountainstar’s heart fo see him earn his warrior name. “Also one of our most senior warriors, has decided to spend the rest of his days in the elder’s deen as Seedclaw has retired. We very much appreciate Seedclaw’s long service to the Clan.”
Timberstar finished his announcements and sat down and Riverstar stood up in his place. “I am proud to announce that Tetra has given birth to three kits, Lavenderkit, Blizzardkit and Sprucekit. We are handling the cold season just fine.” There was a very awkward cheer for the new kits as Riverstar’s tone felt hostile and stand offish compared to the other leaders.
Mountainstar gave Dawnstar a nod, allowing the SunClan leader to give her announcements as Mountainstar didn’t really have anything to announce. Next gathering will be Riverstep’s kits.
“SunClan doesn’t have much to announce,” Dawnstar spoke up. “We’re cold, but we’re doing just fine this season.” I guess she doesn’t have much either. Mountainstar thought as it was her turn.
“MountainClan also doesn’t have much news to give, we are doing well despite the cold.” She said before sitting down.
“There’s no time for conversing tonight,” Riverstar spoke up, jumping down from the rock. “It’s too cold, let’s go AshClan.”
“The weather’s not the only thing that’s cold.” Mountainstar heard the voice of the SunClan warrior, Redclaw who was glared at by a golden she-cat who Mountainstar believed was named Goldenleaf.
“Quiet you, we don’t want to make anything worse.” She scolded him, but her voice was still soft.
Suddenly a tortoiseshell cat came running through the crowd towards Owlbreeze, it was her sister Blossompaw. “Owlbreeze!” She called out. “I know we can’t talk long but I had to at least say hi!”
“Hi to you too.” Owlbreeze purred happily and the two sisters nuzzled up against each other. “I miss you so much, when the weather gets warmer we really need to spend a lot of time to just talk.”
“We do.” Blossompaw replied sweetly. “I have so much to tell you, the kits are getting so big and I’m really close to getting my warrior name. We all really miss you!”
“I miss everyone too! Tell Oakpaw and Rushpaw that I miss them, and Briarrose and Yarrowtail too! Next time I see you, Riverstep should have her kits and I’ll tell you all about them, I know how much you love little kits.”
Blossompaw’s eyes lit up at the idea, but the light quickly faded when Dawnstar called for SunClan cats to leave. “I’ll see you next gathering, okay? I love you, Owlbreeze!” The two sisters shared a sweet moment together before Blossompaw was forced to turn away and go back, Mountainstar could see how sad the apprentice was.
After she left, Owlbreeze let out a sigh and dropped her head slightly. Mountainstar jumped down from the stone and stood beside her medicine cat. “I’m sorry you can’t spend more time with her.”
“It’s okay.” Owlbreeze said, but Mountainstar could hear the pain in her voice. “I knew leaving her behind would be hard, but I really do miss her so much.” She sighed before turning around. “I don’t regret my choice, but I do miss my family.”
“I can only imagine.” Mountainstar touched her tail to Owlbreeze’s shoulder. “If you want, when the weather is colder I’d be happy to allow her to visit or you to visit her if it’s alright with Dawnstar. I told you she’s always welcome.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.” Owlbreeze looked up gratefully. “Thank you.”
“Of course.” Mountainstar replied with a gentle purr. “Now let’s go home.”