Graystar frowned and shifted in her nest. Her body was weighted down with exhaustion, but she just couldn't seem to fall asleep. The leader stood, stretched, and then curled up once more on the moss. How long had it been since she had slept soundly? Since before Mallowheart's death, surely. Graystar sighed. She couldn't believe that only six days ago, everything had been normal. Better times felt like a lifetime ago, but she could still remember them...
Everything went dark when the leader shut her eyes, but then the world was swept with color as she dreamed of a memory.
~★~
It was a cool day in leaf-bare, nearly five moons ago. The clan was together, whole, and happy. Evil had not yet touched any hearts on this special day. All of the cats were gathered around a single tree just outside of camp, which had been strung with heather and ivy, and decorated with brightly colored flowers.
No cat could remember when or how this tradition was created, but it was a tradition they followed nonetheless. On the day of the winter solstice, the clan would gather under a decorated tree, sharing tongues and eating together, and sometimes offering small tokens of friendship to each other. Happy chatter filled the air.
"Wow, Honeyrose, the tree looks great!" Laurelgaze purred. She playfully nudged the Sphinx she-cat with her shoulder. "How many times did you fall out of it putting those decorations up?"
Honeyrose laughed and swept her tail over Laurelgaze's ear, who ducked away with a smile. "None, actually," the hairless she-cat purred while puffing out her heart-marked chest. "But I didn't do it alone, of course. Crowtail helped me string the ivy -- and don't forget all the cats who gathered decorations."
Laurelgaze turned to Crowtail, who was sitting not far away, listening in. "Well, you did a good job. It looks amazing."
Crowtail gave her a rather shy smile in return. "Thanks."
Under the tree, Blackpaw was standing on his hind legs with one forepaw pressed against the trunk for balance as he reached up with his other paw. He batted at the spruce's lowest bough until a fluffy round object dropped out of it - a rabbit's tail. The apprentice cheerfully scooped it up and scampered over to where Echopaw was sitting.
"Got you a present," Blackpaw purred, dropping the rabbit tail at her feet.
"Tree-robber," Echopaw scoffed, but her amber eyes were sparkling.
Cascadefall was padding up to Palefern, a rabbit (incidentally tailless) held in his jaws. "Want to share?" he asked in a friendly mew.
Palefern swished his tail and crinkled his nose as he frowned at the russet-brown tom. "I can get my own prey, thanks," he retorted grumpily.
Cascadefall just smirked and settled down beside him. "Awe, come on. Even you can't be grumpy on Solstice," he teased. Palefern's whiskers twitched but he relented and took a bite of the rabbit, though not before cuffing the side of Cascadefall's head. Two heartbeats later a white and cream form tottered towards them as Smallcloud ran over on his short legs. He skidded to a stop just shy of running over Palefern. "Can I share with you?" the munchkin-fold tom asked hopefully.
Cascadefall eagerly made room for the little warrior, and even Palefern didn't raise any objections. "Sure thing, buddy," Cascadefall answered. Smallcloud stretched out beside him and the three toms eagerly fell upon the rabbit.
On the other side of the tree, Snowsong and Pinestep were walking side by side, their tails twined. Pinestep was leading the way, trying and failing to keep Snowsong from looking to see where they were going. "Close your eyes," he finally ordered his mate. Snowsong reluctantly obeyed, but then peered up at him through one gleaming green eye. "Do I get to know what this is about?" she asked. Pinestep covered her peeking eye with his tail. "Just wait," he told her.
Snowsong sighed and finally gave in, following him with closed eyes and an amused smile. Pinestep led her over to the base of the spruce, where he used a paw to pull something out of a hiding spot beneath a root. "Okay, you can open your eyes now," he told Snowsong.
The fluffy white she-cat opened her eyes and gasped. "Oh, Pinestep..." she mewed, gazing down at the feather--a sleek jay's feather, bright azure blue banded with black and with a tuft of white at the tip. "It's beautiful. Thank you," Snowsong purred, turning to lick her mate's cheek.
"I was going to get you a flower," Pinestep confessed, "so that you could put it in your nest and you'd smell nice when you woke up... but I like your scent the way it is."
Snowsong purred loudly at the compliment and Pinestep nuzzled her fur. "I'll put it in my nest and think of you every time I see it," Snowsong promised him.
A little ways away, Morningrose had gathered up quite a crowd. Rainsong, Whisperdrizzle, Echoleaf, Tigersplash, Kestrelberry, Featherwing, and Snowstrike were standing around her, evidently preparing for something. A game of Capture.
"Okay! Rainsong, Echoleaf, Whisperdrizzle, and Featherwing are on one team. Tigersplash, Kestrelberry, and Snowstrike, you're with me."
The cats eagerly divided. Tigersplash smirked at being put on the deputy's team and positioned himself right beside Morningrose, while Snowstrike proudly lifted her chin and went to Morningrose's other side. Kestrelberry hung back, crouching defensively in front of their team's object -- a pinecone.
Rainsong, Echoleaf, Whisperdrizzle, and Featherwing made a brief huddle, discussing their game plan before breaking off to surround their own object on the other side of the clearing, a stark black crow feather.
Noticing that the game was about to start, Lightdream and Graystar sat down along the sidelines, happily watching.
Morningrose began the countdown. When she yelled "GO!" both teams sprang into action.
Tigersplash immediately made a run for the feather but was quickly cut off by Rainsong, who jumped in front of him, forcing him to attack or go a different direction. Tigersplash chose attack; he launched himself at his clanmate and bowled her over. The two grappled, but they kept their claws carefully sheathed and their bites harmless.
Echoleaf sprinted past the brawling pair only to be tackled by Morningrose, who pushed the blue-gray she-cat to the ground but didn't stick around to keep her there. Morningrose leapt to her feet and darted in the opposite direction.
Whisperdrizzle and Featherwing worked together to ward off the deputy. Morningrose zigzagged between them, trying to reach the feather without getting caught. At Whisperdrizzle's signal, Featherwing rushed towards Morningrose, who veered away from her -- only to run right into Whisperdrizzle. Featherwing used the distraction to go for the other team's object.
Featherwing neared the pinecone at the same time as Echoleaf, who had by now recovered, and they advanced together on Kestrelberry. Kestrelberry positioned himself over the pinecone and hissed fiercely at the two she-cats. Echoleaf and Featherwing exchanged a smile, thinking it would be easy to get the object away from Kestrelberry -- but they had forgotten one thing. Snowstrike exploded out of a nearby bush, causing Echoleaf and Featherwing to jump back with similar mrrrr-owr!s of surprise. Snowstrike attacked Echoleaf with powerful blows of her paws, but Echoleaf managed to dodge most of them by simply stepping backwards. Featherwing was left alone facing Kestrelberry. The golden tom hissed again, as if daring her to come any closer.
On the side, Morningrose was cursing at Whisperdrizzle, who cunningly evaded almost all of her moves to attack and kept blocking her when she tried to progress. Finally Morningrose gave in and ran back to help Tigersplash. The dappled black tom was still wrestling with Rainsong.
Left alone, Whisperdrizzle took his chance. He raced to the other end of the clearing, where Featherwing and Kestrelberry were still facing off. Featherwing flicked an ear at him and Whisperdrizzle circled around. Kestrelberry's gaze switched between his two opponents uncertainly. Whisperdrizzle feinted towards the pinecone, and Kestrelberry took the bait, turning to block the tom while Featherwing snagged the item with a smile. Kestrelberry realized his mistake a heartbeat too late. He turned to run after her, but Whisperdrizzle cut him off with a smirk.
Featherwing sprinted to the other end but was pounced on halfway across by Snowstrike, who had abandoned Echoleaf when she saw Featherwing take their item. The pinecone rolled away. Rainsong was busy fighting against Morningrose, and Whisperdrizzle was too far away to reach it. This left Echoleaf running for the pinecone -- but before she could grab it, Tigersplash ran past her, the crow feather held proudly in his jaws. He pushed his way past Kestrelberry with little effort and dropped the feather where their pinecone had been. "We win!" Tigersplash yowled triumphantly.
Whisperdrizzle, Rainsong, Featherwing, and Echoleaf groaned, while Morningrose, Kestrelberry, and Snowstrike (along with the spectators Lightdream and Graystar) all broke into cheers.
The noise attracted Shademask, who padded towards them protesting "hey, no one told me we were playing a game! I want to play too!"
Lightdream laughed at Shademask and flicked his tail. "Let's both join in," he suggested to the masked warrior. Shademask grinned eagerly and they split up to join the two teams as a second round was being prepared. Graystar continued to watch, smiling happily.
At the edge of the clearing, sitting back to behold the decorated tree in all its glory, Basilwisp and Leafsky were lying side by side, eating. Basilwisp was almost finished with his squirrel, but it looked like Leafsky had barely touched her mouse, probably because she was too busy talking. They had just recently become mates, and Leafsky was nearly giddy as she boasted to him about all the fabulous flowers she'd found near the river to decorate the spruce with. Basilwisp listened with impressive patience, but earned himself a playful cuff on the ear when he tried to sneak a bite of Leafsky's mouse.
Ratflame was by the trunk of the tree, gazing up with a curious expression as he sharpened his claws on the bark. When he was satisfied with the points of his claws, he launched himself up the tree, scrambling up the trunk until he reached a bough midway up the spruce. "Look, guys, I'm going to make it rain!" Ratflame crowed before pushing the branch down with his paws and letting it up, then pushing it back down again. The branch began to shake violently up and down. Spruce needles, flower petals, and pinecones cascaded down, littering the ground and the pelts of the cats beneath.
Icespark and Smokeflash both looked up to see the wave of tree pieces falling down upon them. Icespark winced as another fluffy rabbit tail bounced off her head. "Hey!" the tabby she-cat snapped. "I worked hard catching all those rabbits, you fox-heart!"
Ratflame just laughed and jumped to another branch.
"StarClan help me Ratflame, if you wreck this tree, I will end you," Smokeflash growled. Ratflame grinned down at him from between the boughs. Smokeflash let out a maddened cry and launched himself into the tree after the mottled grey tabby tom. Ratflame shrieked and scrambled higher, moving from branch to trunk to branch. Smokeflash moved close after and the two toms chased each other around the tree, shaking even more spruce needles from their branches. Despite Smokeflash's enraged growls and Icespark's hissed annoyance as she was hit again by falling needles, both cats were suppressing smiles. Ratflame was a nuisance sometimes, but... Smokeflash thought it was kind of fun to chase him through the tree, and Icespark was certainly amused by watching them.
Runningstream was sitting with Featherpath, and both she-cats were completely silent as they shared a sparrow together -- Runningstream had no inclination to talk, and Featherpath was too shy to initiate the conversation. But the fluffy blue tabby and the short ginger-furred she-cats exchanged delighted smiles as they watched Smokeflash and Ratflame jumping around and around the tree.
Rosepool and Echolight approached the makeshift freshkill pile that had been placed just for the occasion. Echolight nudged the top few pieces of prey. The pile was heaped with tailless rabbits and fish. Rosepool shot her companion a grin. "I think I know who did most of today's hunting," Rosepool said with a grin. Echolight giggled and cast her glance over to Troutstripe, who was sitting nearby with his bushy tail wrapped around his paws. The large striped tom winked at the two she-cats. "Guilty," he admitted. "You know I'm only good for fishing."
"But they're the best fish in the forest," Echolight purred, and she pulled one off the top of the pile. Troutstripe twitched his wiskers, pleased. Rosepool smiled sweetly at him and the two she-cats ambled off before lying down side by side, giggling between bites of fish.
Iriswhisper and Longclaw were strolling around together, pointing out silly little things and sniggering at cats' conversations. Longclaw stopped to stretch out in an arch and flex her claws. Iriswhisper eyed the razor-sharp tips with a sort of wary amusement. "Planning on doing some fighting today, are you?" she meowed with a twitch of her whiskers.
"Of course not," Longclaw dissented. "I just wanted to look my best for Solstice."
Iriswhisper tilted her head back and laughed. "Yes, you look great, Longclaw. The extra-sharp claws really bring out that glimmer in your eyes."
Longclaw flicked Iriswhisper with her tail, but grinned anyway. "Thanks."
Viperpaw, Redpaw, Tinypaw, and Dewpaw were playing their own game of mossball in the corner. Redpaw and Tinypaw were teamed up, playing against Viperpaw and Dewpaw. Tinypaw tossed to Viperpaw, but the ball sailed over Viperpaw's shoulder and landed behind her. "Nice catch," Redpaw said teasingly.
Viperpaw immediately bristled. "That was a lousy throw!" she hissed at both Redpaw and Tinypaw. "That should count against you, not me!"
"You could have easily caught that if you'd tried," Tinypaw retorted.
Dewpaw quickly stepped between them. "Guys, relax," she crooned. "It's Solstice. Let's just play without fighting, okay?"
"Yeah, whatever," Viperpaw muttered under her breath.
Redpaw bounded over to her and head-butted her shoulder. "Come on Viperpaw, you love me, right?"
"That doesn't mean I have to say it!" Viperpaw cried, exasperated.
Dewpaw and Tinypaw snickered. "I think that's the closest I'll ever get," Redpaw said with a laugh, and flicked her with his tail. "Thanks."
Viperpaw scowled and shuffled her paws. "Fine. I love you, you insufferable wretch of a tom-cat. Happy?"
"Definitely," Redpaw purred. He then scooped up the mossball from behind her and threw it to Dewpaw, who hit it mid-air and sent it flying towards Tinypaw. Everyone laughed when it bounced off her forehead, including Tinypaw.
Dawnpetal was underneath the tree, sweeping up the fallen tree decorations and piling them up to be put back on the spruce (Ratflame and Smokeflash had finally given up and come down). She was joined shortly be Smokefern, who started to help clear away the fallen needles. Dawnpetal smiled at him and touched her nose to the tom's shoulder. "Thank you. Happy Solstice," she mewed.
Smokefern bashfully flicked an ear but grinned sheepishly anyways. "Happy Solstice," he purred back.
~★~
...When Graystar finally woke up, she didn't even have time to lift her head before the tears started falling.