“Live your life to the fullest, kid.”

The words still ring in his mind, even now. But something is wrong. He keeps seeing a cat that looks so familiar in the edges of his blurring vision day by day, but now, he sees them more clearly than ever.

The brown fur, tabby markings, and the kind of terrifying look in her star-filled eyes… it’s Mudthrift. Auntie Mud, as he used to call her. He weakly looked up at her as she said one thing.

“It’s time to go.”

Vortexcurl was distraught. He hadn’t even lived, but he couldn’t process it before the starry cat grabbed him by the scruff and pulled his starry spirit out of his body.

“I’m… sorry. I’m sorry you had to go this way. We were family in a way. But…”

Mudthrift wandered over to Cinnamonpuddle, who was just starting to wake up.

“Momma’s ok. She’s strong. They won’t get her.”

“…They?”

“Our deaths weren’t accidents. Far from accidents.”

Cinnamonpuddle perked up, mumbling something about a strange smell. She pulled herself out of the nest and started sniffing around… before her eyes landed on a horrible sight.

Swashbuckler’s jaw was getting infected and Vortexcurl was unresponsive. She touched Vortexcurl’s shoulder. It felt cold. Too cold…

…

“SKUASHRIEK! CREVASSERISE!”

Vortexcurl couldn’t survive his broken back.

Swashbuckler’s broken jaw is getting infected…

Cinnamonpuddle’s lungs are no longer full of water.

(Mudthrift: A medium-furred striped light brown she-cat)

(Vortexcurl: A medium-furred white and striped orange tom (PC: Body Biter))

(Swashbucker: A short-furred mottled brown tom)

It was just a normal patrol. Leopardscut takes Cinnamonpuddle and Rimeheart to mark the borders and then they go back to camp. It’s easy. It’s SUPPOSED to easy. You may run into another clan or two, maybe all three, but keep calm and they won’t attack.

And to be fair, they didn’t attack, but there was a badger in the den that they still needed to address. Cinnamonpuddle perked up at the sound of water… and screaming. Rimeheart didn’t hear it at first, but then he realized exactly what that was…

The waterfall. He’s been there once, but there typically wasn’t screaming in the lake it flowed into… Cinnamonpuddle dashed off, Rimeheart following behind. Leopardscut was confused, but she followed as well…

What they saw was… interesting, to say the least. A group of loners were throwing themselves into the water, which was starting to be stained red by something’s blood. Something was thrashing in the water… no, multiple things. Another cat was standing at the top, but Rimeheart couldn’t see them clearly. They were yowling something to the carnage below, but it was hard to get the words with the splashing drowning it out.

After a moment, the figures became clear… that was a twoleg… and a strange brown object. Cinnamonpuddle started swimming like her life depended on it.

The loners fought the twoleg.

It dropped the object.

Cinnamonpuddle swam towards the object, slowly losing breath…

…Slowly…

…She grabbed on…

…And didn’t let go…

…Until…

…

…

A loud splash came from the waters as the cats that fought the twoleg rushed to help. The cat sitting at the top even climbed down to assist.

Cinnamonpuddle was pulled out of the waters, hacking and coughing… and… another, heavily injured cat was pulled out of the water as well. His mouth started to bleed as he was brought onto the surface.

Rimeheart recognized one of the cats that helped them, but clearly… she was not in a great mood. “Gods, why did he want to drown ‘im? I don’t care that he’s old and still breathing, that human is a sick bastard! Lily, come with me. I celebrate your heroics, but you’re much too young to deal with what you just saw. Canary, talk with them, will you?”

The cat walked away, the younger of the two cats, probably apprentice-aged, followed her. The large, burly tom was left behind.

“Bring him to your place. His collar said “Swashbuckler.” You have a healer?”

Leopardscut spoke, a little intimidated at the large cat. “Uhh… yeah. We have two. I’m not sure if that’s gonna be enough to-“

“He’ll be well. I’m sure of it. And so will your friend. Can you carry them?”

Rimeheart spoke up again… “I think so. Thanks for your help, Canary!”

“No problem.”

The Clan (with some help) saved an old cat being drowned by a twoleg. Swashbuckler has joined the Clan.

Swashbuckler has a broken jaw.

Cinnamonpuddle inhaled a lot of water while rescuing the old cat.

(Leopardscut: A muscular, long-furred tortie orange and brown she-cat)

(Cinnamonpuddle: A medium-furred brown she-cat)

(Rimeheart: A short-furred greenish-yellow and white tom)

(Swashbucker: A short-furred mottled brown tom)

(???: A very tall, medium furred half-orange, half striped black she-cat)

(Lily: A short-furred tabby brown and white she-cat)

(Canary: A very large, long-furred orange tabby tom)

Sorry this took forever! I hope it was worth the wait!

Eskerstar had something special in mind for today. The clan probably needs some work on their fighting, so she called a clan meeting.

“Cats of Lightclan, I feel like we need to learn how to defend our clan. We’re gonna be hosting a sparring tournament! Everyone find a partner, and whoever wins a spar gets to match with someone else, until one cat is marked as the winner! Does that sound fun?”

Murmurs of agreement spread throughout the crowd. After that, Eskerstar led the clan outside, where the leaf-bare snow was starting to melt a little. “Then let’s get to sparring!”

The cats faced off in “battle.” Skuashriek and Crevasserise paired up (mainly to watch as they were tired and in pain), Rimeheart paired with Owlweb, Cinnamonpuddle paired with Taffy, Vortexpaw paired with Leopardscut, Doodle surprisingly paired with Clementine, and Trinity paired with Eskerstar herself.

On Cinnamonpuddle and Taffy’s side, it was pure chaos. Taffy had managed a bit of a pin, but Cinnamonpuddle used her back legs to kick Taffy in the stomach. Taffy lost his grip on the younger cat, and then she pounced right on him!

“Hey! Claws sheathed! Claws sheathed! You were scratching my-“ Taffy started to slip on the wet grass, and soon fell next to a bush. It didn’t have thorns, but when Cinnamonpuddle hit some of the sticks, the force of impact was enough to give her some scrapes.

“Not cool, old man! I was so close to winning!”

Taffy stood up, showing the claw-marks on his belly.

“Oh… right. That was… that was deserved, huh? Why… why don’t we take a break?”

Taffy laid back down. “If Eskerstar allows it… but I’ll say that you definitely won.”

Meanwhile, Vortexpaw was sparring with Leopardscut, but Leopardscut noticed a strange look in his eyes. Something was wrong.

“Hey… do you still miss Lightningbush?”

Vortexpaw stopped with whatever he was doing and looked down. “Well… I know he’s safe… but I’ve… I’ve just been having these dreams. Like locusts stripping the leaves off of a really tall tree… I… I don’t know.”

“That prophecy? Just… don’t let it get to your head. You have to get some sleep, ok?”

Vortexpaw nodded, then he went right back to sparring. He had a little more energy than the past few moons!

With Eskerstar and Trinity, they knocked over a large tree branch, and it was heading for Vortexpaw! Eskerstar threw herself in its path to save him… even though it hurt a lot. That was the only main thing that happened, and Eskerstar decided that Trinity should go ahead.

And lastly, with Doodle and Clementine, Doodle realized that Clementine was actually pretty good at this for a cat who spent all day in the nursery! Clementine seemingly just noticed his own skill too…

“Hey, maybe I should think about becoming a real warrior! Then, I’d be able to-“

He noticed Doodle glaring at her, and he backed off.

“…Never mind.”

Cinnamonpuddle overdid her last sparring session, and now has some scrapes.

Taffy has a stomachache.

Vortexpaw feels like he can rise with the sun instead of wishing it’d let him sleep.

Vortexpaw’s rash has cleared.

Eskerstar prevents something from falling on Vortexpaw.

Clementine wonders if being a warrior would have been more fun.

(Eskerstar: A medium-furred tan and white she-cat)

(Leopardscut: A muscular, long-furred tortie orange and brown she-cat)

(Crevasserise: A short-furred orange rosette tom)

(Skuashriek: A long-furred black and white she-cat with mist gathering at her paws (B-class Guide, PC: Lunar Shifter))

(Taffy: A short, medium-furred rosette dark brown tom with lighter brown highlights)

(Trinity: A tall, medium-furred black and white tom)

(Doodle: A short-furred, mostly black tortie she-cat with a white face, paws, and chest and orange cheeks and tail tip)

(Cinnamonpuddle: A medium-furred brown she-cat)

(Rimeheart: A short-furred greenish-yellow and white tom)

(Owlweb: A long-furred dark brown smokepoint tom)

(Vortexpaw: A medium-furred white and striped orange tom (PC: Body Biter))

(Clementine: A short-furred dark grey and white tom wearing a blue harness on his back)

Man… that’s a lot of cats. And it’s only been one year!

After the whole ceremony, Cinnamonpuddle and Eskerstar went to find a bite to eat in the cold, leaf-bare weather. Unsurprisingly, they couldn’t find anything that could fill their bellies.

“Eskerstar… can we go back to camp already? We’re going to be wasting energy chasing nonexistent prey!”

“Yeah, you’re probably right. Fine. Let’s go home.”

Eskerstar turned around, but immediately heard a cry from some bushes nearby.

“MUMMA! MUMMA! I GIBE UB! YOU CAN… you can cobe out dow… mumma? MUMMA!!!”

Eskerstar looked at Cinnamonpuddle and slowly approached the bushes. There was a small kit, no more than a moon old, crying for his mom. She hadn’t seen any other cat around since the snowstorm of last moon… oh. Oh fuck.

Cinnamonpuddle approached the bushes as well, and the kit noticed them. “Habe you seed my mumma? She… she wanded do play hide-and-seeg… and I can’t find her!”

Eskerstar had to tell the poor kitten the truth. He’d likely die out here. “No… I’m so sorry… look, can you tell me your name? I don’t know if she’s coming back.”

The kit started to tear up as he looked at Eskerstar. “Uh… my name… it’s… uh… au… AH-CHOO!” The kit suddenly sneezed, and tried sniffing up some snot that came out of his nose. Eskerstar visibly recoiled, but soon her look grew to concern.

“Oh… does kitty have the sniffles?”

“Does kitty have manners? Eskerstar, he sneezed all over you!” Cinnamonpuddle was clearly not happy with any of this.

Eskerstar turned towards Cinnamonpuddle. “Cinnamon, he can hear you!” She turned back to the kitten. “Look, my friend doesn’t mean what she says… just… we’re getting you back to camp as soon as possible. Again… what’s your name?”

“Au… Auburn… why?”

“Well, until we either find your mom or you turn 6 moons old, you’re gonna be known as Auburnkit, alright?” She grabbed the kit by his scruff and started to walk back to camp. “N’w c’me ‘n, there are cats here that w’ld l’ve to meet you!”

“Ah-choo! Ugh… ok…”

Eskerstar and Cinnamonpuddle find an abandoned kit on patrol and decide to bring him back to camp.

Auburnkit is sick.

(Eskerstar: A medium-furred tan and white she-cat)

(Cinnamonpuddle: A medium-furred brown she-cat)

(Auburnkit: A medium-furred tom whose fur is various shades of reddish-brown (Pronouns: He/him/his/himself, hiss/hiss/hisses/hissself))

See how much effort I put just to keep note of hisses pronouns? Here’s translations for the congested kitten speak and fur-in-mouth talk.

[“Mumma! Mumma! I give up! You can… you can come out now… mumma? Mumma!!!”] [“Have you seen my mumma? She… she wanted to play hide-and-seek… and I can’t find her!”] [“Now come on, there are cats here that would love to meet you!”]

Rimeheart’s plan was a little… odd, to say the least. Owlweb, Cinnamonpuddle, and Trinity were sent to look for Skua after a hunt so they can talk to her, get to know her, and possibly get her to join the clan. Owlweb was carrying a large rabbit, while Cinnamonpuddle and Trinity were talking.

“I’m surprised that he didn’t tell us beforehand! Isn’t our whole goal to help them?” Trinity asked.

“Yeah… but he said that he would have only gotten help if he stayed silent! He would have died if he didn’t agree! And losing my best friend… I don’t want to wish that on anyone. We’re lucky that she wanted to help him.”

Trinity just nodded in acknowledgment, and continued wandering around the territory.

While the cats were aimlessly walking around, another set of paws seemed to join them. The cat looked like Skua, and smelled like Skua…

“What are you guys talking about?”

…But part of her didn’t seem entirely like Skua. And the patrol noticed. Owlweb dropped the rabbit in front of her, provoking a “thanks!” out of her.

“Are we sure this is the right cat?” Cinnamonpuddle whispered to Trinity.

“I think so. She fits our description perfectly. Now shut up.” Trinity replied, also in a whisper.

“What’s going on here? I get that I might be a little shocking to some, but I am great at what I do! You guys are clan cats, right? Are you the green cat’s friends?”

Trinity composed himself when he heard the questions. He was prepared for a depressed cat, not this… “Um… yeah. We’re… we’re Lightclan cats, and our leader got a sign from Starclan that said that you… kinda need to join. I know this is probably sudden and all, but we’re not all that bad.”

“Well then. I’d be happy to join you! I’ve been feeling like a bear in winter these past few months, except for the fact that bears get food.”

“Tried?” Owlweb asked.

“Precisely, young kit! But that’s changed and I can help like I’ve never helped before! Now, where’s your camp? I can’t wait to be in a nice place for once!”

“We’ll bring you there.” Trinity said. “Follow us.”

Skua has joined the clan.

(Trinity: A tall, medium-furred black and white tom)

(Cinnamonpuddle: A medium-furred brown she-cat)

(Owlweb: A long-furred dark brown smokepoint tom)

(Skua: A long-furred black and white she-cat with mist gathering at her paws (B-class Guide))

It felt like forever until Doodle finally left that stupid town she lived in. She thought about what was done to her… why was SHE being punished when the CHILDREN decided to mess with her? She was just defending herself, for fuck’s sake!

As she walked through the plains, cursing to herself all the while, she saw a familiar face in the distance. Doodle walked over to the brown cat, who noticed her as well.

“Doodle! What are you doing all the way out here? Don’t you… you know… live… at the twolegplace?” That was Cinnamonpuddle. Doodle only knew her a little when they both lived in the town, but they at least are… sort of friendly with each other.

“Not anymore. I knew I had to leave eventually… is whoever’s in charge of this stuff ok with me staying for a while?” Doodle stretched, letting out hisses of pain when flexing her paws.

“…Ok, we’re going to see Eskerstar… right now. And Crevasserise. There is no way I’m leaving you out here alone!” Without another word, Cinnamonpuddle started walking to the camp, in a pace that Doodle could catch up to.

“…Who are they?”

“Oh, Eskerstar’s our leader and Crevasserise is our medicine cat. They should be able to help you… especially with your paws.”

“…Ok.”

The two she-cats walked all the way to Lightclan’s camp, and Cinnamonpuddle approached the leader’s den, where Eskerstar was sleeping. Cinnamonpuddle bapped one of Eskerstar’s ears, causing her to wake up with a “mrrp?”

“Hey… Eskerstar. You remember Doodle?”

“The kittypet that has some sort of stalker? Why is she here?”

“Her paws got injured and I was hoping that she could stay… at least, until she heals.” Cinnamonpuddle looked at Doodle after she said that…

“That’s it? There’s not enough mice in the alleyways for me to hunt if I ever decide to come back!” Doodle snapped at Cinnamonpuddle.

“Ok… never mind, I guess she’s joining for good.”

Cinnamonpuddle found an injured kittypet and brought her back to camp. Doodle has joined the clan.

(Doodle: a short-furred, mostly black tortie she-cat with a white face, paws, and chest and orange cheeks and tail tip)

(Cinnamonpuddle: A medium-furred brown she-cat)

Eskerstar and Cinnamonpuddle decided to go on a border patrol. It was the best thing to do right now… there’s prey to fill bellies, the clan is growing… but if there’s no signs of THOSE cats… then they need to start looking for them. They decide to look at a large twolegplace, because if twolegs have taken them, then they wouldn’t know how to defend themselves.

They… definitely found something,

In a large space between the twoleg dens, there was growling, hissing, and cries from a she-cat for someone… something… to leave her alone. Cinnamonpuddle tried to see what was going on, but she was quickly stopped by Eskerstar.

“You can’t get yourself killed like that! Just because she’s likely a kittypet doesn’t mean you should try to fight her!”

“Who said anything about fighting? Did you forget that I was a kittypet too? Any gossip here spreads like the plague, and chances are, it’s likely-“

A loud yell burst from the space. “CLEMENTINE, WILL YOU JUST SHUT UP ALREADY?” Cinnamonpuddle sighed. “Yup. That’s her. Clementine’s been trying to get her to be his mate for moons, and she’s not having it. Eskerstar, let me talk to them. I’ll most likely get out unscathed.”

Eskerstar let go of Cinnamonpuddle. “Fine. But don’t come crying to me if they try to claw your face off!”

Cinnamonpuddle calmly walked into the space, and saw a grey tom trying to flirt with a tortoiseshell she-cat, who’s in a… den… of sorts.

“Clementine.” The tom looks at Cinnamonpuddle. “Doodle said no like 200 times already. You might have known her when you were kits, but that doesn’t excuse you trying the same thing that caused another human to be taken by the police!”

Clementine looked shocked, but glanced at the tortoiseshell she-cat. “I’m so sorry, my princess! I’ll get going immediately!” He then ran off. That was… surprisingly easy.

The tortoiseshell she-cat stood up and left her den, stretching her limbs. “Gods, can he just use my name? “Doodle” isn’t so hard to understand. Ugh… he’s so stubborn that you had to threaten him with jail time to get him out of my fur!” Doodle shook herself, probably to get more energy into her system after laying down for so long. “…Thank you, Cinnamon. I know he means well, but there’s no way I can commit when he wants so much. I mean… he gets the free food, and I have to hunt for mine.”

“You’re welcome, Doodle, and… goodbye. I hope you have a great week.”

Cinnamonpuddle left to rejoin Eskerstar, who looked more confused than ever.

“I have… several questions.”

The clan has encountered Doodle and Clementine.

(Eskerstar: A medium-furred tan and white she-cat)

(Cinnamonpuddle: A medium-furred brown she-cat)

(Doodle: a short-furred, mostly black tortie she-cat with a white face, paws, and chest and orange cheeks and tail tip)

(Clementine: a short-furred dark grey and white tom wearing a blue harness on his back)