#mapleclaw

When I think about it, Mapleclaw’s kithood and apprenticeship largely mirrored Bearpaw’s - except replace Bearpaw’s spunk with cold, hard determination. She was larger than the majority of apprentices, and always won sparring matches. She was creative and innovative, and used battle moves she learned from her mentor with a creative spin on them. She didn’t have any particular interest in racing up trees or climbing; she was better suited on the forest floor, and was fierce when it came to defending her Clan. After several border skirmishes against MarshClan where she bravely fought against full-grown warriors, she was given the name Mapleclaw, and proved herself time and time again. As a young warrior, Mapleclaw was not a fan of downtime. The deputy at the time, Wormnose, insisted that she take a break once in awhile, and begged her to stop dragging out resting warriors on more patrols. Mapleclaw’s usual response to that was to secretly organize a patrol of cats who were willing enough to be dragged across the territory - including nursery queens who just wanted her to leave them alone. However stale it was, the tiniest scent of fox was reason enough for Mapleclaw to beg Wormnose to launch several tracking patrols. She was a fiery cat who never took a moment to breathe, and always was a breath away from springing into action. The incident with her leg happened when she was around thirty or forty moons old. When ForestClan moves camp from the lower level (the forest floor) to the upper level (in the trees), it’s usually an indication that there are predators about that make conditions on the ground less ideal for kittens, queens, and elders. Many -leg and -tail cats strut their stuff during these times. So the Clan had been on alert that there was a predator wandering about, and they are slowly moving their stores to the trees. Some smaller predators, like bobcats and foxes, can be chased off - but larger predators like bears are best avoided. Suddenly one of the baby bears shows up, and all the cats are freaking out. It managed to tumble through their camp barrier, and a queen screamed for her kits, who were playing in a pile of leaves. Mapleclaw watched as this predator got really close to the kittens. She dashed forward, pushed the kittens backwards, and slashed the bear across the face. The bear grabbed her paw and pulled her forward. As she hissed and spat, fluffed up as large as possible, the Clan managed to grab the kittens. Two other warriors swatted the bear backwards just long enough to get Mapleclaw out of it’s grasp; another warrior grabbed her by the scruff and hauled her up the tree into the medicine cat’s den.

(brief note - the Clan isn’t in peril for that long, because there are Twolegs who frequent a beach near the place and they end up calling a wildlife rescue, who relocates the bear and her cubs)So here’s Mapleclaw, a cat who’s just barely entered into her golden years. She’s got open cuts and scrapes, a mangled front paw, and what seems to be a concussion. She can barely breathe, and she’s so used to just running around that she struggles to get up and away as soon as possible. Garlicpelt, of course, puts a swift end to that, telling her that she may be in the den for moons, and that her leg will never heal.

At this point Mapleclaw has seen several cats with mangled legs and many problems continue being warriors, so she’s not concerned about that - she openly declares that she’ll continue fighting as soon as she’s able.

But while she’s out of commission, she starts to notice things she hasn’t paid attention to before, like the softness of a queen and her kit, the close bond between Wormnose and Foxstar, and how the apprentices scuffle together. Life goes on, and Mapleclaw wonders how she got so far without making any close friendships. She starts to grow a bond with Garlicpelt, who tells her all about the position. Garlicpelt was a kitten at the same time Mapleclaw was, so they recount their stories. Mapleclaw develops curiosity about the position.