#mapleflower

           Rainpaw, Falconpaw, are you both staying home from the Gathering tonight?  Ah, well, that’s too bad.  Maybe I can cheer you up with a story.  Is there one in particular you’d like to hear?

           Ah, Mapleflower’s tale?  That one’s not a happy one, you know.  Alright, alright, since you want to hear it again, I’ll tell it. Hush now, and let your grandmother settle her old bones.

           Once upon a time, many seasons ago, there lived a beautiful and brilliant warrior named Mapleflower.  She was much beloved by Thunderclan, and all four Clans knew of her bravery and selflessness.  Many cats courted her, but her heart had long been claimed.  But herein lies the seed of this tragedy, for young Mapleflower was madly in love with a warrior of Riverclan, a tom named Ryetalon.  Both cats knew their affair was against the code, yet neither could deny the pull of their hearts—

           Rainpaw, don’t make faces.  You wanted to hear this story, and I’m going to tell it to you. Now, as I was saying:

           Both cats knew their love was against the laws they both agreed to live by, but neither cat could live without the other. They met in secret, slipping out of their camps to meet at Fourtrees when their duties were done.  Around them, though, tensions were growing higher between their Clans.

           You see, my dears, the river once ran a different course.  Seasons upon seasons ago, it cut around the other side of Sunningrocks, so that the stones were on Riverclan’s side of the border.  But for whatever reason, Starclan’s will or a strange stroke of fate, the river changed course after one dire flood.  The rocks were on Thunderclan’s side of the river now, and both Clans were certain that the rocks truly belonged to them.  Neither Clan thought to ask Starclan of it, perhaps because they feared they were wrong.  Shadowclan and we in Windclan have always been more willing to defer to our ancestors than our proud neighbors.

           But I digress – It was around this time that Mapleflower realized she was pregnant with Ryetalon’s kits.  Nothing could have made the molly happier – In these kits, she saw not only the joy of herself and her mate, but an end to the feud between Thunderclan and Riverclan.  After all, how could the Clans argue over something as silly as a pile of stone when they were united by a litter of strong and brave young kits?  Excited, Mapleflower resolved to tell Ryetalon at the next Gathering, less than a quarter-moon away.

           Unfortunately, the very next night, a fierce and vicious battle erupted over Sunningrocks.  In the fighting, Ryetalon struck a Thunderclan cat too hard, and the tom lost his footing and was swept into the raging river below.  His apprentice followed him, trying to save her mentor, and unfortunately both cats met their end among the rocks.  Those cats were Birchfang, son of the Thunderclan leader Oakstar, and Juniperpaw, kin to both the Thunderclan deputy and medicine cat.  Their whole clan mourned their loss bitterly, and blamed Ryetalon for both deaths.

           Still full of faith that the kits would one day unite the two Clans, Mapleflower hurried through the Gathering’s crowds to tell Ryetalon of her pregnancy.  Fear edged her joy now, however, and the young warrior was more careless than usual. As she spoke to her beloved, the Thunderclan medicine cat, Ravencloud, overheard.  Full of fury and pain at Mapleflower’s betrayal, he told Oakstar of the news immediately.  Unable to wait until the Gathering was over, Oakstar summoned Mapleflower before all four Clans, charged, and exiled her on the spot.  Unable to do anything less, Darkstar called Ryetalon forth.

For a moment, Mapleflower was able to console herself – Her Clan had abandoned her, but surely her mate would remain by her side.  Then, to everyone’s disbelief, the tom begged forgiveness and turned his back on Mapleflower, declaring his heart had always belonged to the Riverclan molly Poppystream.  Shocked by his disloyalty to both Clan and mate, Darkstar and Poppystream both refused him, and he was sent into exile.  Full of anguish, Mapleflower stood at the foot of the Great Rock and laid a curse upon Thunderclan and Riverclan alike:

“I had hoped that the kits I bear would one day bring Thunderclan and Riverclan together, but now I see that that will never happen in my time.  One day, both Clans will fight as one, but until that day, this story will repeat itself again and again – A cat of the river and a cat of the wood will fall in love, and it will end in tragedy until both Riverclan and Thunderclan can set aside their wars and stand together in peace.”

And with that, Mapleflower walked away from Fourtrees, never to be seen again.  Some say she died – Thunderclan will certainly say so, of course – and others say she lived out her years with the Twolegs.  But others whisper of a spectral queen who lurks around those four great oaks, weaving fate and chance together until two young apprentices from warring Clans stumble into her trap.  So mind yourselves, little ones, when you speak to your friends at the next Gathering. It has been long enough since her death that Mapleflower’s ghost may not recognize or care that you’re Windclan born, and steal your hearts away for her games.