#petalsong

there's sm abt leafpool that is overly defined by crowfeather by both parts of the fandom and the authors themselves. leafpool was 10 years old when she died. out of all that time, she and crowfeather were only mates for like two moons, if even that. she never stopped loving him, that is true. but the only cat who walked with leafpool from birth until death was her sister. squirrelflight's inner monologue isn't denying that crowfeather loved leafpool, but that in the end, it didn't matter. in the end, leafpool was so much more than what her and crowfeather were, or what could've been.

Beesting rn

I will say though, I appreciate that Brambleclaw's death means that the only strong connection Tawnypelt still had to ThunderClan is now severed. Without her brother, she has no real reason to remain in ThunderClan apart from not having to deal with Tigerstar's disrespect. It narratively puts her in a position to continue to question where she truly belongs in a world where she no longer has Brambleclaw to rely on, and I like those types of stories with older characters.

The Bramblekit and Tawnykit flashback really got me

Jayfeather still had a lot of unresolved feelings about Leafpool being his true mother at the time she died. Although personally painful to read, his emotions at Leafpool's vigil were realistic. The truth of his birth derailed Jayfeather's life as he knew it; this is not something that someone just "gets over" because the one that hurt him had pure intentions. And the truth hurt him on a slightly deeper level because Leafpool was also his mentor. She was his example of what a medicine cat should be.

Leafpool and Squirrelstar had the best of intentions for Jayfeather, Lionblaze, and Hollyleaf when they lied about their birth, BUT all three of those cats suffered deeply as a result of the truth coming out. Multiple things can be true at once!

A lot of us (rightfully) criticize Brambleclaw's character because of how withdrawn he became from Jayfeather and Lionblaze following the Gathering & Hollyleaf's disappearance in the tunnels. One thing I never personally considered before is the fact that at this point, the Clan believes that Hollyleaf is more than likely dead. Brambleclaw is not only struggling with the knowledge that the three kits he raised weren't his, but that one of them "died" before he as a father could receive any type of closure. That is a painful weight to carry on top of being the Clan's deputy. How he treats Jayfeather and Lionblaze after the events of Sunrise is a valid critique but through Jayfeather's eyes, Brambleclaw is still his father. It would make sense that Jayfeather's grief for Brambleclaw is more palpable and much more raw on the surface because it doesn't carry as much complication as his grief for Leafpool did.

Some people forget entirely that Jayfeather did grieve Leafpool, and quite deeply. He poured himself into his work as a medicine cat to avoid speaking with anybody about his grief for Leafpool. He avoided going to the half-moon meetings at the Moonpool because he wasn't ready to see his mother yet. The other medicine cats literally had to have an intervention for him. 😭

All of this is so true

I hadn’t considered that, I would probably join you in your emotional distress

Although the circumstances are obviously very sad it’s nice to see that finally we seem to have someone in-universe with dementia again, it has bothered me that we had two cats during the first arc with it and then never anyone ever again.

Have you ever considered that rocks are just violently misogynistic? /j

It’s an absolute joke given the description of the fall, and how we literally had Fogdrift have a death by small fall onto small rock published less than a year ago.