#rindlefish

In a surprisingly selfless act, Rindlefish (83) saves Sunjaw (24) from a large dog, but she breaks her leg in the process.  This only drives home Sunjaw’s feelings of worthlessness.  She can’t even use being powerless as an excuse! And besides, even her father seems to think she’s a burden.  She overheard Darkpetal (121) complaining about her behind her back! Bushmask (92) is still trying to bond with Antlersky (39), this time sharing the gossip that Rosemaryquake (39) was seen at the border with a ChaffinchClan cat.  Antlersky has no idea why he thought dirt on her sister would improve their relationship.  Yellowpaw (9) finally earned a compliment from Yuccastar (61) after getting a complex battle move right that combines water and fire magic.  Challenging, but effective.  Chervilcry (61) doesn’t share her mate’s trust of Yellowpaw.  She’s been sharpening her claws near him so he knows that she could hurt him if she wanted.

Leaf-bare has arrived, and the sickness sweeping the Clan shows no signs of abating.  Oh well, at least it means that the Healers get first choice of the available prey.  Brightfalcon (124) is proud of her younger Healers and is quite fond of Caterpillarmallow (31), even putting a bit of her fluff in her nest.  In order to try and get Yellowpaw (8) to perform better and be less reckless, Yuccastar (60) is telling him about her own days as an apprentice.  She may be embellishing a little.  Rindlefish (82) has been feeling like Rosemaryquake has been slacking on her duties as a Healer.   She decides to follow the Healer while she goes to look for herbs, and finds her touching noses with a ChaffinchClan cat.  The scandal!  Rindlefish has a somewhat opposite opinion of Peakspots (49), though.  She thinks that the deputy is quite charming.  Rindlefish spends her time daydreaming about Peakspots. . .and slaughtering Yuccastar and Rosemaryquake.  She would probably benefit from mediation.  However, Chervilcry (60) is feeling exhausted by her mediator duties and, while watching the warriors patrol, can’t help but wonder if she made the wrong choice.  Oh well.  She’s still needed in the Clan as a mediator.  As the only water-blessed cat, it’s not like there are other cats who could take her place.

Yuccastar (58) has decided to mentor the newly named Yellowpaw (6) herself.  She doesn’t trust anyone else to do it.  Yellowpaw is a little hesitant to have the leader as his mentor, but. . .at least he gets to leave camp now, right?  Yuccastar feels like Yellowpaw is a bit incompetent.  Was she this bad as an apprentice?  Meanwhile, Rindlefish (80) made a fast recovery from greencough and immediately got in a fight with a FurledClan warrior.  Great.  Just what the Clan needs heading into leaf-bare.  Rosemaryquake (36) feels a little bad for fighting with her mother and checks in to make sure Brightfalcon (122) is doing alright.  Antlersky (36) has also decided to try and get along with Bushmask (89), and is chatting with him about recent Clan news.

After moons of serving the Clan, Darkpetal (117) has decided to retire to the elders’ den.  Sunflower  (142) is happy to have a companion.  And Darkpetal is happy not to have to go on patrol anymore.  The onset of leaf-fall has brought on a surge in disease.  Rindlefish (79)  got greencough, and then the Healer who was caring for her, Rosemaryquake (35), also came down with it.  Joy.  What a good omen for leaf bare.  Yellowkit (5), who has recovered from heat exhaustion, is enjoying his first leaf-fall.  He’s dashing in and out of the leaves that fall into the grotto.  Seeing him act like such a normal kit makes other cats almost forget what he is.  Almost.  Sometimes the leaves swirl unnaturally into the air, or bursts of excited fire incinerate them.  Other times, living leaves fall into camp.  Yellowkit quickly kills those.  Bushmask (88) sees that and is very intimidated.  Yuccastar (57) wishes that there were more kits in the Clan, but Rosemaryquake is glad that there aren’t, as they would be born in leaf-bare and they would likely be her half-siblings.  Yuccastar has been preoccupied with Yellowkit lately, and Peakspots (46) has been taking on more responsibilities.  He just wants a break.  How did his mom do it?

Greenleaf and life in the Clan move on.  The Healers are hard at work making sure the cats in the Clan stay healthy.  Brightfalcon (118) thinks it would be a lot easier to take care of the warriors if they took any interest in herbs.  Chervilcry (54) struggled in a recent negotiation with a rival Clan.  She couldn’t quite get them to see her point.  And the other Clans don’t seem to respect ElementClan the way they used to, what with them having lost their feared dark-cursed cats and their brave fire and water warriors.  Rindlefish (76) still thinks she would be a better leader than Yuccastar (54).  Everything would run so much smoother.  Sunflower’s (139) joints are aching, so he’s expecting rainy weather.  That’s the pattern he’s noticed.   A patrol finds a little kit named Yellowkit  (2) that they bring back to the Clan.  While Caterpillarmallow (25) is checking over him, she realizes that he has a literal dark aura around him.  He’s dark-cursed!  She immediately goes to Yuccastar and Peakspots (43) and tells them what she has discovered.  Yuccastar is tempted to exile the kit-he may be a threat to her power.  But Peakspots reminds her that Shadestar and Skydawn were dark-cursed, and were good cats.  Yuccastar decides to give Yellowkit a chance to prove himself.  Although he will be under close supervision until he does.  She doesn’t want the dark forest infiltrating her Clan.

Meta: Darkpetal is another cat that I manually changed the gender of. Originally, he was listed as a cis tom. However, since he joined with kits right after giving birth, I just assumed that he was a cis she-cat and used she/her pronouns for him. Eventually, I realized that he was actually a tom but didn't feel like going back and changing his pronouns in previous moon summaries. So I manually made him a trans tom.

The Clan still mourns Nessie’s loss, but things are starting to look up.  The cats have recovered from their stomacheaches, and Caterpillarpaw (11) is feeling well enough after being sick to work again.  Despite being friendly with Yuccawillow (41), Sunflower (126) heard a rumor that she is just being deputy for the power so that she can turn the Clan back against dark-cursed cats (heard from Rindlefish-63-of course).  He’s upset and isn’t sure what to do.  Shardfrost (41) always feels more comfortable around fire-blessed cats (due to her strong water magic), so she has been trying to spend more time with Peakspots (30).  It’s nice knowing that, if her powers get out of control, there’s someone to balance her out.

Just when the Clan thought they had left the struggles of leaf-bare behind, Nessie’s (57) broken bone claimed his life.  Peakspots (29) mourns that she and Nessie didn’t have more time together, and that Nessie was in the healer's den for the entire time they were mates.  She goes through her memories with him over and over, making sure that she will never forget him.  She even burns a mark in the ground where his body was laid, symbolizing her love for him.  The Clan has also had an onset of stomach aches, with Sunflower (125), Yuccawillow (40), and Rindlefish (62) all falling ill to one.  Maybe someone brought back tainted prey?  Meanwhile, when Brightfalcon  (104) was out in the rain with Shardfrost (40), the powerful water-blessed cat made a bubble of rain around the two of them.  Impressive.  It also makes Brightfalcon wish she could do more with her earth-blessing   Chervilcry (40) is grateful that her mate is still doing well (and has recovered from his broken bone), so she sneaks out to sleep in his nest at night.  Darkpetal (100) has noticed that, despite being a relatively weak-powered cat, Airkit (3) has a lot of control for a kit so young.  She swallows her pride and asks her daughter for some advice.  It’s surprisingly helpful.