#saffronclan

The new leader had been wandering around, exploring new territory when she was startled by an unfamiliar scent reaching her. It was a cat, but not any of her clanmates, and before Gulfstar could even think to search for them a head poked out from a nearby bush.

“Hey, you there!”

Gulfstar turned, looking for the source of the voice until she found it. A younger creamy she-cat with a rye stalk behind her ear was eyeing her with… anger?

“Yeah you! You're one of those newcomers right?”

For a second, Gulfstar wasn't sure how to respond, but she quickly regained composure. “Greetings! I'm Gulfstar, leader of SaffronClan! Yes, we were led here by-”

“Oh cut the mouse-dung,” the she-cat waved her off, baring her teeth. “Moons of peace, and now you just come here and declare yourself a clan? SaffronClan of all things?”

Taken aback, Gulfstar stiffened. What was she on about? What’s wrong with SaffronClan? Still, she tried to stay polite. “What do you mean? Who are you?”

“I am Peachplume, a respected warrior of PrimroseClan.” She flicked her tail. “And we don't want you here. Years of peaceful coexistence and suddenly some kittypets think they can be a clan? You're either stupid or disrespectful if you think we'll allow it.”

Gulfstar’s fur bristled despite her best efforts. How dare she?! Rebuilding SaffronClan was their sacred mission now - who did this kit think she was, bossing her around? Her voice suddenly turned ice-cold, surprising even herself.

“StarClan themselves chose me and my clanmates to go form a new clan here. And SaffronClan was the name we were told to give it. If you and your clan have issues with that, that's your problem.”

The cat, Peachplume, unsheathed her claws, but didn't move. There were a few tense beats as they just stared at each other in fury. In the end, she retracted them, shaking her head and shutting her eyes. After a moment she opened them and stopped to look back at Gulfstar, staring her down sternly.

“Listen to me. SaffronClan is trouble. And many cats would agree with me. Run while you still have the chance. We don't need more Twolegplace savages in our forest.”

Gulfstar tried to give her the coldest gaze she had, despite the fiery anger she felt inside her. “I don't know who you think we are, but I give you my word we only want to be a good and respectable clan and live together in peace. We bring no harm, and I hope you and the other clans see that soon.”

Flicking her ear but not changing her expression, Peachplume just let out a short “Mrrp!” before jumping back into the overgrowth beyond. Still bristling with anger, Gulfstar was alone once more, although she could already hear someone approaching fast. Sootleg?

“Gulf- Gulfstar! What happened? Are you alright?”

Turning to face her, Gulfstar quickly mustered a smile. The talk with the clancat shook her, but she wasn't about to let it show. There was work to be done.

“Of course, Sootleg. Don't you worry about me.”

[Gulfstar was seen arguing, and borderline-fighting, with a cat from PrimroseClan. The clan has encountered Peachplume.]

*:･ﾟ❀༉‧˚.✧*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ❀༉‧˚.✧*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ❀༉‧˚.

“Ughhh… My belly…”

Popstreak’s ears flattened in annoyance as she tried drowning out the whines of the longfurred tom. Oakfoot had come to her a few days prior complaing about a bellyache. She had given him some herbs, but it quickly worsened and he had to be moved to the medicine den. The tom claimed the herbs didn't help, but Popstreak was more inclined to believe he didn't even take them, because of their poor smell or whatever other reason he found.

“What a child. You can't refuse medicine just because you think it tastes bad.” she thought and continued sorting herbs.

…Oh. It seemed she was out of elder leaves already. And juniper was running low too. Well, the weather is still good - she might as well get out of here before Oakfoot drives her crazy.

She turned towards him. “I’m going out on a herb patrol. You just lay here and wait for the herbs to kick in. Don't worry, I'm sure there's someone who'd like to keep you company.” That final part was a damn lie, but she didn't intend to let it show.

Oakfoot didn't even have time to argue before she briskly walked outside. The weather was nice and sunny in true Greenleaf fashion. There was a patch of big elder bushes not a far walk away, and if she's lucky there should still be some juniper left along the way too.

She walked in utter silence until reaching the elder bush. A couple shrews were sniffing about, but it only took a nasty look from the huge she-cat to send them scampering. She didn't feel like hunting them - they were barely bigger than the pebbles on the ground under her paws anyway.

There was a small boulder protruding from the ground near the bush. Still silent, she hopped onto it, reaching out with her left paw to pull the closest branch near her mouth, careful not to fall down. How ironic that elder leaves, used to treat sprains, are often gathered in ways that risk sprains, she thought as she gathered them with her teeth.

As she hopped down and turned to go back, Popstreak was pleasantly surprised to see that there was, in fact, juniper growing just a fox-length away from the trail. Good for her, she wouldn't need to return to this spot for a while now.

…She did, however, need to return to the annoying patient in her den. Bleh.

Every time Popstreak thought he couldn't get any more on her nerves, Oakfoot would surprise her. She had barely stepped foot into the den, when he hissed:

“There you are! What took you so long?! Your stinky herbs aren't helping, can't you give me anything else?”

Popstreak tightened the grip she had on the herbs. Living with this tom is going to be hard, that's for sure.

[Popstreak gathers herbs by herself.]

[Oakfoot has gotten a stomachache.]

[Popstreak thinks Oakfoot isn't very considerate of others.]

*:･ﾟ❀༉‧˚.✧*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ❀༉‧˚.✧*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ❀༉‧˚.

"A rogue! Oh no! Who will save us?" Softkit gasped, eyes wide in mock terror. She flopped around on her back, as if struck by an enemy claw.

Yowling out a battle call, a small orange tom jumped over to her, as triumphantly as his tiny legs allowed him. "Fear not, young miss! For I, Amberdawn, the legendary warrior of SaffronClan-"

"Hey, not fair!" Softkit hissed, dropping the charade in a moment. "I wanna be Amberdawn!"

"But you always take her!"

"Yeah, 'cuz she's cool!"

"So let me be her once! You can have Sootleg or someone."

"But I'm a much better Amberdawn!"

Lightningkit scoffed at that, turning around. He knew his sister would throw a fuss over this, so he came prepared.

The small tom's tail was adorned with freshly gathered cardinal feathers, the same kind Amberdawn wore. They fit with his pelt beautifully and shone in the greenleaf sun.

Softkit's mouth opened and didn't know how to close in shock. "Where did you get that? They're pretty, let me have some!!"

"Nope, they're mine, so I get to be Amberdawn."

"No!! ...Can I have maybe just one, pleeeease?"

"Hmmm... nope! And actually, I like these so much, I think I'll keep them forever!"

"What?! No!! I'll- I'll get dad!"

The dad was sitting at the entrance of the elders’ den, watching his kits from afar. Milkbud yawned a bit, still sleepy from his nap. As he adjusted himself on the mossy bedding, the Clan cave was entered by another cat, who was carrying a freshly-killed bird in her mouth.

"Hey Milkbud!" Sootled called as she walked over, setting the bird down in front of him. "Here you go. I know it's not much, but I was out and thought I should get you something to eat, at least until we fill the fresh-kill pile."

She was right - they'd barely been living here for a moon, and the fresh-kill pile couldn't always fulfill all their needs yet still. Unfortunately it meant that for the time being, Milkbud and other older cats would occasionally have to eat less than their clanmates, as Gulfstar made a rule of prioritizing the youngest cats during meals.

Milkbud didn't mind too much - he was still strong, and really grateful his kits were being well cared for. Still, small gestures like this meant a lot. "Thanks, Sooty. Hope it wasn't too much trouble."

"Oh no, not at all!" the she-cat smiled politely, before turning to look at the kits, who were still arguing. "What are they doing there? Do you need me to break them up?"

Milkbud shook his head. "They're smart kids, I'm sure they can talk it out. I'm only separating them if they start to actually fight." he concluded, just as Lightningkit down there stuck his tongue out at his sister. As Sootleg left he could see Softkit turn around, walking away from Lightningkit with a pout on her face.

She walked over to the elders’ den, sitting down a couple frog-lenghts from Milkbud. She was looking at the ground. Seems like the fight over feathers hadn't been resolved after all.

Milkbud thought it over a bit, as this obviously wasn't the first time something like this had happened. Lightningkit was the sweetest little tom ever, but he loved causing trouble and Softkit, who was more timid, would often end up his favourite target. The tom looked at the bird in his paws.

Then he smiled and got up, coming to sit next to his daughter. “You want some honey?” he pushed the bird closer to her.

Softkit looked up, and in instant her sour mood was gone, replaced by joy and a thankful glimmer in her eyes. “Yes! Yes daddy give me!”

[Softkit always wants to play as Amberdawn in their games of pretend.]

[Lightningkit was playing with cardinal feathers earlier, and decided to wear some of them.]

[Milkbud surprises Softkit with something nice.]

*:･ﾟ❀༉‧˚.✧*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ❀༉‧˚.✧*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ❀༉‧˚.

“... ello… star… can you…”

“...”

Gulfstar awoke with a gasp. Panting, she looked around in her nest. Through the hole in the ceiling she could see it was still nighttime, greenleaf stars shining down even brighter than usually. She was alone. There was no one here.

…And yet, she was sure she heard somebody just now. Did she make it up? Or was it a dream? A vision?

Shaking her head to try and clear her thoughts, Gulfstar curled up again. She should try and get some sleep. Perhaps she could make sense of it in the morning.

[Gulfstar thinks she's been hearing the voices of StarClan cats.]

*:･ﾟ❀༉‧˚.✧*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ❀༉‧˚.✧*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ❀༉‧˚.