#shimmersky

Tigerpelt and Shimmersky were huddled outside of Four Corners, away from everyone else. Shimmersky couldn’t risk someone overhearing.

“I’m going to lure Nightflower into the woods. You need to let every one of our clanmates know… discretely.” Shimmersky finished.

Tigerpelt looked nervous. “But… we’ll be putting Nightflower in danger if one of those patrol members were the spy.”

Shimmersky sighed. “I know, but we need to rule them out. If nobody goes to go attack Nightflower, then we know it’s not one of the patrol members.”

“What if… someone goes to meet her instead of killing her?” Tigerpelt said, vocalizing something that Shimmersky didn’t want to think about.

“Then…” she trailed off. “We have to consider that Nightflower was the spy.”

“But she’s the prophecy cat!”

“All the more reason to work with Redstar to secure her safety.” Shimmersky muttered. “Dozens to spare one.”

Tigerpelt didn’t respond.

“We’ll do it after the announcements. Come on, the Gathering is starting.”

With that, the two cats returned to the Gathering.

—

Badgerstar started the Gathering this moon.

“We have had a very eventful moon.” he started. “There are five new kits in the clan. Treeclan welcomes Starlingkit, Forestkit, and Sandykit of Lynxclaw, and Berrykit and Shrubkit of Gustfog.”

Treeclan usually announced the parentage of kits, she had come to notice. They had a large emphasis on bloodline, so that came as no surprise. Her friend Lynxclaw’s kits were not given the same cheering as Gustfog’s, she noticed. Gustfog was a cat with a higher viewed lineage.

“Though unfortunately, an outbreak of yellowcough has claimed four of our warriors. We honor Alderhoney, Shinewhisker, Stonepelt, and my daughter, Brokenpad.” he dipped his head down.

That was all he had. Next, Finchstar had his announcements. Shimmersky noticed that he also had a saddened look on his face. Likely, one of his children also died.

“We have two new warriors, Guppytail and Lavenderpelt.” he started. He paused to allow the clans to cheer their names.

“And, four new kits. All healthy.” Finchstar continued. “But unfortunately, one of our own has died. My son, Topclash… he will be remembered.”

He bowed his head down. So did the new warriors Guppytail and Lavenderpelt— they were Topclash’s children, Shimmersky reasoned.

Finchstar stepped back, and Redstar replaced him.

Shimmersky could see it in his eyes— there was a sense of humor twinkling in those serene pools of red. He was laughing to himself about something, she realized. But what?

“We have had a good moon. Nothing new to report specifically, though our kits are growing well. The queens have… bitten off more than they can chew, in my opinion.”

With that, he audibly chuckled to himself. He looked back at Darkstar. “Your turn now.”, his eyes seemed to say.

Darkstar took his place at the front.

“We have one new kit.” he said, “and our clan is thriving!”

That was all he had to say.

As he stepped back, Redstar whispered something in to Darkstar’s ear. Darkstar’s face went cold, and his eyes widened to show the whites. Shimmersky could figure what he said.

“Congrats on the new kit.”

Her claws dug into the ground. That lake-damned monster!

However, that didn’t narrow anything down. Everyone in the clan knew about Ravenkit’s miraculous rebirth. She just hoped that Redstar wouldn’t attack the clan to get to her.

—

It was strange, meeting with her other-clanned friends. Lynxclaw was nowhere to be found (due to giving birth, of course). Without her, it felt a bit odd. Firefall was very happy about her new siblings, though. Apparently the four kits announced were Rainleaf and Bloomfur’s. The two had found a donor outside of the clan. Shimmersky noticed that they were mostly given names associated with the forest. Branchkit, Twigkit, Mossykit… she wouldn’t say it, but she suspected that the donor was from Treeclan.

Shimmersky turned to Nightflower.

“Hey, do you think you could meet me outside of Four Corners? It’s important.”

Nightflower seemed surprised. “Oh, alright. Sure.”

“Just wait for me to go see Gingerclaw really quick, ok?” Shimmersky added.

Nightflower’s face immediately turned sour.

“No, no, no. You always take forever when you do that!” she said indignantly.

“You have to go wait out there for me now. I promise I’ll only take a bit!”

Shimmersky batted her lashes in an innocent manner.

Nightflower sighed. “Fine… I guess.”

With that, she turned and left the building, slipping through one of the rotted planks on the wall.

Shimmersky waited a moment, before stalking after her. She flicked her tail as she passed Tigerpelt. He nodded in response.

—

“Huh, I just watched Nightflower leave! How weird! I wonder what she’s doing?” Tigerpelt mused loudly.

“This is the fourth time you’ve said that, Tigerpelt. I think everyone in the clan knows already. N-not to be mean, of course.” Sandstone said, looking awkward.

Tigerpelt shrugged. “Ok, good.”

He didn’t bother to stick around, leaving Sandstone behind where he stood. Off to find someone else!

He saw his mother speaking with Gingerclaw. They were off to the side, so they were probably the only ones who hadn’t heard.

Well, besides Mudfoot and Darkstar, since he hadn’t talked to them. But he didn’t need to worry about them being the spy.

He bounded towards Leopardcloud and Lionmane.

“—I understand if you want nothing to do with us.” Leopardcloud looked down. “But… I figured… it was time for you to know. You deserved that much, Ginger.”

He stopped in his tracks. He… probably shouldn’t be hearing this. But he couldn’t look away.

Gingerclaw looked conflicted as he stared at the ground.

“I’ve… always wondered about my parentage, to be honest. I guess… I had my suspicions, but I figured it couldn’t be too easy.” he looked up at Leopardcloud. “I won’t fault you for not being there was I was younger. It wasn’t your choice. But… I want you to be my parent now. Can you do that?”

Leopardcloud nodded. “Of course, Ginger.”

“Shimmersky and I are planning on having kits soon. We’ve already started plotting our spot in the nursery. I want you to be there as a grandmother to our kits. Lionmane too. Shimmersky doesn’t really have parents… so you being there would be really helpful for us.” Gingerclaw explained.

“Of course. We’ll help you every step of the way.” Leopardcloud licked the top of Gingerclaw’s head. “Now, we just need to let your younger siblings know.”

“No need to tell me.” Tigerpelt finally said. “I— uh, heard it.”

Leopardcloud smiled to her younger son. “Tigerpelt. I hope this didn’t come as too much of a surprise.”

Tigerpelt was a bit uncomfortable. “I guess… I knew we had other siblings, but I didn’t expect Gingerclaw to be one of them.”

Leopardcloud looked down. “Yes… I suppose you wouldn’t have. I’m sorry for… keeping this from all of you for so long.”

Tigerpelt looked at his friend— no, his brother— who still looked sad.

“It doesn’t matter what happened in the past.” Gingerclaw said. “What matters now is what we do going forward. I may not have known you as my mother or you as my brother… but, my future kits won’t have to live a life where they didn’t know that. They’ll just grow up with a grandma and grandpa and many aunts and uncles.”

Tigerpelt nodded. “I think I’d be a cool uncle.”

Leopardcloud mrrped with laughter. “I’m sure you will be.”

—

Shimmersky had followed Nightflower through the brush, careful to stay hidden. Her dappled pelt was good for camouflage— it looked like pinpricks of moonlight on the foliage.

Now, Nightflower merely waited in a clearing, her displeasure evident on her face. Nightflower, who never complained much and would do anything for her friends, would sit in the darkness away from everyone, alone.

Unaware of the trap she was caught in.

It wasn’t long before rustling sounded ahead of Nightflower. Shimmersky unsheathed her claws and prepared to attack… either the assailant, or Nightflower… if it came to that.

But Shimmersky did not expect who came out of the brush.

In the night, the cat looked almost a bright yellow… glowing with the light of the full moon.

“Hey… are you ok?”

Nightflower noticed the interloper immediately.

“Sandstone? You followed me?”

Sandstone smiled.

“Yeah. I think Tigerpelt wanted me to follow you. Are you alright?”

Nightflower looked at the ground, then at her visitor.

“Shimmersky asked me to meet her here, but then she went off to go talk with Gingerclaw. So I’ve just been sitting out on this cold night alone in the dark— oh Sandstone, what am I even doing?”

Tears dripped down her face as she spoke, pain clearly visible even to Shimmersky.

Shimmersky felt a pang of regret.

Sandstone dipped down and nuzzled her reassuringly.

“I’m sorry, Nightflower. I’m here now.”

She didn’t speak for a bit, just standing in his warmth.

“Hey, Sandstone?”

“Mhm?” he hummed in acknowledgment.

“Do you want to be mates?”

He was quiet for a moment.

“I would like nothing more.” he finally said.

Shimmersky herself was almost on the verge of tears. What was she thinking? Doubting her own best friend… putting her in mortal danger? She… had to fix this.

She stepped out of her hiding spot. “N-Nightflower, I’m here. Sorry… for making you wait.”

Nightflower and Sandstone jumped a bit. He took a step away from her, though he weaved his tail around hers.

Nightflower looked at her friend. “Shimmersky, why did you ask me to come out here?”

“Well…” Shimmersky took a breath. “There’s a spy somewhere in our clan.”

Sandstone’s fur bristled. “A what?!” he looked at Nightflower, who looked calm.

“I knew it…” Nightflower said. “You’d been acting weird. So someone is a spy?”

Shimmersky nodded. “I don’t know who it is… but I know it’s not you or Sandstone. I want to keep you safe, Nightflower. Please tell me how.”

Nightflower looked down. “Who are you planning this with?”

“Tigerpelt and Mudfoot.” she responded.

Nightflower looked at Sandstone, who nodded.

“We need to test them. Let’s start with Tigerpelt.” Nightflower started. “Something harmless, but would definitively prove that Tigerpelt isn’t the spy. We’ll have to separate him from Mudfoot so that they don’t talk to each other.”

“Mudfoot and Rainfeather go out to collect herbs before sunhigh every day.” Sandstone said. “Maybe Shimmersky could lead a patrol with Tigerpelt at that time?”

Shimmersky’s eyes sparkled. “I have an idea.”

“Let’s hear it.” Nightflower said.

“The day half moon, I’ll say that I’ll be leading a border patrol to Swampclan. When Mudfoot and Rainfeather are searching for herbs, I’ll tell everyone still in the camp that the patrol will be at the Treeclan border instead. One of us will watch Mudfoot and see if Tigerpelt tries to tell her, just in case. But we won’t follow Tigerpelt until the patrol. We’ll go to the Swampclan border anyways, and if Redstar has a patrol to meet us… we’ll know the truth or not.”

Sandstone looks conflicted. “How will we know that Redstar will send a patrol to meet us?”

Shimmersky tapped her forehead with her claw.

“Simple. Redstar wants one thing above all else— control. He wants us to believe that he’s omnipotent. That’s why there’s always a Swampclan patrol when we go to that border. He wants to control the narrative. So yes, there will be a patrol there… as long as he knows we’ll be there.”

Nightflower nodded. “Let’s do it.”

Shimmersky looked at her friends. Part of loving someone is trusting yourself to be vulnerable with them. And while Shimmersky struggled with that, she knew that if she ever wanted to make it in this world… she had to trust someone. So in that moment… Shimmersky decided.

She was an old cat with matted white fur and piercing bronze eyes. Her gaze was ever-flitting, changing from spot to spot. It seemed as though she would jump up and attack anyone who got close.

The other cats walked around her as if she was nothing new. Apparently, she was a regular visitor for this sect of the Wanderers.

He wasn’t a member of this particular group; as a Journeyer, it was his job to visit every section of the Wanderers and find his place.

“Hello, Wolf.”

Wolf turned, before gasping. “Trailblazer Maya!”

The tortoiseshell molly smiled, her pink eyes shimmering. He made sure to bow out of respect.

She held up a paw. “No need, Wolf. While you are still a Journeyer, you are a member of this sect.”

He paused, before asking. “May I speak freely for a moment?”

“Of course.” she smiled. “What is it?”

He took a look at the old visitor again.

“I don’t trust her. Something feels off about her.”

Maya sighed. “I understand your wariness, but Clearstripe has been a welcome guest for many moons now. She has never done anything to warrant suspicion.”

Wolf could feel the way she was looking at him. It was just like how cats spoke about his mother.

“I’m not being paranoid for the sake of it.” he meowed. “I’m not my mother.”

Her eyes widened in surprised. “I did not intend on implying that, Wolf. Forgive me.”

He sighed. “No. I know what you’re thinking. Everyone else does as well.”

“Foxtail Barley is a respectable member of our community.” she said. “Don’t let the rumors of others dissuade you.”

He wanted to laugh, but he knew that was disrespectful. Rumors? They were all true!

“I understand, Trailblazer Maya.” he simply replied.

“It’s a shame.” she sighed. “I wish you could stay here permanently. Think about asking your mother if you could join us, ok?”

With that, she turned and left.

He looked over at Clearstripe. He was going to have to investigate her on his own, it seemed. Then, he considered Maya’s words for a moment.

Ma’ wouldn’t take kindly to me leaving, he thought to himself. His place was always going to be by her side… he had no other options.

His thoughts lingered on his mother.

—

Two kits sat together beneath the stars. One, a tom with dark fur that blended in. The other, a young molly with a pelt that reflected the stars. For a while, neither spoke a word.

“I can’t do it.” the molly suddenly said.

The tom turned to her with alarm in his blue eyes

“I can’t stay here anymore.” she said, “Ma’… I can’t live like her. I can’t be alone anymore.”

He looked surprised. “But you have me.”

“Just you.” she repeated. “But I can’t live with just my littermate for the rest of my life. I want to make friends, Wolf. I want to live my own life.”

“Shiny, please don’t leave.” he pleaded. “Is this about Pa’? Ma’ already told us he was a good for nothing—!”

“Stop it! Ma’ thinks that about everyone!” Shiny yelled.

He paused.

“I want to make my own ideas about cats. Not just what Ma’ wants me to think.”

“But you’ll have to leave.” he cried.

She looked at her brother and wanted to tell him everything would be fine. But she couldn’t.

“Come with me.” she finally asked.

“I can’t.”

“I know.”

She turned and left, her small paws thudding against the ground. She followed that path burned into her brain from all those moons again. The path her father took to visit them.

The path to the Clans.

—

The Gathering felt especially hostile this moon, without Darkstar with them. Starleaf was acting leader in his place, and she looked like a mess. She had ordered Mudfoot, Rosepaw, and Jaggedpaw to stay back at camp— if they came with, it would have caused a disaster. Leopardcloud and Lionmane refused to leave Mudfoot’s side, and Nightflower looked too shaken over everything to attend. Everyone else was far too worried about Swampclan or injured— leaving Shimmersky, Gingerclaw, Pebblefur, and Dawntreader the only warriors attending.

“This feels like a bad idea, coming with only six cats.” Dawntreader looked nervous as she paced.

“Well, you could go back and make it five, if you aren’t warrior enough!” Pebblefur snapped.

Gingerclaw stepped between his sister and Dawntreader. “Let’s not fight. We’re going to have enough problems with antagonism when we enter Four Corners.”

Pebblefur hissed, but backed down. She stalked into the old barn ahead of the others, but just behind Starleaf. Pebblefur wasn’t foolish enough to enter first.

Shimmersky was merely lost in her thoughts. She was lucky not to have been majorly injured in the battle with Swampclan she and Tigerpelt had gotten into— Tigerpelt was not so lucky.

Starleaf jumped up the rotten wooden stairs to the loft, where she took Darkstar’s place with the leaders. The other leaders reacted surprised, and begun to talk amongst themselves.

Shimmersky tuned out all of the discussion to focus on what the leaders were talking about.

“Where’s Darkstar?” Finchstar’s eyes narrowed.

“Resting. He’s been ill, so I finally convinced him to stay back.” Starleaf replied calmly.

Badgerstar grumbled “Hopefully he will be back to join us next moon.”

“He certainly didn’t look good these past few moons.”

The other leaders turned to look at Redstar.

Redstar chuckled. “To be honest, I wouldn’t be surprised if he ran away to some Twolegs for help.”

Starleaf’s face hid her shock. “Don’t be ridiculous. He’s a leader. He wouldn’t leave for the Twolegs.”

“When we were kits, I remember him being brought to camp with his kittypet mother.” Redstar said, a pensive look on his face. “Perhaps he’s gone to see her old home?”

“This conversation is over.” Starleaf snapped. “Let’s start the Gathering.”

Shimmersky narrowed her eyes. Redstar knew too much. How could that even be possible? For now, she held her judgement. She needed to watch his mannerisms as the Gathering continued.

Grangeclan and Treeclan went, but nothing particularly caught Shimmersky’s eye. Redstar was fairly unassuming. Even when he gave his own clan’s announcements— so-and-so was expecting kits, so-and-so chased off a fox, nothing truly revealing. Though, she suspected that the “fox” they encountered was rather a very orange clanmate of hers.

Then, it was Starleaf’s turn.

“We have had a good moon. With the last of our apprentices becoming warriors last moon and new kits in the clan, things have been well.”

She turned to leave, but Redstar placed out a paw to stop her.

“Anything else to announce?” he said, eyes staring directly into Starleaf’s

“I— no, that’s it.” she said, regaining her composure.

“No new cats? Not even a few new apprentices?” he continued.

She looked surprised, the emotions flooding her face for the first time that night.

“What in the world are you talking about, Redstar?” Badgerstar looked incredibly annoyed.

Finchstar also seemed confused. This was bad.

Shimmersky knew what his play was. He was trying to force Starleaf to admit that Rosepaw and Jaggedpaw ran away to join the clan. She wasn’t about to let him get away with that.

She grabbed a stone from the ground discreetly. Then, she made a big show of tumbling to the ground. She used that as a screen— distracting from her flinging the stone into the leader’s loft.

Her aim rang true. The stone barreled into Redstar’s flank, causing him to yelp in pain and bring his paw down to his side. Starleaf slipped away with that opening.

“We have nothing more to announce.” she stated.

With that, the Gathering began.

Shimmersky sighed. “That was close…”

“It was that one!”

Suddenly, sharp teeth dug into her scruff. She squawked as she was dragged away from the others.

The cat threw her down in front of the other deputies.

Bergamotfur got in her face. “What was that?! A Gathering is a place of no fighting! You’re disrespecting everything when you throw a stone at a leader!”

Dovelight and Bonestripe also had angry looks on their faces. It looked like she wasn’t going to get off easy. She needed to come up with a good excuse.

“Sorry… I slipped on some loose stones! I didn’t mean to hit the leader, and I would never in my life throw a rock at one! I’m just so clumsy!” she stuck out her tongue, praying they bought it.

“I doubt that.” Bergamotfur said.

“I can corroborate it.” a voice sounded from behind her. Gingerclaw!

“Can you?” Bergamotfur narrowed his eyes.

Gingerclaw pulled something out of his long mane of fur. It was a stone. “Yep. I got hit with one of the rocks when she fell. She really is just that clumsy.”

Bonestripe sighed. “If that is the case, then this isn’t our problem anymore, Bergamotfur. Her deputy will take care of it.”

Bergamotfur’s eyes showed that he wanted to retort, but instead, he turned away.

“Out of my sight.” he said.

Gingerclaw and Shimmersky walked away from the deputies. Once they were out of eyesight, she pressed herself into his side.

“You’re the best mate ever, Ginger.” she purred. “Thank you.”

“I couldn’t leave you to get in trouble, Shimmer.” he rested his head on hers. “But why did you do that?”

She stopped, then looked at him with a serious expression. “Redstar was going to make Starleaf admit to stealing the flowers.”

The flowers. It was the keyword they were using for Rosepaw and Jaggedpaw for now. It was imperative that no one could know, and that meant it was obscured even in private conversations. Eavesdroppers were always a danger.

Gingerclaw looked surprised. “There’s no way he could know for sure. I’m sure he was just testing to figure out if it was us.”

She shook her head. “It can’t be that. He knew about Darkstar’s condition too. It’s not a coincidence.”

Someone must be feeding him information, she realized.

“Ginger… anyone in the clan could be feeding him information.” she emphasized. “But…”

“You have someone in mind, don’t you?”

She nodded.

“I think it’s Jaggedpaw.”

—

“So… there’s a spy among us?” Mudfoot said, her voice low.

Shimmersky nodded. “Yes. It could be anyone.”

Tigerpelt pulled himself up. “But then, why are you telling us?”

Shimmersky sighed. “I won’t be able to figure this out alone. I think you two are the least likely to be the spy. I figured the benefit of telling you would outweigh the negatives. Will you help me?”

“Of course!” Tigerpelt grinned. “We’ll definitely help you catch them.”

“After what Redstar did to me…” Mudfoot brought her paw up to touch the covered side of her face where her eye used to be. “I’d do anything to get him back. Let’s do this.”

Shimmersky nodded. “Alright… I have a plan.”

Nightstar’s clan

(I do not have a discord, but am in the Fallenclan, Circusclan, Gitterclan, and other discords. My discord account is ImmortalCrayons)

(I do not have a discord, but am in the Fallenclan, Circusclan, Gitterclan, and other discords. My discord account is ImmortalCrayons)

(I do not have a discord, but am in the Fallenclan, Circusclan, Gitterclan, and other discords. My discord account is ImmortalCrayons)

For Lore posts:

Crystalclan asks

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Crystalclan family trees

Crystalclan Toyhouse (wip)

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Plushie Comparisons

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Nightstar’s Clan (tag)