#~brackenleaf

Year two begins with the newleaf gathering of all the clans - Springclan, Stormclan, Ivyclan, Leafclan, Mintclan, and of course, Direclan. Lightningstar of Springclan reveals that Blizzardkit and Bouncekit are actually the kits of their disgraced and exiled healer, Frondskip. She demands that Clawstar return them to Springclan or they and Ivyclan will join together to drive out the newly-formed Direclan. Clawstar, enraged at the treatment of Frondskip and the implication that Direclan could be so easily cowed, refuses and takes her clan home early. A cat named Tempest joins Direclan after saying that a starry-eyed cat led her there and, that same moon, Clawstar loses a life defending Blizzard and Bounce from attacking Springclan cats. A little while later, Tempest receives a vision of calamity accompanied by that same starry-eyed cat - obviously Direstrike. Hazelfog begins spreading rumors about Brackenleaf’s inadequacy as a healer, only bolstering his own anxieties. Oakspider and Lionstripe work on building rapport to ask Leafclan for aid against Spring and Ivyclan. Lionstripe and Clawstar both struggle with their new apprentices, Bouncepaw and Blizzardpaw, and their feelings about their siblings while Oakspider catches drift of Hazelfog’s poisonous rumormongering. Oakspider is hit by a monster while hunting and has her back broken. A loner, Marrow, watches over her until Clovepelt and Heavydrop find her. The next moon, Clovepelt and Lionstripe find a Springclan apprentice begging to join Direclan, none other than the deputy Midgekick’s son, Ripplepaw. They initially want to turn him away, but Brackenleaf vouches for him. In leaf-fall, the war officially ends, but not without some unresolved tensions. Hazelfog’s assault on Brackenleaf’s ego intensifies so much that he rarely leaves his den. Clawstar finds another cat near the thunderpath, this time the loner Marrow has been hit by a monster! She joins the clan and takes on the suffix -tooth out of respect to her rescuers. On the same moon that Blizzardfawn is named a warrior, she overhears a conversation between Hazelfog and Clawstar where they reveal that she and Bouncemist are foundlings and, beyond that, the reason for the war with Springclan in their kithood. Shaken by this information, she goes to tell Bouncemist, who insists that Hazelfog is still their mother, by blood or not. Oakspider tries to cheer up Brackenleaf while she’s stuck in the healer’s den with him, but he can’t seem to overcome the overwhelming pressure put on him both by her and Marrow’s conditions and Hazelfog’s torment after Mintpaw’s death. Bouncemist and Rippleclaw are named warriors, but their ceremonies are overshadowed by Heavydrop dreaming of a starry-eyed cat and rushing water and the subsequent discovery of two bodies - Brackenleaf, slain at the Stormclan border, and Hazelfog, back broken over the spikes at the bottom of the ravine. The year ends with Direclan declaring war on Stormclan for the murder of Brackenleaf, Marrowtooth and Oakspider’s recoveries, and the death of Rippleclaw at the paws of a black bear. Blizzardfawn hints that she may know more about Brackenleaf and Hazelfog’s deaths than she should…

Our story begins with a prophecy, delivered to the healer apprentice of Ivyclan, Woodpaw. A starry-eyed cat named Ivy tells him that “The cat who is two in one will threaten the clan’s way of life forever”. When he delivers this prophecy to the leadership of Ivyclan, Furledstar decides that the best way to avoid any trouble is to exile Clawmimic, a half-n-half tortoiseshell, preemptively. On her way out of the territories, Clawmimic meets with her friend Clovepelt of Stormclan, who sees another starry-eyed ghost accompanying her. The pair are led to a grotto beneath the last redwood up the mountain by the specter and to a misty cavern containing a waterfall below. There, Clawmimic can see the ghost in the mist and, upon touching noses with it, is named Clawstar and granted nine lives. The pair take this as a sign that they are being called to start a new clan and gather up a handful of cats from across the other five clans under the redwood to form Direclan. This includes Heavydrop, his mate Hazelfog, and their daughter Mintkit from Mintclan, Clovepelt and his former apprentice Oakspider from Stormclan, Oakspider’s friend Brackenleaf from Springclan (who desperately agrees to be their healer despite having very little experience), and of course Clawstar herself. The new clan finds an injured kittypet who takes the name Shortspeckle, who unfortunately turns out to have redcough and passes away under Brackenleaf’s care. Brackenleaf is crushed by this loss and wonders if he was wrong to have told Clawstar that he could be Direclan’s healer. Hazelfog and Heavydrop’s relationship proves too weak to survive the stressors of forming a new clan and they break up just before Mintkit’s apprentice ceremony. She is named Direclan’s very first apprentice, studying under Clawstar, whom she really looks up to! Brackenleaf grows cold and jealous of Clovepelt, who seems to have a much closer relationship to Starclan than him, and argues with Oakspider. Mintpaw sprains her paw while out hunting with Clawstar and ends up confined to the healer’s den with Brackenleaf. She quickly grows bored of being trapped there and tries to escape camp to take a walk but instead ends up falling into the river and catching a cold. While her parents drag the whole clan into their argument over who was supposed to be watching her, only Brackenleaf and Clovepelt keep her company in her sickness. In leaf-fall, Direclan attends its first gathering and tries to recruit more members. Meanwhile, Clovepelt and Heavydrop grow closer, much to Hazelfog’s dismay. The relationships between Heavydrop and Clovepelt and Clawstar and Hazelfog become more involved, but unfortunately Mintpaw’s cold develops into whitecough. Brackenleaf finds two newborn kits next to their dead mother Frondskip, the young Springclan healer who was one of the few cats there who had ever been kind to him. He brings the kittens back and asks Hazelfog to take care of them but doesn’t tell her where or who they came from. The next moon, Mintpaw passes away due to her illness and the whole clan grieves for her except her new little siblings, Blizzardkit and Bouncekit, who are too small to think much of it. Brackenleaf becomes even more detached, thoroughly believing that he is a failure. Heavydrop and Clovepelt officially become mates and Blizzardkit bonds a lot with Heavydrop. Brackenleaf falls ill due to stress and Clawstar does her best to keep her little clan together… but before the seasons can change again Brackenleaf is feeling much better and Clawstar and Hazelfog officially become mates as well! In the last days of the year, Heavydrop and Clovepelt find a longer living in a barn who expresses interest in the clans and agrees to join, taking the name Lionstripe.