Silverstreak was always trying her best for her family. She had been since the death of her parents, Mistyeyes and Cloudheart. She had taken them for granted when she was younger, always determined to get out of the camp with any excuse she could. As a young warrior, before her sisters had been born and even after they'd opened their eyes, Silverstreak was always running off to the beat of her own paws. She had admired tomcats, one ginger tom in particular, but then the river started to dry up.
At first, she hadn't thought much of it. The river was shrinking, but the next rain in leaf-fall would cause it to return and there would be nothing to worry about. But rain didn't come and the riverbed turned into a dusty ditch. Prey started leaving the territory and no matter how much Silverstreak, who once considered herself to be among the best hunters in MountainClan, couldn't catch anything. The prey had all but fled in search of water, but MountainClan remained.
Uncertain and scared, she began to hang around camp more, seeking unexpected comfort in her brother, Stormsong. He had always been more family-oriented than she had. Her parents had a new litter to worry about and their mother, Cloudheart, tried to encourage them to drink her milk longer, because there was no longer prey that they could eat. But Cloudheart's milk was drying up and with no prey to sustain her nor water to drink, Cloudheart dried up herself, too. Their father, Mistyeyes, hadn't lasted too long after and Silverstreak had to watch as her parents went to SunClan, one after the next.
Determined not to let anything happen to her younger sisters, Silverstreak spent every moment of her time either with them, teaching them the hunting crouch and drilling them on the differences between hunting a rabbit, mouse or bird, or out hunting. Anything she brought back, regardless of its size, she would give to her sisters. Whenever she looked at Stormsong, she saw her own determination reflected in his gaze. They would keep their little sisters alive, no matter the cost.
She was so happy when she got Dawnpaw as her apprentice. Duskpaw had been given to a very capable tomcat, Splitnose. Now as a mentor and sister, she had even more to do and to give, to her siblings. Even while Duskpaw was given to another mentor, she discussed the matter of taking her out on family patrols with Splitnose, to which he graciously agreed. She upheld her ability to eat only the minimal amount, while her giving her sisters the majority. It began to show in her pelt, the hollowness that came with the look of starvation. It was showing in all of the cats in MountainClan, she realized. While it may have been considered selfish to some, she prayed every day to SunClan that they would not take her when she lay down to sleep; she had to continue to provide for her family!
On the moons went. She saw her sisters become warriors and not long after, they found out about how the Twolegs played a part in the loss of their river. Sunseer was doing his best to seek answers from their ancestors, but they yielded nothing. Then, one morning, their answer came. The answer that Silverstreak had been expecting for some time. She stepped forward and agreed that they should leave and then suddenly, they were.
They feasted on the owl, with Silverstreak only taking a slim mouthful while she advocated for her sisters to eat more. She rested beside her sisters and turned her gaze to Sunseer, while his own gaze was gone. Leaving their camp had been hard, but she had long since known that if their river was stolen from them, then staying behind them would mean the death of MountainClan. They had already lost so much; she was going to do her path to ensure they didn't lose anything more.
She walked with her brother, glancing at the ginger tom she had her eye on since she was an apprentice. Finally, they had settled down for the night. Too tired and weary to be able to go on the hunting party with her sisters and the others that had gathered, she set to working on finding nesting materials. When she finally came up with some semblance of a nest out of dried out moss and leaves, she promptly curled up near one. Tomorrow, she would turn her gaze to the future and do what she could, for her kin and her Clan. Sunseer and Skysong would lead them to a new territory, but in the meantime, she knew she could help her Clan primarily by getting some sleep. The future would wait until the morning.
