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 Posted: Thu May 22, 2014 12:10 am
The tawny shecat held true to her namesake as she clawed her way up the solid old tree. Her light frame carried up its rough exterior with ease, pushed along by strong legs. Like so much of the old blood of the clan, the pads of her feet were tough, and he muscles in her legs well roped for jumping. Another high leap and the shecat landed on a precarious branch, its thin wood swaying under her weight as she perched with all the confidence of a bird. With her side braced against the lean pine trunk, she turned her eyes put to he new lands her clan had claimed for their own. It had been a long time since skyclan had lived among the forest greenery, given reprieve from the sandy, rocky gorge. Now they lived with the clans at their shoulders--something that still made her uneasy. Everyone knew how the clans had chased them out when the twolegs had taken their territory, how the clan had almost completely gone extinct. But now, it seemed, Starclan had finally repaid the favor done by the clans. Plagues had wiped out nearly all of them. Then they had forced them from their homes. Lionsleap wasn't quite a girl to believe in the all powerful clan of the stars, but if that didn't seem like a familiar story, well, she didn't know what did. Skyclan would survive. Even through her worries at their small, terribly small, numbers, learning the new borders with other clans so equally desperate, she knew her clan would survive. See, what they had, the one thing that the other clans lacked, was experience in building yourself back up from nothing.
Lionsleap scanned the borders for as far as she could see. The tops of the two leg nests were as easy to spot as the thunderpath was to scent. That marked the border between their lands and Wind Clan, she reminded herself, hoping the wide and dangerous stretch of black would give them at least a deterrent from the swift warriors. The boundary between Skyclan and Riverclan was not so easily marked, but it was the edge of their territory, their little piece of the river that would cause trouble. The damned watercats would always be so possessive of their river, even if a piece of it lay outside their borders. Lionsleap made mental note to pay special attention to marking that area on her patrol. The other clans shared no borders with Skyclan, but until all of the dust had settled, and the clans were secure in their new homes, the shecat kept one eye on the horizon and her nose to the wind.
New territory. Dwindling numbers. Edgy clans. Kitty pets. Two legs. And she was pretty sure she had caught a faint whiff of fox on the breeze earlier. The odds now stacked against not just themselves, but all of the clans, were absolutely dizzying. What few apprentices were available were kept busy hunting and building. They still had not fully settled into their new home, and leaf are was approaching with all the tenacity of a hound at their heels. The lot of them must be wearing thing, with so much to do and so few paws to do it. It made Lionsleap's head spin. Even perched in the tree gave her no comfort. Away from prying eyes, her smiling determination had faltered, and the shecat's face was grim. Cats needed fattening, but could hardly manage to do so with so much work ahead. Kittens needed training, but with so many warriors so busy already... Not to mention she had already caught the scent of some kittypet tom trouncing through.
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Posted: Thu May 22, 2014 12:37 am
With a deep sigh, Lionsleap couldn't help but wish for their old, beloved leader. He had spent all of his nine lives in service to his clan, and still would never even know they had left the only home most of them had ever known. She hadn't believed the news when she had first heard it. Surely, there was no way their leader could have succumbed--and yet he had. The leader who had given her the name Lionsleap had taken the big leap himself, and found himself a place among the stars. Maybe that was why she now found herself gazing up at the stars when her troubles invaded her dreams. She had never quite been a girl for believing in that big clan in the sky, but if their old leader had gone to join them... Well, maybe they would have someone watching out for them now. And by the moonstone, it was a fool who thought they didn't need it.
Most, if not all, of the clans were leaderless and tucked inside hastily established borders that they themselves could hardly be familiar with. She had tried to do her part, give some direction to the clan. Establish nests, a nursery. A meeting place for the clan could be decided later, when they had a leader to stand atop it. Fresh kill needed to be gathered, the routes and habits of this territory's prey learned, along with its dangers. The medicine den needed to be made and stocked, even if they had no cat to officially fill it. The worst was far from over. The clan had made a step in the right direction, but their fates still stood on a shaky limb, not too much unlike Lionsleap herself. Just one wrong move, and down they would tumble.
The thought was enough to bring Lionsleap down to a more secure and steady branch in the tall pine. She had always been sure of her feet, but there was no sense in tempting fate. Judging by the past few moons, fate had already proven it wasn't too fond of Skyclan, or any cats for that matter.
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