Hailsky

This truly was quite peculiar. The smells, the sights, everything was new, unusual, interesting. Somehow, the forest floor felt softer but also much harder than the moor at the same time. As if the trees themselves decided so, the sun barely touched the white Warrior’s pelt. Unsure of what to think of the closeness of everything, Hailsky reasoned to stop. After all, she’ll get to learn about all of this later, right? Plus, the camp was right there in front of her. No reason to keep bumbling about.

Slowly, the she-cat entered. Cats stared at her, some looking scared, others curious, and some aggressive. She, on the other hand, simply wondered what would happen next. Maybe they all did.

Then Lynxstar spoke to her. ‘Make a case for myself?’ thought the Warrior. ‘Why would I need to make a case for myself?’

Right after that, as the confused she-cat mulled over his words, ThunderClan’s Leader spoke again, this time no longer next to her.

“Hm,” thought Hailsky aloud. “Well, I am a fully trained Warrior, with knowledge I doubt many from here posses. Since I found myself wanting to know more, I decided WindClan was no longer somewhere I wished to be.”

She sighed a pause in her speech, letting her words sink in the others’ minds. Quickly after, she continued: “I propose that ThunderClan lets me stay here and teaches me of you, and in turn, I’ll teach everyone what I know: my skills, my knowledge, my secrets.

And if you’re worried about loyalties, I have no reason to go against ThunderClan.”

‘I truly hope that ThunderClan cares about knowledge as I do.’ thought the she-cat.

Eelchaser

As the storm element groomed his tiger-striped fur, he heard the yowl of a gathering. Lynxstar’s voice was possibly the most familiar to him, weirdly enough. Going to all those Gatherings had helped the tom in more ways than one, and he was rather grateful. With an awkward shuffle, Eelchaser got up from his nest and walked the lonely distance between his nest and everyone else’s. Although he was officially a ThunderClan cat, his new clanmates were still rather disapproving of him. ‘Not like it doesn’t make sense,’ thought the warrior.

Warm sunlight greeted the storm element, dazing him momentarily. Eelchaser thought he’d be used to bright lights by now, but the pine forest was rather shadowy, and there was always at least one spot where no light penetrated, even from his clanmates. ‘Stop thinking so much about them,’ grumbled the tom through his thoughts.

While his eyes fought off the sun, his mind started again to wonder: ‘What could this meeting be about? An apprentice ceremony perhaps? That Softclaw or something’s kits were getting quite old.’

Then, his ears picked out the words of his leader, among the hushed whispers from around him.

Alarm struck the warrior like StarClan’s wrath. ‘No, this is not okay! Why should we have a stranger join the Clan?? And for what reason?’ Perhaps a bit hypocritical for the tom to think this way, considering he was a stranger not too long ago, at least he had good reasons: to help a cat in need. And to get away from the chaos of ShadowClan. And this would most certainly cause chaos.

Before his mind could form any sort of refusal (while also trying to keep himself from hissing some ShadowClan ‘sayings’ he’d heard of), the snowy WindClanner spoke her reasoning. Oh boy, did the tom not buy it. ‘Knowledge?? I knew WindClan was weird, but come on!’ But another voice spoke her distaste about this: Mosspaw, one of the WindClan apprentices who came running to ThunderClan’s medicine cat after a wolf attack.

After she had finished, not wanting to miss giving his two claws about this, Eelchaser spoke up: “Is it really safe to accept her? What if she goes about and tells about ThunderClan secrets to other Clans? Clearly, she must have some ulterior motive for this!”

Soft-tail

Sunshine filtered through the canopy, hitting the eating tom’s fur just perfectly so he’d warm himself. Almost golden, his swirling pattern shone underneath the sun, and while the purring tom’s eyes dwindled from their alert state, Lynxstar entered the Camp with an unfamiliar face. Alarm spun in his head, and almost immediately, his mind was fully awake. But there was no need - everything was fine.

Curious, the tom turned to a neighbouring cat who must’ve also been enjoying the heat and asked “I wonder what this is all about.” However, before he could pay any attention to a response, he heard the leader call for a Clan Meeting.

Hurriedly, the warrior paced to a spot near the front. Other murmurs broke among him, and while his ears wanted to listen, his leafy-green eyes were focused on the newcomer, judging the she-cat, studying her. ‘Is she a threat,’ questioned the tom in his mind. ‘Of course not, why else would she be here?’ continued Soft-tail. ‘A prisoner? No, that can’t be.’

As more questions piled in his mind, Lynxstar quickly answered them all by declaring that all of ThunderClan will vote on whether or not the stranger will join them. With determination in his heart, Soft-tail was already prepared to answer that question. But someone beat him to the race. Mosspaw, another WindClan cat, one of the two the warrior himself found lost and hurt (mostly the second one was hurt) on ThuderClan’s territory, spoke up. The words that escaped the young apprentice’s mouth would’ve stung anyone, even just a little bit. And she was right. What about honour? And what about loyalty? Could this strange warrior really be trusted?

And then Eelchaser mewed his disagreement as well. ‘A bit dumb coming from someone who left their clan themself.’ But he also raised some valid concerns. What if she later left ThunderClan and told them their secrets? After all, she’s willing to essentially betray her own Clan, so why not Soft-tail’s, too?

Annoyed, the tom shook away the thoughts. Not wanting to be left out, he quickly added his own opinion: “While I do agree that this is dangerous, Lynxstar clearly trusts the she-cat more than enough to at least give her a chance. And, frankly, I trust my leader. So if he trusts the WindClan warrior enough, I’d say it’s a shot to let her stay. Plus, another skilled warrior surely wouldn’t hurt anyone, nor would the extra knowledge this she-cat could bring.

I’d bet she could be quite a lot more helpful than some cats that have forgotten their origins think. And to add onto that, we’ve already let a rather questionable warrior in, from a Clan we distrust a lot more than WindClan.” The tom’s face kept going over everyone else’s, trying to convince them that this could be a good thing.

Hailsky
Quietly, the she-cat waited for the other cats’ judgement. Truthfully, the warrior was sure no one would actually disagree. Knowledge was all they’d want, like WindClan, correct? Then the snow-white warrior had no reason to worry. Calmly, her icy-blue eyes watched as her soon to be clanmates thought about this decision. It made sense that they’d want to think over it, everyone would.

Curiosity pricked at her when a familiar voice sounded through the meeting. No, it didn’t come from the cats in front of her, but from where she believed the Medicine Cat Den was. Mosspaw was spitting at her, looking furious. Chilly calmness met the distraught eyes as the warrior weighed the words of the apprentice. After some thought, slowly, Hailfrost got up and paced towards her soon to be old clanmate, but didn’t dare to leave the circle from which ThunderClan could see her.

Starring right in the Ice element with her own freezing gaze and began to speak:

“Honour… Such an intriguing word, wouldn’t you say, Mosspaw? What is honour within WindClan? Isn’t it rather, shall we say, subjective? Whatever honour might mean to you could mean something else to, say, Poppyleap. And loyalty? I certainly do not understand the problem.” the she-cat paused.

“What is the most important thing to a WindClan warrior? I’m sure you know the answer, right? As a WindClan apprentice, you should have learned about this from your mentor long, long ago. But in case you’ve forgotten, it’s knowledge.

So let me give you some by explaining to you how WindClan works: we will do everything to gain knowledge.

I know it must be hard for someone so young to understand - you’re still training - but calling me unhonourable, disloyal to my Clan? That’s a bit harsh, wouldn’t you say, Mosspaw? I understand that you were raised by a loving mother who taught you about life, but I was raised by the Clan, not a mother. And the Clan’s rules, the Clan’s traditions, everything the Clan taught me was that I will go and search for more than just WindClan. Like a seed traveling across mountains, I will go and see everything, and I will go and learn everything. That’s what the Clan says.

And yet, here you are, an apprentice with powers you cannot fully comprehend, telling a fully grown warrior that they are disloyal to the Clan, when they are doing exactly what the Clan has commanded them to do, and they are unhonourable simply because they are doing what the Clan said was right.

Truthfully, I believe that it’s quite unhonourable to speak to your warriors this way, when you barely have the knowledge to internalise what is happening.”

A few more warriors had spoken before the she-cat had begun talking to Mosspaw, but that did not matter. Their opinions had surely been positive. What did matter was that the warrior had done her duty to educate the younger cat. ‘Shame on Emberwing for not teaching her sooner,’ scuffed the she-cat in her mind.

At once, Hailsky returned to her place in the clearing and, rather bored now, began to groom her snowy fur.