Priorities[Marshclan Meeting/Ceremonies]

The small orange twig of a tom sat up straighter as Duskblaze brought attention to his deed. Yes. He had done it, as every cat knew, but he felt he had made the right choice and he would accept any punishment the Marsh Clan leader saw fit to deal him without flinching.

And then the strangest thing happened: Duskblaze was calm.

The Warrior was surprised by this change of heart to say the least, but merely bowed his head in acceptance. That was... very unexpected. This was a new side of the aggressive, dominating leader he had been introduced to such a short while ago. Perhaps there was more to Duskblaze after all, as Littleflame had been too hesitant to even hope. Perhaps now, finally, a cease-fire could be reached. The tiny Warrior still did not agree with the leader's dictator-like methods, as Duskblaze, he was sure, did not agree with his own highly questioning tactics, but perhaps now they could let the dust settle and come to accept each other. For a little while at least.

He caught Patchpaw's eye across the camp and saw the calico's face was bright with delight. Littleflame hastily covered his laughing outburst with a cough at the sight. Patchpaw was not overly fond of Cedarpaw, he had learned. She must be excited to have a new denmate. One she could trust to never shirk off on duties.


The shecat had been holding her breath when her friend's attack was brought up, but now the only thing she was holding was her excitement. This... this was great! This was the best news she had heard in moons! Finally, after all the horrible things that had been happening, Star Clan was shining on her! She was going to get to share a den with Littleflame now! Granted she and the tom were not exactly buddy-buddy, but he was polite and cordial and made her feel appreciated every time he talked to her. Not at all like Cedarpaw. And she knew he was a hard worker! That would make things even better! Littleflame was a diligent worker, something Patchpaw well knew and definitely approved of. Ah. Things were finally looking up!

Except not for everyone.

The shecat's delight dimmed when Duskblaze condemned Steampaw. The little calico flinched at the harsh punishment. It was getting colder now. Some cats even talked about expecting snow in the coming moons. The white tom did not deserve that. Patchpaw bit her lip. Okay. Maybe he did. He had killed somebody after all. Patchpaw did not know the details but everyone knew the rumors.

But did she really want to judge a cat by what she had heard? 

The calico snorted. When she put it like that, the answer was obvious. Just think of what half the clan would think if they believed all the rumors there were about her and her brothers! Besides, she knew Steampaw. Not closely, but they had been denmates for two moons now and he was always quite nice. He kept to himself and they hardly had more than passing conversations, but Patchpaw had enjoyed those. It was always nice to talk to someone her own age whom she was not related to and who seemed to have more than half of his brain still in working order. Yes, she liked Steampaw. Maybe even a lot if she stopped to think about it. She could not let something she had not seen or heard cold hard facts about color her opinion of the colorless tom. She started to walk over, but caught herself. She was small and weak. What good was she for den building? And she had no supplies either. She would be about as useful to him as if he had been on his own.

But then again, who said she had to do it alone?




Gullkit was lounging outside the Medicine Den when he noticed Patchpaw coming toward him. Uh oh. What did he do now? 

The tom shrugged off the thought. He could not be guilty of whatever it was she thought he was guilty of. He had been laying right here the whole time. He was definitely safe. ... Probably. Besides, she could not possibly order him to go do training. He had a doctor's pass! He was home free for at least the next week! The grey tom cocked his head to the side, stretching his injured throat. It twinged a bit to say the least. Eveningblaze told him not to move it. As if that was possible. It was his throat, for Star Clan's sake! But he did not mind it too much. It was really only a surface wound. A nasty one, but not overly dangerous unless he started bleeding everywhere again. That had not been fun. He had already had to clean out his nest twice when Cherrykit woke him because he had moved in his sleep, reopened the wound, and gotten blood everywhere. At this rate, Eveningblaze was starting to rant he was going to make himself anemic. Gullkit was not sure what that meant but he highly suspected it meant something like 'to have more blood outside the body on the floor in a pool than you have blood inside'.

Patchpaw was on him now and nudged his shoulder telling him to get up.

Gullkit looked up at her, putting on his best pity-me-I'm-injured face. This sister was not fooled, nudging him harder, her icy eyes stern. Gullkit cursed and rose to his paws to trot after her obediently.

She took him outside the camp and had him pick up and hold all manner of twigs and moss and sticks. What? Was she building a den or something? They already had quite enough of those as far as Gullkit was concerned. Trust him. He had lived in three different ones by now and, if rumor was to be believed, might soon be moving to a fourth. Patchpaw was very excited about this but Gullkit did not see how it was so great. It just meant he had to remake his nest all over again and, frankly, he was getting sick of it. What was the point when he would just be shuffled around the next moon or so? 

Then they were back and going up to the white apprentice. The one his sister liked. Hey. Why was Gullkit a part of this? If she wanted to bring some guy presents, why did he have to carry them? Then again, her mouth was full too so he supposed he could not complain too much. Oh wait. Of course he could! No one listened to him ever anyways! Patchpaw glanced back to give her brother a sharp look and Gullkit mumbled a noncommital apology through all the debris in his mouth. Damn. He could swear his sister could read his mind sometimes.

She put down the random supplies next to Steampaw so Gullkit followed suit and flopped down immediately. He could be lazy anytime. Anywhere. It was a gift. -One his sister moaned was a curse. He idly cleaned his paw and watched their conversation from the corner of his eye.

"Well," his sister was saying, her face bright, "Do you think this will be enough? It will not make a whole den but if you started threading off another one, like say the Nursery or Apprentice Den, it might work. Some of the sticks Gullkit got are pretty big. They would be good support."

The tom snorted. Right. She said it as if he had gotten those by choice. His sister ignored him.

"I did not know what you liked in your nest so I just got moss. I can go look for some feathers tomorrow if you want them though. Cherrykit needs to practice some more bird hunting anyway."

Gullkit glared at his sister indignantly in his brother's place. Part of being siblings meant standing up to Patchpaw for each other... sort of. Just not very high. More of a tall sit really. Hey - his sister was scary. Even so, he knew his brother was just as sick of hunting training as a cat could be and felt it was his duty to be affronted in Cherrykit's place.