Fourtrees |☾ ☼ ϟ ≈ ☁|

( It's nice to meet you as well! ^^ )

“Oh, there you are! Sorry, I got lost in the crowd again!” Midnightstream sighed with relief, before she approached her apprentice with a small purr. Nudging Deerpaw lightly, she mewed.
“I’m glad you weren’t in that little apprentice’s spat earlier. I like to think you have good patience.” She teased, before she mewed. “Cedarstar’s the last one...I wonder just how deeply Shadowclan have suffered. They seem strong, but they always seem that way.” She hummed.

Thistlestalk gave Fuzzypaw an approving nod, "Remember, we are all united under Starclan. The dark forest is a common enemy between all of us. The clans have united against their evil plots in the past and we will do it again if we have to."

Stormsplash winced at Splashstone's outburst. "I'm sorry Splashstone, I was blinded by Adderclan in the beginning myself, I know how it feels." he mewed quietly.

Shadowblossom dug her claws into the ground, "You got that right, The dark forest is not taking any more of my kin." she mewed lowly, the usually calm and collected she-cat's eyes were glinting with a hint of aggression that hadn't been seen since she was an apprentice.

Larkpaw puffed out her chest, grinning ear to ear in the mass of the chaos. The little Windclan apprentice had been waiting for her name to be called for what seemed like forever!

((Hi Ruki! I saw your stuff on the joining page but figured I'd just post here. I'm Fire, and I RP the leader of WindClan, Swiftstar.))

"I don't think so," Deerpaw's ears drooped back in embarrassment as she ran out of big impressive words to say. "There's so many others here faces have started to blur together." She rose to her feet, ears erect and tail swaying. "I, I mean we, or... well I could go looking if you want me to!" She tried her best to mask the eagerness to please in her voice but her paws were flexing and twitching as she beamed up at her mentor.

“So that was what happened...” Diamondheart murmured lightly, listening to Cedarstar as he calmed himself down, only to bristle once again. Shadeclaw being of the Dark Forest suddenly made sense, the battle with Thunderclan’s wounded Warriors on Sunningrocks coming back to his mind. So Thunderclan had also had the Dark Forest on their paws. He looked at Earthstar with a serious look, knowing he would need to talk with his leader when the gathering ended.

“We don’t owe him anything.” Scarletpaw whispered tightly so only Tigerpaw could hear her, her ears falling as she looked at Tigerpaw, and at the wounds he had sustained under Shadeclaw’s awful rule. She glared at Cedarstar from her mentor’s side, but wisely did not speak up this time. Since when was it Cedarstar’s business to announce Thunderclan’s business?

Hornetstrike lifted his head, eyes unreadable as he looked at Cedarstar. The Shadowclan leader had indeed helped, with Windclan as well. He listened without judgement for now.

Goldberry shuffled his paws lightly, not liking the tension in the air. It always made it difficult for him to sit still. He kept his eyes away from Whitesun, as always, but he focused on Cedarstar speaking.

“You don’t need to if you don’t want to, darling.” Midnightstream assured, waving her paw airily, though a pout crossed her face as she listened to the leaders. “And here I was hoping Shadeclaw wouldn’t be brought up...I suppose it was ignorant of me to assume so...Well...this is awkward.” She mumbled.

"No no, I do! It's just--" Deerpaw trailed off, ears on full alert as she turned towards the leaders. She turned back to her mentor, a thousand questions dancing in her mind as she tilted her head. "What does Shadow Clan want from us?" was the question she finally decided to ask in a mew barely above a whisper.

Swiftstar glanced over at Cedarstar with mixed feelings. While he appreciated the recognition for their part in Shadeclaw's removal...this wouldn't help any tension between the oldest and youngest leader. He flicked his ear, his face not betraying his thoughts.

"I'm glad I'm not in charge, that seems like it's a really tough choice," she looked to the ground in thought momentarily before looking back up at her mentor. "And that makes sense, those flames were really big after all..."

Cedarstar took no one speaking out after his coughing fit as a blessing. He knew his words were bold, but he wanted to make sure he acknowledged everything his Clan had done this pass moon and give ShadowClan the recognition it deserved, especially since...I don't want to do this! Cedarstar grit his teeth. His gaze faltered from the cats around him and his eyes grew red with the burning of his grief. He couldn't avoid the topic everyone wanted to hear. The other Clans didn't know how the fire started, how ShadowClan suffered so greatly. They didn't know the risks that were taken just to warn three of the four other Clans and why ThunderClan had to be abandoned to themselves. Cedarstar closed his eyes for a moment in an attempt to pull himself together. StarClan must truly disapprove of him for making his Clan suffer so. 

"The Great Fire began in the deepest parts of ShadowClan territory." Cedarstar didn't lift his gaze. He didn't want to see the sorrow of his own clanmates or the condemnation of the other Clans. When he spoke, he had to force his words to remain strong. "Goldberry and Tumblefoot witnessed a twoleg contraption explode before their very eyes--I thank StarClan neither were harmed because of it." He briefly flicked his gaze over to the two warriors, but then focused his eyes on a point no one else could see. "The explosion shook ShadowClan territory and fire leapt to the pines. It was nearly on us by the time Goldberry and Tumblefoot could warn us. We evacuated here to Fourtrees, but..." Cedarstar's voice cracked with his grief. He had to pause and take a breath, but his ears were flat against his head and his body was trembling. StarClan, he could still envision it. Those haunting flames that stalked his nightmares. He could picture every one of his fallen clanmates. He could still hear the way Owlshadow screamed when the den collapsed on her. Still see how Quailfrost and Roseleaf were curled around each other after suffocating on smoke and still feel the weight of Crowfur's dead body as he tried to drag him out of the flames...but he was too late. Cedarstar lifted his gaze to the starry sky. Twenty-three new StarClan cats were looking down on them tonight. I failed them all. 

"Scorchfire, Icefire, Tatteredleg, Raggedthorn, Ribbondance, Mosspaw, Onyxheart, Roseleaf, Quailfrost, Cottonfur, Crowfur, Viperfang..." Cedarstar swallowed tightly when his voice began cracking once again. Just to get the names out, he had to steel himself. His words sounded hollow, but his heart was shattered. "Shadedpine, Ravenpaw, Mothpaw, Owlshadow, Marshsong, Mistsong, Redspark, Heartkit, Shinekit, Pineflower, and Oceanstorm..." Cedarstar turned his gaze downward, each name seeming to echo throughout the hollow. "They all died over the past moon." He turned his gaze to Lightningstar, too overcome by grief to even care if his words offended or not. What did it matter anyway? ThunderClan would alway hate them. "By the time my Clan was safe at Fourtrees and we could even consider warning anyone about the fire, the flames had already spread too far into ThunderClan territory. ShadowClan could not risk losing anymore cats to warn your ungrateful hides." 

Goldberry’s eyes fell to his paws, the memory of the burst of brilliant light and fire scorched in his memory. Twolegs had caused this. They caused this, and now the clans were ripping at eachother because of it. More than anything, he wished there had been a way to have gotten to the clan sooner. They could have fled sooner. He closed his eyes, not looking at anyone.

“Starclan...” Hornetstrike murmured quietly, letting the final comment of Cedarstar slide off of him as he realized the leader was probably crippled with grief at the loss of so many Warriors....kits...they had lost kits...His ears fell with deep sympathy.

“Ungrateful...hmph.” Scarletpaw hissed to herself, though even she was struck by how many Shadowclan had lost. Even so, pride prevented her from doing anything more than watching Cedarstar unblinkingly.

Burninghope’s ears fell lightly as her father’s death was mentioned.

“I would never want to be leader either...especially with news like that...” Midnightstream murmured her agreement as she listened to Cedarstar’s report. She did not take kindly to the ungrateful comment, but she knew that being annoyed by that would not be a good lesson to show her apprentice. “Remember these losses, even if they are not of our clan. It seems we were right. How could they possibly have gotten to us like that?” She sighed sadly.

Lightningstar’s fur bristled at the last comment, a growl almost rising to his throat before settling. No. He thought to himself, he wouldn’t do that. He would at least honor the cats who had died in the fire but staying quiet. For now.