[ @
Dark Melody ]
Glancing around, the former warrior and kittypet realized it must be her turn. Looking the soon-to-be leader square in the eye, the she-cat wondered how she would respond to her giving a life. After all, what had she done? Kidnapped the sister of Halestar? She knew it sounded worse than it was. She wasn't planning on lying or sugarcoating anything she had done. This cat deserved her honesty, just as Halestar and Squirrelleap has. She knew she would never call herself Dreamswirl again, and she also knew that she should stop wishig otherwise. Clearing her throat with a small cough and looking around her once more, the cream-and-grey swirled molly stepped forward, a gentle, nuetral smile on her muzzle.
“Greetings, Snowsong. I’m not going to lie to you, so I ask for your patience as I give my life, for it is the one I wish I gave Halestar.
“When you were born, I was probably dead, or still living as a kittypet. By the time you were an apprentice, a young kittypet joined ShadowClan. She had lost the cat she thought to be her mother and her brother, and she was still hardly six moons old. She was entirely lost, and as she grew in the Clan, so did a cat named Halepaw.
“They became warriors around the same time, and the young cat got her warrior name, as did Halepaw, who became Halestorm. They grew older, and the cat eventually took a mate nad had kits, while Halestorm was deputy. As you know, however, the second Era of Evil began, and Halestorm was driven out.
“Not too long after, I brought them both to me in a dream. The cat and Halestorm were told they were sisters, and neither knew how to accept it. But I think they both had, in their hearts, the life I am to give you, despite their actions and thoughts. I like to believe that deep down, they were willing to understand what I had done to them to protect them, but still, I wish that I could have done this sooner. And so, that is why I give you this life; forgiveness.
“In the future, cats will make mistakes. They will make all the wrong choices for all the right reasons, and their best intentions may end up causing unintended harm and inflict pain. Everycat tries to do what's right to them, and even if it harms some cats, even if you don't agree, you must remember to forgive your Clanmates and even those outside your Clan for their mistakes. I give you this life as a cat who did everything wrong to try to help, who ended up making life harder for a cat because I could not control what happened beyond my life. There are others like me, who don't realize what is out of their control until it is too late, and so you must know how to help and support those in what ways you can. We all make mistakes, but not all of us can forgive them. I can only hope that you can.”
As she concluded her speech, the swirled tabby stretched her head forwards, offering to touch noses with the deputy to grant her life. Her expression had turned from its nuetral smile to a somewhat sad one as she had spoken, but now her features showed only a serene, relatively blank expression.
As their noses touched, Jess felt a wave of pain, followed by sadness mingled with acceptance pass over her, as if she was reliving the moment she had been forced to leave life behind, and knew that her life may have come as a surprise to Snowsong, just as it had to her once before, when she was still alive and knew her fate; who could expect so much emotional pain from accepting when they had been wronged, and not allowing themself to feel hate? Hatred was always easier, the former warrior knew, and it took a strong cat not to succumb to it as she once had when she was much, much younger. She could hope, though, that Snowsong would be brave enough and strong enough to forgive the impossible crimes of others, just as she knew Squirrelleap must have been trying to do for herself.
(Sorry for any typos, this was written on mobile)