High Rank Announcement [#hrannouncement]
As soon as he would arrive and take his place upon the Seastones, there seemed to be immediate trouble within the crowd below, which wasn’t surprising in the slightest. Pikestar watched as Sparrowstar leapt down from the rock and went to deal with something. Admittedly, the RiverClan leader tried to not concern himself with drama unless it directly involved his clanmates. It was a rather forgiving decision for the good of his sanity. Thankfully, the whole thing didn’t take more than a few minutes before the ThunderClan leader returned to them, muttering something low about kittens that he chose not to dwell on. Moments later, Twilightstar appeared along with WindClan. He shared the silent nod of greeting, but overall stayed silent until the gray she-cat mentioned something regarding a private matter that needed to be discussed soon.
“Of course, Twilightstar.” Pikestar answered gently, dipping his head to the WindClan leader, “I’d have no problem with that.” Anything that was important enough to warrant such a proposal must be something that even he could not overlook. Dawnstar and Sparrowstar both would agreed on such a notion. The Gathering would then promptly begin with the ShadowClan leader calling it to order like routine. Perhaps one day, he’d gain the courage to start one of these things himself, but tonight was not that night. The large dark-furred oriental turned his head slightly to set his gaze on Dawnstar as she began her announcements. ShadowClan was doing well and prey was plenty, which was good, but the revealed death of her deputy, Cinderblaze, was something Pikestar didn’t expect. It reminded him briefly of Slatewhisker, but he knew well enough not to compare situations like this. A new ShadowClan deputy would be here during the next Gathering. Interesting. The RiverClan leader wondered who Dawnstar would choose as her successor.
Next, two new apprentices—Galepaw, and Poisonpaw—and two new warriors—Sunnsetthorn and Willowspark—for ShadowClan were announced and that was it for the first announcements during this fateful night. Short and simple, which was more than fine by Pikestar. He watched with his partial gaze at the brown-furred molly stepped back and sat down to give room for the next clan leader to speak. The oriental tomcat shivered slightly as a chilling breeze tickled his spine, making him grumble quietly to himself, bickering about the cold temperatures. Twilightstar went up next, announcing that WindClan has been doing well and remained fed despite being so close to leafbare. Wolffang and Coldsong had returned to their ranks. StarClan always seemed so keen on sending cats back, though Pikestar did wonder how their ancestors determined who was worthy to return to the living or not. They brought Birdpaw back all those moons ago, hadn’t they? Something about it made him bitter, but that was not the fault of anyone present at this Gathering.
An increase in rogue and loner activity, but other than that, nothing else notable from WindClan. Fair enough. If only announcements could be this short and sweet all the time. Then perhaps Gatherings would be more peaceful and not so dramatic. The sooner they’d be through this, the sooner they could all go back to their warm dens and out of the cold (though Pikestar’s den wasn’t exactly warm). He exhaled a sigh through his nose, now fixing his attention to the leader of ThunderClan as she stepped forward. Frankly, the dark-furred leader didn’t mind going last for announcements. His mind had been elsewhere this entire time and he just wanted to be done here. ThunderClan was doing well too with prey. It seemed all the clans where not having trouble keeping their clanmates fed, which was relieving. There’s no telling what a starving clan might do to survive, after all. Mapleleaf and their kit, Yewkit, had passed during a birthing, which made Pikestar’s chest feel heavy. All deaths were sad, of course, but the death of a parent and their child was something that made the tall RiverClan leader’s heart ache. He closed his eye and respected the moment of silence. Then without missing a beat, ThunderClan’s announcements continued on with the promise of more kittens. Cloudkit, Lightningkit, Sunkit, Redkit, Hollykit, and Honeykit. With death came life, which made Pikestar feel a bit better about the whole situation. Though the next announcement caught him off-guard.
Cinderpaw? The same Cinderpaw that Shimmerbird had taken back to RiverClan? The same ThunderClan apprentice that Skystar had been so keen on keeping as a prisoner? All the memories of that time came flooding back and Pikestar felt sick to his stomach, being reminded of the anxiety and all the other awful feelings he had endured during that portion of his time as RiverClan’s deputy. No. Not now. He shouldn’t be feeling like that. This was good. If anyone deserved to be brought back from the dead, it was that young molly. StarClan made a fine choice with that one. She deserved a second chance at life, especially after what RiverClan had put her through. Part of him wished he could talk to her, apologize for what had happened back then, but he knew it was better this way instead. Hopefully, Cinderpaw was doing well in ThunderClan. He wished her the best, even if he hardly knew her.
And then Pikestar realized that he had been zoning out for the last bit of ThunderClan’s announcements. Foxdung! He usually tried his best to listen to the announcements of the other clans, but today, his mind was just floating everywhere else. The long-furred RiverClan leader hastily stood up once Sparrowstar nodded to him and stepped back. Right, right, right. Now it was his turn. Pikestar cleared his throat and allowed his eye to sweep over the large sea of cats below the Seastones before beginning. “RiverClan has been doing better. Our rivers are still full of fish and prey is far from scarce.” He remarked casually, trying his best to just focus on his words rather than everyone’s eyes all being on him, “Following the devasting loss of Slatewhisker, I have chosen Gingerfrost to be our newest deputy, as well as welcoming various new shields into our ranks: Raccoonear, Fogcloud and Moonfrost.” The large RiverClan tom-cat thought about where else to go with these announcements for a brief moment. “We have also had the pleasure to welcome even more apprentices into our ranks: Swallowpaw, Rowanpaw, Mudpaw, Crowpaw and Fishpaw.” Positive news all around, yes. That was always a joy to tell the other clans about. Yes, yes, yes. “Of course, with the good must come some bad. This past moon, we’ve had to say goodbye to Lizardfrost, one of our shields. I can only hope that she is hunting well among the stars.” He would dip his head and close his eye for a moment of silence, just as ThunderClan had done for their own losses. Pikestar then decided it should be fair to mention one last thing. “One of RiverClan’s own warriors, Beastgrowl, has also been exiled, for being a danger to our apprentices. I ask that you all watch your backs in case he decides to act foolishly.” A simple warning to the other three clans. “That is all from RiverClan.” Pikestar nodded one final time before stepping backwards and sitting down.
[ @Jayvines @Undertaker @Moonraven ]
