ShadowClan Leader's Den

[Undertaker]

Originally Posted by Ravensong

**Elmshadow**

Elmshadow sat straighter with his chin high, confident. Dawnstar's curt answer was enough for him to understand that his next words better be worth it. He dipped his head briefly then got straight into it. "Silentwhisper is dead. I was out in the night and happened upon this one," he looked pointedly down at Pigeonkit, "training with Silentwhisper in the middle of the night out in the forest. When I confronted him he stole the kit and ran, threatening the kit's life in exchange for not reporting the incident to you. He attacked me, so I killed him. His body is outside clan borders, I can retrieve it if you'd like."

@Undertaker @Toodle

Originally Posted by Toodle

Pigeonkit stayed completely still, allowing Elmshadow to carry her through the forest. She barely registered as she was carried in through the camp entrance. She just watched a cat die, no, be killed. It hit her like a falling tree that before Elmshadow had gotten there she was out of camp alone with Silentwhisper, she was getting training from a traitor. Her stomach rolled uncomfortably. Images of the cat who'd just trained her lying dead in blood stuck in her mind.

As the ground came up to meet her, she looked around, wide-eyed. Her breath caught in her throat as she noticed the opening to Dawnstar's den. She cowered between Elmshadow's black legs. Dawnstar's voice rang out through her den and Pigeonkit flinched. She tried to tune out Elmshadow's recounting of the night's events. Over and over in her mind she wished desperately that she could go back and not go out with Silentwhisper at all. She hadn't meant for any of this to happen! It hot so out of control. She kept her eyes focused on her toes.
@Ravensong @Undertaker

Dawnstar's ire simmered as Elmshadow swiftly explained his business instead of cowering underneath her glare. Hm, she'd have to keep a closer eye on this tom. The fact that he didn't start blabbering apologizes and didn't seem to mind working under pressure was hard to find in cats these days.

Oh, and look, he was ruthless too. Even her son, Redshrike, was careful about cats he messed within the clan not daring to upset her by killing one of her warriors. Dawnstar really hating hearing that she lost one of her warriors especially for something so ridiculous, but she couldn't come up with a single reason for warriors to be training kits outside of camp at night. The worse she would have done is most likely scolded the mousebrain, but then he tried to kidnap Pigeonkit... it made no sense, and now he was dead. It wasn't even the fact that Elmshadow killed Silentwhisper that upset Dawnstar, she would have done the same thing, it was the stupidity of it all that pissed her off.

"Hairball, I want to know why the hell you thought it was a good idea to sneak out of camp at night for training?" Dawnstar grits her teeth as the fur along the base of her tail bristle. It was lashing back and forth behind her at full force in an effort to expel her anger instead of spilling someone's blood. Dawnstar could care less if warriors were training kits, in fact, she liked the initiative, but why at night, and what the hell was the whole kidnapping thing about. Logically trying to wrap her head around it was getting her nowhere. So maybe the cause of all the trouble could make some sense of it.

Originally Posted by FrostCat

Foxstorm nodded, pleased that Dawnstar had noticed. “Yes. I figured you had enough WindClan pelts.” Also it had satisfied her hunger for RiverClan blood for now. But she couldn’t yet tell if Dawnstar was pleased herself. Foxstorm hoped she was. It would be good for Foxstorm’s standing in ShadowClan.

"I'll never have enough bunny pelts, but I must admit that fish pelts are pretty to look at." Dawnstar refuted while she admired her gift. It was different and she liked it, and Foxstorm seemed to have gotten most of the fishy scent of it as well. "You did great, thank you." Dawnstar rarely uttered words of appreciation, but since Foxstorm was the first one to get her pelt from RiverClan it was well deserved in Dawnstar's mind.

She'd have to keep a closer eye on the warrior in the future, if she was willing to kill and skin a cat from another clan just to get Dawnstar a pelt, then she was certainly worth adopting into Dawnstar's family. She could use a new sister to replace the traitorous one. Dawnstar would have to find a new task for Foxstorm to prove her worth though, unlike Redshrike, Brackenpaw, Badgerscar, and Ravenpaw. She's watched all of her kits since they were apprentices, Foxstorm needed a little more testing before she took her in.
[We can end it here unless Fox wants to chat more.]

[Pitou]

**Elmshadow**

Elmshadow studied Dawnstar. She was fairly unreadable as usual though her wrath seemed to redirect away from him. He was confident he did the right thing, a cat who attacked their own clanmate was a liability. Though as he relayed the night's events he continued to go over it all in his head. He was just as shocked now as he had been in the moment. Even in hindsight he could not fathom a reason behind Silentwhisper's actions. He let it go and shifted his gaze down to the kit to hear her side of the story as Dawnstar's attention moved to her.

@Undertaker @Toodle ( @FriedChicken , for viewing purposes)

[Raven~]

For @Undertaker
_________
( I'm just going to end here and leave Dawnstar happy)
Foxstorm stopped herself from grinning like wild. Dawnstar liked her gift and had even complimented her on it! She knew that was rare, Dawnstar was not one to just idly throw out comments to every cat she sees. Was Dawnstar indicating that she would look out for her in the future. And it was pleasing to know that Dawnstar knew appreciation was well deserved. After all, it wasn't every day Dawnstar got a RiverClan pelt.
"Thank you, Dawnstar. I'm glad you like it. I would happily get you another one." Foxstorm licked her lips at the thought of sinking her claws in another RiverClan pelt, feel them squirm, helpless. It was such a great feeling. She dipped her head to Dawnstar in farewell, then walked away to revel in her accomplishment.

[Toodle]

Pigeonkit cowered between Elmshadow's paws. She didn't know this warrior well but he had saved her life and his body was the only respite she could see from Dawnstar's hot stare. She swallowed against the fear welling in her throat. "I...I didn't mean...I didn't think. I didn't mean for any of this to happen! I just wanted somebody to train me, nobody else would do it. But Silentwhisper wanted to. He asked to meet after sun down. I didn't ask why I just...I just wanted somebody to train me." Quietly, emotionally spent, she added, "I just wanted to impress you."

@Undertaker @Ravensong

[Undertaker]

@Toodle @Ravensong
Dawnstar's temper calmed a tad after she got her answer from Pigeonkit. As a kit, Dawnstar never experienced the urge to train or be taught because she had Icestar. Her mother had her training partially since birth and it was not particularly fun. Now that she thought about it, it had hindered her social skills and made it difficult to interact with anyone that wasn't her mother.

Although Dawnstar couldn't relate, she could understand the need to impress someone. Icestar made it nearly impossible to feel like she had done anything well even with the extra training. Dawnstar wasn't eager to make kits of all things feel like Icestar had made her feel, but also wasn't interested in encouraging pure stupidity.

"I'm not blaming you for Silentwhisper's death, he made his choices and he died. Clearly, there was something wrong with him." Dawnstar curled her tail in disdain at the thought of keeping such an unstable individual in the clan. Not that Dawnstar could say much about unstable, however, she hasn't hit the point of stealing her own clan's kits so there was a difference.

"You did play your part, though. You know that kits aren't allowed out of camp. Especially at night. If you can't follow simple rules it makes me wonder how you'll be as an apprentice let alone a warrior. " It was less that the kit left camp and more that she broke a rule. It always made Dawnstar wondered about kits who couldn't follow simple rules, whether they'll be able to follow directions and orders as they age. It could just be a personal tick, but it bothered Dawnstar nonetheless.

"You said you asked everyone for training, but I do not recall you ask me. I've nothing against kits learning a few things early, if you had asked I could have easily found one of my lazier warriors to teach you something. I don't know what you hairballs want, you have to come and talk to me if you want something as simple as training."Hairballs that could come and talk to her without quivering in fur impressed Dawnstar more than kits who learned how to fight. One took commitment the other courage.

Still equally annoyed, but less interested in ripping anyone apart, Dawnstar looked over to Elmshadow. "Take her back to the nursery, I'll let this incident slide this once, Pigeonkit, considering you'll beat yourself up over it without me needing to add an extra moon in the nursery. Elmshadow, you did good work, I'll make sure to remember this. After you drop her off, dispose of the Silentwhisper's body at the outskirts, traitors don't earn a place in the Moonlit Grove." Dawnstar gave a dismissing swish of her tail before turning away from the pair to return to her pelt-covered nest.

[Toodle]

Pigeonkit breathed heavily, trying to meet Dawnstar's eyes. Hearing Dawnstar tell her she didn't blame her for Silentwhisper's death reassured her but a different sort of fear crept in as she thought about how she'd been out alone with that cat, that cat who was capable of doing what he did. It was a whole new realization for her that she was unable to trust a cat by appearances, even if they were in the same clan as her. How close had she come to dying out there? What had Silentwhisper planned to do if Elmshadow hadn't shown up?

She lowered her head shamefully and nodded as Dawnstar gave her her due lecture and listened closely. She hadn't thought of simply asking Dawnstar. She didn't figure such a powerful leader would have the time to give to a kit with no training whatsoever.

She forced herself to look up at Dawnstar and sucked in a deep breath to steady her nerves and suck up her threatening tears. She clenched her jaw resolutely and nodded. Rebuked and exhausted, she meowed, "Yes, Dawnstar. Thank you. And I'm really, really sorry."
@Undertaker @Ravensong

[Pitou]

**Elmshadow**

Elmshadow bowed his head. He was surprised at the amount of grace Dawnstar was giving the wayward kit, though the kit did appear sufficiently rattled. Dawnstar never ceased to deepen Elmshadow's respect for her. "Of course, Dawnstar. I'll get right to it."

He leaned down and gently picked the kit up by the scruff. He considered ushering her and making her use her own four legs but he decided he didn't want to deal with coming back for the kit should she refuse to move. Besides, the scrap looked exhausted, he wasn't sure she could carry herself if she wanted to. He turned away from Dawnstar's den and padded across the clearing to tuck her back away into the nursery.

@Undertaker @Toodle

[FriedChicken]

(Silentwhisper is dead tho @Undertaker)

[Singing Jay]

@Undertaker

The things from the meeting had settled a little, all cats had congratulated Brackenfire and Bouceberry, and most of all him, the new deputy of Shadowclan. The thought still gave him a little rush inside. This was what he had been wanting his whole life, ever since he moved back to Shadowclan and got to know about the legacy of great leaders that had come before, one day he would join them, as long as he out lived Dawnstar.

That wouldn't be an easy task though, the leader had more lives then him and there had been a lot of battles. Of course Shadestorm was one of the top fighters in the clan - he wouldn't have been promoted to deputy otherwise - and battle wasn't something he couldn't handle, he loved it actually, something that had to contribute to his skill, if you liked doing sometime you'd do it better. He enjoyed leading.

The large tabby stepped into the den and let his icy gaze sweep over the walls. This den could be his one day, would be his one day. He took in a deep breath through his nose a couldn't help but grin a little on prideful joy. He was almost 45 moons but hadn't been her more then a quick pop-in to say something sometimes, which considering how Dawnstar could be probably was for the best. But now it was for somewhat good reasons he was here.


"You wanted to hear a report on the battle." It wasn't a question, he had heard her words loud and clear and he wasn't disobeying her now, not risking that or anything. He had just gotten the new title, he wasn't gonna get himself killed now, or worse demoted like Finchwhisker had.

[Undertaker]

@Singing Jay
Dawnstar's ears shot up as soon as she heard the incoming paw steps. Her amber eyes lit up the darken den as she sat up and shook out her pelt. The meeting had gone well enough, and everything was as it should be... or so she thought. The she-cat took in Shadestorm's profile as he entered her den, the way he looked around with such open greed made her want to snarl. She was glad that she hadn't put all that much faith in the tom, he'd do as a deputy but beyond that nothing more.

He wasn't very good at hiding his ambitions, his wants, she bet he was already thinking about the day this den would be his. Unfortunately, that wouldn't be happening ever if she had her say. She found it utterly insulting and disrespectful that he was already thinking about replacing her. She misjudged him it seemed, mistook arrogance for confidence. But what could she say, apparently she had terrible judgment when it came to picking high ranks, just look at what happened with Badgerscar. Oh, well he'd do until she found someone less... eager. There was little point in getting rid of the tom, he wasn't a threat yet, and there was no point in getting her fur in a knot when she had other work to do. So long as he followed her orders and didn't slack off in patrols or whatever else she had him do, she'd keep him around for a bit.

Dawnstar was pretty certain she'd be going through a number of deputies before she finally reached her last life. Only she'd get a say in who the next leader of ShadowClan would be, and Shadestorm wasn't cut out for it if he was already dreaming of being in her paws steps when he hasn't even been a deputy for a full day.

"Let's hear it." The heavily scarred she-cat meowed in a casual tone of authority.