Oh? So it was just a report about how her training was going with Rushingpaw. Dawnstar didn't get many training reports, it's not like she needed them but she wouldn't say they weren't nice to hear about.

"That's good to hear, the better the hunters the easier leafbare will become. Continue with your hard work and I'm sure Rushingpaw will turn into a fine warrior for ShadowClan." Dawnstar complimented. So many mentors ignore or vanish without training their apprentices. So she was glad that Stormeyes was taking her duty seriously.

"Is there anything else?"


Dawnstar blinked back the tiredness in her golden glare and perked her ears, lifting her large body as she heard the cat outside her den. Somebody wanted something. She stretched waiting to see if they'd call into the den, but instead, they just entered and started talking. If it were anyone else, Dawnstar would have swatted them for their behavior. Larkfire was saved, mostly due to her relationship with the leader, her usefulness, and the fact that she looked stressed out.

"You're joking?" Dawnstar deadpanned the rhetorical question with dry sarcasm. The leader swished her tail when her daughter remembered to greet her. "Yes, wonderful." Her tone remained unchanging as early. Seriously, that tom was so much work sometimes. Darkfall really should be lucky that Larkfire put up with him and Dawnstar. It was like he enjoyed running around causing the biggest headaches.

"Well this is not the greatest news, it could be worse. I'll take memory loss over a severe head injury or death. However, I do wonder what in the world he was doing that resulted in him connecting his head with a rock." Larkfire's mate sounded like a bigger idiot than Dawnstar's and that was saying something since Dawnstar's tempted death every time he opened his mouth.

"I am glad to see that you're settling into your new role well but don't stress too much. You're getting fat again, it's not good for your health." Dawnstar quipped, stretching again before sinking her claws into the soft flooring. "I'm not too worried about his memories, they don't just disappear, I'm sure they'll come back soon enough. Hopefully before your litter."

"Do you have any idea how much of his memory he lost?" Dawnstar needed to know if to remove the tom from his Enforcer rank and find his apprentice temporary mentors. If he was too far removed from Clan life, she might have to throw him in the elders' den for a time. She didn't need him getting under every cats' paws, hurting them or himself.

It might be a good idea to leave Larkfire back at camp with Darkfall during the upcoming gathering. Bringing a cat with amenisa to the gathering will probably cause her a headache, but at the same time, she'd like Larkfire there when she was properly announced as ShadowClan's new medicine cat. She could hold off on that announcement... which caused Dawnstar the least amount of mental pain?


Ughhhhhh! Whyyyyyyy! The Queen of Mean had been slumbering but was startled awake by the loud, tiny, paw-steps. Dawnstar's paranoia never let her sleep all that deeply or long. Her ears had pretty much trained themselves to rouse her at certain sounds, like approaching paws. Most cats treaded highly enough that Dawnstar had to strain her ears to pick up their movements, but kittens were the polar opposite.

She just wanted to sleep! Scowling, she parted one of her eyelids and stared into the darkness until her eye made out the back of the tiny figure moving through shadows. The pelt had patches of white so picking out the hairball wasn't hard. She was doing pretty good with stealth. Dawnstar might have been impressed if she wasn't so cranky.

The sudden weight colliding with her flank had the leader sighing loudly. The mountain of a feline didn't budge, the hairball lacked the mass and muscle for such a feat. "Hairball, you are so lucky I don't actually eat kittens," Dawnstar growled wide away now. She stretched out her front legs without getting up and slammed her claws into the ground. Dawnstar had grown quite the tolerance and lenience for the clan's kittens, so she stopped hissing and spitting at them even when they proved to irritate her like now.

"Hairball, whatcha doing?" She asked, lifting her large head and leaning over and down to meet the furball's gaze. That one was... Dancingkit. One of the older furballs that would be apprenticed so long as Dawnstar didn't throw her back in the nursery for another moon for being a pain.

The hairball's answer was typical and hairball-like. Loud and nonsensical. She wasn't going to even try and argue with them. She merely sighed again and returned to resting on her side, wondering if she ignored her long enough if she'd go away. She quietly counted her tail lashes while the kit went and one, never shutting up.

"I own the shadows," Dawnstar yawned without looking at Dancingkit, still counting her tail lashes in her head to keep her from meeting the hairball out of her den. Sadly, she knew she couldn't toss the hindrance out nicely and didn't want to give Larkfire more work because she had broken one of the kits out of frustration.

"I stopped eating kits, Queens kept complaining, but you are making me regret that decision. I may have to make an exception for you." Dawnstar replied, tail pausing mid-lash as she felt the kitten plop themselves down right beside her. She lifted her head for a moment to glance at Dancingkit with a deadpan expression and then went back to lying down, resigned to her fate.

"None of your business, hairball. More importantly, where is my gift? You can't just come in here and start pestering me without giving me something for it. You already asked three questions that are like three mice worth." What was this free babysitting? If she was going to entertain a hairball that was actually irritating her she better be getting something out of it. Dawnstar felt absolutely no remorse at the attempt to extort a kitten, maybe they'd go away now.


[You're fine I'm in no hurry]
Dawnstar was pretty certain that Sleepykit was way politer than her mother when Dawnstar first met Larkfire as a kit. Who knew the molly would come as far as she is today? It just proved that if you put in the work you get rewards appropriately.

At the mention that Larkfire was working, Dawnstar twitched her tail tip but didn't give any verbal response. That was to be expected with Larkfire, she usually found something to keep her busy or getting into some sort of trouble involving injuring herself. It was one or the other. She hoped that Sleepykit took after her mother when it came to work ethic, but Dawnstar would be happier if kit minded her physical health a bit more. Sleepykit didn't seem upset that Larkfire was working, but it didn't seem like she was happy about it either.

That's right, Sleepykit was an only kit. Dawnstar faintly wondered what her life would have been like if she was an only kit. She doubted it would be much better, although she hated her now, Hailstorm hadn't been a terrible sibling when they were kits. Now that she thought about it, everyone who was known to be her blood kin was gone. She was the only one left of Icestar's family. That was an ominous thought. She might as well as been an only kit. The leader was satisfied with the family she chose over the family she was forced to be related to. Granted, she's lost more than she gained, but in the end, the little things like Sleepykit were worth the heartache.

"Play? Unless sparring counts, I don't think I've ever played anything." Dawnstar stated after a small silence. She didn't have friends when she was a kit, much like Sleepykit she was often on her own, trained as soon as she was big enough and weaned. Playing and relying on others was taught to be a weakness and so Dawnstar made sure to never do either as a kitten, cutting off any relationship she had with her sister to earn Icestar's approval.

At being asked to teach, Dawnstar's eyes shited the side. She guesses she could do that, although the hairball was a bit too small to do a lot of stuff nothing fighting worth, but maybe they could do something light. "Shall we practice your hunting crouch?" Dawnstar asked, accepting the request.



Dawnstar didn't bother to pause while grooming her tail as she heard the paws reaching her den. She had to start heading out soon. She doubted Twilightstar would really mind, but she did have a meeting to get to. She hoped whatever Mistlewhisker wanted was fast.

"Come." She replied shortly, whiskering her tail behind her as she turned her eyes to the mouth of the den.

"Speak," Dawnstar demanded once Mistlewhisker had heeded her command. She didn't think whatever the molly had to say would end up being something foolish. Mistlewhisker wasn't one of those odd toadbrains that came to her with the strangest of news.


Dawnstar observed the sightless kitten as she walked out of the den without running into anything and then returned a few moments later. She dropped some bluebells at the leader's paws, it looked like she had just ripped them out of somewhere in camp. A medicine cat would have probably been annoyed if this were an herb brought to them.

"Thank you," The leader meowed to her great grandkit. She carefully pushed the plant closer to Duskkit at the last question. "Your paws work, don't they? Have you ever tried feeling something to get a picture of what it looks like in your head? I can describe it to you, but I doubt it will make much sense." It seemed troublesome to try and describe the flower's appearance when the kit's never seen what Dawnstar was describing.

"You can ask what you want as many times as you want since you need to learn. Tell whoever says that you can't that I'll claw off their ears, that'll give them an excuse to not answer you." Dawnstar growled. Half the reason Dawnstar tolerated kits and their endless questions was because they were learning, the better trained they were the better warriors she had in the future. Even though she found most of their questions stupid, babies were babies. At least in her clans. She couldn't say she'd spend or tolerate as much time for kits outside of ShadowClan. They weren't her responsibility.


Huh? Maybe she was just eating more. Larkfire seemed a little put off at the fat comment. Was she not bearing Darkfall's kits? Dawnstar watched her daughter with a hint of concern as the molly's expression smoothed itself back into something more neutral and expressionless. As much as the leader enjoyed harping on her son-in-law, she was glad that Larkfire had a mate within the clan who could watch over her... even if he was a bit of an idiot.

Larkfire was not very good at taking care of herself, not that Dawnstar could say much, but the leader at least knew how to take care of herself physically. Larkfire not so much. Larkfire was the only kit Dawnstar had left that hadn't died, betrayed her, or gone missing, the leader would very much like to keep her around for as long as she could. Brackenfire's words danced around in the back of the leader's head, calling her a neglectful mother who treated the warrior like dirt.

Those words still didn't quite resonate with her since Dawnstar didn't think she treated any of her adopted kits like dirt and although she could probably be more attentive to them, she was always around when they sought her attention. She didn't think they needed her attention every hour of the day, they weren't kits, but Larkfire was starting to make her think otherwise. But...

As Darkfall was brought up once more, Dawnstar shoved her thoughts aside for another day. "Good, so he is not completely useless. I want you to stay behind when we go to this moon's gathering and see if you can jog a few more memories. Darkfall is a good warrior, one of ShadowClan's few Enforcers, and he has an entire family to tend to, the quicker his memories return the better." Dawnstar huffed, ensuring Larkfire stayed away from the gathering. She was sure the medicine cat could do without the extra spotlight, she seemed stressed enough as it was. Dawnstar had learned to manage her stress, somewhat, Larkfire would need to learn as well or crumble under the pressure and expectations of a high rank.

Originally Posted by Undertaker (Post 1521474) Dawnstar didn't bother to pause while grooming her tail as she heard the paws reaching her den. She had to start heading out soon. She doubted Twilightstar would really mind, but she did have a meeting to get to. She hoped whatever Mistlewhisker wanted was fast. "Come." She replied shortly, whiskering her tail behind her as she turned her eyes to the mouth of the den. "Speak," Dawnstar demanded once Mistlewhisker had heeded her command. She didn't think whatever the molly had to say would end up being something foolish. Mistlewhisker wasn't one of those odd toadbrains that came to her with the strangest of news.