Here It Is, Lads.

LMFAOOO WHY IS CLOUDTAIL CONSIDERED UGLY 😭😭😭

HE IS THE OPPOSITE OF EVERY BEAUTY STANDARD THEY HAVE

A beautiful Clan cat;

Has distinct, contrasting markings.

Is colorful. Ginger-and-white, calicos, and torties are top-tier

Bears lots of scars, proving they've seen and survived many ferocious battles

Meanwhile, Cloudtail,

Has no markings.

Is a solid color.

Has a very thick pelt that hides his scars.

This poor man is a hideous beast

these two have most definitely never taken a first aid class

when I become president of Canada I'm going to force crunchyroll the website to reorganize the animes so I can look for a new series to watch without having to crawl through the trenches over five hundred miles of this shit

“Issue #8: Do You Really Think That’s Your Destiny?”

I’ve been looking forward to drawing this issue for awhile! Daffodilpaw hasn’t gotten much exploration in the story yet, but I’m really fond of her. She seems like a simple relentless optimist, but sometimes she’ll open her mouth and unironically say the most insane depressing thing you’ve ever heard. Like I’ve said, none of the apprentices in this story are remotely okay. 

Her injury is somewhat similar to Cinderpelt’s in how it manifests, as her leg from the shin down is paralyzed. However her upper thigh still works fine, and in any case three-legged cats don’t actually live any worse than four-legged ones. This is all moot against canon Warriors comparison anyways, because in PATFW healers still hunt and patrol. Daffodilpaw can’t run or fight as well as the others but she doesn’t really need to! Not much need in BarrenClan. All to say that canon-typical discrimination against disabled cats isn’t a part of Daffodilpaw’s story and I shall not be engaging with it. 

Yeah, her repressed feelings of misplaced survivor’s guilt and pressure to perform for her authority figures is a whole OTHER can of worms!

Previous < > Next

---

Ron DeSantis just kidnapped a 13-year old boy.

Earlier this evening, at around 7 PM CT U.S., Rebekah Jones (notably one of DeSantis’ biggest political enemies right now) underwent a raid on her home by state police.

Guns were pointed in the face of her 13-year old son, Jack. They arrested him under the charges of digital terrorism and “on state orders.”

They are refusing to let him go home and they are refusing to let Jones see him.

These are her screenshots recounting the incident from earlier tonight. They were taken at 10:23 PM CT U.S.

Reblog. I don’t care who you are, reblog this. We have to make sure that this doesn’t get buried – it’s already happening.

⠀⠀꒰⠀PARTYNOOB PIXELS ෆ ⠀ f2u! don't claim as ur own

⠀⠀︶⊹︶︶୨୧︶︶⊹︶ poob!

People on other platforms have slowed down talking about it, but please don't let Nijisanji sweep the Selen/Doki situation under the rug and allow them to abuse more livers and destroy more lives.

Boycott the company. Don't stop talking.

i am deadass so MFING TIRED of seeing ship discourse in the ons fandom like, you can have an opinion but dont put other people down for it unless it is straight up problematic problematic, being shit like minor x adult, incest, etc.

like for fucks sake dude, if you ship yuunoa that's cool, if it's mikayuu that's rad, if it's mitsunoa that's nice, if it's gureshin good for you, and if it's guremahi that's awesome

just, attack people who ship shit like ferid x mika or some shit, like that is actually problematic

and some characters have like, grade A war crimes but the fandom has like a C- reason to fucking hate them at most like GET A JOB BRO WHAT

like for ferid (lmfao hes an example yet again), he's a total shithead for the shit he did but i like him as a character because he's so complex, and there's more i want to learn about him as the story progresses

for mahiru, a lot of the stuff she did was questionable, but i love her as a character because she was just a girl with a dream to love and have power, but that shit drove her insane and brought her to her own demise

tl;dr ship discourse is dumb unless youre arguing abt problematic ships and have good reasons to hate a character

Heartstar's Rise: Fragments

So I'm making a character sheet for Heartstar, which kind of ended up looking a lot like Hollyleaf's. Basically a summary of all the stories related to her so far, y'know?

And I realized that when I got to Heartstar's Rise, the redux of Tigerheart's Shadow, it was a lot messier than the other appearances. So I figured it may be good form to post the fragments here, separate, until the story's a bit more "solid" so I can edit this post a bunch of times while shuffling things around.

So yeah, as always, weigh in with your thoughts and feedback! This one's looking for changes.

HEARTSTAR'S RISE! The book where Tigerheart becomes leader and resurrects ShadowClan.

I have a couple goals here for Heartstar's Rise, which I'm trying to keep in mind.

First is to show the "growing pains" for the newly arrived SkyClan, and conflict between them and the Kin refugees they're hosting. Why it doesn't work to just be one big Clan.

Show why certain characters want to go home (Blossomfall), why others want ShadowClan back, and also add a couple of characters who want to stay with SkyClan (Violetshine and her polycule of Tree and Dragonfly, as well as Olivenose of ShadowClan and one RiverClan cat, for later drafts).

IMPORTANT: Build out the Guardian Cats that Heartstar and Dovewing are going to encounter into a full culture, with their own idea of an afterlife, and "Leader Power" like the expansion I gave to the Tribe.

And here's a couple of key changes I want to point out;

AVoS was Kin-centric. Heartstar's Rise takes place right after the defeat of the Kin. BB!AVoS ends with the death of Darktail and fleeing of the Kin remnants.

SkyClan was PRESENT for that final confrontation, helping to defeat the Kin and 'earning' their place at the Lake

A new code commandment was added out of solemn respect to the memory of ShadowClan; The Law of the Lake, that all Clans have a responsibility to the preservation of the others.

Several cats defected to the Kin, ones who felt excluded from the Clans after the Great Battle. Mainly young cats who wanted change, but also a fair amount of Dark Forest trainees, halfclan lovers, cats who will come to be called 'codebreakers.' Blossomfall was one of them.

Leaders can no longer give up their lives without losing them all, and they prevent the next leader from getting them as long as they're alive. EVEN IF they have only 1 life left. Rowanstar will call himself Rowanclaw, but he is still leader until he is dead.

Possible prophecy for Rowanstar: "Your heart will make ShadowClan rise"

Here's what I got so far;

I VERY MUCH WANT TO ADD THIS: Keep an eye out for a good moment to place a kit rescue. Several cats had kittens during the Kin's reign; Ivytail (1), Blossomfall (3), Yarrowleaf (2), and I know that I want the Kit Rescue to be a plot point somehow.

It will be replacing Rowanstar's 'canon' death, so maybe towards the end? Dovewing is also coming home with her two kits. Possible connection? But, maybe it would be better placed earlier... basically, keep an eye out, gang. It's towards the end for now unless I find a better spot.

I know I want to open up with Tigerheart in SkyClan, sorting through her thoughts.

First of all, she's thinking of how she spent time in ThunderClan as a refugee during the Kin Crisis, and got between 💕Dovewing💕 and bumblestripe.

She asked Dove to come with her when she left, but Dove felt that there was too much uncertainty. Tiger didn't even have her own Clan she was going back to.

Bitter, Tiger felt like she chose bumblestripe over her. The Drama.

But her Clanmates... well, what's left of ShadowClan, they need her.

Scenes of Tigerheart showing that she is friendly with lots of them, including Ivytail in particular who is suffering from lung damage from Yellowcough and the stress of the Kin Ordeal is just starting to catch up with her. Like she'd been hiding how badly the illness affected her so she'd stay useful.

Ivytail is the new mother of Gullswoop. Remember the Kit Rescue thing-- should Gullkit be taken from her right now and be possibly alive with the kin, and they don't know? May be nice to show her just wishing she knew what happened.

There's also been some tensions with SkyClan

SkyClan doesn't enjoy the bogland that was created during Blackstar's marsh project, and has set up camp in a patch of Pine Forest on the easternmost edge of ShadowClan's old territory, like they want to get away from it.

Leafstar is a fine leader and trying to integrate the big influx of new cats, but most of them are not trained to hunt well in exclusively pine forest.

SkyClan is also, well, polite about the cuisine differences, but... Tiger's going to admit it. Squirrel tastes like dirty butt. The food is dry as hell and they don't use enough juniper.

So ShadowClan and SkyClan cats are having tension when assigned to Kitchen Patrol, unable to come together to make meals that please everyone, and that's 'the indicator' of the same problem everywhere else. For example;

ShadowClan cats are forming cliques and having difficulty joining the Clan broadly

Patrols are awkward as ShadowClan isn't good at hunting the same land as their hosts, this is embarrassing.

Some ex-Shadow construction crew cats are concerned that Blackstar's old dam will degrade and they'll lose cultivated marshland, but Leafstar doesn't 'get' the value in sacrificing several cats for a dedicated patrol to maintain that structure

And all the while, Rowanclaw isn't doing anything.

He hasn't replaced his deputy since Crowfrost died of lung complications due to Yellowcough and the Kin took over ShadowClan.

He's tired. There were so few survivors. Everything happened under his watch and he can't do this anymore.

IMPORTANT: I want to frame this less as "Rowanstar was an incompetent leader and this is all his fault" like canon, and make it more like Rowanstar has lost faith in himself, and THAT is what's making everyone mad at him.

It was Onestar who didn't share the Mullein they needed for the Yellowcough outbreak. It was the other Clans who didn't step in. There was nothing Rowanstar could have done, though he's positive there must have been.

All the while, Tigerheart displays her characteristic cheekiness. I want to adapt this fun scene I wrote where she passes Reedclaw a crayfish soup in the hopes of unsettling her and it doesn't work

DOVEWING TIME

Now that we understand why Tigerheart cares so much about her Clanmates, what they mean to her, and why she was so desperate to get back to them, it's time to visit Dovewing!

DOVEWING IS VERY HARD OF HEARING.

The hearing loss has slowed down, but there is still the threat that she could lose the rest of it.

She wakes up next to Bumblestripe, trying to sneak out of the nest to not wake him too, happy to have a little bit of alone time

Unfortunately he shoots up right away. She wracks her brain trying to think of what did it-- and realizes the nest is dry and probably made a creek she didn't hear

Sneaking has become really hard lately.

Basically some action to show some of the difficulties she's now having with her hearing loss

We get to experience a ThunderClan contrasted to the Shadow Survivors living under SkyClan. How Dovewing feels resentful to how she can't get alone time, the fact that Ivypool was rude to Tigerheart when she was around and their relationship is sour again, Mom Cinderheart and Aunt Fallenleaf and Dad Lionblaze and Stepdad Toadstep

Everything frustrates her, even harmless things.

But what's testing her patience is how cats who were telling her what to do when she had her powers are STILL telling her what to do without them

She's losing her hearing, and several cats are encouraging her to stick to 'regiments' of training. Glyph reading and writing, lipreading, picking up the modified battle command tail signs that Whitewing uses, not letting her leave camp alone

Lionblaze in particular sets her off pretty badly, even when he's 'being nice.'

Contrast to Birchfall who always makes her feel better, her mentor.

After some time of buildup, she ends up snapping at someone innocent who wasn't even really doing anything wrong. Probably Poppyfrost

Poppyfrost: "...I know you've been through a lot lately, but... you have people here for you, Bumblestripe is a good mate, you shouldn't be so afraid of having kits-"

Dove: "???????????????????????????????????? WHAT"

Poppyfrost: *about to repeat her sentence but louder but realizes, ah, that's not how she meant that.*

Dove runs off and has a panic attack

She doesn't want to raise kits now

She doesn't want to raise kits here

She doesn't want to raise kits with Bumblestripe

She doesn't want to raise kits with a bunch of cats breathing down her neck all the time, treated like she's just as much of a child as her children will be

But where will she go??

She turned down Tigerheart's offer to join SkyClan with her, and now she's pregnant with Bumblestripe's litter and he will never leave her alone

Who would take her, if not Tigerheart?

There's no place to go besides twolegplaces

But she is panicking, overwhelmed, and can't handle the idea of being here for one more minute

IF IT SUCKS HIT DA BRICKS

She bolts east, beyond the territory, not caring where she goes as long as it's not here, leaving her entire family behind

GUARDIAN TIME

Tigerheart catches wind that Dovewing left ThunderClan, they're probably surprised and alarmed that she didn't join SkyClan

Poppyfrost/Whoever the cat was that realized Dove was pregnant should speak to Tiger and tell her where Dove was last seen

Tiger, being the cat who knows her best, wracks her brain thinking about where she would have gone

Barn? No, Dovewing hates that Smoky guy

North? No, probably would have scented her on the territory, and besides if you go North enough you hit a twolegplace. She can't hear the cars anymore but she would still hate the smell.

East. Definitely east.

It pains Tigerheart to leave, though. Her friends are all here, she left ThunderClan and Dovewing because they needed her, and they still do... but Dovewing is alone in the wilderness!

So, she goes. She has to.

At least a week or two later, she finds the old Church.

It's a gorgeous ruin, surrounded by lush flora that she's only ever seen in Twoleg gardens. The church is one of the most beautiful dens she's ever seen, in spite of being half-human construction, the other half is well-grown vines and sod. Like a living structure.

It's half as beautiful as Dovewing, so surely she must be here.

BIG WIP TERRITORY

I know that I want the Guardian's thing to be that they are very good caretakers of their areas. This is because these cats are BREAKAWAYS from the ancient Lake culture, the fact that their home was lost to environmental destruction gave them this cultural value.

They are much better builders than any other group. Clan cats have a specialty for Combat, Tribe cats have a specialty for Hunting, Guardians are Construction.

They rely on managing prey-rich territory and their fighting ability is really just enough to defend themselves.

The same way that Clan cats have Stars and Tribe cats have a Stoneteller, Guardians have their own unique power. Their leader ("Corekeeper", maybe? Seer? Gardener??) has a supernatural ability to understand what's inside their 'sphere of influence,' and the needs of any plants that live there.

So in a roundabout way, the leader is all-seeing as long as their territory is verdant. Grass and moss can tell them exactly where an animal is stepping, and how large it is.

So it was known immediately that Tigerheart was just a single cat, not an invading group

Dovewing has been fitting in pretty well with these cats. They speak a completely different language, one that Dovewing couldn't understand even if she could hear it.

They have a couple chapters exploring how life could be different. Tigerheart aches thinking about the dam back home and how the simple lattices they use just to grow flowers puts Blackstar's ambitious project to shame.

They grow close with some of the Guardians' younger members, plus an older one who tries to meet Tigerheart's language halfway. He teaches her the word for "Spire."

Some time later, there is a conversation just after Light and Shadow are born; "What does a Clan mean to you?"

Dovewing continues before she can answer: "To me it means trees, the forest, it's something you work for. Everyone gives something to it and it's greater than the sum of its parts."

Tigerheart frowns at that, thinking of how she's going to share her response.

She draws Rowanstar, Strikestone, and Ivytail. A crayfish. A bowl around the crayfish like she was making it into soup. The grave of Flametail with the flowers around it. Frogs. Dawnpelt with three little kittens at her side.

She really gets into it, pouring her heart into the drawing, it gets bigger and bigger, she has to stand up and move around

And just when Dovewing thinks that either Tigerheart's lost her marbles or forgotten she's there, she starts drawing circles around the little doodles, and then lines that connect the circles all together

The last thing she draws is a final bubble, and connects that to a line in the web that binds all these things together.

In that empty bubble, she writes, "Clan."

Dovewing stares at that, unmoving, her expression serious and thoughtful. After what seems to be a long time, she says simply;

"gay"

(NOTE: I wrote the line as a joke to show to my partner and they laughed at it and said I would be a coward if I didn't show it. Enjoy before i edit for draft 2)

It hits Dovewing, in that moment, that Tigerheart has a very different idea of what a Clan is. Dovewing believes it's about service, sacrifice, the things that Lionblaze taught her. That you're born as an asset, and your responsibility is to contribute to that collective as much as possible

But Tigerheart believes that a Clan is all the connections between the things associated with it. That it's a series of links between friends, family, land, and prey. That to be 'part' of a Clan is to be part of the fabric.

She thinks back to ThunderClan, even the people she loves like Birchfall, and the pressure they put on her to 'meet' her potential at all times

The contrast to what she likes about this life, with the Guardians, where there are no expectations

She thinks about her kittens, how Tigerheart fell in love with them immediately, her worries that she would have nowhere to go. That Tigerheart HAS somewhere to return to, where she wants to be.

I want to retool the line from the canon version, where Dovewing says "I will never make you choose between your Clan and me." Something about the line bugs me.

I want to retool it to either Tigerheart assuring her she'll stay with her no matter what and Dovewing deciding that's not right either, or the two of them having a synthesis where Dovewing decides that home is wherever Tigerheart is

Dunno, still thinking about it.

BUT IN ANY CASE--

Spire and some of the other cats Dovewing got close to come up. Spire is touched.

Drawing all that on the ground communicated something deep to them. It was a beautiful way to demonstrate Tigerheart's connections. Re:Guardian Power; connection to their territory.

(I want for at least Spire to be privy to the same power their leader has, still working on this)

Ant, Cinnamon, and Blaze all have their reason for why they want to come

Ant is a little older than Dovewing and Tigerheart, and became a good friend of theirs. He wants to help them get home with the kittens; he'll go wherever Dove goes.

Cinnamon is bored, she wants to try new things and go to new lands. She's tired of growing roses, and has never seen a 'swamp' before.

Blaze is young and restless, he's ready to set out and have his own life

In-canon, Spiresight comes along too. He's the adopted father of Blaze and that's why he came along, but I'm not sure if I need Spire to leave with them. I think it may be best for him to just remain behind, maybe be the leader of the Guardians, change his name to "Spire-Seer" as a title referencing the new Guardian ability.

But anyway, if Spiresight doesn't go as well, then Blaze wants to make a new legacy separate from his father, be his own person.

EMPTY SPACE... TIME

They go home and I'm still working on this

I do not care much about the journey back honestly, in-canon the whole thing with the train and drawbridge was cool but I'm not interested in retelling it honestly.

It's not what's emotionally important

I think I want to do something here where Tigerheart returns and we BRING UP THAT KIT RESCUE THING

Instead of Tiger like, dying to a random owl. In hindsight Canon!Tigerheart's Shadow feels like it's full of quicktime events.

Anyway, if that's the case, I need to construct a situation where Leafstar refuses to attack the Kin Remnants and steal children

Some of them belong to cats like Ivytail, but the kits are being cared for by the Kin Remnants, they have fathers/other mothers, and she does not feel right about attacking and stealing them.

Even when a cat like Yarrowleaf breaks away and begs them to go back and help her take her children because they aren't safe with Nettle.

Leafstar still can't say if Yarrowleaf is lying or not, she was part of the Kin just as much as Nettle was.

Like... something like that. She's not being unreasonable but the Shadow cats are understandly upset.

it's why i hesitate to have kits get actively stolen even though it works well for dramatic setup, that would cross a line and force Leafstar to go "save" them, else look like she's just taking stupid pills

I want to display that Tigerheart as a leader will make controversial, ShadowClan-centric choices, and has a very, "diplomacy is how I get what I want" mindset.

Leafstar: "Wow this is a complicated situation and I'm not sure what the right call is here, I think I'll play it safe and watch the situation evolve before making a choice I regret."

Tigerheart: "Wow this is a complicated situation. Good thing I'm always right and incapable of being wrong, ever 💕"

Rowanclaw is still refusing to lead, backing up Leafstar. He says there is no ShadowClan.

--Tigerheart has entered the group chat

"damn bitches youre living like this"

Big damn speech: "I've gone far in my travels, met strange cats and lived by their ways. I've become a refugee of ThunderClan, a warrior of SkyClan, a grower of the Guardians, and a traveler with no home at all. I became a lover, a mother, like a Star with each life I became something new and yet remained the same. We are ShadowClan cats, and it's time we made our own choices!"

YEEHOOO

Cats split. ShadowClan returns to its own territory and plans to attack and get their kits back

The Kin Remnants are small but fight ferociously

This is a big change from canon, btw, where Sleek comes home to steal children and bully Rowanstar because she's evil or something.

Insert battle here

Possible kill; Ivytail, who was willing to fight to the death to get her kitten back, reunited for only a brief moment.

Though it also works that no Clan deaths happen besides Heartstar, since I plan to kill a lot to the Kin and the final stand against Darktail

Either way, it's bloody, lots of injuries. Rowanstar arrives in the last minutes to aid the fight, and gets killed... along Tigerheart.

But Rowanstar comes back to life and Tiger doesn't

Got killed in her first fight. GIRLBOSS

Rowanstar wakes up at what should be his daughter's funeral.

Shadowkit is staring at Tigerheart's body (formative moment unlocked)

Dovewing should be sad, but she looks furious. She's a hulking, angry beast, glaring down at Tigerheart's tiny body.

Mid-obituary, interrupting whatever Puddleshine was saying, she straightup snatches the corpse

Explains NOTHING, BYE

In another draft I may just explain the aftermath here, have Rowanstar wake up after Dovewing has already done some preemptive graverobbing and learn from Tawnypelt that she's run to the Moonpool

I could keep Shadowsight's Formative Moment by having him get kidnapped, too, so Heartstar died trying to get her kids back

(See how it's a hard choice between kidnapping vs no kidnapping?)

In any case, the next scene is the climax

ROWANSTAR'S DEATH

Seeing Tigerheart here, at Dovewing's feet, the reflection of the pool turning her starry-silver...

Rowanclaw's stomach is cold like ice

Tawnypelt tries to reason with Dovewing, ask what she thought was going to happen

Dovewing doesn't answer, if she can hear her at all. The rage is melting away into despair.

Hope is slipping away like raindrops through claws, like stars at the start of a cruel dawn

Like a son to icy cracks, a daughter to rancid lies, a deputy to someone's selfish games

The thought of 7 more lives of losing everything is unbearable. His claws slide out. He had rejected his name, but he is a leader now.

"Tigerheart is my deputy!" He bellows at the stars, charges forth, and splashes into the water with her under his paws

He kicks furiously, swimming as deep as he can.

His vision blurs and fades, bursting into a starry field of colors and awestruck ancestors.

They say nothing. His gaze darts from cat to cat, until he spots Tigerheart there among them.

When he plunges back into life, he swims harder

His lungs are burning and his muscles ache, the pressure of the water crushing him, and there's no bottom in sight

Each time he dies, he sees Tigerheart there, next to Flametail and Dawnpelt, Newtspeck, Littlecloud

And each time he comes back he sees her face below his claws.

When he comes back the last time, her eyes burst open and she thrashes at the claws gently lodged in her chest fur with confusion

Rowanstar is exhausted, but finds the last bit of strength in his body to flip them, lodge his paws onto her belly, and thrust her up

Beams of starlight dancing on his face, Rowanstar is embraced by the endless darkness at the bottom of the Moonpool.

Heartstar bursts from the pool, coughing, sputtering, fur clinging to her body and looking like a wet rat

Without hestiarion, Dovewing leaps into the pool, teary eyed and calling her name

"dOVEWING you wont BELIEVE what I've been through"

Heartstar is marveling about her death, her fetching, how she was looking at the patrons of Silverpelt before Rowanstar plucked her out

Dovewing hauls her out of the water and starts licking her dry, and Tawnypelt hesitates to join them. She look back at the Moonpool

The thick ripples lap at the rim for a moment, vanishing rapidly as if she water was smoothing itself out. Soon, it's as still as the day it was discovered, liquid-black and reflecting starlight as if it were a fallen piece of the night sky.

Tawnypelt stares into the darkness, seeing nothing.

"Be starlight that lights my path, Rowanstar. I love you."

She goes to help Dovewing dry off her daughter

Epilogue

One week later, Heartstar is assessing her Clan.

The cats address her as Heartstar; confirmation that it is bad luck for cats to share a title.

That's a reason why the ancestors are consulted before warrior name ceremonies, and they gave Heartstar a new name when she rose

Translator's note: Though her suffix was -babun, "heartbeating," her new prefix is the future tense, Babi, "heart will beat." It's in reference to her resurrection.

The kittens that were won in the raid are acclimating

Especially Oat and Flax, Yarrowleaf's kids, now that they're away from Nettle.

If Ivytail died, Gullkit is still having a hard time. She follows the other kits around but has behavior problems, is a bit of a bully.

Apprenticeship will help her a lot.

While making the rounds, Blossomfall approaches Heartstar.

"I've been thinking about what you said, about living a dozen lives but still having ShadowClan be part of you. I think I feel the same way... I want my kits to know their auncles"

Heartstar does the cat equivalent of clucking her tongue, "will they take you take you tho"

"Yes assholestar. They reached out to me, my family wants me to come home"

Heartstar sighs lamentiously. One adult warrior and three future ones is a lot to lose. But,

"Divided loyalties won't do anyone any good. Well, if ThunderClan wants you back, it's worth taking a crackle at!"

"Your puns suck" (Blossomeese for thank you)

Construction patrol comes back, caked with mud. Cinnamontail fits right in. She's got some great ideas about lattices, whatever that means

After all this, assuring that everything is running smoothly, Heartstar finally gets to loaf down next to her wife and a crayfish soup, perfectly spiced.

There are still problems; SkyClan takes territory to the east, and RiverClan got waay too comfy with having exclusive fishing rights in the dammed pond and marshland to the west. Knowing Mistystar, she'll start throwing her weight around in the next moon as the seasons change, and when that happens SkyClan will be an issue as Shadow needs that territory

But for now, ShadowClan is thriving, Lightkit and Shadowkit are growing well, and Juniperclaw is a fine deputy like his father Crowfrost.

Next to Dovewing and the rest of her friends and allies, in the mud and the mushrooms, marshy moss underfoot and wet, chilly breeze that calms a wild heart above... they are finally home.