Tuesday, March 2, 2021

shattered sky: part two

Twigpaw is still upset over her sister attacking her when Bramblestar calls a clan meeting to discuss Alderheart's latest vision. Alderheart believes it is SkyClan and potentially Twigpaw's kin. Twigpaw is thrilled that she might have other kin, but she is upset with how every cat is treating this vision. No one wants to help SkyClan right now as ThunderClan has too many problems of their own. Even Ivypool, her mentor, doesn't want to find out if the cats are Twigpaw's kin. Twigpaw speaks up, asking if she has the right to answers. Lilyheart, her foster mother, tries to comfort her and explain that while she does deserve answers the clan must come first. The meeting breaks up and Ivypool tries to talk to Twigpaw but she turns away feeling betrayed by Violetpaw, Ivypool, and Lilyheart.

While out hunting, Needletail grills Violetpaw for the details of Rain's death. Needletail is worried Darktail might see her as a traitor now. They collect their prey and head back to camp. They get there to find some of the rogues escorting in three kittypets named Max, Zelda, and Loki. Violetpaw is shocked to see Darktail greet the kittypets warmly and knows he must be up to something. Darktail insists they are guests and has them take a blood oath of loyalty. Then he assigns a cat to escort each of them around, assigning Violetpaw and Zelda together. That evening the kittypets are ready to leave after a day of fun with the "wild" cats and Violetpaw is relieved since she doesn't want them caught up in Darktail's schemes. But Darktail overhears them and pressures them into staying longer.

Alderpaw goes to check on Twigpaw and discovers she has placed moss and leaves in her nest to make it look like she was sleeping. He rushes around the camp, looking for her. Unable to find her anywhere, and knowing she must have left to find SkyClan, he heads to Bramblestar. But before he can reach his leader Purdy collapses and while he tries to help the elder, Purdy dies. The cats sit vigil around his body and Alderheart worries that Purdy will not be allowed to join StarClan since he was not a warrior, but Bramblestar assures him that is not the case. Then Alderheart tells his father that Twigpaw is missing. Bramblestar asks for volunteers and Dovewing and Tigerheart step forward. Molewhisker is asked to go with them since he knows where the barn is.

Twigpaw heads towards the thunderpath when some dogs chase her. She climbs up a tree to get away from them. While in the tree she decides to climb higher to see if she can see the barn. Unable to see the barn she tries to head back down, but gets dizzy and falls from the tree onto the thunderpath, and in the path of a monster. She blacks out.

Violetpaw tries to sleep beside Needletail, who cries in her sleep because she is brokenhearted over Rain, and Zelda, who Darktail won't let leave. She finally dozes off but Dawnpelt wakes her. The ShadowClan cat wants to leave. She has already sent two of her kits, Juiperclaw and Strikestone, ahead. Her other kit, Sleekwhisker, she hasn't invited along because she is too loyal to Darktail. Violetpaw is puzzled why Dawnpelt feels the need to sneak around, when Darktail has let other ShadowClan cats leave, like Lioneye, but Dawnpelt doesn't trust Darktail. Violetpaw wants to go with her but feels she cannot as she has destroyed her relationship with Twigpaw and she cannot abandon Needletail. Dawnpelt leaves her and Violetpaw hears Darktail confront her former mentor. She worries while they argue, but then Darktail tells Dawnpelt she can leave so Violetpaw goes back to sleep. The next day Darktail leads everyone to the RiverClan border. He has the kittypets and elder attack the RiverClan cats. The attack is weak and the RiverClan cats are confused. During the confusion Darktail orders his warriors to attack. Violetpaw doesn't want to fight and hovers on the edge, but then she realizes Max has been killed. Upset, she throws herself into the fight and the Kin wins. Darktail lets the RiverClan warriors leave but demands they leave their seriously wounded behind. Mistystar doesn't want to, but RiverClan is badly defeated and they are in no position to fight Darktail over prisoners. Reedwhisker, the deputy, tells Mistystar to leave them. She then wants to take their dead for proper burial, but Darktail denies her this as well. Violetpaw watches as the RiverClan cats leave their home and head through ShadowClan towards ThunderClan.

I already know from Tawnypelt's story that Dawnpelt is dead by Darktail's paws, but I don't know when. I am willing to bet this is it, and that the other ShadowClan cats, like Lioneye, who openly left are also dead. She was probably right to send her two kits on ahead.

As for Purdy, I never really cared for his scatterbrained character but I am sad to see him go. He did become a fixture in the camp. But he should have died long ago, so it is not too surprising. He was an elder when Firestar and Graystripe were middle aged.

And I understand that Violetpaw is upset that Max died - especially because he is just a kittypet and not a warrior - but while RiverClan might have killed him it is Dartkstripe who sent him to his death. An untrained kittypet verses a seasoned RiverClan warrior is not a fair fight, and it could have even been an accident that killed Max. Though it probably was a death blow. Clan cats are allowed to kill rogues. The kittypets should never have been in that fight.

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