The Story of Snow: Chapter 51

Instructions

~Warnings: Talk of death/murder, arguing, tearing apart of prey, :) ~ ‘Wake’ Snowpelt rose from her nest. It was chilly today, the beginning of leafbare. Four full seasons since her family was killed. Something about today felt different as Snowpelt left the warriors den, looking up at the grey skies. No sun to be seen. Snowpelt walked over to her usual rock and sat down, cleaning herself. She’d arranged the dawn patrol this morning, and she watched them leave. Snowpelt gazed around the camp. With leafbare, there were things to do. The next grouping of cats that got up should be sent hunting. Others needed to be assigned to help finish getting the dens insulated. The apprentice and warriors den were still only half done. Snowpelt would help with that for a while today. She should ask Skylight how Flowersong’s stores were doing, and perhaps send them out to collect any herbs that were still around. As for Whitestar… she usually didn’t wake up until sun high nowadays. Since Snowpelt had poisoned her, she’d become even more closed off and secluded, except for her ramblings to Snowpelt. Whitestar was still convinced there was a traitor in the clan, working for another clan. Snowpelt had said she was investigating. Whitestar had accused everyone at this point, and Snowpelt spent far too much time trying to keep her from doing anything rash. Whitestar had also taken to ripping all prey she could get her paws on open and inspecting it before taking a single bite, sometimes leaving parts inedible. Snowpelt was lucky she was too scared to come out to the fresh-kill pile, so the clan still had food, and Snowpelt could eat without having her food attacked. Whitestar never left her den now, and the clan had noticed. The gathering was tomorrow night, and Whitestar had been refusing to go. Snowpelt dreaded how that would go if she had to go without her leader there. It would be a disaster, Grassstar would absolutely target, and it welcomed an attack. All the clans had dwindled in number and everyone was tense. Thunderclan needed to show strength, and Whitestar was the opposite of that. ‘We can fix that. Today.’ What? She could hear Shadow chuckle ‘She’s on her last life, remember? You’ve done well, and it’s time for this to end. We take her final life. Today.’ Snowpelt sat up. Today? That was… ‘She deserves it. She took everything from you. She’s also a terrible leader, the clan needs her gone.’ Shadow was right. ‘I always am’ Shadow chimed with a dark chuckle. She- Snowpelt’s thoughts were interrupted by cats coming out of the warrior’s den. Snowpelt set aside her thoughts of revenge and walked over, talking to them briefly about a hunting patrol. Some of them left, and she set the others on continuing work on the dens after they ate. Speaking of eating… Snowpelt went to the fresh-kill pile and grabbed herself some food. She had made the mistake of not eating till Whitestar had woken up, and that had cost her several pieces of food before. Snowpelt grabbed a shrew and scarfed it down. As she finished, she caught sight of Skylight and walked over, asking “Skylight, how are Flowersong’s stores doing?” Skylight gave her a look and asked “Why can’t you ask her yourself?” Snowpelt replied “Because she’s still asleep, you’re awake, and I know you likely know.” Skylight sighed and said “She’s low on a few things, but we should be alright through leaf-bare.” Snowpelt asked “Anything that might still be able to be collected? How are we on catmint?” Skylight’s eyes softened a bit and she said “We’re just fine on catmint. We could treat the whole clan with how much Flowersong’s been hoarding it. She’s been nervous too.” Snowpelt let out a breath of relief, then asked “What about other things? Anything that can be collected?” Skylight paused, then said “A couple of things.” Snowpelt asked “Can you get them yourself?” Skylight nodded and said “Yeah, I’ll go now. I can go alone, Flower’s sleeping and I can see you’ve got everyone else working.” Snowpelt nodded and Skylight walked off. Snowpelt turned to the working cats and joined them, helping with the dens. After a while, Flowersong suddenly burst out of the medicine den, breathing heavily and looking around. Snowpelt motioned for her clanmates to keep working and stepped away, what was wrong? Maybe she should get Sky- Flowersong’s eyes found Snowpelt’s and she quickly motioned for her to come in the medicine den. Why- ‘You don’t need to do that. She can’t tell you what to do.’ Snowpelt’s paws started to move back towards the dens, but she stopped herself. Flowersong seemed scared… She turned back to Flowersong and she let out a sigh of relief. She walked over and Flowersong signed ‘We need to talk’ Snowpelt asked “About what?”