Firestar |The Courageous Lion of Skyclan|
The leader rose from his slumber early in the morn, making sure to muffle his paw steps as not to disturb his Queen and kits. When stepping foot out of his warm den, he could tell something was amiss. The stillness to the air caused the ginger feline to frown. It was an eerie feeling settling within his stomach, as if something was trying to tell Firestar that something was not right. Quickly clambering down the large branches of the sky tree, he needed to organize an morning patrol—now. Hoping it was nothing, but often enough his gut instincts never lead him astray. The ground beneath his large paws crunch faintly, frost settling upon the foliage within the tree. He had thought that leaf-bare had been coming to an end, as days prior the weather had lightened, it would seem that was not the case. Sharp bi-colored eyes flicker around before spotting Bayleaf and a few other warriors near their dens. Heading towards the solid grey warrior, “Bayleaf! I want you to pick two warriors to come with you and I for a patrol.” He orders. Pausing for a moment as he realizes that this is the perfect opportunity for Ryepaw.
Sighing through his nose before making head way to the apprentice den. Refraining rolling his eyes as he was certain that the young apprentice stayed up late again trying to think of ways to woo his precious daughter. “Oi! Ryepaw! Time to get a move on!” Knowing that the young lad would not be too far behind he stalks off. Needing to see for himself on what was going on around his clan. Signaling Bayleaf to take the lead to scout the edge of Skyclan—near the cliff that overlooks the ocean. Firestar wanted to take his time observing his land. Brows furrowing at the bitter cold, his attention flickering wearisomely at the birch trees teetering dangerously under the weight of ice. “What do you see?” He questions Ryepaw, wanting to know just what was going through that small brain of his. Firestar could already tell that a storm was coming, one that Skyclan has never witnessed before or in a long time.
The sea before him seems to almost be raging to be heard as the usual blue water now black and dark from the looming clouds. No birds or any other sign of wildlife could be heard, just silence besides the thunderous beating of the ocean against the rocking cliff. Firestar squints as a cold front brushes harshly against him, his ginger pelt ruffling in every direction. Studying the the cliff lining below to notice the rocky lining has begun to ice over. The ice slowly creeping up as the temperature drops. “Stay away from the cliff” he warns Ryepaw and his fellow warriors. “It could become unstable” He clarifies as he takes a few large steps backwards. Ears twitching as the trees around them creek as if communicating with one another that danger was coming. Frowning as he feared that his clan would need to take immediate shelter within sky tree to wait out what seemed to be an oncoming ice storm.
Ryepaw
Skyclan Apprentice
Letting out a huge yawn, Ryepaw was looking at the entrance of the apprentice’s den when hearing Firestar’s booming voice from the outside. Blinking away the drowsiness and shaking the piece of moss that was on his cheek, the sandy brown tom slowly rose from his den and began shaking any leftover moss that was around his fur. He let out a soft sigh, stepping out of his nest and quickly made his way out of the den to follow his mentor. Ryepaw knew that Firestar doesn't like waiting, the ginger Maine Coon always liked to stick to a schedule from what Ryepaw was starting to figure out. He couldn’t really understand why Firestar enjoyed waking up early in the morning while everyone else was still asleep, assuming that maybe his new litter with Auroraskies would at least cause the leader to sleep in for another hour or two.. But that wasn’t the case at all.
“Good Morning Firestar.” Ryepaw greeted once catching up with the massive ginger tom, hiding another yawn. He shouldn’t have been this tired, but the apprentice had stayed up all night while Finchpaw was describing the adventure that she had with Thornpaw and Scorchpaw when training had concluded yesterday. It wasn’t until Primrosepaw had suddenly appeared and joined in the conversation and was trying to outdo Finchpaw by bragging about her training session. He had to prevent the two she-cats from murdering each other, as both of them were giving each other glares up into it was bedtime for them all. Noticing that Firestar was looking at him, unimpressed, Ryepaw looked down at his paws awkwardly “Sorry, busy night..” The sandy brown tom said, before noticing Bayleaf joining with two more warriors. Ryepaw had liked the solid gray tom, he was quite a nervous fellow but was still a hard worker.
He noticed that something was on Firestar’s mind, he just couldn’t tell what it was. What’s wrong? Opening to question if Firestar was okay, it wasn’t until his mentor questioned if he noticed something was wrong. Arching an eyebrow, Ryepaw wasn’t sure if his mentor was being serious or was being snarky as usual. Couldn’t he tell? Littledove had explained to Ryepaw that he must listen to everything that Firestar would say, as it was quite an honor for him to be mentored by the Skyclan leader. Tigersnap’s reaction on the other hand.. Wasn’t the best. Ryepaw couldn’t forget the look of horror on his father’s face when Ryepaw’s apprentice ceremony took place, and the ranting that Ryepaw had to listen to as his father was going off about how his son should had been mentored by a better cat than Firestar.. He wasn’t quite sure about the reasoning of Tigersnap and Firestar’s rivalry, maybe something took place while they were apprentices? Who knows.
“There’s ice around the branches, it’s best to be careful where you’re stepping.” Ryepaw observed, looking up at the branches that were swaying back and forth with icicles that were attached to the tree. It wasn’t until the patrol made it towards the cliff, Ryepaw’s eyes widened slightly at the lack of wildlife present. It was a cold and uneasy feeling, something was wrong. Nodding at Firestar’s words, he looked more towards the sky and frowned for a moment. Turning towards his mentor “What’s gonna happen now? Will we have to leave camp?” Ryepaw questioned, not knowing any better that the clan will simply shelter underneath the Sky Tree 81ff64