The five Warrior Clans are going extinct. Gatherings and Moonpool visits are inacessable, with leaders falling left and right. The lake territories are being wiped out to the brink of extinction by new, large predators that have migrated into their...
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"So when are we telling the clan about this?" Tinyflame directed the question into her ear with a low murmur. Cheetah pricked hers to listen.
"We'll wait quarter moon, maybe... at least a few days." It was all she could come up with, since she couldn't safely assume that every cat would accept the power.
"Why?" Cheetah probed, her golden gaze curious. "Won't they have no choice not to argue, since it was Starclan's endowment and not yours?"
"Some cats still aren't going to like it, at first..." Crescentsky trailed off uncertainly. "Not that I care. It'll just give me time to figure out how to use this. Defend the camp with this power, I mean. I need to see what it's capable of. What I can do, what I can't, and how I can handle it." She kept her voice low, since they were already well beyond Riverclan's scent-line.
She hoped it was the right decision. After all, they knew almost nothing. What if Tinyflame was onto something earlier, and she'd had a point? Could the wolf's brain really alter her intellect if she was in its body for long enough?
Will I stay myself?
She had to find out the answers to those questions before she told the clan.
"There's too much we don't know yet. When they start asking us questions about this, we won't have any solid answers." Crescentsky padded along with her shoulders hunched. Each time she took a step, pain radiated through her limbs all the way to the ends of her paws.
Cheetah nodded, agreeing.
"And it could make you look like liars if you don't. Or just not experienced enough to handle the gift." She seemed to understand Crescentsky's choice now.
Tinyflame inclined her head and glanced at them. She hadn't expected that much of an insightful response from Cheetah.
"Makes sense. But it's going to be hard, trying to keep two secrets at once." The lithe black she-cat shuffled along on weary pawsteps.
"Cheetah, make sure to keep your blabbing on the down-low. And that means don't mention anything about our missing claws, or Crescentsky's...-" Tinyflame seemed at a loss for words.
"-ability."
"I haven't. And I won't!" Cheetah nodded seriously. The spotted fur along her back was amber-yellow with the pre-dawn wash of light. The topmost the tree-branches held twittering birds and flitting insects, but it was still relatively drab on most of Riverclan's forest ground below.
Are we going to take the lie about our missing claws to our graves? It didn't feel right, keeping Cheetah in their lies for so long, and so often.
