The Dire Pond

A pond located near camp named after the first leader of SunClan, Direstar. The pond has many herbal plants growing around the edges and has plenty of fish for those who know how to fish.

The medicine wolf had left early that morning in order to reach the dire pond before it had gotten too hot to do anything. Creamy furred and bearing striking resemblance to Willowmist, the sunclan female hummed to herself her tail twitching to the beat of the catchy song she'd come up with. Navigating the stones easily her sharp brown eyes began flicking around searching for some Coltsfoot as her stock had grown low and the water the pond had was perfect for the plant that was used for coughs as well as cracked paw pads which happened alot during summer. Also known for using it to help with cut paw pads on some of the steep slopes of their mountain home Sunheart continued to hum her fluffy cream tail wagging as she happened upon the very plant she was looking for. Carefully picking some of the leaves she was careful to leave plenty for the plant to survive, wrapping them securely in one of the leaves she'd brought her to carry things in. Tucking the package into her mouth she remembered that they were almost out of comfrey and thus began searching for the big leaved tangy smelling plant. Wandering around she spent a fair while looking, while she'd been accepted by Starclan she was still so unsure on so many things not having had time to learn everything. Willowmist had been kind and had loaned her her knowledge but the creamy female was a warrior not a medicine wolf. Perhaps if she asked Riverstar he'd agree with her going to the windclan camp and asking their medicine wolf to teach her some more. Ever humming, music such a big part of her life, Sunheart grinned around her mouthful striking jackpot and finding the plant she searched for after wandering around for a good part of an hour. Digging fiercely with her front paws she laid bare the precious roots, after setting the leaf with the coltsfoot in it, the medicine wolf collected some of the roots before reburying and eyeing the water a little fearfuly. She had a deep phobia of the water, having nearly drowned when she was a pup, Sunheart often tried to keep away from the water. Picking up her pace into a trot the creamy she wolf headed for home.

~Sunclan Camp~

Her muzzle was starting to be flicked with grey as the senior warrior wandered up to the Dire Pond searching for Riverstar. Appearing a little tired, the gentle natured female moved over the steep mountain country of the clan with relative ease. So much had happened, Stormclan had separated, Riverfoot had become Riverstar, and all of the other clans with the exception of Riverclan had a new leader. She could feel riverclan calling to her, wanting her to return back to where she'd been born, however Riverstar needed her guidance, the entire clan did. Finding him by the pond she walked over to him and smiled "Come on Riverstar, you are needed back at camp, we have patrols and hunting parties to send out" she naturally was quite gentle and laid back. Looking quite similar to her niece she flicked her tail tip thoughtfully waiting for the red hued wolf to come back with her

The cream senior warrior affectionately licked his ear and responded to his quiet admission "We'll send out one of each, You lead a hunting patrol and I'll take a border patrol. Take Stoatblaze, and Oakstream with you, I'll take Pinedusk and Galepaw on a patrol" She suggested appearing quite fond of him, she liked the red youngster and could understand why he felt so unsure of himself. He was almost like a pup, the creamy female greatly regretted not having any pups of her own and with Sunheart a medicine wolf it seemed she would never have any pups in her family. Thus she'd taken the Red wolf under her wing so to speak and over time viewed him as a member of her family, waiting to hear his response she affectionately stuck her nose in his ear a little teasingly before moving into the shallows of the water staring at it quietly. Riverclan, she half wondered if Stoatblaze missed riverclan the same way she did perhaps she'd talk with him about it when they returned from their patrols. It would be good to send a senior warrior with Riverstar and she trusted the warrior to keep an eye on River, idly splashing with a paw in the water she waited for the leader of her clan to respond.

At his response she sighed and turned her back on the pond, walking up to affectionately nudge the leaders shoulder only allowing herself to treat him like a pup of her own when it was just them. The creamy senior warrior offered him a smile, everything would be alright in the end, the world had a strange way of righting itself. Like how windclan had discovered the truth behind Snowstars death and had humbly apologized for what had happened, she'd been pleased that Riverstar was happy to move on from it. Lingering over past wrongs would not help the clan, she headed forward back towards the clan pausing once to look over her shoulder at him and gesturing for him to come with her. She'd get him to announce the patrols like it was his idea, the more he used orders the more comfortable in his position he'd become. Some perhaps would have been sour that they hadn't become Leader of the clan whereas Willowmist was genuinely pleased that the clan was being lead by a youngster. youngsters had a fresh look on things and with herself and stoatblaze to guide him as advisers everything would be alright
~Sunclan Camp~

After leaving the trio of wolves, the black she wolf had trotted up to the pond and gone still her features brightening at the chance of going for another hunt. Winter was coming after all so it was better to indulge a little more and pack on extra pounds to see her through, flicking her long tail the female waded into the water and went still studying the depths of the water with sharp eyes focused. She’d probably go back to her dad and spend the winter with him, it’d be easier with them both teamed up together, they made a good team after all and he’d taught her all about hunting while her father Killian had taught her all about fighting. He wasn’t called the shadow for nothing, licking her chops a brief moment as a fat tasty looking trout lazily swam through the water, lunging forward with an easy grace her jaws clamped about the creature tightly. Naturally it fought the large fish rather powerful and wriggling as much as it could to try and get free, dragging it back to shore, Claire dug her teeth into it and tossed it onto the stones before pouncing forward and finishing it off with a final bite. Shaking the water out of her hide that was increasingly growing thicker fur for the winter that lay ahead, Claire was about to dig in when the sound of pawsteps made her look up a little exasperatedly. She wasn’t doing anything wrong, she was just fending for herself like any good wolf, flicking her tail slightly that indicated her shortness of mood green eyes narrowed dangerously.

The smaller male lead the way following his nose as he tracked Claire only going off course once during the trip and he was thankfully able to pick it back up by retreating a few paw steps where he found she had turned. Hearing the splashes as well as the stronger scent indicating they were all but on top of the dark female the spotted apprentice started to drop his pace until he was level with Riverstar. He sat a little closer to Claire than his mentor as he studied the size of the fish. "That's a great catch Claire." he said with wide eyes of awe. His tail brushed over the ground as it wagged and his head tilted slightly as he listened to the sounds around them while the others spoke.

Barely holding back a soft growl as the black pup speckled with brown spots ignored her silent warning to keep back and instead stared at her with big adoring eyes complimenting her. Cold and frosty around these strangers, his familiar tone that he used with her irked her admittedly, flicking her gaze to the older red wolf, Claire tilted her head at his question about winter. One paw rather possessively on the catch incase the pup thought about trying to nick what wasn't his to take, the green eyed female considered his words thinking about why he'd want to ask such a personal question. "If you mean a territory of my own then no" if the two males had been Julian and Killian she would have been behaving remarkably different, her coldness would thaw and she'd greet them warmly however these two were practically strangers to her and not to be trusted with the self that could be hurt. Trying to figure the male out, she thought it over, perhaps he was wanting to offer her a place in his pack, she supposed that could potentially be logical since she'd proven her ability to hunt despite it being on their territory. Out of all of the packs she'd considered joining the one that had the beach, after all she loved the sea, however she'd consider this pack fairly.

Listening to his offer carefully, Claire considered her options, if she set up camp here she'd be close to both of her fathers after all Killian had mentioned something about setting up camp in the mountains and her father was rather fond of the loner territories near and in the mountains as well. Her tail tip twitched indicating she was seriously considering the offer, her green eyes flicked down to the fish, the idea of the needs of the many outweight the needs of the few appealed to her immensely and her dad Julian would be happy that she'd found some others to spend time with. He was always worrying that she was spending too much time on her own, she disliked worrying him and liked to keep him assured that everything was fine. Moving her paw from the fish she glanced over her shoulder at the red wolf, he was strange rather relaxed for the leader of a pack, his trainee wolf was rather relaxed as well. Other territories she'd trespassed on with Killian had had wolves that'd acted very viciously at the presence of strangers, discovering she was quite fond of the relaxed attitude Claire made up her mind. Still keeping a wary eye on the spotted youngster not sure if he was going to try and steal her prey or not, the she wolf wasn't the best at sharing her prey with others unless they were one of her fathers. After all she'd been raised to defend herself and what was hers against others, "What are the laws or Rules of your pack?" it'd be wise to find out the terms and conditions before agreeing to join them after all. She opted to remain standing and moved to stand rather defensively over the fish she'd caught, unwilling to let anyone try and take it from her.

He laid down as Riverstar entered the water to cool down but the spotted apprentice was happy enough on the shade. Seeing Claire's paw land on the fish he blinked before shaking his head slightly. "I'm not some rough brute who steal from a lady and you caught it so it's yours." he told her hoping to put her at ease before nibbling at an itch on his leg. When she asked what their laws were Galepaw lifted his head and hoped his mentor wouldn't mind him answering her. "We follow the warrior code. You may have friends in other clans but your loyalty remains with your own as you may face them in battle. You mustnt enter or hunt on another clans territory and gives thanks to Starclan for the life of your prey which you kill only for food. We feed the pups and elders before apprentices and warriors but unless given permission apprentices must first hunt for the elders before they are allowed to eat. We do not kill in a fight unless it is the last option we have or the attacker is outside the warrior code." he said listing the main points. "That's the main stuff. There is some more that guide us through some other things. Oh and Riverstars word is law in the clan. If he says that someone must leave the clan then they gotta go. Does that answer your question?"

Her wary features went from being somewhat relaxed to instantly defensive as the speckled pup announced that he wasn't some rough brute that would steal from a lady. A soft snarl escaped her "Don't call me a lady squirt." if he wouldn't steal then he was a wolf that'd last maybe ten seconds in the real world, sometimes you had to steal from others to survive. The more she was around the pup the more basic and dimwitted she assumed him to be, did he just assume that she'd instantly like him and want to be around him? "Don't be such a kiss ass either, nobody likes a suck up squirt" his words had done nothing to put her at ease and had only served to annoy her. Flicking her ears, she began to eat the fish while listening to the squirt rabbit on about something called the warrior code, What in lupus's name is Starclan? Why on earth do they call themselves clans, Clans are for cats these are wolves by goodness sake however her face showed none of what she was thinking, instead she finished off the prey and licked her chops studying the pup through cold eyes. In short no, none of that had answered her question because most of it didn't make sense, it sounded more like a gang than a pack, and she was a little wary of joining what quite frankly sounded like a cult. She flicked her green eyes over to where Riverstar was, wondering if he'd be able to explain it in such a way that it didn't sound as preachy because from the way the pup had described it she was better off on her own. Cults were bad news and she wasn't stupid to get caught up in one, naturally feisty and spirited, the black she wolf held herself confidently, the by product of having been raised by Killian, he'd taught her enough that even out numbered she was certain she could take care of herself. Remembering when he'd taken her to a misty marsh as a pup, a slight sparkle entered her gaze as she remembered how much fun it'd been, for now however she studied the red furred blue eyed wolf awaiting his explanation if he was going to give one.

The red wolf began speaking, explaining that the pack was a family that took care of each other first and foremost, paying close attention when he explained what this starclan business was she supposed it made sense. Her gaze flicked up to the sky briefly, she enjoyed watching the stars although had never thought of them as anything apart from pretty dots lighting up the night sky. Melissa believed they were Lighthouses, at the far end of the sky flashing their lights at one another and at her, coming back to the present as the red wolf lunged for another fish and this time caught it. He continued speaking adding that they hunted for everyone and shared the loads of survival, that made sense, she knew the mountains were harsh she'd spent time with Jules up at this altitude the previous winter for a while to learn how to hunt in deep snow. Dipping her head and deciding this would be worth a shot, Claire spoke "Very well then i'd like to join your pack" after all he'd never said anything about her not being able to visit her family, and they her. She'd follow him and see what it was like, besides if it didn't fit she'd just leave, having relaxed somewhat there was a curious look to her green eyes.