Smokedawn found himself standing on a small crop of sand in the middle of endless ice and snow. He walked out onto the ice, looking around, his eyes meeting the sun. A crow flied overhead. Smokedawn looked up at it, when suddenly, the ice broke, and he fell into the water, sinking quickly, dragged down by something.
He reached the bottom, but found himself breaking out through the water, flinging droplets high into the sky alongside him, before crashing down hard onto the sandy island. He rose to his paws, finding the ice and snow replaced with murky water, dirt visible underneath.
He sat and began to lick his pelt, when he was roused by a cat yowling. He quickly turned behind him, claws unsheathed, meeting the eyes of his dead Woodclaw - Moonpaw. He gazed into his eyes, pelt glimmering with the rising moon. "M-moonpaw . . . I-I'm sorry I couldn't save you . ." he meowed. The younger cat nodded slightly, then meowed, "Those of The Moon have spoken. Snow shall melt, Ice and Water shall join. Murder will befall the forest." Smokedawn stared dumbfounded, and meowed, "Wh-what? What does that mea-" but was cut off by the sand giving way underneath him, plunging him into icy cold water.
He suddenly woke up with a start, finding himself in a swamp. He looked around, seeing Oddstar and Leaffern sleeping soundly next to him. He remembered where he was; The crow cats attacking, the snow melting, his groupmates dying. "Snow shall melt . . . ? Ice and Water will join . . . ?"
Smokedawn trudged through the swamps, belly and legs soaking. He turned and looked to the Moonclaw, Leaffern. The old cat struggled through the thick muddy water. Smokedawn huffed, slowed down, and pushed himself into her side. "Raise your leg." he meowed, and she obeyed. He carried her on his shoulder, catching back up with Oddstar.
Oddstar looked back at him, and meowed "Good." then turned back to where they were walking - Toward the dry island that held the Gentle Current camp.
Smokedawn sighed in relief at the dry land, and let Leaffern off his shoulders. "Let me go in first," he meowed to his leader. Oddstar looked back at him, thinking, then meowed. "Sure." Smokedawn caught a glimpse of pride in his leader's eyes, but he brushed it off and walked to the opening in the rocky outcrop.
He padded into the camp and looked around. The camp was made of large rocks, in-set into the hill slightly, with a thin stream about five arm-lengths in width. He walked to the center, but was bowled over by a heavy cat, gray fur filling his face. "Wait!" he yowled as the cat bit hard into his shoulder. He winced in pain, and shoved the cat off of him, rolling them onto their back, then quickly stood and placed his forepaw on their sternum, pinning them.
The gray tom gazed back with hostility - Smokedawn recognized him as Doveleaf, the Steelclaw. "We're not here to fight." Smokedawn meowed, then stepped off of Doveleaf's chest and sat.
Doveleaf quickly rose to his paws, fur bristling. He meowed "If you're not here to fight, then why are you here?"
Oddstar broke in with a meow, "We're here because our camp flooded." Doveleaf turned on the leader, fur still bristling. "We're all that remains of Those of The Flurry. The snow on our mountain is melting, we require refuge." he finished.
Doveleaf stared for a moment, fur flattening, then huffed. "Really? The snow on that mountain melting?" he meowed gruffly, with a tone of skepticism.
Oddstar gestured with his tail to the mountain. The mountain had long since turned gray as the snow had melted. Nearly half of the snowy peak had melted, bared to show the hard stone underneath.
Doveleaf stared incredulously at the bare mountain, then turned back to Oddstar and locked eyes with him for a moment. After a while of this, he huffed and turned, walking to the opening in a large rock. "Goldstar. We have visitors. From the mountain."
A shimmering pale gold she-cat came out of the den, Goldstar. "Hm? Visitors?" she meowed, then turned to the Flurry cats. "Oh, hello there!" she meowed with a warm tone, walking over and sitting.
Oddstar repeated the story, and Goldstar's eyes widened with surprise, "Oh dear. Of course you can stay in our territory. However, please take the minimum amount of prey you can - We don't have much."
Smokedawn meowed, "With such a rude Steelclaw I expected you to be hostile. Thank you for being manageable."
Doveleaf glared at Smokedawn. Smokedawn didn't return the glance.
Goldstar stifled a laugh, whiskers twitching, and mewed "Don't mind him. He's just a little twitchy around newcomers. You'll likely find yourself liking him after a while."
Oddstar meowed, "So, where may we find lodging? We have an elder with us, and she'd likely enjoy a good rest about now." Smokedawn cut in "I'd like a rest,"
Goldstar paused and thought, "Hm . . Well, i'm not so sure any of my cats would like a group of new cats resting in our camp . . . Tell you what, in our past, we had a different camp. You can stay in the old camp, it might be a little uncomfortable, but surely it'll be better than yours right now." then turned to Doveleaf, "Doveleaf, please guide our visitors to the old camp." Doveleaf's tail twitched in frustration, but he dipped his head, and walked to the entrance of the camp. glaring back at the Flurry cats.
Smokedawn groaned, Leaffern wasn't even walking at this point, she was just laying ontop of his back.
Doveleaf stopped and looked up. Smokedawn hadn't even realized they'd walked up to a massive ancient tree until he looked up at it. Doveleaf turned and meowed, "The old camp was in the base of this tree. The large roots kept our ancestors off of the marshy ground. Feel free to stay here if you want. But don't expect anymore help." he growled.
Smokedawn meowed "We'll be fine," and Oddstar mewed "Thank you for all your help, we wouldn't have survived without it." warmly.
Doveleaf stared for a moemnt, before padding off, as the Flurry cats ventured into the roots of the ancient tree.
Smokedawn was happy to put Leaffern on the ground, looking around. The tree was large, the roots forming a small raised dry platform. The trunk of the tree had a large opening, where Oddstar could certainly sleep, and the branches of the tree above provided cover for all the rest of the cats.
Oddstar meowed "Hm. I kind of like this place, Surely wouldn't hold a whole clan i'll admit, but for just us three cats, this will do nicely." then walked over to the opening of the tree, flopping down on the old moss that was still sat inside, betraying his facade of strength as he sighed and drifted to slumber.
Leaffern glared at the tree, "It blocks my view of the moon." she hissed, earning her a glare from Smokedawn. "You'll be fine." he meowed, then padded over to the trunk of the tree and laid down, staring out at the swamp as he heard Leaffern begrudgingly lay down in the roots.
"Ice and Water will join . . ." he mewed gently, as he drifted off to sleep.