flight of feathers

As a general rule, every movement Dovepaw made was purposeful. Every step, every stride, every spoken word and wide-eyed glance was another chance to get ahead in the battlefield of life. To get the attention of those around her, because she was clever and talented and as far as she was concerned, that deserved recognition.

Still, there was nothing saying she couldn't take pleasure in the moment as she raced toward her goals; dashing ahead of the rest at every opportunity to feel the wind grow stronger. She was named for the bird, as her mother had told her - blessed by its swiftness and its grace. The moor was gone, cracked and shattered under their paws, but the wind survived, and so long as there was wind there would be WindClan.

The breeze that followed after ruffled her fur as if it were feathers and she savored every second of it, wondering if any of the other travelers were impressed.

Spotlake padded with the group, sticking close to the mothers and younger cat/kits, even if they weren't from her own clan. Everyone needed to be looked out for, no matter what. She noticed one of the apprentices, enjoying the wind in her fur. Spotlake recognized her. Dovekit, though she supposed it would Dovepaw now. Spotlake wondered how the apprentice had been doing, and so with a quick glance back towards a group of kits she had been watching over, Spotlake padded over to Dovepaw, waving her tail in hello.

"Good afternoon Dovepaw. Enjoying the breeze?" Spotlake greeted, a warm smile on her maw.

"Absolutely," Dovepaw purred, slowing her pace to pay attention to the conversation. "I don't know why no one else is. It's wonderful weather!" They had lost quite a bit. But that was no reason to stop their lives, was it? The wind kept blowing, so they should keep running no matter what. "I imagine it's what flying feels like. Well, as close as we can get, I suppose..."

She turned her head as best she could, as if expecting wings to sprout from her back. No such miracle occurred, of course, and she was left disappointed.

"Yea, it is a big shame no one is enjoying it. If they stay hung up on things, they'll never know the small things in life, I say." Spotlake purred in agreement. She knew herself how grief effected cats, as she had lost oh so many kits, and even her own mate. She still missed them of course, but she didn't stay hung up on their deaths. She remembered them, in their happy and good moments. One day, Spotlake hoped, the younger cats would be able to remember the old forest, and their fallen ones, with happiness, not sadness and grief.

"Haha, yea I suppose this is the closest things us cats have to flying, though I have heard Skyclan cats are rather good jumpers. I'm sure they feel their flying whenever they jump from one tree to another. Don't think they have as much wind as us Windclan cats do though." Spotlake softly chuckled. Stars, she loved hanging with her clanmates. It made her feel a sense of community.

"Well, we're obviously the best at what we do!" Dovepaw declared. She was WindClan through, and beyond proud of that fact - maybe a little too much so at times. "SkyClan might be good at jumping, sure, but I'd bet that WindClan's kits could outrun the best of them any day. And I'd bet any one of our warriors could outrun all the other Clans at the same time!"

Spotlake softly lauged. "Well I'm not gonna bet against that, though Skyclan might wanna."