The air smelled thickly of cod, shadows of clouds covering the moist earth of the RiverClan island camp. Dipperflight blinked open his eyes sleepily. Something had woken him up.

        "Dipperflight." He sniffed. Was that Sagecloud? He saw a flash of a ginger tabby pelt.

        "Foxpaw? What is it?" He craned his neck, gingerly stepping out of his make-shift den to try and get a better glimpse of the ginger apprentice. A pair of green eyes met him in the shadows of the reeds, though. No. That was not the soft yellow-green, curious gaze of the zealous tom. Those eyes were sharp, scrutinizing, and holding a metaphorical darkness in the pupils. "You-You're not Foxpaw...!" Dipperflight's voice rasped out.

"No... I'm not...," they stepped out of the shadows, not even the moonlight daring to outline his frame. Fennelstorm. 

       "No! Get out of here-- Sagecloud, Rushfrost, Daisystar-- someone!!" He called out, backing up slowly, eyes flicking wildly to the other dens. No cat stirred.

      "What's wrong, Dipperflight? You knew this was coming! You can never escape from me. Never."

      "No, please, I-I just--"

      "You ran away from me. Just know you are the cause of everything bad. Every horrible thing that's going to be happening... it's all your fault." His voice was sing songy, his eyes half closed as he spoke. The ThunderClan deputy leaped suddenly, a gleam in his eyes. Dipperflight cowered to the ground. The ginger tabby's claws outstretched. His lips pulled back into a snarl. His shadow enveloped the runaway tom.

      Dipperflight gasped awake. His heart was racing. He blinked a few times before timidly looking up and out of his den. The moon was high, almost half-full and emitting a brilliant light that washed out the closest stars to its surface. His amber gaze swept over the reed barrier, clearly lit up and void of stalking cats. His heart still thrummed in his chest, and he cast a glance to where the warriors den entrance was just barely visible from his small inlet den. He could wake Sagecloud, or maybe Rushfrost. No. they're busy warriors, they have things to do in the morning. Prey to hunt. Borders to defend.

A wind whispered through the camp, stirring the reeds and scattering small leaves across camp. He narrowed his eyes. Leaves. The willow tree, the only tree close enough to drop its leaves. The leader's den. Daisystar. They might not mind if I... maybe they would mind... it's worth a chance.

Dipperflight stood, slowly at first. His eyes flicked to the nursery, that blocked his view of the camp's entrance, then to the warrior's den where the sounds of sleep warmed the area. He gingerly stalked across the camp, the reed dens and tall sedges all leading to the large willow at the end of the RiverClan island. He swallowed, shutting his eyes as he reached the entrance.

"Daisystar...?" He whispered hoarsely. He paused. This is dumb I need to go back to my den. "...Daisystar..?" He tried again a moment later, voice slightly louder. He swallowed, turning. This was so, so dumb.

"Come in." His breath hitched, and he turned back to face the gap in the willow's roots. He paused for a second, flicking his dark tipped tail, stepping down into the den under the tree.

      The den was dark, but the moonlight flooding in showed it to be a lot roomier than he originally thought it'd be. It was deep enough for the tallest warrior to only just stand comfortably, and it was big enough for several cats to sleep in without feeling cramped.

       "Rain washed it out back in the time of LeopardClan. Legend passes on that the spirits of LeopardClan leaders keep the willow tree alive, in thanks that it sheltered them." Daisystar meowed. They were laying in a thick bed of moss and reed fluff, smooth pebbles and soft colored shells along the sides of their nest.

       "Oh." Dipperflight breathed in the stillness of the den, the dirt hard packed and sturdy.

      "Come, go ahead and sit." The old leader meowed, swishing their feathery tail. Their fur was unkempt, not yet washed for the day. Dipperflight figured his own pelt wasn't fairing as well, though, and whispered a thank you as he settled down in a patch of extra moss that was collected across from the leader. 

       "So...," Daisystar started, green eyes tracing the ragged frame of Dipperflight. "You've been here for only a few days. You're looking a little rough still... has Foxpaw been doing poorly at tending to you? He does get distracted easily, I'm afraid...."

      "No, it's.. it's just me." He mumbled, drawing his tail close to himself. The white leader nodded slowly.

      "I got like this once. I was a leader then, you were probably a newborn or maybe not even born when it happened.

       "I had a mate. She was lovely as a leaf-green day, warm and so alive. Heronmist, her name was." They looked down, as if avoiding eye contact. "She wasn't what I thought she was. She had a son. Told me he was my son...," he looked down at his paws, large and webbed and scarred from seasons of battle and various activities harsh on the extremity. "She lied to me. She left then. I was devastated." Their eyes raised to meet Dipperflight. He didn't know what to say.

"I want more than anything to share what put me here. I'm not sure if I can though. Not just for fear of what will happen to me but... what will happen to others."

"We can protect you, Dipperflight. I was in a horrible place when Heronmist did what she did, I want more than anything to keep you safe and get you away from that darkness. You have so much to offer ThunderClan. I know they aren't my clan, you aren't my clan, but you don't deserve what you're going through."

"Fennelstorm would say differently," Dipperflight whispered bitterly.

"Fennelstorm...?" Dipperflight looked up slowly to lock eyes with the aging cat.

"I shouldn't have said anything-- I'm sorry--"

"There's nothing to be sorry about, Dipperflight. But if Fennelstorm caused this to happen to you-- if he hurt you," they gestured to the scar just under the tom's eye, "then Oatstar needs to know. Not just to protect you but to protect ThunderClan. Fennelstorm is the deputy, and Oatstar is some wild spirit that I wouldn't doubt if she died young-- no offense to ThunderClan but--" Their paws kneed led at the best, tail flicking with anticipation, and he spoke much faster than his usual steady and articulated speech.

"No-- forget I said anything. I just. Forget everything. Please. I don't want him to hurt you too." Daisystar gave a small nod, calming down substantially.

      "What did you come here for, then? Perhaps I could help you with that instead." Their eyes still were buzzing with energy.

        "I... I woke up," he whispered, shuffling his paws. I should leave. Go back to my den. Maybe even leave RiverClan in the morning. This whole thing was dumb. Staying in RiverClan was a bad idea. "I had had a nightmare." He said finally. Daisystar stopped fidgeting, something in the words hitting him. They let out a breath.

       "Come," the white leader whispered. Dipperflight stood, settling down outside at the edge of the leader's nest. "It woke you up, you said?" Dipperflight nodded slowly.

       "Yeah," he murmured.

        "And you came to me...," he shook his head slowly. "I didn't mean to pick you for information. That's not my intention when I invited you in. I'm sorry." Dipperflight nodded slowly. "I seemed to forget that you have feelings. And while there is a darkness at play here back in ThunderClan, there's also you, a victim of that darkness. I should've been more thoughtful of your feelings," they meowed softly. "You know, my son.. well, Heronmist's son, he's great at that. Empathy." Their voice was laced with bitterness.

        "Maybe he's not your son by blood." Dipperflight's voice was low, "but you let me into this clan. You cared about me. You're great at it too." He offered the words, hoping they were relevant enough to the leader's vague storyline about a lost son. Daisystar gave a side smile, a grizzly, graying, square muzzled side smile.

       "Thanks. Stay the night, whatever scared you into the waking world certainly won't meet your dreams tonight, I'll be sure of it." Dipperflight tucked his head down to the edge of the moss nest, the scent of muddy river water washing over him as Daisystar licked the fur between his ears soothingly.

//
Hoi hoi! A lot on Daisystar's past! Sorry if it's all kind of muddled, I have his whole past planned out and I'm not very good at not revealing everything in a revealing chapter. Also surprised I'm too tired to reread this and check for mistakes but it's been forever since I last updated and I'm really pumped to update SO patience is out the window.

Also I met a cat last night, he was so sweet. He was my brother's cat (my brother moved to Indiana to where I'm originally from during the summer, so I've never met this cat). He was black and white and guess what his name was.

Sage.