Difference between revisions of "Elmstar"

:Elmstar is a supple black and white tom with large, round yellow-green eyes. He has a solid, muscular body, and short, dense fur. Most of Elmstar's body is white, including his legs, belly, and thick-padded paws, but a large patch of black fur spreads over him like a shadow. It covers his head like a mask, leaving only his muzzle with white fur, stretching down and across Elmstar's back. It goes all the way to the blunt tip of his tail. Elmstar's ears are well-set and bear some scars, most notably a nasty one on his right ear.

:Although polite, Elmstar is a quiet, reserved cat, and he is quite patient, gentle, and calm by nature. He can also be a bit jumpy, particularly when he's just waking up or if he's greatly surprised. He would be perfectly content with staying in camp and looking after elders all day, however, in his mind, Elmstar is also rather dark. Elmstar can often be found alone and he is prone to brooding. He also lacks confidence in himself and his abilities, even though he is a fully-trained warrior with moons of experience when it comes to his duties.

Elmstar prefers hunting patrols to border patrols, if only because on a hunting patrol, there is a lower chance that he'll come in contact with cats from rival Clans. Fighting is one of Elmstar's least favorite things, though not because of the possibilities of injury and death. He accepts that those can and do occur even outside of battle, and he doesn't have a fear of blood, though he isn't fond of it. Elmstar dislikes battle because he feels none of the thrill that he thinks should be expected of a warrior.

A strange fear of Elmstar's is that of spiders. He has been afraid of the little creatures ever since he was a kitten, and neither he nor his parents could explain it. Luckily for him, he's managed to overcome the fear to an extent. While the sight of a spider will no longer send Elmstar tearing to the other side of camp as it did when he was a kit, he will still have the urge to stay at least a tail-length away.

:The first, last, and only kit of the older ShadowClan queen Ceadershadow and her mate Frogstep was born in newleaf and he was named Elmkit. Like any other kit, Elmkit's early moons were all comfort, with much thanks to his mother doting on him. But even though kithood was supposed to be filled with play and fun, Elmkit had always been shy, as Ceadershadow observed, and preferred to stay by himself than play with others. Elmkit became somewhat more social as he grew up, if for no other reason than it being expected of him.

Like most cats, Elmkit became an apprentice and was renamed when he became six moons of age. Now Elmpaw, the young tom was given a mentor, an easy-going she-cat named Thymetail, and began to train as a warrior. Elmpaw became a better hunter than a fighter. Although Thymetail praised him for his wits when it came to fighting, she scowled at his offensive skills, as Elmpaw often showed little motivation during battle practice. It took a little more than a half-moon for Elmpaw to show improvement, and from that point on, his mentor drilled him with extra battle training.

Ten moons later, Elmpaw became Elmcloud and was welcomed as a full warrior of ShadowClan. Although he was proud to be a warrior, Elmcloud wasn't looking forward to the chance of getting caught in a battle. He quite doubted himself. He was going against almost all of Thymetail's constant encouragement that he had turned out well as a fighter, and that Elmcloud had a lot of potential, if only he had more faith in himself.

In his first real battle, Elmcloud barely got a claw on his larger opponent. Rather than actually stand and fight, Elmcloud was moving about, only striking out to keep away from the cat trying to lock him in place. Eventually, another warrior engaged Elmcloud's attacker, and later still, the battle ended. What others may have seen as cowardice, Elmcloud saw as cleverness. From that battle, Elmcloud got away with little more than a nasty scratch on his right ear and a bleeding muzzle that wasn't serious enough to keep him from being put on a patrol later that day.

At around twenty-five moons, during the Moon of First Fishing, Elmcloud received the first real shock of his life. His elderly parents, whom he loved dearly, joined the ranks of StarClan within days of each other, and the deaths of Ceadershadow and Frogstep affected Elmcloud significantly. As he sat vigil for them, and for the days after, Elmcloud's thoughts darkened. Death had never seemed so real to him before, despite living in a forest at war. Elmcloud thought of it constantly during those precious first days without the presence of his parents in the camp. He would sit, brooding, at some edge of the camp, wondering if other cats had felt the exact pain he was feeling. They must, he supposed, but he never sought to ask it of anyone. For a little while, his philosophy of life was that he (and everyone else) could die at any moment, and the tragedy was that he (and they) didn't. At one point, Elmcloud even envied the medicine cats and leaders for being able to communicate with the Clans' departed.

That same moon, shortly after his parents' passing, Elmcloud was given an apprentice to mentor. Perhaps it was a way to make more use of him, or perhaps just an attempt to help him get over the loss he felt so deeply. Elmcloud didn't know why he was being given an apprentice to train, though he never went bothering the leader about it. It was an honor, after all, and Elmcloud accepted it without complaint, though his mind still felt raw.

Elmcloud taught his apprentice as well as he could, though he often sought advice from older warriors. Elmcloud thanked StarClan that his apprentice was a quick learner and didn't mind that his mentor was such a dark, brooding cat who still had not recovered from his parents' deaths. Elmcloud felt especially happy when his apprentice became a warrior, but Elmcloud didn't want to get another apprentice after that. He didn't think himself a great teacher.

Seasons later, on the ninth day of the Moon of First Fishing, Elmcloud was the first to discover the death of ShadowClan's deputy Ravenwing. Coming across her lifeless body brought back a similar feeling of numbness that Elmcloud had felt at his parents' death, though Elmcloud hadn't felt himself particularly close to Ravenwing. Later that night, for some reason beyond him, Elmcloud was named deputy of ShadowClan by Whitestar. Although Elmcloud accepted the duty, he was very unsure that he could do it well.

To Elmcloud, it seemed that Whitestar had a fondness of giving him things he didn't want. On the twenty-fifth day of the Moon of First Fishing (Elmcloud is unsure if he should hold this moon auspiciously or suspiciously), Elmcloud was given Hawkpaw to mentor as an apprentice. Of course, he accepted the job of teaching Whitestar's nephew, but Elmcloud felt more uncertain than ever about mentoring, because of Hawkpaw's poor constitution. Meanwhile, since the deaths of Irispelt, Mousewhisker, Sparkfeather, and Wintersky in the Moon of First Green and the Moon of Running Prey, all from the same sickness, Elmcloud's thoughts have been plagued with anxiety.

He has found a small portion in happiness in his new friendship with Squirrelfur, but the border battle with ThunderClan on the third day of the Moon of Killingcough, which ShadowClan won only by a fluke in Elmcloud's opinion, has brought the deputy a new set of worries. He wishes that ShadowClan and ThunderClan could make instant peace with each other, but realizes that that would take a miracle to happen. For now, Elmcloud just prays that no more fights will break out.

On the seventh day of the Moon of Cheetah's Flight (2007), Whitestar was found dead and Elmcloud was forced to become ShadowClan's leader in her place. He appointed Lionheart as his deputy and journeyed to Mothermouth to receive his name and nine lives.