holy ground — open, return, 'miracle'

This is an archived version of FeralFront. While you can surf through all the content that was ever created on FeralFront, no new content can be created.
If you'd like some free FeralFront memorabilia to look back on fondly, see this thread from Dynamo (if this message is still here, we still have memorabilia): https://feralfront.com/thread/2669184-free-feralfront-memorabilia/.

    [just a bit of background, but holypaw here is the daughter of one of my extremely older characters, heatherpool. she was always very sick as a kid, became progressively blind until it was completely gone at four months old. they didn't think she'd make it to adulthood, and she pushed herself to become an apprentice. then, at eight months old, she went out hunting and never came back.

    as it'd turn out, she was picked up by humans and they helped her throughout her sickness, which was just a disease that she'd developed as a new born. a year later, she's now returning, entirely healthy and with her sight, which she blames on a miracle from starclan, and not her 'captors'.

    any characters who have been in riverclan for over twelve months ic would recall the blind and sickly holypaw, whom they all believed was incurable. as one might imagine, her returning with sight might be a shock, ha ha.]


    weak legs were now strong, sturdy.


    cloudy eyes were now clear, dark orbs.


    ragged breaths were now slow, strong, inhales and exhales.


    the girl who was almost dead, who'd never make it to her warrior ceremony, the girl who got worse by the day, who had the heart and perseverance of a warrior and the body of the dead. the girl who shouldn't, couldn't be alive, at twenty months old. the girl whom everyone was dead and gone, plucked up by something bigger and hungry.


    holypaw was alive, and she was home.


    the darkly colored, apprentice-named, warrior-aged feline sat on the border, all calm and grace and beauty, so different from who she once was. she'd grown up in the passing seasons - she'd grown up, and the result was something beautiful, something wonderful. soft and gentle like her mother, but just as strong and beautiful as the fem had been, before the end. she was alive, and she was quite wonderful.


    holypaw sat there on the border, the picture of loveliness, but tears welled in her eyes. for the first time in such a long time, she was home. and, better so, the fair feline could see riverclan's territory, and it was so... wonderful.

    the dilute calico lept gently over rolling boulders and slunk through swaying reeds of magnificent emerald complexion. a blur of delightful caribbean spectacles calculated her surroundings as the wash of a foreign empress suckled upon her tongue like nectar. a body untouched by claws and as heavenly soft as a feather slipped forward upon timid paws, noting that she was the first to arrive. hopefully she wouldn't be the last as the medicine cat apprentice was quite sheepish when it came to strangers. fearful even if they looked hostile but this woman was quite different as she peeked over a rock she hid behind to take a better look.


    she was the image of strength, oh, how sirenpaw longed to be strong, instead she was the daughter of a ex-bloodclan healer and notorious murderer, aloebite. she should be strong, how did she end up like this? she wasn't sure if her father was dead or alive, but her parents left her for dead because she was crippled from birth with a lack of legs. the child only had three for goodness sake but that didn't mean she slayed like the goddess she was any less. she liked to think it made her unique as much as she was insecure about them.


    finally, gathering the nerve she slithered forward, soft pink nose pushing the reeds as she emerged upon her side of the border in silence. anyone could tell she was nervous. "h-hello, may i ask for your name and business?" came the healer's words gentle and serene they were as they slipped from her tongue though she lifted her jaws. she couldn't be shy, she couldn't be sheepish anymore. "are you okay?" she questioned softly, noting the tears within her eyes. "oh dear- you're not hurt are you?" sirenpaw questioned, baby blues widened ever so slightly. please please please don't be injured, but she couldn't smell the iron that blood put off.



    a girl approached. she was young; not quite a warrior, but not a kitten. holypaw was reminded of the first time she saw herself, her reflection, in the water dish - she'd looked close to this girl's age. a little more sickly, concaves and hollows where flesh ought to be, but she filled out well enough. this girl, though, she was so young, still a child. holypaw was made aware of the fact that she could very likely have had children this girl's age, had her life panned out differently. but she wouldn't change it, she wouldn't change the experiences.


    blinking her eyes a few times, trying to dissolve the tears, her nostrils flared as she inhaled the familiar scent of a warm, riverclan body - albeit an unfamiliar one. how she'd missed this, all of this.


    "holypaw." she said quietly, smiling, a sort of youthful tenderness in the depths of her eyes. it was an apprentice name, she knew, and she was far from apprentice aged - but it was the last name she'd been given, and for so long, the only piece of her home, her identity.


    swallowing the growing emotions back, she took a shaky inahle, nodding slowly, assuring herself this was real, not just another cage-dream.


    she closed her eyes, watching the words behind her lids, remembering the feel of the dirt and the wetness and the stones beneath her paws from so very long ago, from when all she could do was feel, not see. "my name is holypaw, and i was taken away from riverclan many months ago, long before you were born. i was blind, dying, and by the graces of starclan, i've been returned well." she explained, opening her eyes and focusing back on this girl with an intensity that could not argue she could see.

    Holypaw. That was a name she definitely recognized, one she hadn't heard in quite a long time. A sickly kitten nobody believed would make it, frail and fatally ill. Nightgaze remembered her now, most of all, she remembered the time when the fragile she-cat had gone huntint, only to never return.


    The dark-furred maine coon stepped out from behind Sirenpaw, observing the healthy, radiant feline standing before her. Healed by the graces of StarClan? How? That was one thing she had never been able to wrap her head around. How did dead cats get magical healing powers? Thinking about it, there was no logical way it could work. Or had it? Holykit had once been on the brink of death, and was now standing before her as a strong, healthy young feline. Something had definitely happened, StarClan-involved or not.


    "Welcome back," she greeted, padding foreward towards the other. Nightgaze gave a nod of her head, and for a moment the dark void in her chest seemed to lessen. Her shoulders felt a bit lighter, and for the first time in days, she felt like she could breathe freely. Holykit was back. She couldn't help but feel a small smile tug at the corners of her maw.


    blankstare



    Blind, huh? Maybe Blankstare could taken some tips from this Holypaw, his own vision fracturing and becoming less than working. It took a while to define Sirenpaw and Holypaw apart and even to know that Nightgaze was there as the dark pelted femme had shuffled into the dark backdrop to this reintroduction.


    "Well welcome back then Holypaw. I was around a while back but we must have passed each other." He was a little tense, aware that this was a stranger despite what she claims. They had some ... issues with visitors lately.



    straight facts yo

    the female shuffled her paws awkwardly- oh! thank starclan above nightgaze was here, sirenpaw couldn't hold a conversation to save her life much less know who this was. as innocent as she seemed, she could pick out strangers of purity from those of darkness, she was not naive as much as she liked to think she was. her shoulders relaxed as she took a seat with a flicking tail as baby spectacles slipped towards the dark deputy before her.


    the soft smile holy offered her caused sirenpaw to decide that she liked this woman, it wasn't simply the smile of genuine kindness to her youth but she was strong, and that was one hell of a recovery in which he could respect. blinking, the three legged apprentice stood silent. "holypaw, i'm sirenpaw, medicine cat apprentice," she greeted, her vocals were unusual and soft as they always were. frail paw tracing the soil below her as she glanced down suddenly before pupils swooped towards blankstare. she'd never spoken to the masculine before but she always liked him around, he was amusing at times, and kind. someone as fragile as sirenpaw couldn't take such hatred, though, her past hardened her as did the recent deaths that seems to follow her. first pebbledpaw then stygianfire? she'd witnessed both and it strengthened her for the world. "it seems you're fit for your warrior name," she spoke again, this time sirenpaw wiggled her body excitedly as she stood up. what name would doestar give her? or perhaps holypaw would pick it out herself.



    Weightlessness rose through her body as she bounded across a stream, water playfully tugging at her belly fur. Cool pre-autumn air whisked past her whiskers, causing her to inhale deeply, relishing the end of the blistering summer. It had been treacherous for all clans, not just RiverClan. While everyone's prey had diminished, RiverClan's fish had all but fled entirely. The warm waters had not been ideal for the trout or minnow, so they had migrated upstream, into twolegplace territory. Though that dreadful occurrence had left Swanlake thinner than typical, her plush coat managed to hide precisely how notable her bones had become.


    Seeking to go out on a fishing trip and pay respects to the universe's return of rain, the soft white and gray tabby veered towards the border. As she went, her mind drifted. Oh, how Holypaw would have loved this... Her chest gained a slight weight at the thought of her, thumping painfully against her chest. Swanlake missed her dear little sister. She recalled how sickly she had become, how weak. Not only had she began to stumble, her eyesight failed her entirely, causing Holypaw to become completely blind. When the twolegs had come, there was no way she could have escaped. Still dreadfully ill, Swanlake and her sisters suspected that the sweet child had perished in the hands of her captors. The memory haunted her still to this day, her one failure. She'd tried, of course, to search for her in her apprentice years despite everyone telling her she'd no chance. To no avail, there was nothing to be found, so she finally had to assume the worst.


    Yet, somehow as her delicate paws took her closer to the river breaking RiverClan away from the twolegplace, she noticed the aura felt different. As she neared even more, the calm allure of voices drew her in, pale cerulean eyes focused in on precisely what was happening. She recognized her deputy Nightgaze, the medicine cat apprentice Sirenpaw, warrior Blankstare, and just past them...


    Her heart stopped in her chest entirely.


    "Holypaw."


    The name was scarcely voiced at all, yet would be carried by the wind all the way to the female's ears. Blue met with blue and Swanlake was stock-still, able to do nothing but stare in the direction of her long lost sister. The sister she raised. The sister she loved with all her heart. The sister who made her laugh at even the corniest jokes. The sister she thought dead.


    Suddenly, Swanlake was bolting forward, her usual calm demeanor forgotten as she barreled towards Holypaw, wrapping the apprentice in her whole body. Her head snaked around Holypaw's neck, tail curling all the way around to brush her opposite side. Perfect pink nose pressing into her soft, ivory fur, she inhaled deeply to recognize that same sweet scent from all those moons ago. When she finally stepped back, after many long moments, she gazed longingly into the other's eyes, warmth and love radiating from her whole body.


    "I... Oh, by the stars, it's a miracle!" Not even concerned with any other factors, a vocal purr erupted from her throat, irises dazzling with the joy she never thought she would experience again.

    bodies, voices, words - they were all drowned out by the presence of her littermate, who'd been her mother when their own was taken by the cold grip of death's claws.


    "hello swanny." she purred, her boice, her demeanor, much different than before. it was lighter, calmer. she was no longer that stubborn spitfire, but the picture of calm. her voice carried a light accent, almost french in tone, her words spoken lighty, softly.


    it occurred to her that she and her sister were very much identical. she had no clear memory of er littermates appearance - but she'd grown quite lovely indeed. it was only then, that holypaw realized her sister was certainly a warrior, and yet, the fem didn't know her name. it had been so... so long.


    "i missed you." she said, those tears held back before now falling freely.


    The returning echo of her own name in that sweet, alluring tone simply caused her to crumble. Water pooling in crystalline blues, she too did not hold back as tears spilled over her cheeks. She had missed her sister so dearly, so wholly, that it didn't even seem comprehensible that she could be before her at this perfect moment in time. Yet, before her stood the identical mirror of herself, in all her glory. Exactly how Swanlake recalled, only older.


    Breaths coming in ragged gasps, overcome with pure glee at this momentous event, she shook her head as though she was still processing. Perhaps she was. So when Holypaw's response came, her only reply was to cough out a laugh, once again lunging her muzzle forward to pull her sibling into a hug. Tears likely soaking into Holypaw's neck fur, Swan purred, "Oh, sweetie, I missed you, too. More than I could possibly say." Beaming like an idiot, losing the typical calm aura she usually had around her, she suddenly gasped. Standing to her feet, she announced, "Dovewing and Gracewind! They'll be so beyond thrilled you've returned!" Her smile, if it were possible, only widened. No doubt their sisters would be just as joyous as Swanlake, who still had yet to reveal her own warrior name.


    The length of time since they had laid eyes on one another was unthinkable. Not only had the sisters been best friends... They'd been inseparable. Just the thought of losing one permanently made every bone in her body stone and caused her heart to break in half in her chest.