Willowclaw [COMPLETE]

Willowclaw is fierce, loyal, and selfless — sometimes to the point of stupidity. Raised from kithood on stories of heroism and bravado, it has always been hard for Willowclaw to see a future where her actions were not meaningful. Willowclaw's respect is not easily won, and betrayal weighs heavily upon it. 

Willowclaw was born Willowkit to Lightclan parents Leafrunner and Oakblaze alongside littermates Beechkit, Maplekit, and Briarkit. Born into a large family as part of her parents' third litter of five, Willowkit always felt like she had a lot to live up to even as an apprentice. As Willowpaw, she trained under Hazelfur, a fiery sand-colored tom with a penchant for storytelling who Willowpaw had looked up to since kithood.

Hazelfur always pushed Willowpaw hard, and Willowpaw always pushed right back, training with a vigor and respect for the Warrior Code that she held close. By 15 moons, her siblings had been made into warriors — now Beechfeather, Maplewhisker, and Briarnose — while she remained apprenticed, much to her dismay. Shortly after their warrior ceremonies, Beechfeather and Briarnose were out on patrol when they disappeared. But with twolegs running rampant around the cats' land, her clan determined that they had been captured and taken into twolegs' nests. Willowpaw begged Hazelfur to let her help search for her missing family, but he insisted it was too dangerous for an apprentice and instead led the effort to recover the missing cats alongside her brother, Maplewhisker. But when the two of them went missing, she took matters into her own hands, executing a quiet and solo reconnaissance mission and handing off her information to her leader. Frogstar was irate that Willowpaw had taken such dangerous action behind the backs of the clan but could not rightly ignore her information or planning. He took her insight to the other clans and together they organized a rescue party which resulted in the recovery of the abducted cats, including her siblings and Hazelfur. Her reward for her strategy and initiative was her warrior ceremony, and her first taste of pride in her accomplishment.

Now Willowclaw, she couldn't have been prouder to be a part of Lightclan. She hunted and fought with all the loyalty she could muster, picking up every volunteer task she could awaiting her first apprentice assignment. Just a few moons after her warrior ceremony, Fearclan cats begin attacking the clans again, and when a group of cats was put together to travel in search of a Tribe to help save them, Willowclaw was the first to volunteer. The traveling group found the Tribe from Which the Sky Falls, Willowclaw's world opened up wider than she could have imagined. These were cats so unlike her and her family and her clan. And they were wonderful. While Foxfur negotiated with the Stoneteller to ask the cats to join them in their forest, Willowclaw met Sparrow who Builds Nest, a lithe brown tabby prey-hunter who was just as fascinated with her as she was with him. The two became especially close as the Tribe traveled back to the clan's forest, teaching each other skills and entwining their tails when no one else was looking.

All seemed well until the group returned to find the clans decimated by the remnants of Fearclan which terrorized them. Among the deaths in Lightclan was Maplewhisker, her brother, and Briarnose, her sister; even worse was the disappearance of the medicine cat apprentice, Finchpaw. Upon Willowclaw's return to the clan, Sparrow in tow, she was told that Starclan had foretold that she would be Lightclan's next medicine cat. In a moment, her vision of her future shattered. She helped the tribe cats settle in, and turned to her new duties, learning lessons from her new mentor and trying to see Sparrow as she could, her heart breaking as she had to choose between her duty and her love. Her decision came to an abrupt conclusion when Sparrow died fighting for her very clan as she was tending to his wounded sister. In the following moons, Fearclan was finally eradicated from the forest and what remained of the tribe became Skyclan. Willowclaw completed her training as medicine cat with a somber determination, treating Sparrow's death as a guiding message from Starclan as callous as she could. The cats of Skyclan succumbed to mysterious illness, their numbers dwindling, until Smokeystar decides to take his remaining tribe members back to their ancestral land.

Sunnystar permitted Willowclaw to escort the weakened tribe back to their home, to treat them as they traveled and see if she could discover the source of their mysterious illness. She was relieved to be given such an opportunity to gain closure with the death of Sparrow who Builds Nest and her appreciation for the strange ways of the tribe. She remained with them in their home for a pawful of moons, healing their wounds and healing her soul, before she received a sign from Starclan that it was time to go. She bade farewell to Stoneteller and the rest of her companions before making her own long journey back to her home.

She returned to her clan and many moons passed peacefully, tending to her clan with the same loyalty and passion she had had since kithood. And though she had spent time as a warrior and put her heart in other places, she knew that she was truly at home here. She mourned for the loss of the medicine cat who trained her, and rose to her new position. She grew close to Rainytalon, Lightclan's deputy, as she was carrying Hawkwing's litter and seemed always a bit concerned, especially given her past pregnancy. 

Willowclaw was out gathering clean water with what little scraps of moss had not dried out completely when she smelled smoke: the forest burning around her. She acted quickly, using her knowledge as a medicine cat and that which had been bestowed upon her by the Tribe to find safety while her home burned. When the smoke cleared, she set out to care for whoever she could, first stumbling upon Rainytalon who had collapsed in a clearing, mostly unharmed by the inferno. The two found no other survivors, burying whoever they could find, and ultimately deciding to move on. Six months later, they enter the Wilds hoping to find old friends and to start a new chapter.

Willowclaw is a long-furred cream molly with deep blue eyes, a round face and gray accents around her face and paws.

faceclaim: unknown