SALTFLOWER

LICHENCLAN

A PRETTY MOLLY WITH WHITE FUR AND YELLOW EYES.

Saltflower is a pretty molly who takes care to ensure she's always well groomed, even when returning from shoreline patrols that leave her Clanmates sandy and wet. As a younger cat it came from a place of vanity, but now, as she edges into mid-adulthood, its out of respect for what StarClan has given to her. She is meticulous about her appearance, and feels that messiness is a sign of disrespect. Her eyes are wide and slightly large--like most LichenClan cats--and a bright yellow. Her fur is bright white, perhaps a bit lighter than that of some of her Clanmates, but she blends well with the sandy beaches and pale rocky caves of her home. Her fur is shorter than that of cats of other Clans, but that's a blessing as it dries fairly quickly. Thin perhaps is not the best word to describe her, but lean is--she is quite agile and moves just as confidently in water as she does on land. Yet again, she believes taking care of one's body is a sign of respect to StarClan, so she takes care to ensure she stays in good shape. To this end she has fairly well muscled legs, well suited to swimming as well as running.

Saltflower has made quite the turn around since she was young. As an apprentice and a junior warrior, she lacked any kind of drive or work ethic. A handful of personal tragedies, however, changed that--today, she has a reputation for her piety and strict adherence to duty and Clan.

She is strongly dedicated to StarClan. She feels often like she has to make up for the earlier time in her life when she didn’t take them quite as seriously as she feels she should have. She enjoys discussions about theology and the “correct” way to give thanks to StarClan. Her faith, though, comes from a place of fear--though she rarely, if ever, outright states that she’s afraid of her ancestors, she is. She’s seen what they can (and will) take from her, and she’s terrified a misstep on her part will result in further losses.

As a result of her intense adherence to her faith, Saltflower is openly judgemental and scornful of cats who don’t share her beliefs. She believes that cats who don’t abide by the rules laid down before them by StarClan are inherently worth less than those who do.

In demeanour and mannerisms, she’s much like many of her Clanmates nowadays. As she’s grown and matured, she’s become less of a chatterbox, and tends to get impatient with cats who talk and talk and seem to say nothing. She’s perfectly content to share tongues and merely sit side by side with a fellow Clanmate--that to her is as much an expression of camaradiere as a heart to heart conversation.

All that said, Saltflower still remains a cat with a nurturing side. She was given her suffix for what appeared to be an emerging nurturing side. She enjoys being looked up to as a “big sister” or even mother figure, and is quick to take more inexperienced cats under her wing. She likes to care for others, and has a sharp eye for those who may need some help or guidance, and is quick to step in. She doesn’t believe she will ever have kits again, but has a particular soft spot for them, and often volunteers to help Nursery queens as they need it.

Snowface and Whitetail were a fairly normal couple. They’d known each other since they were apprentices and when they finally decided to become parents, no cat doubted their devotion to one another. Snowface moved into the Nursery, happy to be a mother. She gave birth to a single kit, a little molly she named Saltkit for her bright white fur.

Saltkit was the only kit in the Nursery for the first part of her life. While this likely sounds a bit lonely, she didn’t know any different. Besides--the other Queens in the Nursery doted on her as they waited for their own liters to arrive. Early on, she developed--through no fault of her own--a sightly entitled and spoiled side, though she was still a sweet kit at at heart. Saltkit was about four moons by the time she had company. She was ecstatic to have company--and also excited to show her new denmates the way of the world. Instantly she took on a “big sister” role, and loved it. When it was time to move into the Apprentice’s Den, she was excited, like all apprentices--but a little sad to leave her charges behind.

Apprenticeship was a new world to the newly-named Saltpaw. She had spent the early part of her life being doted on by Nursery queens, and then being the “senior” kit of the Nursery, and now things were wholly different. Not only was she now the youngest and most inexperienced in a den, but she had been assigned to Nightfrost. Nightfrost was a grizzled, senior warrior who took his role both as a warrior of LichenClan and a mentor very seriously. He, too, was very dedicated to StarClan and his devotion to his faith informed his service as a warrior. He had no time for her nonsense, her spoiled attitude, and cut her no slack.

Her apprenticeship was rough, to say the least. The two were like oil and vinegar, at first, and it took a very long time for them to settle into a rhythm. Nightfrost was unemotional, and strict, and when Saltpaw erred he warned her he was not her only judge--StarClan watched, as well. The warning did give her pause, but more than anything just made her feel weird.

Eventually, though, dynamics in the apprentice den shifted and Saltpaw was glad. The apprentices older than her were granted their warrior names, and the kits she had been in the Nursery with were old enough to join her as -paws. Once again, she took pleasure and pride in being a sort of “big sister” force. As her own warrior ceremony neared, it was this trait that earned her her name. She became Saltflower, in honor of her tendency towards taking younger cats under her wing. For many moons, her life as a warrior was fairly uneventful--even boring. After the thrill of being made a warrior wore off, Saltflower was often the last cat to show up for patrols and would rather spend her time in camp. She drifted from Nightfrost, who was sorely disappointed in her lack of dedication to the work of a warrior.

After some time, Saltflower developed a relationship with a handsome tom named Gullwing. Gullwing was a handful of moons older than her and she’d known him only briefly while they were in training together. Now, though, as adults, they found themselves getting along quite well--to say the least. No cat was surprised when she moved into the Nursery.

Saltflower found she loved life in the Nursery. It was quite nice to be doted on, to have cats bring her meals and change her bedding for her. Of course when she was an apprentice she’d done this for all the Nursery queens, but to suddenly be the center of all this care and attention! Well, she loved it. She gave birth to two kits--one health, and one stillborn. She was devastated by the loss of what could have been with the stillborn kit, and instead turned her attention to the surviving kit, who she named Brightkit. Brightkit grew strong and healthy, and both of his parents were pleased when he became an apprentice. Both Saltflower and Gullwing had incredibly high hopes for their son.

But when Brightpaw was no longer young enough to be in the Nursery, and no longer needed such dedicated care of his mother, well… Saltflower felt like she had no desire to go back to the Warrior’s Den. She enjoyed being in the Nursery and she had no desire to return to her duties. When she was sent back to the Warrior’s Den, she did what any reasonable cat would do--she said she was still too weak from the birth, too weak from raising Brightpaw up. She needed time to rest and recover before she could go back to work.

Meanwhile, Nightfrost was horrified, humiliated, ashamed of what his former apprentice was up to. He confronted her, finally, warning her that StarClan was watching--they’d seen her slovenly nature for moons upon moons and taken the life of the stillborn kit as a warning. She needed to shape up--or else. Furious at the accusation, they had a public fight. She was furious.

And then, only two moons after being made an apprentice, Brightpaw drowned while trying to swim along the shore without a warrior present.

Saltflower was devastated. And in her grief, Nightfrost’s words returned to her. She’d lost one kit, he’d said, as a warning--and then she’d slacked on her duties, and tragically lost a second. After some time, she finally brought herself to come to Nightfrost. She went to him often as she tried to cope with the loss. They spoke often of faith, and of punishment and what this meant for her moving forward. She started to believe what he said--that she had lost both kits as punishment for her indolent nature.

As Saltflower became more and more pious, her relationship with Gullfeather fractured. The two struggled maintaining closeness after Brightpaw’s death initially, but her insistence that the loss of their son was a punishment from StarClan didn’t sit well with Gullfeather. Their relationship crumbled.

Moving forward, Saltflower heeded this warning--again with Nightfrost’s help, she approached the life of a warrior with a renewed sense of purpose. She had seen what happened to cats who scorned their ancestors, the code, and their duties. As time went on, she became stricter, more pious, and earned a reputation for being a changed cat.