Sunstorm stood out quite conspicuously in the mountainous winterscape. He was a flame melting the ground as the snow began to thin the nearer they got to the river. The tabby normally did not care much about who his patrol partners were. He did have his favorites, Pigeonscreech, Stoatfang, Ravenheart, to name a few. But as long as he could count on them to keep up and fight to the death to protect their clan, should they have to, Sunstorm was content enough.

He knew precious little about Lavendergaze. Mostly that they were Toadfeather's littermate. Sunstorm was skeptical that Lavendergaze could keep pace with him. But Sunstorm did recognize the effort Lavendergaze put into maintaining being a warrior. After their injury, it would be so easy to take the coward's way out and retire early, make the clan use resources that the grey cat wasn't resuppling. But they didn't. That counted for something. Although that did not mean Sunstorm would slow down on their account.

"It's, uh, pretty wintry out here, don't you think?"

The older warrior did not give the remark a response. Of course it was "wintery." It was Leaf-bare.

I mean, uh, it's peaceful out here. Yeahhh, I have always loved leaf-bare here in the mountains…Maybe Starclan finally sees that we need some peace around here."

At least they believed in Starclan. It seemed too few of his clanmates openly mentioned Starclan anymore. Were they afraid? Afraid of being seen as "the next Wolfstar?" The notion was utterly ridiculous.

Sunstorm still believed in the old ways, and he was not afraid to show or express it.

The two tabbies disagreed on the delivery of peace however. "I see Leaf-bare as Starclan's test for us. As resources dwindle it is all too easy to blame Starclan for 'taking away' when we should be lucky they bless us with food at all." The tom bellowed over his shoulder.

He was mindful of the potential ice as the two cats approached the crest of higher ground, the rapids more calm in the wintertime due to the frozen spots upstream keeping the water from flowing as freely and quickly as it might in the warmer months.

"Do you think Rainstorm has heard anything from them? Frostpaw maybe?"

"If they have, they have shared nothing with us." He stopped as his toes reached the rocks. "Do they even speak to Starclan at all if they do not tell us their messages freely?" The larger tabby scoffed, flicking his tail in annoyance. Perhaps whatever visions they did have they shared with solely Mushroomstar. But that was not the way, the old way, the correct way - keeping Starclan's voices from the clan proper.