Sparrowshine

Sparrowshine is a gentle, quiet warrior who wears his emotions on his sleeve. To any cat unfamiliar with RavenClan, it would be a surprise that he is a senior hunter. He has the same confidence as a new warrior. He speaks softly and holds his head low. It seems unlikely that he is the son of the leader and the brother of the Head of Fighting, and its abundantly clear that he’s the black sheep of that family. It seems that there is a cloud that hangs over his head at all times, following him like a private thunderstorm.

To his own clanmates, Sparrowshine is incredibly gentle. He will listen to anyone’s problems without passing judgment. If a RavenClan cat needs help with something, Sparrowshine will be at their side to assist them without complaint. Unlike many of his clanmates, Sparrowshine doesn’t hide his emotions. He was more guarded when he was younger, but after the death of two of his apprentices, he has become the emotional cat he was when he was very young. He weeps openly and tells cats how he feels about them without restraint. It seems like he’s preparing to lose anyone at any moment.

Sparrowshine has little-to-no confidence in himself. For a cat destined for greatness, he doesn’t act like it. He’s self-conscious of his long fur and short tail, and wishes he was more appealing by RavenClan standards. He doesn’t command any of his clanmates. If someone tells him to do something, he shuts his mouth and does it. The prophecy will come true eventually. He’ll do something great for RavenClan soon, even if he doesn’t act like it. Sparrowshine has great faith in StarClan, and can often be found praying to his ancestors at night.

He is stubbornly loyal to the cats he is close to. This loyalty is almost stupid. Sparrowshine is not known for his brains, and he acts like he would charge into danger to keep his family and apprentice safe. He loves all the cats of his clan, even if some of them are occasionally baffling to him. He insists that he would never leave RavenClan, no matter what happens. At times, he almost seems like he’s overcompensating for something. To some, it might just seem like Sparrowshine is trying to make up for the non-RavenClan sire he likely has, but to others, its obvious that the leader’s son is a cat with more secrets than he lets on.

Sparrowshine is the son of Cardinalsky and an unknown sire, and the brother of Rooktail. He was a quiet, compassionate kit ever since his youth. Sparrowkit resented the idea of fighting and clan rivalry. He never envied Cardinalsky, who had too difficult of a job for Sparrowkit to even think about taking on. It didn’t matter that his dad was leader, just that Cardinalsky loved him very much.

Sparrowpaw learned very quickly that he had to pretend to be a normal apprentice. For a couple moons, he remained as the kit he had been in the nursery - earnest and quick to cry, friendly with all his clanmates and the other two clans, terrified of being caught in a lie. He was a black sheep within RavenClan, and so he changed himself to fit the mold. He held back his tears and lied through his teeth, until his entire apprenticeship felt like a lie. He would return to his nest with shaky legs and whirling thoughts, so focused on maintaining his persona that he didn’t focus on training.

Rooktail became a warrior before he did. Sparrowpaw had been entirely blindsided for it, unsure of whether he should be happy for his sibling or angry with himself for still being an apprentice. Rooktail was a talented fighter, and Sparrowpaw was a less-than-stellar hunter. His long fur and short tail left him struggling while up in the trees, but his disposition meant fighting was out of the question. He earned the name Sparrowshine, and although he knew Cardinalsky was proud, Sparrowshine didn’t understand why.

His littermate became the Head of Hunting, and Sparrowshine wondered what was wrong with him. Cardinalsky was the leader and Rooktail was on the council, and Sparrowshine was just a below-average hunter. He always felt that RavenClan thought less of him than the rest of his family. On one lone hunting trip, he kept walking away from RavenClan’s camps, until he was past the scent markers of his clan and out in unclaimed territory. He hadn’t consciously decided to leave, but he was gone. Clan life couldn’t suit him, but maybe he could be a kittypet or a loner.

He was only away from the territory for a few days when he got lonely. He opened his eyes in the morning and expected to find his clanmates there, but only found the empty forest and unfamiliar smells. He was confused and frightened, and he knew he couldn’t live on his own. He wasn’t strong enough to be a clan cat, and he wasn’t strong enough to be a loner. He returned in the direction of RavenClan’s territory with his head hung low. When he found a patrol that took him back to the main camp, he realized he needed a reason for leaving. If he admitted he had just walked away from his life, RavenClan would never look at him the same way.

His moons of keeping his feelings close to his chest came in handy when he had to tell Cardinalsky what happened. He lied to his father through gritted teeth, telling him that he had seen an all-black sparrow fly over camp, backlit by the sun. Sparrowshine had followed the bird away from camp in search of whatever destiny it was bringing him to. He came up with a solution to all his problems on the spot: he said that the bird had led him to a great pine tree, and when he had fallen asleep beneath it, StarClan had spoken to him. They told him that RavenClan would rise to greater heights on the wings of a sparrow, and then he had returned to camp with a renewed purpose. Even though it was a lie, Sparrowshine felt like it was the first time his father had been given a reason to really be proud of him. Sparrowshine believed his lie so strongly that he almost believed it was true.

Shortly thereafter, he was given his first apprentice. Sparrowshine promised to be a good teacher to Squirrelpaw. He taught Squirrelpaw how to be a warrior RavenClan would be proud of, and told him he should be honored to be taught by a cat StarClan had chosen. Sparrowshine didn’t care that it was a lie - he would make it come true.

Then Squirrelpaw died. Sparrowshine had declined joining him on a hunting trip in favor of sleeping just a little longer, and then Squirrelpaw died. The same coyotes stripped one of Cardinalsky’s lives. Something cold found its home on Sparrowshine’s shoulders after that. Was StarClan angry with him for making up a false prophecy? Or was this just coincidence, that coyotes had taken both his apprentice and father? That he couldn’t use his claws and teeth against another living thing, and so he could do nothing to avenge them?

He didn’t know why Cardinalsky gave him Pinepaw. Even if Squirrelfang’s death wasn’t necessarily his fault, he didn’t feel that he deserved another chance to be a mentor. Regardless, he was the best mentor he could be for Pinepaw. He tried to shield them from the inter-clan conflicts that raged around them, instead choosing to focus on keeping Pinepaw safe and happy. For all his efforts, it ended up being useless. The fire found its way to RavenClan territory, and Sparrowshine tried to hide with Pinepaw. The tree they were hiding in caught fire, and when Sparrowshine fled to another one, Pinepaw failed to follow. He never saw his apprentice again.

Following that, Sparrowshine became entirely convinced that StarClan was trying to punish him. When Cardinalsky gave him Thymepaw as an apprentice, only a few moons after Pinepaw’s death, Sparrowshine almost refused. Instead, he swallowed his fear and agreed to mentor him. Sparrowshine is terrified that Thymepaw might meet the same fate as his last two apprentices, and hovers over him like a watchdog.