A lot can change in three moons time.

The fate of SpringClan and its past, present, and future serve as a prime example.

No one could have foreseen the reaction that the newly returned medicine cat would have upon half of her clan being stolen — or decimated — in the microstorm.

One day, they were a clan that treated one another as family, were united on all fronts, and regarded the world with a glimmer of hope no matter what darkness visited them. After any leader they could have had vanished without a trace and their medicine cat, the last of the beacons in their rapidly approaching night, sequestered herself in a two moon long seclusion, presumably due to the grief of having lost near everyone she loved, those few who were left of SpringClan — who couldn’t even fully occupy their sanctioned dens, whose camp and land were near unrecognizable from the storm — wondered if it meant the end of their home and their way of life.

Then, on the eve of the anniversary of her third moon in seclusion, their healer emerged from her self-imposed isolation and was near unrecognizable to those of her peers who chose to remain, ever loyal to the family they found in SpringClan and to her, despite her inner questioning of their decision to so faithfully and blindly trust in someone who hadn’t the slightest knowledge on how to lead a clan or maintain the tenuous bonds integral to clan life.

Within seemingly the blink of an eye, the traditional ways of their little clan transformed into a sprawling empire steeped in the enriched cultures and beliefs that Sakurablossom had forged in her travels.

Half a moon later, with the remnants of her clan aligned with their sects and leading their own lives and tracing their own patterns, separate from one another, but connected all the same, the white she-cat stood on the wooden porch of the manmade palace she inhabited, one pink and one purple eye overseeing the training of the cultivators that chose to be aligned with her and Phoenix Palace in the courtyard, the soft whispers of distracted non-cultivators calling her name with surprise.

“Sakurastar has emerged…”

“Her imperial highness!”

“Perhaps, at long last, she has fought those demons she once spoke of?”

A cultivator with a dark look in his eye and tension in his shoulders despite his youth stepped toward the gossiping group and loudly proclaimed, “Gossip is forbidden in Phoenix Palace. Report to Serpentineterra for your punishment.”

The small group hurried away with wide eyes and Sakurastar, Empress of SpringClan, released a soft sigh. It would take some time before those who chose to stay would understand this new way of life. She only hoped this new discipline and the discovered paths of magic and their teaching could better prepare her clan for the next unknown earth-shaking calamity.

@ian