Wondering Why

She's finally here! The Palemist we all know and love (or hate) is finally pictured in what I'm calling my final design.  (of course, everything could change when you're a writer)  She is Suziefoot's granddaughter, and you can see that from her abby look and blue eyes.  She is Glacierfrost's granddaughter as well, seen by the way her stripes go on her face (most notably, the under eye stripe.  I love that stripe)

My scanner can't handle the spiral notebook that is my sketchbook, so there are odd shadows on the top, bottom and right side.  Also, the starry sky in the top left was arbitrarily drawn, and not the main focus. I mostly wanted to show that she was shaded for low lighting.

I'm thinking of changing her name.  Not sure, but I'm thinking of it.

To the top left she looks at the night sky and thinks of her lost mate, kits, and father.  She misses them and their guidance.  The top middle just shows a 'back of the head' thing.  Top right is Palemist walking down from a root of the tree stump/meeting-place, clearly mad or annoyed at someone.  Every time I look at that part I want to go "Uh, Palemist? Your Suziefoot is showing." XD  Bottom right is Palemist at Lizard Rocks, contemplating things.  And then there's the bottom left... I kept it unshaded due to the drastic shading in the picture reference... It's just sad right there.  The idea is Palemist misses Fawnpaw and is dreaming of her and remembering a tender moment when Fawnpaw was a kit.  Palemist's eyes are narrowed in sorrow, and ghosty-Fawnpaw seems pained just to be in the memory instead of with her mother.  To make a sort of 'ghost' effect, I just colored Fawnpaw like I have her designed ideally and then erased excessively.

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So, full on backstory time:
Palemist was always an eager and determined she-cat, if not a bit snappy and demanding.  Her mother Brownsky didn't give praise easily as she wanted Palemist to learn the value of hard work.  Brownsky didn't praise her kits for their catches, she praised them by their technique when she heard of it or saw it herself.  Palemist's main role model throughout her life was Shinglestar, the grumpy old leader that had led the clan from the lake to their current home.  Shinglestar never told the stories, but Palemist grew up hearing them from the elders and at the gatherings.  She admired how Shinglestar never flaunted her achievements or expected different treatment for what she did for her clan.  Instead, Shinglestar kept working hard for them and refused to take any comments about her glory or achievement.  That was what Palemist wanted to be, forever loyal, and unaccepting of praise.

When Palemist was a young warrior, she gained a pest, an apprentice named Stripedpaw.  Because of Stripedpaw's parents, he was almost as big as Palemist, and it bothered him to no end that she could beat him in battle training despite his large size.  So he took to pestering her about her techniques, trying to understand how a cat so small could best so many cats that were much bigger.  Palemist would often snap at the tom, telling him it was her duty to beat others in battle, it was how she served her clan.  She would often complain about Stripedpaw to her sister Hauntstep, and Hauntstep even grew tired of her tales.  But when Stripedpaw finally gave up, Palemist would complain to Hauntstep about how the tom had given up on his knowledge so easily.

It wasn't for another season that Palemist even noticed Stripedpaw again, who had by then been named Stripednight.  When the call to battle rang clear from Shinglestar's perch, the clan ran to the meadow to reclaim what the new ThunderClan leader had stolen.  As Palemist's patrol waited for the signal, Stripednight crouched beside her and whispered "I'm scared."  Palemist had looked up at the tom with so much confusion.  He was so big, he practically didn't need to fight!  Or so she thought.  In the thick of the battle, Palemist had been surrounded, and Stripednight leaped to her aid, only to be brutally wounded.  They had won the meadow back, and Palemist had only a few scratches thanks to Stripednight, but the tom had to be carried home by his father.  Palemist later asked him why he used to pester her about her battle technique.  He told her, "I was bad at battle training, my sisters always beat me.  But every cat has a weakness..."  Palemist then understood that Stripednight had only wanted to protect her.

They became close not long after that, and though it was never a part of Palemist's plan, she carried the big tom's kits.  She would have died in kitting had the medicine cat apprentice, Fawnpaw, not had the idea to induce her labor.  And so Palemist had her three kits, Fawnkit, Stonekit, and Russetkit.  And she was happy for moons.  And after her kits had been made apprentices, Shinglestar named her deputy when Thornstripe (the last deputy) retired to the elder's den.

Then things turned bad.

At the end of leaf-fall, there was a fire in the pine forest.  The whole clan had to flee to Lizard Rocks, where they could at least find some shelter.  But with leaf-bare so close, the prey didn't have time to return.  The deer meadow had no grass, and no birds sang in the trees.  Their best place to hunt was the Adder Marsh, because the lizards had fled lizard rocks with the whole clan living there.  So began the famine.  And so almost half of the ShadowClan cats died, including Stripednight and his kits Fawnpaw and Russetpaw.  Only Stonepaw remained alive.

Palemist hated herself.  She hated herself for loving Stripednight like she had, for having kits when Shinglestar never had.  Palemist had always wanted to be deputy, and she had let herself have kits!  She makes a decision to ostrasize her last remaining son, Stonepaw, to protect herself.  To never feel that pain again.  She turns cold, and grows distant from her sister, Hauntstep, but finds herself acting more like their brother Lizardfang.  And she hates herself more, because she had always hated how Lizardfang acted.

And so begins the Endless Storm.

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Made with Verithin Prismacolor Pencils
Colors for reference:
Fur=light peach base, slight pale vermillion overlay, slight goldenrod overlay
Ticked/Tabby=slight brown umber, slight pale vermillion, slight terra cotta (terra cotta is main part)
WhiskerSpots=slight terra cotta, slight brown umber
Eyes=light cerulean blue base, blue indigo for dark lighting, shaded with ultramarine and violet (stars made with slight canary yellow and slight true green)
Nose=light process red with erase, slight terra cotta, shaded with brown umber, violet, and ultramarine
NoseRim+EyeRim+Lips=brown umber, slight terra cotta, slight black (not necessarily needed in bright lighting)
EarSkin=faint process red, slight pale vermillion, faint terra cotta, shaded with parma violet
EarFur=Light peach base, slight goldenrod, slight pale vermillion

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References used:
furlined.deviantart.com/art/Li… (c) FurLined
thitida-no-chey.deviantart.com… (c) Thitida-No-Chey
vicktorya7.deviantart.com/art/… (c) vicktorya7
meinlilapark.deviantart.com/ar… (c) MeinLilaPark


Character, story, and art (c) me
Warriors (c) Erin Hunter