Crystalmoon

Crystalmoon is currently an elder of IsleClan. She's a fairly mellow old she-cat, and while she enjoys making up stories for and giving advice to the Clan's kits and apprentices, she's not very active anymore and prefers to just lounge either around camp or in the elders' den. She'll occasionally leave camp just to relax by the water's edge, but only if she has company.

Physical Description
She is a dainty and lithe cat. In her youth, she was quite agile and known for her gracefulness and careful mannerisms. She is a bit smaller than average and has a very slender, slight build - although now that she's old, she looks more skinny than anything. Her fur is short and thin, but very soft and silky all the same. It has a rather velvety texture. Her ears and eyes are very big, and she has long limbs and a long, sleek tail. Her muzzle is narrow and her paws are small. Her whiskers are abnormally long, too, and when she was in her prime moons, she looked a bit odd and disproportionate - but now, the hairs on her face are graying with age, and her pelt has lost a bit of its luster. There is a thin, pale scar parting the fur along the back of her neck.

Her pelt is mainly a shade of pearly-white, but it is mottled with spots and dapples of light cream tabby. Those markings get smaller around her head and tail, however, scattering into a spray of freckle-like dots. Her eyes are a shade of clear, pale blue, and tend to convey her thoughts and emotions constantly - she's a terrible liar. Her nose and paw pads are light pink. There are a few small flecks of pale orange mixed in with her cream patches, but they aren't overly noticeable unless they're being specifically sought out.

She's bad at covering up her feelings, tending to shake and stutter when nervous and things like that. She also has a bit of a problem with lower than usual blood pressure, and she's had it ever since the death of her mother. It makes it hard for her to stand up too fast, and she blacks out very easily whenever she's injured.

Personality
Crystalmoon is... well, chill. I'm not sure how else to describe it. She's very tranquil and easygoing. She's a sweet cat with a big heart; she has a lot of love to give, but not many cats to give it to. She's very composed, relaxed, and easygoing - in spite of her struggles with anxiety and her reputation as a pushover during her youth, she has developed into a confident and calm cat who knows what she wants in life and is happy with where she is. She's very thoughtful and empathetic with a knack for thinking creatively and outside of the box. She's understanding when it comes to most things and rarely ever raises her voice for any reason, instead going about any problems she comes across rationally and with a fresh perspective. She is fond of feeling useful and helpful to her Clanmates, and invites them all to come to her in the elders' den with any troubles they might be having - she's there for to help, as she likes to say.

She has a loose and light sense of humor. She likes to joke around with gentle teasing or unoriginal puns, recognizing the irony in it. She is more than capable of being serious when it's necessary, however, and has her own share of wisdom to pass on to anyone who is willing to listen. She's very willing to provide comfort or counsel to anybody who needs it. When she was younger, she struggled under the weight of heavy guilt and a panic disorder developed from the circumstances of her brother's death and only worsened by those of her mother's, but she managed to mature and overcome that very well and is proud of herself for it. She's able to keep a level head under pressure and thinks very logically for the most part.

As for some other random facts - likes, dislikes, hobbies, habits, et cetera... she really, really enjoys water. She just likes everything about it. She finds it calming to look at and to listen to. The same goes for rain. She will sometimes sit outside while it's raining just to feel it in her fur and breathe in the thickness of the air. It makes her nostalgic for the rainy nights she can remember as a kit, curling up with her siblings and both parents - her father would spend nights with them in the nursery during storms because she had used to be afraid of the thunder. Now, however, it has become a sound that makes her feel safe and comfortable. She's a very good swimmer as well - she won many fishing competitions as an apprentice and young warrior. The same applies to land hunting. She had watchful eyes and precise aim, and hardly ever missed catches. She was great when it came to tracking, too. Fighting and battle training, however... those were not her strong suits. Not at all. She sucked at those. She was always the worst in the apprentices' den, and a terrible example as a mentor, too. She just wasn't physically strong enough for it. Her mind wasn't wired right. She hates all forms of combat and violence, and in any situation she will try to take the peaceful way out, even if it isn't the right choice. That's the one thing she has never been able to change about herself- a fear and loathing for using any kind of force.

She's very animated, often gesturing with her paws when she's speaking and moving her whiskers, ears, and tail subconsciously at almost all times. She prefers to eat small prey, wanting to save the more filling bits for the cats who really contribute to IsleClan. She likes studying nature and taking in random details about her surroundings - like the shapes of gnarls on tree trunks, the colors of various stones, or the lengths of different plant stalks. She has a rather poor memory, though, and often pokes fun at herself for that. She's a good old woman. She needs love.

Kithood
Crystalkit was born in IsleClan to a pair of middle-aged warriors named Pearlfoam and Clamstripe. She had two littermates- a brother named Orangekit and a sister named Flintkit. The three of them were actually their parents’ second litter, but the kits in the first litter had both been stillborn. Clamstripe and Pearlfoam hadn’t had the heart to name them.

Crystalkit was a very reclusive and shy young kit. When she and her littermates were told about their older siblings, she was mortified. Orangekit and Flintkit, however, were not. Orangekit was very daring and rambunctious, and Flintkit was always blunt and stubborn. They decided that they were going to name their siblings, right then and there, and there really wasn’t anything their parents could do about it. Orangekit picked Strongkit for the tom and Flintkit picked Sweetkit for the she-kit. I mean, hey, they were two and a half moons old. That’s really the best you can expect from them.

Only a couple of days after that, another queen in the nursery— Vanillaseed, a friend of Pearlfoam’s— gave birth to her own kits: Gullkit and Dawnkit, a he and a she respectively. Crystalkit discovered that she very much liked spending time with the newborns. Really not for any reason in particular — she just enjoyed how... calm they were? Flintkit and Orangekit were loud and wild, always arguing about one thing or another, always getting into play-fights and trying to drag her in as well. Crystalkit didn’t enjoy the fighting. Aside from her siblings and Vanillaseed’s, the only other kits in the nursery at the time were a pair of brothers who’d been found abandoned at the edge of the territory: Beechkit and Shadowkit. And they were almost six moons old. They intimidated Crystalkit. She didn’t want to even look in their direction.

They had become apprentices by the time Crystalkit was three moons old, though... and after that, Flintkit and Orangekit began focusing on that very thing and nothing else whatsoever. They would drag Crystalkit outside with them constantly to pester Shadowpaw and Beechpaw. Crystalkit hated that. She was still terrified of them— and of Beechpaw in particular. He just seemed a lot meaner and colder than his brother did. Orangekit and Flintkit didn’t seem to notice or care, though. After all, Crystalkit was hesitant when it came to pretty much anything.

When they were almost four moons old, though, an Uh Oh happened. One evening, Pearlfoam was napping and Clamstripe was out on a patrol somewhere, so Orangekit had the brilliant idea of asking Shadowpaw and Beechpaw to take him and his siblings on a walk outside of camp. Now, that wasn’t too weird. Crystalkit and her littermates had left the camp many times under the watchful eyes of at least one parent, but they’d never asked the apprentices before. Shadowpaw, not wanting to get in trouble, said no and left. Beechpaw, however, seemed uncharacteristically interested and agreed to it without asking a single question. Orangekit and Flintkit thought that was great. Crystalkit did not. Crystalkit wanted to at least tell Vanillaseed where they were going, but strangely, Beechpaw told her not to. He said they didn’t need to tell anyone. Flintkit and Orangekit were like “oh boy, fun”, but Crystalkit— as usual— had a bad feeling about the whole situation.

She followed them as they left, though. Beechpaw led them to the edge of the shore in relative silence, then suggested that they try to practice their swimming. Little did the kits know that it happened to be the time of day when the tide was at its highest. They’d been to the water before, though, and thought it would be alright. Or, well, Orangekit and Flintkit did. They were like “okay!!!” and hopped right in. They stayed close to the land at first and everything was fine. Crystalkit just kept chilling by the edge of the water. Then Beechpaw was like, “why don’t ya try going further? Whoever can swim out, touch that rock, and come back first gets extra training help!!” and just like that, the caution was gone. Flintkit and Orangekit started racing each other around, getting further and further out as Beechpaw kept changing his challenge. Crystalkit voiced that she really didn’t think it was a good idea, but everyone ignored her, per usual.

Sure enough, Orangekit and Flintkit were getting pretty tired and were eventually like “okay, we’re ready to stop now, can u come get us???” to which Beechpaw said no and told them they had to swim back themselves. They were a pretty good distance away from the shore by this point, and over fairly deep water. They agreed to it, though, both wanting extra training tips— and so they both started trying to head back. Flintkit made it. Orangekit did not. Orangekit went under and failed to resurface. Flintkit and Crystalkit both started panicking, and Beechpaw turned to them and was like “go back to camp, get your mom and the medicine cat, and wait there. I’ll get him out and follow you”. Crystalkit and Flintkit both obliged and started running back as fast as they could, pretty much just doing as they were told unquestioningly. Beechpaw was older and more experienced than them; they were supposed to listen to everything he said. They were supposed to trust him, weren’t they? Crystalkit, however, still felt like something was off. Just before they were out of sight, she stopped and glanced back. What she saw confused her. It seemed like Beechpaw was standing on something in the water, seeming focused on it. She didn’t have time to waste with that, though, so she just looked away and kept running.

They got back to camp (because luckily Flintkit had remembered the way even though Crystalkit hadn’t) and told Pearlfoam everything. Pearlfoam was like “yOu wHaT???” but there really wasn’t any point in yelling at them, so she didn’t. Clamstripe returned from his patrol at around this time, too, and was pretty upset to learn what was going on. Several minutes later, Beechpaw showed up with Orangekit. Except Orangekit was dead. Orangekit had drowned. RIP Orangekit. Beechpaw gave his whole “i couldn't save him, i’m sorry y’all” speech. Normally, Crystalkit would have put pieces together and figured out that he wasn’t quite telling the truth, but at the moment, she was... too traumatized. She’d never known anyone who’d died before, and her own brother being the first was shocking and pretty terrible. To top it off, she felt somewhat responsible. She felt like if she’d been more adamant in pointing out that she didn’t feel right about the escapade, or if she’d gone and told Vanillaseed anyways, maybe they wouldn’t have gone at all. In any case, the event had a horrible impact on Crystalkit, and something inside her kind of just... broke. And she was never really sure what it was.

For the next couple of moons, she just kind of huddled in the nursery, alternating between shellshocked and depressed. She did her best to avoid Beechpaw and even Flintkit. In fact, Flintkit seemed rather angry with her for some reason. Pearlfoam and Clamstripe did their best to console her, but nothing really worked. On the bright side, though, she became friends with Vanillaseed’s kits. Gullkit and Dawnkit were always kind to her, and she took a liking to Dawnkit in particular. They’d talk about their theories on stuff like StarClan and their opinions on little things like prey and weather quite often, but they ended up getting fairly close. Crystalkit appreciated Dawnkit’s sort of calming and positive presence.

By the time she was six moons old, Crystalkit was kind of a mess. She‘d given herself multiple panic disorders and hated the idea of sharing a den with Beechpaw, whom she still had a bad feeling about. She knew she had to, though. So she reluctantly went along with her apprenticeship ceremony.

Apprenticeship
Crystalpaw was apprenticed to Snapperface, a very harsh and grouchy old tom with no tolerance for any form of nonsense. He’d actually been Clamstripe’s mentor as well, and after her ceremony, her father admitted that he had specifically asked the leader to make a Snapperface her mentor in hopes that his training methods could help bring her out of her shell a bit.

They didn’t.

She hated training with Snapperface. The two of them didn’t work well together at all. Crystalpaw knew he was doing his best, though, and so she didn’t blame him— nor did she blame Clamstripe. She knew that she was the one at fault, but she couldn’t really help it. She was pretty much just miserable during her first two moons as an apprentice. Her only company was Flintpaw, Beechpaw, and Shadowpaw. She hated Beechpaw, Flintpaw avoided her, and Shadowpaw... well, she never really talked to him, but she guessed he wasn’t too bad. He didn’t make fun of her when she failed horribly in battle training, at least.

When she’d been an apprentice for a moon, something strange happened. Beechpaw and Shadowpaw returned to camp from a hunting trip one day with the body of Beechpaw’s mentor, Herontuft, claiming that some loose boulders had fallen on him and there was nothing they could do. Crystalpaw found that... suspicious. Beechpaw had never liked Herontuft, had he? And was it just her, or was Shadowpaw suddenly seeming even quieter and jumpier than usual? Why was Beechpaw suddenly following him everywhere he went? She remembered what she’d seen while looking over her shoulder the day Orangekit had died. Beechpaw hadn’t liked Orangekit very much, either. Was it possible that he’d been holding him under the water? Was that what she’d been looking at? The thought of that filled her with a feeling that she couldn’t describe. She didn’t want to believe that her denmate was capable of murder, but that seemed to be where most of her observations pointed. She didn’t say anything about it, though. For one thing, she was scared to. Beechpaw still terrified her. And besides, she had no proof aside from her own superstitions— and she was well-known for being paranoid anyways. She doubted anyone would believe her.

In any case, Beechpaw was reassigned to a she-cat named Spongespeckle who happened to be Snapperface’s sister. Unfortunately for Crystalpaw, that meant she had to train with Beechpaw fairly often. Neither of them enjoyed it. He never really did anything threatening, but she couldn’t shake off her feelings. Snapperface even questioned her about how weird she acted around Beechpaw on one occasion, and she ended up panicking and dodging the question. Then she was angry with herself for having done so. It was just a great big mess for everybody involved. She couldn’t even try talking to Shadowpaw— everywhere he went, Beechpaw seemed to go, too.

When she was eight and a half moons old, Dawnpaw and Gullpaw joined her in the apprentices’ den, and a half moon later, Beechbark and Shadowtip moved out. Those were both changes that Crystalpaw was very happy about. Dawnpaw was her bestie and she was thrilled to be able to spend a lot of time with her again. Another cool thing was that Flintpaw stopped being salty and kind of gradually drifted into Crystalpaw’s friendship gang with Gullpaw and Dawnpaw. That was nice. She almost started cooperating better with Snapperface, too. Things actually seemed to be working out and going well. Crazy, right?

Well, not for long.

When she was ten moons old, she finished training early one day and was going on a nice stroll with Flintpaw and her parents. It was a thing they’d started doing within the past moon— whenever they all had the time, they’d just take a walk through the territory together, sometimes catching prey if they saw any. But it was mostly to just chill and enjoy each other’s company. Crystalpaw liked doing it until this time in particular. She’d spotted a bird by the base of a palm tree and she went for it. She caught the bird but accidentally slammed into the tree. That normally would not have been a problem, but this tree... well, it was already crooked and unsteady. And the entire top half of it started falling towards her. Pearlfoam had been the closest one to Crystalpaw, and she was able to lunge forward and push her daughter out of the way at the cost of her own life. Yeah, it’s cliché, but I’m running low on ideas, a’ight? Hush.

Anyways, Pearlfoam died. Just like that. The tree broke her spine and it killed her. Crystalpaw was of course horrified and yeeted herself back into a depression hole. First went her brother, and then Mom. Not very great. Clamstripe didn’t blame her. He was devastated at his mate’s death, but he knew it had been her own choice and a total accident on Crystalpaw’s part. Flintpaw, however... she wasn’t so forgiving. Literally during Pearlfoam’s vigil, she started yelling at Crystalpaw and trying to attack her until Clamstripe pulled her away. That... really didn’t help with Crystalpaw’s confidence.

After that, she just moped around and wished she’d died instead. Dawnpaw and Gullpaw tried to be helpful, but by this rate, Crystalpaw really couldn’t be helped. Even Snapperface started going easier on her, sort of slacking on her training from then on. Crystalpaw was perfectly content with the idea of just existing as a miserable bump on a log for the rest of her life.

Except a Thing happened about a moon later. She was just chilling by the edge of the water to get her thoughts in order when she thought she heard hissing behind her in the denser parts of the territory. Out of curiosity she decided to eavesdrop, and to her surprise she caught the tail end of an argument between Beechbark and Shadowtip. She wasn’t entirely sure what it had been about, but she got to watch Beechbark storm off in a huff afterwards. Then she was reminded of her suspicions about him and was like “oh yeah, maybe I should do something about that”. So she decided to confront Shadowtip and ask what that had been about. He was defensive and dismissive at first, trying to avoid talking to her about it, but for once Crystalpaw thought she had a lead on something, and she wasn’t going to let go of it. So she persisted, bringing up Orangekit and Herontuft. Shadowtip finally gave in and was like “alright fine, I’ll talk to you abt it tonight so no one else hears us”. That was good enough for Crystalpaw, so she agreed to it. That night, as promised, Shadowtip brought her a short ways out of camp, sat her down, and began explaining.

Yes, Beechbark had killed Orangekit— and Shadowtip had learned that after accidentally witnessing Herontuft’s murder. Yeah, murder. Shadowtip — rather, Shadowpaw — had been hunting with his brother and his brother’s mentor when Beechpaw suggested that they split up for a bit. Shadowpaw hadn’t thought anything of it, so he’d obliged, but looked back around to where Beechpaw and Herontuft had gone in pursuit of a certain scent trail — only to watch Beechpaw jump onto a rock ledge and intentionally kick all of the loose boulders down on Herontuft. Apparently, Beechpaw had loosened those boulders the day before in preparation, and he threatened Shadowpaw with a similar fate if he were to tell anyone— hence why Beechbark was constantly following Shadowtip around now. He was afraid of letting him out of his sight, not wanting his, ah, crime to be exposed. And as it turned out, the tree that had fallen on Pearlfoam had been another trap set up by Beechbark. He’d been weakening the trunk by sawing at it with stones, apparently for several moons at this rate. Shadowtip told Crystalpaw that he wasn’t entirely certain who the tree had been intended to fall on, but if he had to guess he’d say it would’ve been him. That was a bit of a bombshell.

Crystalpaw was like “uh, okay, we have a serial killer in the Clan. Should we tell the leader??” and Shadowtip was like “tbh I don’t think exile is gonna stop him, and we still have no evidence”, so they decided against it. Yeah, I know that’s dumb, but it’s convenient for plot, okay? Okay. So hush.

But for the next moon, Crystalpaw kept being sad, but at least she had some form of purpose now— stopping Beechbark from killing anyone else, or if that was impossible, at least catching him in the act so that she could prove that the accusations were true. She stayed tight with Dawnpaw, Gullpaw, and Clamstripe. She remained on relatively neutral terms with Snapperface. She continued being on pretty bad terms with Flintpaw. Life goes on, ammirite?

Warrior Life
In spite of her nerves, she managed to pass her assessment on her first try and earned the name Crystalmoon. She was very happy about her new name. She liked it. Dawnpaw, Gullpaw, and Clamstripe were all proud of her, too. She was also starting to get along more with Shadowtip - he'd try to talk to her whenever Beechbark wasn't breathing down his neck. Also, since he suspected Beechbark wanted him dead, he and Crystalmoon both did their best to not let Beechbark get him alone.

When she'd been a warrior for a moon, Flintfish randomly came to her and was like "ey sis i'm sorry i suck" and they sort of reconciled. Flintfish started chilling with Crystalmoon, Dawnpaw, and Gullpaw in their free time. And Crystalmoon started suspecting that her sister had eyes for Gullpaw, which she thought was adorable because Gullpaw seemed to like her back, too. She and Dawnpaw both shipped FlintGull very hard and did their best to help get them together.

Several moons passed. Everything was kind of uneventful. Dawnlight and Gulldrift became warriors. Snapperface, Spongespeckle, and Vanillaseed all died of various natural causes. That was sad. Crystalmoon tried to be there for Dawnlight. A few nights after Vanillaseed's death, Gulldrift and Flintfish announced that they were becoming mates. Dawnlight and Crystalmoon wholeheartedly supported that.

When she was twenty moons old, though, she was trying to go hunting one morning when she was suddenly confronted by Beechbark. She was pretty scared since there was no one else around, but Beechbark didn't look like he intended to kill her, so she tried to at least look calm. Beechbark told her that he knew she knew. She was like "....yeah so?" and he said that she wouldn't have to get hurt if she stayed out of his way, adding that he didn't know why she hadn't told anyone yet, but "everything'll be just fine if you continue to keep your mouth shut". She was kinda just like "uhh k" and he left her alone. So that was a little disconcerting, but she tried not to let it bother her too much. She didn't think he was actually going to take action against her unless she made the first move, so she chose not to.

Five moons after that, she received her first apprentice: a hyperactive young tom named Bouncepaw. She was pretty worried about being a mentor, but Dawnlight got Bouncepaw's sister Podpaw, so she figured she'd be able to do fine as long as she had her friend to help her train him. They’d have the two young cats work together a lot and it was fun for all four of them.

Two moons after they were apprenticed, though... something not great happened. Podpaw got into a border fight with a ReefClan apprentice, and during the fight — through little fault of Podpaw’s — the ReefClan apprentice lost his footing on one of the islets, fell into the water, cracked his head on a rock, and died. Whoops. Podpaw was all horrified and guilty and and terrified of how she’d be punished, so she just fled the Clans. Bouncepaw, who’d accidentally walked in on the scene, had wanted to go with her, but chose to stay behind instead. He was miserable afterwards, and nothing Crystalmoon did could really help.

Also, two moons after that, Crystalmoon was hunting by herself one evening when a sharpened tree branch suddenly came bursting out of a bush next to her and narrowly missed impaling her through the throat. An angry-looking Beechbark proceeded to pop out from behind the bush and stalk away like nothing had happened. That was... rather disturbing to Crystalmoon. She’d just survived an attempt on her life. She broke the branch into fragments small enough to be harmless, and then just carried on hunting, unsure of what else she could do. But the next time she caught Shadowtip alone (which wasn’t until, like, two days later), she made sure to tell him about it.

Bouncepaw completed his training and was named Bounceburr. He was less depressed by then, so that was good. Crystalmoon was proud of him and also of herself. She was thirty-one moons old now and things seemed to be relatively chill... until a couple of weeks later when a dawn patrol found a drowned Shadowtip at the edge of the territory. Uh oh. Turns out he'd been dragged out of camp by Beechbark overnight and it hadn't gone well. (Note: if anyone wants to create a niece or nephew for her, they’d have been born at around this time. FlintGull would be having babies at around this time.)

I (Starling) am way too lazy to actually write out the rest of her story right now, so I'm just gonna set it up here for sometime later. Also, just a note for myself: Iceflower became her apprentice when she was 37 moons old.

Retirement
Crystalmoon retired at 80 moons old, simply feeling like she didn't have much left in her to contribute to IsleClan. She was warmed by all of the honor and praise she was regarded with, and while she felt like she didn't necessarily deserve it, she was grateful for it all the same. She spent a moon adjusting to her new position. It felt odd to her to not have responsibilities or expectations anymore, and she wasn't entirely sure how she felt about it. For a couple of weeks, she continued going out and trying to hunt once or twice a day out of boredom, but still found that she struggled with it due to her bones getting softer and her eyesight weakening. She eventually gave it up and started sitting around in her den or in patches of sunlight whenever she had the opportunity, and found to her surprise that it was... sort of gratifying. The apprentices always seemed happy enough making her nest comfortable and providing her with her own pick of prey, and kits always seemed strangely excited whenever she was around. She started drifting around between her own den, the nursery, and the medicine den, helping out with whatever she could whenever she could. She was still a bit bored and lonely, but she decided that being an elder wasn't so bad.

Then... something funny happened. Only one moon later, an entirely new Clan moved into the area next to PalmClan. They called themselves CoveClan and were led by a tom named Smokestar. The queerest thing was that this so-called CoveClan was made up entirely of loners, rogues, and ex-kittypets. Crystalmoon wasn't really bothered by it at all, though. She thought it was perfectly alright for them to move in, and she hoped that they could get along with all of the other Clans. She knew that a lot of her Clanmates didn't share her view, though, and that worried her. After that, whenever kits or apprentices came in to see her, she would talk to them about why she thought CoveClan had every right to stay just how they were. On one occasion, Crystalmoon even went to Dapplestar in hopes of changing her mind about CoveClan - she knew her leader wasn't fond of them. She was unsuccessful, however, bc Dapplestar was pretty much just like "what r u doing in my den???? go back to entertaining babies u old fart". So that's a thing that happened, I guess.

At the moment, she's honestly just chilling. She's doin' her thing, ya'know? She wants to just relax and help out everyone she can until she dies. She's a good old woman. She needs love.

Trivia

 * I wrote the majority of this backstory on Halloween! Spooky gal! Except she’s not very spooky. But shush. Spooky gal.
 * She really doesn't have a problem with ReefClan at all. She thinks they're chill, even though things are usually kinda tense between them and IsleClan.
 * An explanation for the Beechbark thing: he was... sort of just a sociopath. He intentionally tired out and then drowned Orangekit because he’d always found Orangekit annoying, and he wanted that to be over. He would’ve killed Flintkit and Crystalkit too if he’d had the opportunity. He didn’t necessarily understand the moral weight of that decision, though, and he didn’t care to. The same goes for his mentor. He thought Herontuft was too strict with him, so he killed him. If he hadn’t liked Spongespeckle, she would’ve been a goner as well. He was just eliminating the cats who gave him trouble, and in his eyes, there was nothing wrong with that.
 * I remember having something else specific I wanted to put here. What I don't remember is what that something was. I'm a genius, ain't I?

Quotes
Bold of you to assume I have the motivation for this.