Holidays in the Sun .. open to thunderclanners

Retiring to the elders den had not been something high on Rowanface's priority list. He had planned on retiring much later in life, possibly when he had gone almost completely blind, or could no longer leap onto a tree without hearing his muscles scream and creak, when it took him all morning to stretch out his tense arthritis coveted body before he could go on a hunting patrol. Or maybe even when he could no longer remember the name of his own kit, or even his name himself. It has seemed like not too long ago the reality of the elders den seemed like something far in his future. Although he couldn't have been sure when he would have to retire, Rowanface hadn't expected it to be so soon. And yet, as it it turned out, the life of an elder was a much closer reality than Rowanface had originally anticipated.

Even though his prime had come and gone many moons ago, Rowanface still believed himself to be rather fit. The only reason that Rowanface had retired was due to an unfortunate accident inflicted on his right eye, the eye that had also in fact, been the dominant one.

SkyClan had been going through a rough time many moons ago. Prey was hard to come by, their territory was going through a severe drought, the plants were dying, the animals were dying, and many of the clans members were also dying. The healthy warriors were having to work twice as hard in an attempt to collect enough prey for themselves as well as the cats who were unable to feed themselves. Kits and elders were dying, they didn't have enough prey and many of them were severely dehydrated. Rowanface, although not a brilliantly skilled warrior, was still a strong cat who was able to hunt and serve his clan.

Now, Rowanface was stuck in the elders den, but spent most of his time in camp, keeping caught up on clan politics. Every once and a while making his way into the territory. Today was one of those days. Padding out of the elders den, Rowanface took a deep breath, sighing slightly in relief. The temperature outside was perfect, not too hot with a slight breeze sweeping through camp and rustling his tabby pelt. It seemed as if it couldn't be a better day to leave camp and simply have a peaceful stroll through the trees. At least that was what Rowanface thought as he slipped out of camp and padded towards the ThunderClan boarder, stopping as the scent of squirrel-cats hit his nose, before he began to pad along the boarder, a part of him hoping to run into a ThunderClanner out on patrol or wandering the forest along SkyClan territory.