Penumbra's Quest/Duskshroud's Origins

**The Beginning**
Born as a purebred Havana Brown show cat, Duskshroud was originally known as "Chocolate Royalty's Penumbra" - Penumbra or Penny, for short. She was dubbed one of the most promising kittens in show history, having near perfect color, coat texture, and conformation even as a kitten. Though she was passionate about her life as a show cat, her mother imbued within her a fascination for the lives of the cats who braved the wild. While her siblings all practiced their posing and only the occasional play fight, Penumbra focused on her agility, balance, and perception first, and her posing second - as it came very naturally to her.

Her first show, which happened to be the national all-breed cat show, was an astounding success that proved just how promising she was, as in three days she had one six best of breeds and three reserve in shows - losing only to an Abyssinian cat that caught the judges' eyes by begging for their attention and inciting anger in the other cats. It was during that show where she learned more about 'the cats of the wild' and the glorious Star Clan from other cats, as it was tradition to tell these stories as a way to bring those who may believe back to their true natures and to remind them of who they were beyond being just show cats. It was also there that she met her first love, Tall Tail's Corvid Cache - Corry, for short - whom her breeders bought on sight after witnessing the chemistry the two young cats seemed to have.

Despite everything, though, tragedy struck only a few months later when an electrical fire burnt down half of their home. Penumbra and Corry had gotten trapped in a rather high and narrow place, and Penumbra was forced to witness her love be burned alive while she managed to escape with nothing more than a singed tail.

As if losing her love wasn't enough, the fur on the tip of her tail never quite grew back correctly. The tip was now covered in scattered silvery hairs - an immediate disqualification for all future shows and the definite end to her showing career. Due to the tragedy and the lack of space, along with Penumbra's wild-like nature, the breeders decided to let her live as a barn cat on their farm until she would be old enough to breed. While most cats would get their form of identification at a later age, Penumbra's was given her's immediately - a tattoo in her left ear that reads "CRPEN."

Penumbra resented her life as a barn cat, finding it meaningless and dull with the exception of all her new-found ways of training herself. After only a short few moons, she decided to go on a journey to find the cats she had so long been learning about. She began as a simple loner, teaching herself how to hunt and survive while continuing to hone all her skills, until she eventually found the lake territory clans. Fascinated, she studied each clan from a distance, but the clan she felt most at home in was the dark pine forest of Shadowclan.

**Penumbra's Trials**
In order to receive a place within the clan, it became apparent that she needed to prove herself and let go of her past. To do so, she devised an elaborate plan after establishing contact with the clan and creating an alibi for her past - stating that she had always been a rogue and that the marking in her ear was given to her by two-legs that had caught her with the intention of experimenting on her. First, study and learn the warrior code from what she would overhear from the warriors teaching their apprentices. Second, prove her loyalty and skill by mastering the hunting of the clans' most difficult prey - crows - and secretly bringing at least one crow to the clan every day at dusk. Third, prove her unwavering courage in the face of danger by finally ridding the clan of a fox that had been inching its way ever so closely towards camp... all on her own. Fourth, demonstrate her intellect and resourcefulness by luring, catching, and killing a hawk, then taking it back to the clan as a final offering. When all was said and done, Stormstar finally agreed to take her in, and when she proved her knowledge of the code, she was immediately given her warriors name - Duskshroud, referring to how every day at dusk, shrouded in darkness and mystery, she would bring the clan a gift as proof of her undying support.