Patrolling the River

[♥ Riro ♥]

--It was New-Leaf. Each tree bloomed with a new bud, the river ran wildly down it's slope, and birds sang into the air. The color and liveliness of the world was starting to return. The scent was fresh with flowers, and peace was finally here. The wind was cheery and brisk, but it brought relief was the hotness.

--A small, lithe figure appeared, popping out of a bush. It seemed to pause, it's tension making the air just as tense. It seemed to crackle, about to break, when the shape moved. It seemed to be one of a cat, pelt sticking down to it's side. In fact, it was a cat, a female. And the leader of Riverclan. It was Silverstar.

--Silverstar stopped and raised her nose to sniff the air. She didn't scent anything but stale Thunderclan scent markings, which was good, because a new patrol could be coming a time now, wanting to renforce their borders, and then she could talk to them.

--Silverstar sat down on the wet banks tersly and began to wait. At every sound or crack, she would jump, her body aware of every movement. Twice, she smelled mice, but didn't bother to chase it, she wasn't hungry and, besides, she didn't like mouse anyways, perfering the tasty scent of fish.

--Many minutes passed in silence. "Where can the next patrol be?" Silverstar wondered to herself. "They should get here soon, I have business to discuss."

[swifty?!]

A crisp, clear new-leaf morning. And unlike during leaf-bare, one cat stood out among all of the greenery and tree bark. He was a brave, loyal cat who had a good head and a fair heart. It was the leader of ThunderClan; Frostedstar. It was currently a time of peace, not even ShadowClan was causing any trouble, and the large white tom was thankful for that. He stopped, a good distance from the edge of the river, and simply looked. He noticed Silverstar right away, and immediately he was concerned. Was she alone? She's just lying there... he mentally noted.

Before he would even think of speaking to her, Frostedstar rubbed and sprayed his scent along the trees and rocks that currently belonged to ThunderClan. The small she-cat before him looked as though she wanted to talk, but he couldn't imagine what about. "Greetings, Silverstar," he finally murmured, taking a step towards the river's edge. His meow was strong and proud, which was only expected of him after all these moons of his leadership. He noted in his mind that he shouldn't forget to bring fresh-kill back to the Clan when he returns. Sitting there, he wrapped a long-furred tail around his paws, waiting for the RiverClan leader to speak.

[♥ Riro ♥]

--Many more minutes passed before another shape could be seen in the distance. From far off, it looked like a fluffy cloud or a patch of snow, but really it was another cat. Frostedstar.

--He carried on his duties, marking the border lines, and Silverstar glanced up at him. She was surprised at the small border patrol composed up of only Frostedstar. But it was the cat she needed to talk to. She kept staring at him, hoping that he would come to the river, since she didn't want to cross boundaries and cause a dispute when there was peace.

--When Frostedstar was in hearing range of Silverstar he said, "Greetings, Silverstar." Silverstar could smell the confusion scents coming off from him, it was a bit odd to be wandering alone so closs to the border. He sat down, wrapping his tail around his body. Silverstar nodded her head. "Greetings to you too, Frostedstar. I have to talk to you, but I would prefer to do it in a place where we cannot be eavesdropped on." Silverstar looked around the banks, but saw nothing. She waited for Frostedstar to speak, maybe he would offer a place to go to.

[[ WOLFIE ]]

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[atrb=background,http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa35/Sigath/wolfcrytableforwolftmid.png] The new-leaf morning felt icy on his tongue. It was noticeable how cold and frosty it seemed to be when the forest was beginning to look green and luscious once more. It was odd, too, how the prey all had seemed to come out at once when new-leaf began in the forest. Cats would be walking along and a mouse would dart out under their paws. The tom walking along the forest floor nodded to himself. He was satisfied with the amount of prey in the forest. It was feeling his Clan well and it wouldn't be long until all of them recovered from the prey shortage that leaf-bare seemed to bring. Bringing his dark pink nose to the air, the gray spotted tom sniffed the air for prey. A scent hit him and he pricked his ears, the scuttling of a mouse nearby. Turning towards the sound, he lowered himself into an excellent hunter's crouch. He'd had almost forty-four moons to practice this. He was only almost fifty moons old anyway. Stalking forward expertly in the undergrowth, he fixated his eyes on the brown furred rodent. The small pink paws scurried over leaves and dirt until coming to a place where she'd hidden food before. Picking up a little morsel with her paws she began to nibble on it little by little. She would only take a little, though, and take the rest of it back to her pups. They waited a few trees over and she could imagine their cries of hunger. The mouse dug through the grass a little more before pausing. Was something watching her? The feeling of eyes on her back worried her and her heartbeat sped up to twice it's normal heart rate. Something was here. Quickly gathering her morsel of food up, she turned to scurry away, but then a shadow passed overhead. With a squeak she began to run, but claws caught her in the side. The last thing her mind recognized was a pressure on her neck before everything went black... Wolfcry picked up his catch and took it over a little ways it bury it so it wouldn't be in the middle of a warrior's path. After scraping dirt over it, he looked up into the massive oak tree he was beneath. A small grin formed on his maw before he bunched his back leg muscles. He sprang off the ground a few tail lengths and latched onto the tree, pushing himself up with his hind legs and keep his claws unsheathed so he wouldn't fall. Reaching the lowest branch, Wolfcry looked around with his amber eyes. The scar on the outer edge of his left eye, a noticeable and deadly scar, preventing him from looking to his far left without turning his head slightly. The scar he received from Bearclaw when he was an apprentice. That warrior had died long ago, he remembered, in a battle with WindClan. It had been reported at a gathering. He still had yet to figure out which ShadowClan warrior had killed his brother. That life-long grudge began sparking an angry fire behind his eyes. That anger turned to sadness as he decided to jump into the next tree, realizing he was fairly close to the RiverClan border. Leopardheart was gone. There was no use sulking over the past events in life. While lost in his thoughts, Wolfcry didn't notice the rustling of leaves around him as he walked toward the trunk of the tree he'd jumped into. A squirrel erupted in front of him and with a startled sound he caught the squirrel in his jaws. Having almost lost balance and fell out of the tree, his fur was on end and so he shook himself and will his paws to move. Mouse-brained squirrel. The deputy maneuvered his way to the trunk of the tree before jumping down to the forest floor with a well-practiced landing. Wolfcry loved to climb, honestly. He was very good at it, too. Burying with the squirrel with a few curses towards it, he turned to walk away. Then he caught the scent of Frostedstar. It was fresh along with a RiverClan scent and so he headed toward the border with his brows furrowed with confusion. Why was his leader at the border alone? Veering around a hazel bush, he found his leader, along with RiverClan's leader, Silverstar. What? Wolfcry came forward, confusion lighting behind his amber eyes. What were the two leader's doing? The deputy came to a halt near his leader and dipped his head to both of them in greeting. With a look from Silverstar to Frostedstar, he guessed it must be something important. "What's going on, Frostedstar?" he asked curiously, betraying no sense of hostility towards the RiverClan leader. They may not get along with RiverClan sometimes, but the borders were calm and peaceful at the moment. He had no reason to act hostile toward the RiverClan leader when she was on her own side of the border. Right now, he simply wanted to know if there was something he should be worried about. eight hundred forty-six words ------------ table by sigath.deviantart.com

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[swifty?!]

Frostedstar instantly became a skeptic the moment she asked to talk somewhere private. If something started, or if she had warriors hidden away for an ambush, then who would be there to help him? But was Silverstar really the type of cat to do something like that? They had fought many times over the Sunningrocks in past moons, or so he's heard. It happened once when he was still a kit, but not while he was leader. "What can you say that my warriors are unable to hear?" he asked, calmly and with no hint of suspicion. He parted his maw, taking in a familiar and subtle scent. It was Wolfcry, no doubt about it. And it wasn't long after scenting him that the ThunderClan Deputy decided to show himself. Frostedstar turned his body slightly, and dipped his head in greeting to the spotted gray tom. "What's going on, Frostedstar?" he heard the deputy ask. Frostedstar lifted his head and pricked his ears forward.

He didn't bother with explaining to Wolfcry; after all, if he stuck around long enough then it would all be made clear to him. The large white tom eyed Silverstar once again and said, "Surely Wolfcry can supervise our conversation, then?" Frostedstar motioned for Wolfcry to follow him, and he would show Silverstar a quiet spot where they could speak. Just a few fox-lengths off to the side of the river was a small cliff that lead down into a patchy ravine. He leaped down into it, and parted his maw to take in all the scents; no ThunderClan cats but him and Wolfcry were there. Well, there was some stale scents but they seemed to have already left.

"Is this alright, Silverstar?" he meowed, shifting his paws on the rocky, dirt-covered ground.

[♥ Riro ♥]

--Silverstar streched her aching muscles, and then looked to Frostedstar as he meowed, ""What can you say that my warriors are unable to hear?" He voice was calm and steady, and Silverstar's lyrics macthed his in tone. "Many things," she replied simply.

--The wind whistled and whisked down towards where Frostedstar and Silverstar were standing. Silverstar tasted the air, recognizing a scent. It was definetly Thunderclan, but she couldn't tell what cat it was, though it seemed to be at the tip of her togue.

--The cat approached and Silverstar looked up. Then she realized who it was. Wolfcry, Thunderclan's deputy. Confusion poured from the deputy as he spoke. "What's going on, Frostedstar?" His words were not hostile, but they were not friendly either, and they were addressed directly to the Thunderclan leader.

--But the Thunderclan leader did not respond, he just kept on talking. Looking at Silverstar, he asked, ""Surely Wolfcry can supervise our conversation, then?" She just nodded in reply. Suddenly and without warning Frostedstar got up, Wolfcry behind him, and walked to a small cliff. Silverstar was quick follwoing in their tracks.

--"Is this alright, Silverstar?" Frostedstar mewed. Silverstar parted her maw, taking in the cat scent, but they seemed ti be mostly stale, all but the ones of herself, Wolfcry, and Frostedstar. "This is fine." Her voice was firm, and confident, but showed no aggression. To show that they might be here for a while, Silverstar sat down, wrapping her tale around her body.

--"I have a few border matters to discuss," she meowed evenly. "You see are clan is growing, we need more territory, more prey. We need to expand." Silverstar carefully regarded the expression on both Thunderclan cat's faces. "Do you have any suggesstions for us?" Her tone was serious, she didn't want to take land that didn't belong to them without asking. She didn't want to start a battle after the first time of peace for a long while. Her tail swept about, pointing to all the land that could be theirs. "What do you think?"