Oh Hey Reedstar

It was a fairly bright and sunny day in the territory today, but at the same time it was freezing cold. Cinderfur hated how it chilled her to the bone, but at the moment, she really had too much on her mind to think about freezing at the moment. And all of it revolved around Reedstar. It was strange, really, because for so long, she thought that he was dead. Like, dead dead, not just losing a few lives. But she was so excited to see that he was still alive, yet she also felt betrayed by both him and Mapleclaw. If he was alive, why didn't he come back sooner? At the same time, why would Mapleclaw lie? What was the point? Honestly, just thinking about it made her skin crawl. But when it was all said and done, she still had duties to perform, such as hunting... which she seemed to be failing at right now. With the water so cold, it was hard to catch fish that she saw swimming by, but she was also getting a decent amount of fish when she wasn't so distracted. At this point, she had been able to catch a few fish, but not too many. As she went for another, she crouched down and watch it carelessly swim along with the current until an oh-so-convenient rustling of the reeds threw her off of her game, so when she went in for the kill, she ended up completely missing. "Mouse dung! Thank you for messing me up..." she muttered before glancing back to see who it was.

Reedstar's tired eyes met hers as his head parted through the reed stalks. The tom managed to purr in amusement at her harsh words. "That's no way to speak to your leader."

The biggest surprise after his return was Cinderfur being back from the dead. After that damned storm, he was sure that she had drowned with the rest. Yet somehow she was here, safe and sound and healthy. It was a miracle, and it had taken all of his willpower to stay composed when he first found her his old friend again in camp. Since then, with all the drama surrounding Mapleclaw's rise and fall, he had scarcely had time to speak with her... which was admittedly why Reedstar had followed her out there in the first place. Not something that pride would allow him to confess at any rate, but that was the truth of his "coincidental" stop, though it hadn't been his intention to ruin her catch. Reedstar bowed his head apologetically once his purr faded. While he tried to make light of it, missing prey was no laughing matter. Newleaf was still nowhere in sight and the Clan was only growing. They couldn't afford to make many mistakes. "Sorry about that. I hadn't meant to mess up your kill."

As soon as Cinderfur saw who is was she immediately felt embarrassed. Of all people, she was not expecting to see Reedstar, but there he was. Suddenly she didn't really know what to say. She hadn't really been able to talk to the Riverclan leader since he came back, but she really didn't know what to say to him when she did get the chance, so half of the time she didn't really try. "Oh, um, greetings Reedstar," she mewed before he mentioned something about her miss. She had actually completely forgotten about it as soon as she saw him, but now that he mentioned it, she actually wasn't all that worried about it. "Oh, I'm sorry too. I didn't realize that it was you."

Reedstar almost moved to dissuade her from thinking that anything was wrong, until he remembered. I'm not Reedheart anymore. They must respect me. That little reminder made him sad. Leadership was a lonely duty, he reflected not for the first time, and he couldn't help but think back on that fateful day in the rain. He remembered it as if it was yesterday, and when he closed his eyes he could see Froststar laying in a pool of blood and viscera with her limbs splayed at awkward angles. When it was quiet, he could still hear the pounding rain, the agony in each gasping breath, and the faint mewling of kits.

"You... you have to take the kits... you have to take them to ShadowClan..."

He pushed away the dark memories with a long look at Cinderfur. There was no time to brood on old secrets, especially not with her around. Maybe duty demanded that he remain friendless and aloof to common warriors, but she had been a close friend before. And she's alive. Reedstar had to keep reminding himself of that. Another miracle. "You're hunting by yourself?" he asked, pushing himself all the way through the reeds to seat himself by the narrow tinkling stream. It was a pitiful attempt at smalltalk, but it was all he had. The tom had never really been much of a conversationalist.

"Yeah," she replied. She didn't particularly want to come alone, but when no one else had come with her, she just made her way into the territory. Thankfully with the calming sounds of the streams, she was able to have some time to herself to just think. It was comforting in some ways, but now with Reedstar here, she didn't really know what to do. She had already caught two or three fish from the stream which were now lying on the ground on the other side of her just waiting to be taken back to camp. Everyone else was already busy so I just went ahead with my duties. What brings you out here?" she asked curiously, actually wondering what his reason was for being alone too.

Reedstar didn't have an answer for that right away. He supposed he should have expected the question to be reversed. "Oh, you know..." Cinderfur didn't know, of course. He didn't even know. "I tend to wander sometimes. It helps me think." That wasn't entirely a lie. Quiet walks through the territory were calming, and helped him when he needed to get away from the burden Froststar had cast on him. RiverClan territory was a great sea of grass; on windy days, the reed forests and tall blades rippled like waves, and it stretched unbroken from SkyClan to the distant horizon and beyond. There were islands of hedges and willows, but otherwise the land was flat and vast, not to mention beautiful. In Greenleaf, the air was warm and the nights came alive with the songs of crickets and frogs. Leafbare the world was silent and cold, but it was well known that RiverClan didn't suffer like the other Clans did. The river was always well stocked with fish. StarClan spoiled them, and he couldn't be more grateful.

At first, she was kind of interested in what he would be thinking about. Her mind quickly wandered to what happened in the time he was gone, but she kept herself from asking. She was pretty sure that he didn't want to talk about it or have it brought up. After all, it must have been a hard thing to deal with. But at the same time, she could help but wonder. Especially since she knew what it was like to be alone. After being swept away by the flood, she had found herself more alone than she thought she would ever be. And in complete honesty, she was glad to have the company right now, especially Reedstar's company. She didn't realize just how happy she was to know that he was alive and standing right here next to her. It was a really good feeling. "I get that," she responded before looking down in the stream for any sign of fish. "Well, would you like to hunt with me?" she asked, not really sure of anything else to say other than the millions of questions she had on her mind.

"Oh, sure." Reedstar said with a small purr. It was a lie; what he wanted to do was just talk, like they had that one day in the rain. Begrudgingly, he peered into the stream, searching for any hint of prey. For a long while he was silent. There was so much he wanted to say, yet somehow he didn't know how to put it into words. 'I missed you.' No. Definitely not. That sounded too... weird? Informal? Reedstar. Not Reedheart. Reedstar. You have to remember your name. Those were not the kinds of things you shared with a warrior. He tried to remember how Froststar had been. Reserved, aloof, distant, authoritative. And then she went and had kits with a ShadowClan cat. Despite how horrible the memories were, it was almost comforting in a way. It reminded him that it was all just an act; a facade that ordinary cats put on when suddenly faced with duty and responsibility.

You can do this.

"You know, um... I'm glad you're okay." he murmured finally. Suddenly, he was feeling awkward again and his worked up courage all withered away, but there was no stopping now. "After the flood, that is. When we realized you were missing, I'd just..."

Cinderfur was already studying the water for any signs of fish as Reedstar spoke up again. At first, she was quite surprised when he said what he did, and it showed in her face when she looked up for just a second before she looked back down at the stream. She was pretty shocked over the fact that he had thought about her, and in a way, she felt quite honored. "Oh, um, yeah. It was hard for me too. And..." Why was she suddenly getting nervous? It was okay to miss a leader right? Especially if they were a good leader. "And I'm glad you're okay too. It was so confusing finally making it back to camp and finding out that you weren't there. Everyone said that you were dead. I just can't believe that Mapleclaw lied to us like that. That she did what she did. I didn't want to believe it, but..." Her voice trailed off as she probably went a little too far, but it was true. She had been scared, actually, of all of the lies that Mapleclaw told them and how easily she pulled it off.

The conversation had taken an awkward turn, but in a way, Reedstar was glad he could finally share his feelings. After bottling them up so long, even if it felt strange and wrong for a cat of his status, it was liberating to finally just speak. But now what to say? Heart fluttering strangely in his chest, perhaps out of some kit-like nervousness, and the silence growing by the moment, he finally just spat out the first thing that came to mind. "It's okay. What matters is that we're both here now." Reedstar mewed in blithe confidence, setting his green gaze on perhaps his closest friend... only for it to register a moment later what he'd said. Flustered, he turned his eyes to the stream. You bumbling idiot. Reedstar silently cursed, praying for StarClan to strike him dead six times over. What now? With every word he backed himself more and more into a corner. Talking had never been his strong suit. Even at a young age, Reedstar had always just said what was on his mind without putting in much thought... and Cinderfur had been on his mind a lot as of late. Damn her. She turns me into a fool.

Somehow, that was a little more surprising than what he had said earlier, but strangely, Cinderfur didn't mind. She actually was happy that he said what he did, and it made her happier to know that it was true. Both of them were back safe and sound. Reedstar was alive and Cinderfur never drowned. In fact, she couldn't be happier that they were both able to stand here and casually hunt in a stream again. It was exciting and almost thrilling. It was good to be around Reedstar again. She finally felt like she could relax and live life normally. It was a strange feeling, actually. She never thought that she would feel that way about a cat. Yeah, she felt pretty close to some of her clan mates, but nothing like how she felt for Reedstar.

The thought actually embarrassed her as she kept her eyes glued on the water at their feet. Yep, she didn't see how flustered he was, but that was mainly because of how sheepish she felt suddenly. She really did care for the Riverclan leader, but there wasn't a way she could simply say that. He was the leader and she was just a plain warrior. He didn't have time for her. He had to focus on the entire clan and their safety before her. But she couldn't help but want to spend more moments like these with him. It was nice, even if their conversation was pretty awkward. Yep. Very awkward. "Yeah..." she muttered quickly as she pondered over the thought. "We are both here." What a great way to keep him from knowing...