A Caged Lark (Closed for Ice)

Amber eyes watched the ShadowClan camp as Larkpaw sat outside of the apprentice den, her black and orange spotted coat bathed in the shadows. Her eyes were narrowed, yet a happy smile was on her face. She was home, she was once again a ShadowClan apprentice yet...There was a few linger doubts that sat with her. Warrior life had been hard adjusting to since she had returned - she had grown soft in the pampered life as a Kittypet even if she hated to admit it. But she was slowly losing her weight and was gaining the sleek warrior body that she used to have those moons ago. She also had rules she was forced to abide to. She couldn't blame Thrushstar for being paranoid about her and her loyalties - mostly after she had learned what had happened when she was gone...

She blinked, her eyes flashing to her paws but she quickly pushes those thoughts away - she couldn't bear to think about what had transpired with her brother in her absence.  Her eyes flickered up from her paws as she shook away the grief. Instead, her eyes scanned the clearing for the cat who had been set as her guard - Mudfoot. One of the rules that she would be under watch almost at every moment which while she was fine with she found herself interested by the tom who had been assigned to her. From what she could tell, he seemed to be rather close with her father and that only made her wonder what relationship the two shared. Did Mudfoot know her brother well? There were questions she wanted to know the answer to but had found no time to ask them so far.

Laying down in a patch of sun near the edge of camp, the tom had one eye open, focused on Larkpaw. Recently, the she-cat had come back to the camp and being a trusted warrior of Thrushstar's, he was given the task to watch over her, just in case. So, here he was, making sure the "apprentice" didn't try anything funny, though he doubted she would. From the looks of it, she was a pretty respectable cat, even if she hadn't been around very long. He faintly remembered Larkpaw being around but those times had past and remembering something like that wasn't on his current to-do list.

Noticing that she was looking towards him in a curious sort of way, the tom decided it would be better to be polite then look like the creepy guard who never spoke. Standing up, Mudfoot padded over to the she-cat, a smile on his face. "Enjoying clan life?" he meowed cheerfully, trying his best not to cringe at the strange scent that still clung to her pelt. Larkpaw had been pretty well fed, where ever she'd been and he wondered if being back with the clan was hard for her to adjust to.

Excitement rippled down Larkpaw's pelt when Mudfoot got up and started to move toward her, happy to be given the chance to talk but she also found fear mixed in. This tom seemed so important to her father she feared that the brown warrior wouldn't like her. But she gave him a soft smile as he came over to her. "Its...Strange," she admitted with a flicker of her tail as she let her gaze scan the camp for a quick second before she focused back to the older tom. As she studied him, she had faint memories of him. He had been Amberpaws...Er, Amberclaw's mentor, hadn't he? But she couldn't for the life of her recall the relationship her father and he shared, had it never been revealed to her before she had left? She wanted to ask, but felt it would be rude to straight up ask like that so she decided to avoid that question for now. "For so many moons, this life had just seemed like a memory of a dream long forgotten," she sighed with a twitch of her whiskers. "Its feels so strange to be back...But I don't regret that choice of returning."

Glad that she didn't feel too out of place, Mudfoot gave a soft purr. "That's good to hear," he replied, sitting down beside the apprentice, not too close but close enough. "It's always good to have more warr- eh, apprentices in the clan," the tom felt somewhat weird calling a cat of her age an apprentice but it had to be done. Lost in his thoughts, it suddenly hit him. This she-cat was Amberclaw's sister, that's why she seemed so familiar, well, he thought she was related to his "step"-brother. Thus, she was technically related to him. "You're Amberclaw's sister, correct?" Part of him felt bad for having to ask this, but it was better to ask than to assume something false and make even more of a fool of himself.

Larkpaw let out a small laugh when the older tom almost called her a warrior. She could only hope that she would gain that rank shortly and prove herself as a true ShadowClan cat once more. While being called an apprentice was slightly strange to her, it was simply because it had been so long since she had heard those terms used. She gave him a peaceful smile but it faded all to quickly when Mudfoot mentioned her brother. Her ears flickered back as her whole body drooped in an instance. She...She still couldn't believe half of the tales that she had been told of what had transpired in her absence. Cats who had turned from StarClan's light and upon death was sent to a twisted forest where they vowed revenge...

These forsaken cats appearing in dreams of the living to pull them onto her side and her own brother had been one of these cats and stood with them when the darken spirits attempted to destroy StarClan forever? She didn't want to believe it but yet...She did. Her gaze shifted away from Mudfoot as her claws dug into the ground. She had to wonder why her brother had done such a horrible thing. Had it been her fault? Had her disappearance played a role? She couldn't know and it hurt her. "Yes," she finally said, her voice quivering with her conflicting emotions she felt toward her brother. "Amberclaw is...Was my brother," she sighed with a shake of her head. How could she say that he was her brother still when he had forsaken the one thing they were always to stay with - StarClan themselves. Her moons away had not shaken her faith and so he wondered what had rattled her brother's faith to join those stood against StarClan.

Seeing the droop of her shoulders and disappointment in her expression, Mudfoot knew what he'd asked was the wrong thing to bring up, or maybe it was just the way he'd worded it. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have brought it up," the tom meowed softly, wrapping his fluffy tail around his paws. Amberclaw had been a great apprentice and a warrior, there was no denying that, but it was the fact that he'd turned from his clan and StarClan that Mudfoot would never forget. His own brother and apprentice, suddenly betraying him, it just came to show how fast cat's are to make choices, for the better or worse.

"Amberclaw was... a good warrior," he started again. "He was filled with false ideals and chose his path." And many others have made the same mousebrain choice, Mudfoot wanted to say but kept his thoughts to himself. "But now that I think about it, there was nothing I could've done for him. Yes, he may have been my apprentice and our brother, but even without him, a clan is still a clan and a family is still a family, and as far as I can tell, ShadowClan still stands strong," he finished, perking his ears and replacing his frown with a smile, hoping to help lighten the mood a bit.

Larkpaw stared at her paws, unwilling to meet the warrior's gaze but her ears did perk up when he apologized. As he went on, she shuttered as he admitted that there was nothing he could of done for Amberclaw. She still couldn't believe that there had been no hope for her brother - perhaps if she had been there...No. No it was useless to think about what could have been. She had made her choices and it was to late for regrets. But then her ears caught a single word that Mudfoot had said in his attempt to cheer her up. Brother? Our brother? Her gaze suddenly snapped up to stare at the tom, surprise in her eyes as her mouth fell open just slightly. "B-Brother? What do you mean by that?" She had not been aware that Mudfoot was related to her but she had never taken the time to learn all of her half siblings so perhaps there was a way that this could of slipped by unknown to her. "Are you a kit of my Magpiewing as well?"

Tilting his head at the she-cat's question, Mudfoot was somewhat confused. Did she not remember him? Although he was adopted into the clan, he was still Magpiewing's son, just as much as any blood related cat. Well, then again, it was only to be expected, seeing she left the clan at such a young age. "Yes, I am Magpiewing's adopted kit, though I am just as loyal as any other cat in this clan," the tom stated, a smile on his face. "So I guess that we are siblings, more or less."

Oh, he was adopted? That could explain why Larkpaw was unaware that they were siblings - even if not by blood. Of course, she wasn't even sure who else in ShadowClan was also her sibling, she had never thought about it before she left and trying to figure it out now seemed to be much more effort then it was worth. "Oh, of course," Larkpaw said with a blink before she smiled softly at Mudfoot. "Siblings to the end." Part of her felt relieved that Mudfoot was her brother. It wasn't a perfect replacement for Amberclaw and she was going to miss the brother she once knew but having a loyal tom that she could say was her brother as well made her feel better then she could have expected.

Relieved to see that she didn't seem angry or extremely disappointed that he was related to her, Mudfoot could relax. It was always a bit weird finding out someone was your brother, well, he assumed it was, seeing that it had never really happened to him before. "I don't know about you, but for me, family is everything," the tom stated, looking up to the stars that were now visible in the night sky. Mossheart, Ferretshine, are you up there? Having one mate die and one disappear, Mudfoot hated admitting that it felt like a part of him had been taken from him. Although he'd never forget them, he'd learned to move on with life, knowing that he couldn't mourn them forever and besides, his clan needed him, so he couldn't allow his true emotions to show. Not now, not ever.

From the excitement and joy of having his sibling back, Mudfoot couldn't help himself and started purring. "It must have been weird, not being in a clan," he meowed, looking back down to Larkpaw. There was always the possibility that where she'd been she'd enjoyed it, but he couldn't imagine a clan cat enjoying kittypet life, especially when they were taken against their will.

Larkpaw was grateful for the tom's company - with just the simple fact that they were siblings of sorts helped her be more at peace with the fact that he would be watching her until she had proven herself to Thrushstar and gained her warrior name. She blinked when he mentioned how family was everything, her ears falling back on her head as she gave him a slight bitter and sad smile. "I left like I did for my family - or so I thought...I wanted to find my mother, to learn more about her..." she sighed as she drifted off. All she had wanted to know was if her mother truly cared for her or was her birth just a matter of convince to her? Of course, she had never found the rogue and she was left without answers - but she didn't care about those answers anymore. She was just happy to be home with her true family. She shook her head. "It was very weird. I regretted my choice to leave the Clan shortly after being on my own but when I finally realized how foolish my mission was, and that I should return, it was too late." She could still recall the horrifying moments of being cornered by a two Twolegs and being captured, unsure of what fate awaited her. To become a kittypet and be trapped in a Twoleg's den for moons...The Twolegs had been caring at least, but it had never been a home fit for her and when she had finally gained the chance to escape - she took it without a thought.

Of course she felt bad about leaving, who wouldn't? But on her defense, she technically left for a good cause, so who could blame her? Everyone apparently. He guessed that although she left to find her family, everyone was still skeptical about the she-cat's loyalty, but then again... who could blame them? Torn between whether to be disappointed that she'd left or glad that she had to courage too, Mudfoot couldn't decide.

"Well, no matter what happened or what your choice was, I'm glad you're back," the tom meowed with a smile, not ready to "blame" her just yet. For now, he'd stick with growing closer with his long lost sister.

"Thank you, Mudfoot. I'm happy you feel that way," she said with a sigh. Ever since her return she had feared never being able to fit in again with her Clanmates. What if her time away had changed her for the worst? What if she was never able to hunt like a true warrior again? What if her Clanmates didn't accept her? While some had been accepting...Her eyes kept lingering toward Thrushstar's den. While the ShadowClan leader had allowed her to be a Clan cat once more, she knew he didn't trust her. How could he be so trusting after what had happened in her absence? She could only hope that she would be able to prove to Thrushstar how truthful she was being in wanting to return and be a loyal warrior.