Hello Again (Closed for Maple)

Shira was itching to get out of camp and go hunting.  It was late for a Shadowclanner to be up, the sun had crept it's way up into the sky.  Even though the sun was up and it was Greenleaf, the day was pretty cold.  The clouds covered the sun with a threat of rain, but it wasn't too dark.  When Shira got out to the territory the shade made it even cooler, however it actually felt pretty nice compared to the very hot normal Greenleaf days.

Shira wasn't thinking about the rogues at all.  They didn't matter to her.  She was too self-confident for that.  She ran through the forest, chasing small pieces of prey and hiding them for later.  She didn't really care where she was going, she just kept following where the prey went.  She didn't know how close she was to the Riverclan border.

She heard another cat a little bit away.  She got ready in case she needed to fight.  When she lifted her head, she saw someone that she very much had not expected.  "Ivystar?" she called to her mother.  "What are you doing here?  Am I at the border?"  She realized how stupid of a question that was after she asked it.  Of course I'm at the border.  Why would the leader of Riverclan just decide to go walking in Shadowclan territory?  Shira cleared her throat.  "Never mind.  I... I guess I should say sorry?  For leaving without telling you.  I don't know."

(rolling for the rogues)

The member 'Little Ripped' has done the following action : Dices roll

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'Hunting Dice' : 1

Despite how her thinner-furred Clanmates might feel about it, Ivystar rather preferred the crisp, cool mornings that the end of Greenleaf and beginning of Leaf-fall had to offer. Her dense coat offered decent enough protection against harsh winds and snowfall, but during the customary sticky heat of the past few moons, it was a burden. This, however, was a welcome change. Soon enough the tips of leaves would begin to yellow and fall away from their branches, and Ivystar quite honestly could not wait. A gentle sigh escaped her lips as she simply walked alongside the ShadowClan border, acting as the sole cat on this makeshift border patrol.

She began clicking her teeth in slight annoyance when she heard pawsteps nearby on the ShadowClan side of the border. Usually, they didn't bother coming out this early (err... late? Ivystar supposed for ShadowClanners this was rather "late" for them) so she was rather bothered that one of them had made an appearance... Until she saw who it was. "Shira?" She called out, no emotion easily detectable in her voice. Shaking her head, she dismissed her silently. "If you wanted to be here you would have stayed. Nothing I can do or could have done will change that. If your heart wasn't with the Clan, how could I have expected you to defend it, and fight for it?" She pondered aloud, scolding herself in her head for being so open about her thoughts, even if Shira was her daughter.

Shira felt a bit of guilt.  She hated the feeling of guilt, but had so much of it.  She wished she would have at least said something to Ivystar before she left.  She sighed.  "Yes,"  Shira responded.  "I should have at least told you I was leaving though."  She paused.  She didn't know what else she could say about that without getting more emotional than she wanted to be, so she didn't say anything more about that.

Instead, she decided that changing the subject would be the best way to deal with that.  "So... How are my sisters?  And how is Riverclan in general?  And how are you?"

"To each their own," Ivystar muttered softly. At the mention of her sisters, Ivystar's brow furrowed. "Cloudpaw... Ceres, whatever you remember her as, died." Her statement was blunt and there was not a single detectable emotion within her voice. She was going to add more, elaborate, but she felt her heart sink to her chest as her voice caught in her throat, the words never parting her lips. After a moment of bitter silence, she cleared her throat and continued. "Mirae is not in the Clan. I am not sure where she is." The leader's emerald eyes lingered on the invisible border for a moment before lifting it to meet Shira's. Her gaze was a hard one, unforgiving and not the least bit kind. In the depths, though, there was still a longing for her daughter to return to her- but she kept that part hidden.

Shira dug her claws in the ground in an attempt to stop any emotions that she might have shown at the mention of her sister's death.  "She's... dead?"  She choked out the question, almost hoping it was a horrible joke.  Despite her best efforts, a slight bit of sadness and anger could be easily detected in her voice.  Her whole body shivered, even though she was not at all cold.  

"How?"  This was the only other word she felt she was able to say.  Any good last connections she had to the missing kits seemed to be no more.  Her breath was heavy, but a tear never fell.  Well, at least, not right then.

Ivystar nodded, ears flattening against her skull. ”Killed by a dog.” She muttered simply, a hint of disgust detectable on the tip of her tongue. She wanted to bluet out some insultingly low blow, to blame the death of their family member entirely on her. If you’d stayed, maybe this wouldn’t have happened. Ah, but you’re a coward at heart anyway, nothing you would’ve done might have saved her. Her tail tip twitched in annoyance, the voice in her head whispering little nothings about how she hadn’t done much of anything to save Ceres, either. But throughout all of that, she kept her mouth shut. No need to further the tension between them.

Shira's jaw clenched.  She stared, no movement besides blinking eyes and shallow breaths.  Her claws dug deep into the ground.  If another cat walked by they could think she was a statue.  "Dogs" was an unsatisfactory answer for the impulsive she-cat.  She wanted it to be another cat.  She wanted it to be a specific living thing at least so she could have revenge.  But she would never be able to tell which dog it was, even if she tried.  "After everything that happened," she finally said.  "One of those beasts was the one that killed Ceres?"  She thought, maybe if you cared more about us you would have bothered to try to protect her.  Dark Forest, even if you just have told me sooner, that would be so much better then what you decided to do.

"Yes." Ivystar mewed simply. She tried to restrict any emotion from leaking into her voice, whether it be anger, depression, or any of the other varieties of emotions running through her head at that moment. The only sign of any emotion was her whiskers twitching in annoyance, but she doubted Shira could see that from where she stood. "You were with kits when you left. How are they?" Though Ivystar was irritated with Shira, she knew that in order to maintain some semblance of a sense of peace, she'd need to keep the conversation going. Besides... It wouldn't hurt to know how her grandkits were doing.

It was impossible.  It seemed impossible.  They survived the Asylum together.  They fought those that once took care of them and they won.  So, how could it be possible?  How could the time when her sister truly got to live that happily ever after in her mind, the same time that she died?  It was not right.  It could not be.

Shira tried to pull herself together as much as she could to answer Ivystar.  She cleared her throat and nodded.  "I had four kits," she told her mother.  "My son, Wedshadow, is still alive."  Her tone was unreadable now.  "He's doing well.  Probably just sad because of his father's passing."  Her eye narrowed when she said the last bit.  But you probably like that your grandkit's father is dead now, don't you?  Then she relaxed.  Getting in a fight was useless at this point.