Dawn's Rays [PLOT]

The sun peaked over the trees, casting warm golden rays over the border, where death-cold tendrils of mists wove between the trunks like ghosts. Night's lingering chill hung in the dawn air, frosting Elea's breath and biting her through her downy white fur, yet the morning held a certain beauty. She sat perched on a flat boulder between the ancient pine that gave the area its name. Thousands of battles had been fought here over the ages, passing back and forth between the two Clans countless times. So much blood had been spilled here, so many cats had breathed their last in the sight of this pine. Elea could feel it.

Crisp fresh air, tinged with the smell of pine needles and fresh prey... with the subtle hint of ShadowClan warriors. She stared forward, watching, waiting.

And at her paws, a dead rabbit.

OOC: any Shadowclan warriors are welcome to join... if you even look at this topic.

In Thrushstar's head, it didn't even feel like a whole lot of time had gone by. It was just long enough for him to gather Ebonyleaf, Cormorantpelt and a few warriors to come with him to meet with the strange she-cat from Skyclan. Yet, it had gone from moonhigh to the sun rising through the trees. Keeping a tall stature, the Shadowclan leader padded towards the Shadowclan/Skyclan border, taking a couple of quickly glances behind him to make sure that everyone was still together before they made it to the rendezvous point. When they finally arrived, it didn't take long for Thrushstar to smell the awkward Skyclan/rogue scent that now covered the rocky terrain, and almost immediately, his eyes set on Elea. Leading his group towards her, he stared at her. "I have brought all that I feel need to hear your message. Now what is it that you have to say?" he said, jumping right into it. He wanted to get this over with. No beating around the bush for him.

A medicine cat of some sorts? Now what could that have meant? What type of rogue could "sort of" be a medicine cat. If this cat was from SkyClan, then Ebonyleaf had already met those akin to her, and she couldn't think of anything of the same sort of nature otherwise. With a flick of her tail, she padded in closely behind Thrushstar, sticking close to him and looking at this pure-white she-cat anxiously. The first thing she noticed, really noticed, was this stranger's eyes - a bright amber like the fiercest fire, much like the one that haunted her dreams. It sent shivers down her spine.

Badgerpaw followed closely behind Thrushstar. Who was this cat he spoke of? Badgerpaw tried to see above the group of cats that Thrushstar had brought with him. Once he saw the she-cat, his claws unsheathed. There was something about this cat that made him stay on-guard. He moved back a little...even though the group of cats outnumbered the stranger. He waited, eager to hear what the white cat had to say.

Scorchclaw stood slightly behind and next to Thrushstar. What's going on? He thought to himself as he stared coldly at Elea. The large dark grey tom slid his gleaming white claws out and in again, waiting in anticipation of what the white cat had to say.

Elea kept her gaze level as the ShadowClan warriors emerged from the undergrowth and trees. "You're a very direct tom, Thrushstar." She inclined her head in greeting to the medicine cat and the rest of the patrol. "It is a pleasure to meet you all face to face, finally. I've seen each of you in dreams and visions, but to meet you personally is a privilege. You were wise to come here to hear my words, Thrushstar. Haughty fools who think blood and tradition is everything would simply dismiss me as a rogue and drive me off. But not you." The priestess flicked her tail, watching and letting her words sink in, before continuing. "I've come to you with an offer. Every night I see each of you. Glory and legend will be ShadowClan's, if only you take that first pawstep and take it."

She gently prodded the dead rabbit forward. It'd been freshly killed, but there was not a scratch nor a drop of blood on it. "Ebonyleaf. Can you tell me what this is?"

The brute Scorchclaw stared down at the clean, dead rabbit at Elea's paws. He growled and turned his attention to Ebonyleaf, but he kept glancing back at the rogue in case she tried to pull a sly trick.

Every night she saw Shadowclan? That was a little too strange. Everything about it. Even the dead rabbit at her feet that didn't even seem to be touched and yet, it was dead at her feet. He couldn't help but feel uncomfortable, but before he said anything, he turned to see what Ebonyleaf had to say. She was the medicine cat after all, and he felt that she would possibly have more to say in this situation than any other seeming how Elea called herself some kind of medicine cat herself.

The medicine cat said nothing, still staying silent, wondering who this stranger was. How had she seen them in her dreams? Of what importance could they be to a rogue of SkyClan? When Elea had put the rabbit forward, she gave her father a look of uncertainty. At first, it looked like nothing more than a simple piece of prey. Was this a trick?

As Thrushstar looked at her expectantly, the medicine cat felt compelled to step forward and get a closer look before she gave her answer. The creature was still, but large, and she wondered if all rabbits were that size - how could WindClan not be as well as RiverClan. There were other things, though. It seemed freshly killed, and yet the creature didn't look frightened, like it hadn't fought against tooth and claw for its life. It's fur was neat and she could find no scent of blood, but she could scent no sickness either. She was no expert on prey, but StarClan, it was strange.

"It's death." she muttered back finally, "But I don't understand how it..."

The answer seemed to satisfy Elea, but she still probed. "Medicine cats are well acquainted with death," she went on, moving a paw over the soft brown fur. "How would you propose this rabbit met its fate? There are no scratches or cuts, the body is intact, there's no smell of sickness... it was too young to have died of natural causes, but it's too plump to have starved. Crowfood poisoning would have taken days, and the body would have deteriorated. By the time it would have closed its eyes for good, it would have already been crawling with flies." She turned the corpse over to give the ShadowClan patrol another look. "By rights it should have at least lived to see dawn, no? But death came for it anyways. How? Why?" Elea sounded like a mentor as she spoke. "A medicine cat is not only a healer, but a messenger as well.  To see heaven's signs you must look beyond the mundane."

She pawed it forward again, practically into Ebonyleaf's paws. "The prey is still fresh and safe to eat. Have any of you ever eaten a rabbit?" The priestess flicked her whiskers and raised her eyes to look at them all, quizzically tilting her head. "I know in your marsh that you do not get such luxuries. Even in the forest, they are rare and coveted. You could feed an entire den of your Clanmates with one if you needed, and their meat is richer and fatter than other rodents."

It felt like Elea's gaze could pierce through fur and skin, but there was something else chilling about it too. Maybe it was something to do with how she never seemed to blink, or how her eyes seemed to glow like an owl's ― wide, vacant, but burning with a fiery blaze that seemed to absorb the morning sunlight that filtered through the trees. "Have a taste, if you wish. The rabbit died here on your side of the border, it is only right that it should go to your Clan. Or feed it to your kits and elders, if you would prefer. I'm sure they would appreciate such a rare gift, especially after your Clan's hardships."

Thrushstar really didn't know how to feel about the rabbit. Sure, it was a lot larger than most of the prey they usually ate, but he didn't want to risk it. Not since the rabbit just seemingly died for no reason. There had to be something behind it. It couldn't have just died out of the blue like that, but he couldn't find anything wrong with it. It must have gotten hold of death berries or something. And it didn't help that it was Elea that offered the prey. He just could not find it in him to trust her. "Thank you for such a gift, but that is not what we are here for. You have a message. What is it that you are wanting to say?"

Ebonyleaf's eyes widened, taken aback by this she-cat's lecturing. "I- I don't know, I -" Her eyes trailed back down to the rabbit, narrowing and staring at the creature, as if she looked hard enough, the answer would simply appear before her eyes. She was a good medicine cat, wasn't she? The calico knew very well that her duty was to be that more of a healer, and she'd always tried her best in everything expected of her, certainly not needing this stranger to tell her that. She'd always thought she could see StarClan's signs - and always thought she served them well enough. But was she not good enough? Is there something she was seriously missing?

The thought of her missing something, some vital message from their ancestors, truly scared her. "They're rare in the forest, but not in the moor..." Ebonyleaf muttered. If it was found on their territory, it could've easily crept across the Thunderpath from their land. "Not from WindClan, right?" She twisted her head back at Thrushstar, giving him a questioning look before flicking her gaze back at Elea. As stubborn as she wanted to appear, for her clan's sake, her eyes were pleading. "You know what it means, don't you?" she asked.

"You have a very talented medicine cat, Thrushstar," Elea mewed, inclining her head. "And so young, too. You are lucky to have her." She stood up. Her eyes glinted when they caught the sunlight, and her fur seemed to glow. "When prey dies, crows flock to feast on its corpse. Death comes to WindClan, and ShadowClan can take the spoils." The priestess gestured around with her tail. "You want this land, as Sagestar and Nightstar wanted this land. Falconstar wants it too. He might even offer you some of it if you join him, but you'd be fools to trust him. Once Sagestar brokered an agreement to split the territory between the two Clans, but what happened once Falconstar found a different, more agreeable ally, with a quicker route into SkyClan's territory? He drove you all out and took it for himself. WindClan does not love you, and they already have a powerful friend with ThunderClan. Once you serve his purpose, why should he let you have half of SkyClan? You would be left friendless and outnumbered."

Elea leaned forward. "Dewstar and Falconstar want to drive Silentstar out as they once drove Nightstar out. Your interests with SkyClan are aligned. Invade WindClan, and your Clanmates will never starve again. Even Reedstar might come to peace with you if you join him against his enemies. It is not in his nature to forgive or forget, but he doesn't know what to think of you. Not yet." She flicked her whiskers. "He was once a close friend of your father. There was a time when he hunted for ShadowClan elders, comforted ShadowClan kits, and shared his den with ShadowClan warriors. He even saved the lives of two ShadowClan kits once, although he never talks about that. Join him and the enmity between your two Clans will be put to rest. Join Silentstar and the forest will be yours. Join ThunderClan and WindClan and you will be crushed underpaw, by one Clan or another. The choice is yours."

OOC: Holy monologue, Batman.

OOC: sorry I've kinda taken over this topic. Anyone who started in this topic, please feel free to post ;u;

OOC: If I knew that Thrush knew that Reed killed Ginger, I probably would've avoided mentioning him at all. Woops.

Also sorry that everything I post is a Great Wall of Dialogue. That's a bad habit I need to kick.