Cinders Ablaze(Cinderpaw's return)(open to tc)

Cinderpaw looked back to the direction she had traveled for a while. She was surprised at even how she managed to find her way back. She shook out her matted pelt disappointed in herself for letting it get that way but she didn't have time to think about it. Her thoughts were of home. Her clan. ,boy she missed her home and couldn't wait to return. She didn't know why she was desperate to return even though nothing within her would let her stay she hated even being near the twolegs. They were always so loud. She flatter her ears against her head as she padded beside the fence of twolegplace. Her paws now leading the she cat in the direction of home but she paused in her tracks deep with the territory. Her eyes widened at the burnt territory."oh no!!!"She mewed panic rising  in her voice her stilled paws moved to a frantic pace as she let her paws lead her to what laid remained of the camp. Blue eyes wide she looked around seeing the ruins before she caught a faint scent of a patrol and tried to follow it but blinked. Pausing her thoughts going to that they might think her an intruder. She groomed her fur quickly.

Leopardclaw, who had decided to go for a walk a short distance from Sunningrocks, opened his mouth to try and pick up any possible prey scents. Even with SkyClan's recent offer of help the now homeless clan had a long way to go before they could settle back down into their old camp; they would need all the prey they could get. Unfortunately, no tantalizing prey trails reached his senses, but he did scent something....odd. Pricking his black-tipped ears, his head swiveled around towards where the sound of padding paws seemed to come from, and the large golden tabby's eyes narrowed. Oh great, just what we need! Another intruder.... Prepared to fight off what probably was only a stray kittypet, he dashed around a patch of ferns that was blocking his view; and stopped dead.

In front of him stood a full-sized gray tabby she-cat, her fur messy and matted but still easily recognizable to the spotted warrior. Cinderpaw, the only surviving kit of his dearly departed mentor, Grasswhisker.

"Cinderpaw!" Leopardclaw dashed forward and gave the now fully grown she-cat a friendly nuzzle, his hazel eyes shining with joy. "W..where have you been? What happened to you?"

The matted fur of the apprentice despite her desperate attempt to clean her fur it did nothing. Her blue eyes widened as she had heard a voice before she forced herself to relax as she seen Leopardpaw she had no idea of him being a warrior but given a moment she would figure it out. Giving a sigh of relief she nuzzled her clanmate back"oh leopardpaw! Or is is it something different now I've been gone so long....it's such a long story...I'm just glad to be home is everyone ok...the camp it was..."She trailed off the camp was in ruins there was just no other thing to say.

Pulling back, Leopardclaw smiled gently as the young she-cat expressed her concerns over the ruined camp, and quickly reassured her.  "Don't worry, everyone is fine.  There was a fire and....well I won't go into all the details now but ThunderClan has taken up temporary residence at Sunningrocks."  There was no need to overwhelm the returning she-cat with all the details of Rockthorn's involvement, she would learn everything in due time anyway.

Sweeping his tail towards where he had come from, the spotted warrior meowed; "Come, let's go let Darkstar know you've returned home."  Taking the lead, he turned his head back with an amused smile and purred; "Oh, and it's Leopardclaw now."

Cinderpaw blinked and nodded"so um how has life been for you?"She mewed purring glad to see someone she knew. She followed quickly after."as far as what happened to me...well twolegs happened...they didn't much like me escaping and had took me in a monster a little ways from the territory but I managed to escape them and make it home I just wish it was sooner"She mewed padding beside Leopardclaw.

Leopardclaw nodded with a grunt, before letting out a low hiss.  "StarClan forsaken Twolegs, think they can do whatever they want!"  Flattening the raised fur on his shoulders, he glanced over and smiled at Cinderpaw; "At least you were able to get away, a lot of cats wouldn't have been so lucky."  At her question about his current life, the golden spotted tom couldn't help the proud purr that rumbled from his throat.  "It's going well!  Lichenfang -Lichenpaw as you remember her- and I had a litter of kits; Reedpaw, Honeypaw, and Cherrykit.  Reedpaw and Honeypaw are training to be a warrior and medicine cat respectively, but Cherrykit has to stay in the nursery for a little longer after an...incident that happened."

She blinked and smiled a purr rumbling in her throat"that is awesome congrats"she mewed smiling she didn't ask about who hurt Cherrykit figuring he didn't want to talk about it. She boarded beside him.

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The leader's head peeked out from under a rock, as the sun was getting far too hot for her dark, thick fur to handle, to scent one of her warriors as well as something unfamiliar. "Leopardclaw, did you find anything?" She pulled herself out into the open and approached the tom. Hopefully he'd been able to find some prey. When she was closer the sight of a strange, young she-cat came into view and she stopped, a tad bit uncertain. Something was a bit off. This cat seemed to give off the vibe of someone she knew, although she couldn't pick up as to why.

A few moments passed until the reason dawned on her. "Cinderpaw?"

Cinderpaw's soft blue eyes looked at Darkstar as she had made her way over. She seen uncertainty in the leaders eyes so She stood still quietly for a moment until she had said her name. "Yes...I..um returned Darkstar...."She mewed looking at the leader. She was about warrior size now but you can just barely tell who she was.

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Leopardclaw purred his thanks to Cinderpaw for her compliment about his family before turning to see Darkstar emerge from the ferns. Blinking happily, the golden spotted warrior nodded and flicked his tail towards the she-cat standing next to him. Letting Cinderpaw speak for herself, he listened with perked ears for what Darkstar would say about the situation. Not that she would get turned away...she's the daughter of two loyal ThunderClan warriors, and StarClan knows we need more warriors like them....

Cinderpaw sat down quietly her matted tail curled around her paws as she looked to Darkstar. She hopes that she wouldn't get turned down she didn't know where else to go.

The leader shook her head to clear it of her obvious surprise. It was a bit difficult to tell as to who the young cat was due to the mats and general dirt covering her grey fur, but her face remained the same. "Where in StarClan have you been?" Darkstar asked softly, her tail level with her spine. "What happened?" Her eyes flicked to Leopardclaw, trying to see if she had already told him something.

The matted furred she cat blinked before she was quietly mewed"well it was sort of a long story"She mewed quietly."I was hunting by twolegplace well I was filling the scent of a mouse when a twoleg had grabbed me shoving me into this things...."She paused shaking her head some"I've actually tried to escape server times and each had fail they had moved farther and farther but I managed to escape one last time and I don't know how but I made it back home"She mewed"or....ehats left of it"She mewed quietly.