Deception; Disgrace [Closed]

There was nothing to dissuade her something was wrong, yet she spoke eloquently enough that she had nothing to commend the she-cat with. Her narrowed green eyes made it abundantly clear that she mistrusted the pair as she backed away, tail flicking with frustration as she stopped baring down on the pair.

"Let me make this clear, the pair of you are on the thinnest ice. If I even hear that your loyalties are under suspicion again, I will turn you out to go beg that foxheart across the river that you seem to adore for a place in her clan. Jaystream, these two are to remain in camp until the frost clears and the last dredges of Leafbare fades from the earth." Ivystar commanded to her son and deputy, before turning to Viperstorm and Minnowslip. "You did admirably keeping our hostage, though am I correct in hearing Lionspark made the choice to stay? That was wise of you, short of ThunderClan killing one of our own, you will find your stay here pleasant. You will remain in camp from now on, a short walk around camp is permitted. Now, go have your wounds tended, all four of you."

With that clear dismissal, she padded back to her previous task of repairing the nursery.

Sweetheart bowed her head respectfully at Sweetheart's decree. To be honest, she wasn't too upset about this punishment. After all, she had her kits to care for. Though, that did mean Scorchpaw's training would falter. She would have to request a temporary mentor for him later.

Nutfur nodded at Ivystar's punishment, though she wondered why that specific punishment. It wasn't that she was upset, heck, anything less than a exile was pretty good with her, but she didn't understand it. If her lie had worked, no punishment would be needed. If it had failed, she had no doubt that Sweetheart and her would both be exiled. It was most likely the leader had no idea whether she was telling the truth or not, so had a compromise. It wasn't ideal, definitely, but she could work around it. Head lowering submissively, she walked towards the medicine den. There were a few scratches on her from the fight with the ThunderClan warrior in the cavern, and she hoped that her bruises would pass off as being injuries from the rogue. Maybe she had bitten off more than she could chew, but things weren't looking too bad. Then she remembered Cobwebkit. Okay, so he was three moons old now, and could chew his own food. But it wasn't a question if whether or not he needed extra warmth during the night. There wasn't an easy way to tell Hollowbranch, so that wasn't a possibility. Only Finchstream was left. She was able to leave camp now, and she had offered to help whenever needed. Even though she hated to put her best friend in danger, it had to be done. It wasn't her turn last night, so she had all day to ask. It could be done.

The Riverclan deputy nodded at Ivystar's decision, satisfied with the punishment. Both of them lacked from good proofs to exile them but what was for sure, was that something wasn't right about their loyalties. And what he hated the most was to know that they preferred Thunderclan over Riverclan. Even the Thunderclan warrior was wiser than them.

Before Sweetheart and Nutfur leave the place to heal their wounds, Jaystream glanced at them with narrowed eyes. "I'll keep both of you under constant vigilance and I expect you won't do another suspicious behaviour. You'll no longer be having any other apprentice soon. Scorchpaw will now be under my lead, Sweetheart, so only focus on your punishment and kits. None of you will lay a paw outside this camp until your confinement is over." His words were harsher than usual but that was what happened everytime that Thunderclan was in between. He flicked his tail swiftly in anger and deception before letting them go to the medicine cat.

"I-I understand, Jaystream." Even if she had planned on helping to find a new mentor for Scorchpaw, that didn't make it any easier for Sweetheart to bear the thought that she had just lost her very first apprentice, and now her chances of ever being a mentor again were pretty much nonexistent. She looked up sadly at Scorchpaw, scared of finding any hurt or rage in his expression, or if he just didn't want to look at her at all.

Relief flickered in Lionspark's eyes that the duo of RiverClan cats weren't being punished. She sighed, only for her body to grow tense when Ivystar's gaze shifted toward her. Her tail twitched, simply nodding her head at the leader's statement as she slowly pushed herself up. She didn't say a thing as the silver tom spoke to the two warriors that had lead a part in the failed recuse attempt before letting them leave. She cleared her throat as she took a step forward, her ears flat on her head as she nervously shifted on her paws. "J-Jaystream, was it?" she asked, not very familiar with the tom standing before her. She hadn't been to many Gatherings before the whole hostage situation...Mostly due to everything that had been transpiring in her personal life and then her killing of Bramblefrost...She shook her head, turning her mind away from that. "W-Where am I to stay? I'm not...Familiar with your camp of course and I don't want to be in anybody's way if I am to stay here until I am due to be returned to ThunderClan."

The Riverclan deputy turned his head surprised when the Thunderclan she-cat spoke to him. "Y-yes? That's me." He mewed, shocked.

Then, his confusion faded away when the she-cat continued talking. His expression softened. Of course, he still despised Thunderclan for all what they had done. But he wasn't dumb enough to hate ALL Thunderclan. Lionspark was truly an exception. She was exceptional in his eyes despite her origins because she rejected to be rescued for the well-being of her own clan. Wasn't that what he always tried to do as a deputy? "Thank you for your concerns, Lionspark. I think the warrior's den is the best option. It's big enough to allow another warrior and I'm sure that Viperstorm and Minnowslip will welcome you gladly. Don't worry about other warriors harming you. I'll stay close to your new nest as well." At the end of his words, he managed to smile friendly. This she-cat not also saved her clan from another war... she saved his by staying in the camp. Lionspark offered them the chance to have peace the rest of the leaf-bare.  "Come, I'll fetch you some moss and branches for your new nest. If you're hungry, tell Minnowslip, Viperstorm or me and we will get you something. Here, just in all clans, we have the same rules of the amount of food for each cat and I wouldn't like seeing you being accused of stealing our food for a misunderstanding." He purred with a flick of his tail that silently told her to follow him. It was time to prepare her new home here and he had to put her in a good place between him and the other two warriors. A Thunderclan warrior in the Riverclan camp could cause problems if he wasn't careful.

Viperstorm perked up at the mention of her name. Lionspark was going to stay in the warriors den with them? She didn't know how the others would take it but she was happy. The blue gray warrior padded over to the golden she-cat. "Maybe I can teach you how to swim or Fish if you would like. We have areas around camp to do that." She knew that Lionspark had to stick to camp, but maybe in time she would be able to leave.

Lionspark nodded her head sheepishly at Jaystream's words. It should have been obvious that the best place to keep her was the warrior's den - she was a prisoner after all no matter how well they treated her...And even if she was here by her own free will now that she had denied recuse. "Of course, that makes sense," she said softly, blinking as he offered to help collect the materiel for her new nest. It...Was rather surprising how kind RiverClan was being to her. She had been a bit of a hot-head when she had been younger - she remembered fighting with a RiverClan apprentice whens he was a nearly named warrior. She wondered softly if the tom was still alive or if he had passed away in the many moons since that encounter. She had been raised to see the other Clans at enemies but now...She couldn't.

She understood that the Clans would have their fights - it was in their nature - but now she was truly understand how similar each of the Clans were. Simply because they were separate Clans didn't mean that they weren't just all cats trying to survive. The idea of peace seemed all that closer as she realized that there was no strong reason to hate a Clan in particular - only certain cats for their terrible actions. She was snapped out of her thoughts as Jaystream motioned for her to follow, quickly gathering what he had been speaking of when she had zoned out. She nodded her head, about to follow after him when Viperstorm padded up next to her.

Her eyes widen at the offer, her whole body perking up at the honesty of it. "O-Oh, I don't know about that," she said, a nervous flicker in her voice as she started to pad after Jaystream, figuring that Viperstorm would walk with her. "I-I mean I am curious on learning how to swim b-but I don't know how well I could fish. Not with my...Eye being how it is," she added in a low tone, her gaze falling to the ground. She hadn't tried hunting all that much since the Bramblefrost situation but she knew that being half-blind was making all of her tasks as a warrior harder. Perhaps she could learn past it once she gave it an honest shot upon her return to ThunderClan...She gave her head a soft shake, her gaze shifting back to Viperstorm as she tried to give the RiverClan warrior a warm smile. "I mean, you can attempt to teach me but I doubt I'll get the hang of it. My perception isn't what it used to be."