must be a fever dream[c]

Spottedstar's steps were heavy, his paws meeting the hard, cracked earth with much more weight than usual. The sun beat down on his back relentlessly. In his mouth he carried a mossball soaked in water from the river. The leader had gone to the border to personally fetch water for his brother; Sagelight needed rest and care even if he wasn't physically sick or injured. Spottedstar would make sure he got everything he needed. So he trudged along through the dry territory on his way back, eyes half-lidded and thoughts completely blank. The heat that clung to every part of him weighed down his body and mind, rendering his senses dull. Soon he would be home. Soon he could splay out in the shade of the Tallbranch and nap away the heat of the day. Soon...

The same thick coat that protected him from blows in battle and helped him to blend in with muddled undergrowth now cursed the loner to soak up the overwhelming heat. Iniko became resigned to slink further into the shadows, retreating into the shade more as a means of cooling than of staying hidden. It was here he caught sight of the pale ginger tom. Now doubt this was another Skyclan cat, one who likely shared allegiances with Bloodstrike. However, and understandably so, this particular tom seemed void of the passion and drive his clanmate had possessed in the day prior. Intricate patterns marked his russet coat, accented by moons of scars. This strange tom held experience. Maybe it was such circumstances that caused his shoulders to slump forward. It only took a moment to decide that the lone patrol would make for a good encounter. There were stories of trials that could be shared between them.

Slipping from the lower branches of the trees, Iniko emerged from the fringes of Spottedstar's gaze. In his usual manner, the loner settled back on his haunches and lowered his head in a greeting. He expected to be attacked, he always did, but there was always the off chance that this tom might allow him a moment of easy conversation. After dipping his head, he glanced up and traced his burning green eyes over the pelt of the other tom, "My name is Iniko. I only ask for a moment of your time... if you'll have me."

The leader pounced in an instant, moving faster than even he expected in the overbearing heat. The mossball had slipped from his jaws and splattered against the ground, completely forgotten in favor of teaching this unknown cat not to step foot on his territory. The stranger even had the gall to introduce himself as if he didn't know it was wrong to be there. The pair of toms rolled a short distance before Spottedstar grappled his way to the top, snarling in the striped tortoiseshell's face with rage dancing in his dull amber eyes. Then he pulled back, his aggressive expression dropping swiftly from his face and replaced with the drooping, tired expression of exhaustion. Water from his chin dripped onto the pinned cat's face as he stared emptily at the cat caught in his claws. Although the tackle was swift, it had expended quite a bit of Spottedstar's energy. He was quickly rethinking even bothering with this tom - Iniko - perhaps the first time in his life that he considered chasing away a rogue to be too much work.

The SkyClan leader rolled off with a wordless snort, apparently no longer interested in his momentary captive. He turned instead to the wet mossball which was now more like a wet moss pile and began to scoop it back into a semi-circular shape; muddy water and torn moss wouldn't be of much use to the medicine cat. But it was resisting his efforts to reshape it, and he gave up on the matter entirely because of the frustration that pricked at him as angrily as the hot air. "You're on my land, Iniko. If you want a moment, then have it. But you better gone soon after." Spottedstar growled lowly, picking at the moss pile with a claw and not giving the long-furred tom a second glance. Why should he chase him off so quickly, anyway? There was no chance Iniko would be able to steal prey that was no longer there. On top of that, the leader didn't feel very motivated to uphold a law that could be broken without much consequence. WindClan welcomed cats like this stranger all day every day, and yet they were still standing, weren't they? StarClan wouldn't have the right to care if Spottedstar let Iniko stand there for a moment longer before sending him away.

Although he had expected retaliation from a tom with evident experience like this Skyclanner, the swift movement was impressive. Iniko was tossed back and the pair rolled through the dust together. When they stopped, Spottedstar had him pressed to the ground. Being pinned in such a way reminded him of the previous encounter with Bloodstrike. He peered up into the amber gaze. Being so close to another cat seemed to make it all that hotter. It would have been nicer if he'd been tackled into the shade at least. This thought drifted from his mind as he studied the maw above him. The ginger warrior's face had twisted with a trained aggression before falling away into a weary exhaustion. There was a twitch of whiskers as Iniko recognized the feeling.

A moment after, his attacker rolled away. Iniko slowly got to his paws and shook out his pelt. While Spottedstar tried to scrape together the remains of the moss ball, the loner casually set to work grooming away some of the scraps that clung to his long calico coat. The hostile growl made him glance up to meet the other tom's gaze. It had been bound to happen that he would cross paths with a cat whose claws were sharp with the will to to fight. But he hadn't been sent away quite yet. For this he offered a grateful dip of the head, "I won't do anything to harm you or you clan, you have my word. I'm simply a wanderer. And it's been a long time since I've had a companion. Tell me, what troubles you, my friend?" The words rolled off his tongue smooth as a vole's underbelly. There was a genuine concern in his eyes. This tom carried a weight heavier than that of the others he had met in this forest. Besides, creating a friendship was always the path to something greater.

"I'm not your friend." Spottedstar had wanted to spit venom, to snarl with the fury of a wildfire, at the implication of some stranger talking to him like they were familiar. Instead, it came out as a simple, matter-of-fact meow that matched his unenthusiastic body language. 'I'm not anybody's friend.' Though he longed to throw a pitiful tantrum and wail his sorrows to the sky, the cream tom knew that that statement was false and that the heat was making him gloomy; and even though Honeysong's disappearance still stung, he'd mourned too many lost cats before her to let it influence him as badly as it used to. And speaking with Mossbloom had helped more than he expected. "I'm Spottedstar and you couldn't harm me if you wanted to." He looked back at Iniko, an easy smirk sliding onto his face. An old smirk. A shadow of his warriorhood, calm and confident and lively. "My problems are too big to be solved by talking." Spottedstar's smile slid off his face quickly, and he approached Iniko steadily, stopping a tail length away. "I'd rather know about you and why you're here. You... take being attacked very well. Aren't you scared of the forest cats?" He meowed, his shredded ear twitching. He had to admit, even reluctantly, that Iniko's bravery was as intriguing as his dappled pelt and intelligent eyes. He'd only known loners and kittypets to be cowards. Or maybe it was that the heat stopped Iniko from running just as much as it had stopped the leader from bleeding him dry. Still, the stranger bore scars. It was likely he'd seen conflict often enough before to be used to sudden fights.

At the reply, Iniko offered the tom a shrug. He was interestingly melodramatic underneath his exhausted state. But as the conversation continued, the loner noticed a hint of fire vividly highlighting the words that fell from Spottedstar's maw. This all drew another flicker of a grin across his maw. Intense eyes continued to analyze the scars, the missing ear, the unique pelt. What a strange and wonderful creature each of these clans cats were. It took a moment before the other cat began to approach again and close the distance. However, there was no mounting attack in his physical language yet. Iniko flicked an ear. There was a calculating intent behind the words; of course, this tom wanted to know who he was and why he was here. But he was pressing for more than a simplistic truth. After a beat, the calico finally replied, "I'm not scared of any cats, Spottedstar. Fear repressed skill. I've fought many cats in my travels, learned to handle various types of combat. I simply seek to learn as much as I can in this fleeting life. It's brought me to your clans. Truly, an interesting prospect. For as far as my paws have gone, farther than you might ever imagine, I have never seen anything like your forest." There was a flick of his tail as the words dripped like honey from his tongue. His gaze drifted across the rocky forest terrain before settling back on Spottedstar. A brief moment passed where he considered offering more but instead he waited for the response from the clan tom.

Spottedstar's interest grew sharply with Iniko's reply, his head cocking slightly to the side. He'd revealed his identity to the loner and received absolutely no response that indicated recognition. 'Of course not. Why would a random wanderer know me?' He couldn't even be sure that Iniko knew that his name denoted his position as SkyClan's leader; perhaps it was something he simply hadn't learned, or if he did know, then he didn't care. That was incredibly intriguing to the spotted tomcat who was known throughout the forest that the stranger praised. "Yes, my forest is a very special place, isn't it?" He meowed, his curiosity piqued in many different directions. As far as he was aware, Iniko had no clue who he was; he'd never heard the rumors of Spottedstar's callousness or supposed cowardice, nor did he have any connection at all to the murder of ShadowClan's deputy and the bloody war that followed. To finally find someone who looked at him like he was just another cat and nothing more was soothing beyond anything he'd ever felt before. For once, Spottedstar was a person instead of a figure, good or bad. Outsiders' opinions never mattered, but for Spottedstar in this moment, Iniko's ignorance was the most important realization in recent moons. Someone was capable of seeing him and not his mistakes. "I left it once. A big flood washed us all away several seasons ago. I spent a very, very long time in the mountains and I missed the forest more than anything or anyone since. I still remember the day I came home... my family had changed. My mother had had another litter while I was gone. But the forest was still the same." A soft smile curled his lip as he glanced at the trees around him. They had browned a little bit, and the patchy grass was as brittle as ice, but it was familiar and it was home.

Spottedstar's gaze travelled back to the wet moss pile. The dry heat was scorching and he was reminded of his thirst when he saw the darkened earth around it. He flicked his long tail towards the moss with a look back at Iniko. "I have some water with me. You're welcome to it, but I want to hear about some places you've been to as a trade, if you don't mind." Nothing like his forest? What else could there be out there other than forest and mountains? A season ago, sharing water with a trespasser would have disgusted the aggressive leader, but now he wanted to keep talking and hearing about far away places. He'd dreamed of being on his own like Iniko, but often only as an escape from his responsibilities and pains. Hearing about real adventures would be better than dreaming up his own. Spottedstar crouched, neatly tucking his paws beneath his body, and ducked to lap up some water from the moss. He was more relaxed and unguarded now than he had been in a very long time.

My forest. Iniko hardly flinched at the sentiment but noted it with a flicker of his tail. It's feathery nature was a rhythmic arc of silken tendrils of fur. The next moments his new acquaintance wove the tale of a great flood. That was something that his companion had failed to compile into history. As his gaze flickered the the sun-dappled trees, Iniko found himself in awe that despite being swept away the legacy of these forests had managed to keep such a claw tight grasp over the lands. There was certainly was quite the impressive history to the clans. As his roots demanded, the tom longed to know it all and hear more of what had happened underneath these twisting tree tops. Prying green eyes retreated to studying Spottedstar once more. The offer of water was too tempting to pass up. A sly smile was offered to the leader and followed by the dip of a head. With that, Iniko drew closer.

He dipped his head to lap gently at the moss ball, quickly being sapped of its life. Satisfied, the grit of his tongue wet like rough stone after rainfall, the calico pulled back to settle on his haunches once again. With another flicker of the tail, Spottedstar was invited forward to finish the precious droplets of water that clung to the tendrils of dying foliage. His head tilted back, the white of his coat glowing underneath the golden highlights. Even in such a dry and parched forest, the beauty of the beating sun could not be denied. The tom considered this for a moment as he met Spottedstar's eyes once more, "Things changing is the nature of life. And yet, your paws still walk the same forest floor as before. I imagine my paws would begin to move of their own accord if I ever tried such a thing." There was a nearly invisible twitching of whiskers at the light jest.

Under the guise of his clenched maw, Inik ran his tongue across the inside of his teeth as he pondered what stories could be shared. Finally, he settled on one of the more unique, "I've seen various cities filled with upwalkers, countless stony hills, void of the grass that speckles your lands, and most interesting of all, cats from many places. There are garden dwelling cats who live only among the flowers. But perhaps the most unique I've found were an encampment of cats who would only eat berries and bugs. They were the most peculiar sort, as thin as twigs. Except the kittypet who often found himself in their company." He laughed, remembering them, and for a fleeting moment indulging himself in the reminder of how purely strange they were. There had been a unique spirit to those other cats but physical strength was missing from their bones. How a cat could live like that, he would never understand.