Beneath the Waves [Bearspirit]

The tense gathering had come and gone, and it was a few days later that once more Swiftspirit's restless sleep had her slipping away from camp. The gathering had been worrying, and in more ways than one. Dawnhawk was a wanted cat, of course, and Riverclan had looked nearly as tense as Skyclan had at the gathering. Bearspirit worried her most, though. He was... a friend. And Swiftspirit didn't like seeing her friends in such distress. Something about it made her claws itch, though logically she knew there was nothing to fight.

As habit dictated, her pawsteps led her towards fourtrees. Outside of gatherings, it was usually deserted, but she thought she might find the marbled tom here, if she was going to find him anywhere. Was it really chance that they kept running into each other in the same places? Maybe, maybe not. All Swiftspirit knew was that she considered him a friend, and she certainly didn't mind his company.

Swiftspirit paused at the edge of the hollow scenting for other cats. Other clan scents had grown stale since the gathering, but the familiar scent of Riverclan was fresh. She spotted the white and marbled tabby tom, and Swiftspirit padded forward with a friendly wave of her tail.

"Hey, Bearspirit." She affectionately nudged his shoulder, a purr rumbling in her throat at seeing him. He was a friend, nothing more. There was nothing wrong with greeting a friend with such affection... Right?

Bearspirit was finally looking less like a gawky teenager and more like a an actual adult tom. His legs had thickened up a bit and his shoulders had filled in more and became firm rather than just there for necessary bodily structure. His paws and ears didn't look quite so big on him anymore either, though they still looked just a bit off, a tell-tale sign that this already large tom wasn't done growing yet. Making his way to Fourtrees had been easy, especially with the presence of twolegs and dogs motivating him to be wary of his own territory.

He walked straight to the center and sat, waiting for a certain she-cat to come find him. Almost like clock-work, she had appeared and for the first time in the last several weeks, a smile appeared on the Riverclan tom's face.

"Hi Swiftspirit." He mewed back. The nudge on the shoulder caught him off guard a bit, but it wasn't unwelcome. He gently leaned forward and butted his head against hers. It was a friendly greeting and nothing more.

"I'm sorry I wasn't very talkative at the gathering. I've got a lot on my mind." There wasn't much he could add to that that Swiftspirit didn't already know. Dogs were more than just a predator to him. A predator he understood, being one himself, but a dog was a creature that killed for sport. They were evil, and that evil had come to his home once again threatening his family.

"Oh, don't worry about it." Swiftspirit shrugged, returning Bearspirit's smile. "I hated how tense that gathering was." She added with a huff. If Skyclan didn't know about Dawnhawk by now, she'd be very surprised. It had certainly seemed that way with how the medicine cat had been acting, and the deputy after they'd spoken.

"How've you been?" Not great, if his words were any indication. She sighed, pulling back to sit, tail wrapping around her paws, "We can see them sometimes from the gorge... Hopefully whatever it is those twolegs are doing ends soon." And hopefully it didn't spread to the other territories. Riverclan couldn't have been enjoying their presence at all, dogs were enough of a threat on their own without twolegs fumbling around the territory as well.

Bearspirit looked to the side and his ears flattened out on either side of his head. "I've definitely been better. I really... really hate dogs. Twolegs are alright most of the time, but I've never met a friendly dog." He still hadn't told anyone, not even Ivystar, why dogs bothered him so much. He had a feeling they would all find out at some point. Bearspirit was good at keeping things to himself, but dogs had a way of bringing out the worst in him. Eventually it would be time to tell everyone why he had showed up at the Riverclan border covered in blood.

"And Windclan? What's going to happen with you?" He noticed Ivystar had stayed behind to speak with Lilacstar. He wondered if Riverclan was about to get dragged into the tensions between them and Skyclan. Being an outsider at his roots, Bearspirit wasn't sure how he felt about it. Skyclan hadn't done anything to him personally... but he did want to keep Swiftspirit safe. Was it right though? Her clan had protected someone they shouldn't have... and exactly the cat that Bearspirit had wanted to speak with on an individual level.

"Nobody sane likes dogs. I know I wouldn't want to be caught alone by one." Fighting the one that had found them here last time with that Shadowclanner had been enough. Judging by Bearspirit's reaction to it, there was some sort of history there, but it simply wasn't Swiftspirit's place to pry. He'd tell her if he was comfortable doing so.

He asked about Windclan, and Swiftspirit shrugged. "I don't know, things are... Tense. A lot of the clan seems happy to be rid of him, but I get the feeling Skyclan might not care if he's left or not. We sheltered him, and even after he told us what he'd done he was allowed to stay." Skyclan seemed like the vengeful sort to Swiftspirit, but could anyone really blame them when Dawnhawk had betrayed them and killed their warriors?