kindred spirits [c]

It had been some time since Thalia spent time with some of her clanmates- let alone the ones she thought she ought to know the best. She enjoyed Rookfire's company, had enjoyed it since she was a timid refugee in ShadowClan's camp who only ventured out to search for flowers and he was the clan's medicine cat, to whom she delivered the herbs she'd found. She still enjoyed it now that they were both warriors in their own right, though she realized she hadn't really sought him out as of late. There wasn't a reason- things had just kept happening, one after another.

But she didn't want to neglect her friendships if she could help it, and she had time now.

"Rookfire," she greeted pleasantly. "I don't suppose I could convince you to spar with me?"

She felt odd making such a request of any of her clanmates, and like it was a risk. But it felt like less of one with Rookfire, who had also trained under the Asylum. It wasn't the same- he had still been ShadowClan, had still been a healer- but it was closer to understanding than the rest of their remaining clanmates.

There wasn't much actual risk of harm, beyond her own fear of it. Flintshard had taught her to fight honorably, after all. She wasn't a danger to the cats around her any longer, even if she still didn't care much for battle.

Rookfire smiled when Thalia approached him in ShadowClan's camp. He hadn't been doing much tonight, besides pace around to alleviate any symptoms of boredom. When he wasn't patrolling, or helping around the clan, or talking with other cats, he felt antsy. "Hey, Thalia!" As Thalia asked if he wanted to spar, the black tuxedo's grin grew even wider. "I'd love to spar!" he said. "I haven't been on any patrols tonight, so I still got a ton of energy."

He still remembered the time when Thalia gathered herbs, since she couldn't hunt and wouldn't fight at the time. As time passed, she became a better hunter, but she still helped out with herb gathering every now and then. And when she stopped by, when it was to ask about whether she could use certain flowers for her flower crowns or something else, the black tuxedo enjoyed talking to her.

He should talk to her more often.

"Where do ya wanna spar?" the black tuxedo asked. "I was thinking the Pine Grove would be best. It's a little far away, but it would probably be less muddy than the rest of the territory, so we'd be on even footing for a fair spar." After all, Rookfire didn't exactly want an unfair spar. He'd feel guilty if he had the advantage, and he'd feel upset if his opponent had one. "Anyways, what do you think?"

Thalia let out a breath she hadn't realized she was holding with Rookfire accepted her offer. "I don't really have any preference for where, but that sounds like a perfect place," she answered. "Though mud isn't necessarily an issue- I spend as much time in the marsh as any cat. That said, a drier place is probably safer..."

Her thoughts trailed off into silence, mostly thoughts centered on the flood that had recently devastated ShadowClan, before she shook her head. "Right. Let's go, shall we? Lead the way, Rookfire!"

Rookfire nodded, grinning at Thalia. "Okay, let's go!" he said, leading her to the Pine Grove.

As the two of them were walking, Rookfire decided to make some small talk with Thalia. "So, how's life in ShadowClan going?" he asked. "I haven't talked with ya since you were gatherin' herbs for me when I was ShadowClan's meddie." It seemed like she was alright with fighting now, though it was still strange to see her ask him for a spar. Perhaps she knew that he liked to spar, but she didn't seem confident that it would work, so he wasn't that sure. Still, she seemed to at least felt comfortable with sparring while knowing she wouldn't hurt someone by accident, which was great.

As they arrived at the Highpine, Rookfire smiled at Thalia. "Okay, who's gonna go first with the spar? Me or you?" He wanted to make sure that he didn't catch Thalia off-guard by pouncing at her first, or her catching him off-guard by pouncing at him first. Again, he wanted a fair fight.