New Paws [c]

Not long after being pulled from the Deep Marshes, Darling was brought to "ShadowClan" as promised. She didn't care much for the entrance of thorns or the damp earth, but she absolutely loved the slight darkness that surrounded the camp.

Her hungry little belly found the food immediately, but her fear of what lurked within this place put a paws pause on running towards it and devouring anything she could sink her teeth into.

"Hello...?" She mewed timidly.

Leopardsun stood protectively at Darling's side as they entered the camp. There wasn't fear in her own demeanor, but rather some form of apprehension- Nightstar had said that kits would still be welcome in ShadowClan, provided their parents couldn't be found (or worse); but as far as she was aware, this was the first actual instance of it. "Nightstar!" she called, voice carrying easily over the hollow. "I need to speak with you, if you have a moment- it's urgent! And has anyone seen Echomist tonight...?"

In the meantime, now that she had called on the cats she needed most to speak to, her priority was the kit's well-being. "This is ShadowClan," she said softly. "My home. They might be surprised to see you, Darling- but I won't let anyone give you a hard time."

She wanted to promise that ShadowClan could find the kit's mother. It wasn't that she wasn't confident they could- she would lead the search herself, to verify it personally- but that she was afraid of what they would find.

"Everything will be alright, now," she said instead.

Sablepaw watched silently as the kit entered camp, lead by Leopardsun. Noting the hunger in the kit's eyes, Sablepaw picked a decently plump mouse from the fresh-kill pile before padding over to the two. He gave a quick dip of his head to Leopardsun before turning his full attention to the kit in front of him. It clearly wasn't one of theirs, and by the smell of her he doubted she was from a clan. Sablepaw dropped the mouse in front of her, pushing it forward slightly with a paw. "Eat it." He tried to sound gentle, but wasn't sure if it came off that way.

Nightstar poked his head out from his den, a little groggy as he surveyed the camp to see who called his name. Upon discovering that it was his deputy, Leopardsun calling for him, he shook out his fur, smoothed it down, and then padded towards her. Nightstars mood soured slightly when he saw the kit at her paws, and he was sure that his deputy would not have missed the tone shift, so he continued on before she had any chance to challenge it. "Did you find any sign of its parents, Leopardsun?" He started by asking, his gaze flicking over to the kitten at her paws. He regarded it coolly for a moment, before he spoke again, "We can have a nursing queen take care of it for the time being. If we need to send out a patrol to track down any parents in the vicinity."

Leopardsun didn't miss the shift in Nightstar's demeanor, but turned to Sablepaw. "Be gentle with her, we'll just be a second."

She stepped out of the kit's earshot, gesturing for Nightstar to follow. "I found her alone, trying to hunt in the deep marsh- she was half-drowned when I got to her. She says she has a mother, but I highly doubt any queen would let a kit so young out of her sight, and certainly not in a dangerous place. I'd lead the search party myself, but I'm fairly certain I already know what we'll find- and she trusts me."

ShadowClan's deputy sighed. "I hope I'm wrong. Truly, I do- for her own sake. But until her mother is found, she will be my charge; and if I'm right- so long as Echomist agrees- she will remain so. As it is, I plan on staying with her while the search patrol goes out."

With that, Leopardsun returned to the kit's side; resolving to remain there.

"I'll send a search party out then. I'll allow you to take care of this kitten, as long as it doesn't pull you away from your duties as a deputy." Nightstar huffed, he wasn't going to try to deter any cat from parenthood, but he just didn't personally see the appeal, especially when there were other cats to take care of it. Sighing heavily, the tom split from his deputy and to the warriors den to send some cats out on a search mission.

Echomist was pulled from his nap in the warriors' den hearing his mates voice and his leader's with a mix of others in between. As he pulled himself from the nest, he didn't even bother to shake the loose moss from his pelt. Green eyes focused on finding his mate. As he approached her in the clearing of the camp he paused.. A kit? His gaze looked around the camp for a moment before settling back on Leopardsun. The spotted tom approached quietly. "What's going on?"

Snowfoot had been watching quietly from the sidelines, and Nightstar’s reaction did not escape her. Tail twitching, Snowfoot padded over to Leopardsun. “I trust you, and I’m proud of your decision,” she said. Then she lowered her voice to a whisper. “Don’t worry too much about Nightstar. If he ever treats her any differently than any other kit, he’ll have her great-aunt to answer to.” Snowfoot smiled, but she was only half-joking. Her confidence in her leader had been shaken. She could see now that he didn’t want to take in kits either, and did so only to avoid codebreaking.

Darling watch as a younger cat dropped a plump mouse in front of her. Her mouth immediately watered and she leaned in to take a bite out of it, only to pause with mouth around the meal as the meanest looking cat she had ever seen padded towards her and Leopardsun. It was for a brief moment that the she-cat left her with Sablepaw who she lowered her head politely at, too shy to say thank you for the delicious meal.

During her last bite, she slinked back behind Leopardsun and caught the last bit of conversation from Nightstar. "You're going to look for my mom? And... What's a 'Deputy'?" She side-eyed the mottled tom that approached after Nightstar disappeared under some brambles. He seemed more familiar with Leopardsun than the others. Which made her feel slightly more at ease to meet yet another new face.

"The well-being of ShadowClan is always my priority," Leopardsun said as Nightstar left, letting out a deep sigh as the leader departed to form a search party. To Darling, she said: "They'll look. ShadowClan is full of good trackers- if anyone can find your mother, it's us," the spotted warrior assured her. "And in simple terms, a deputy is a cat who supports their leader."

Even, she recalled but did not state, if you don't like what they have to say.

"There's more to it than that- I help to make sure every cat is cared for, too. I'm sure life here is quite different than what you're used to."

Echomist's arrival was a reassurance; a breath of fresh air amidst uncertainty- he had a talent for that, she thought, whether or not he knew it. Perhaps it was just his presence that put her at ease. "Echomist!" She couldn't keep the relief out of her voice. "There you are- it's been a rather eventful night, I'm sure you can tell." She blinked, willing him to read between the lines as she spoke. "I was out scouting- you know I've been keeping an eye out for threats recently- when I found this little one trying to hunt in the deep marsh. I fished her out of it and brought her back here, and Nightstar is sending out a search party now."

At most, they'll likely find a body, she did not say. She thought the meaning was clear enough- a kit so small in the deep marsh, unsupervised? There were very few explanations for it, and fewer still that would end well for the kit in question.

"She'll be in my care until we can find her mother," she continued. She had meant to wait until she could ask Echomist properly, but- something about Nightstar's attitude had struck her in a way that led to a faster response. "Everything was so sudden, and then what Nightstar said- I should have held my tongue instead of making a split-second decision, but..."

She could be in our care, if you'd take her too, she thought, and- much like before- hoped he understood.

She shook her head, not wanting to showcase her irritation with ShadowClan's leader quite so blatantly. As a result, Snowfoot's approach likewise eased her nerves, and she blinked gratefully at her aunt, whispering back: "Thank you for your support, Snowfoot. He'll be answering to me as well if he does, I promise you that."

The warrior allowed herself one moment of bitterness: "Allow me, he says! As if I'd ever neglect my responsibilities. Tell me, Snowfoot- did Froststar ever have to put up with that, do you know?"

How I wish he was still around to ask!

It was a part of her mentor and grandfather's legacy she could certainly live without, if so. She had held her tongue before now, but even if she hadn't cared quite so deeply for the welfare of kits, the warrior code itself was clear: No warrior may neglect a kit in pain or in danger, even if that kit is from a different Clan- or no Clan at all, as the case may be. Nightstar was her leader, and he had her respect for more reason than just that, but she certainly wasn't above confronting him about poor decision making if she felt it necessary.

Hopefully it wouldn't come to that.

"Don't let yourself be afraid of him, Darling. Nightstar isn't a bad cat, but..." There were a lot of ways to finish that sentence- some harsher than others- but she eventually settled on, "He's certainly not the easiest to deal with."

Snowfoot sighed. “To be honest, even I don’t know. Froststar wasn’t leader very long, so Nightstar wasn’t deputy very long. Still, I doubt StarClan somehow replaced him with a new cat when they gave him his nine lives, so probably.”

"He's very scary..." So... Nightstar was the leader here. That did make sense, now that she thought about it. Darling craned her meck so she could whipser to the spotted she-cat. "You're much cooler!" The kit smiled.

She felt more confident in the presence of Leopardsun, extending a greeting to both Echomist and Snowfoot, even to Sablepaw. "Hi, my name is Darling." She mewed, slightly embarrassed that her name wasn't as cool as the others.

Sablepaw gave a quick nod to Leopardsun as she left to speak with Nightstar. The apprentice hadn't heard what the others had, he was too busy watching the kit devour her meal. He felt a little out of place, but what else was he supposed to do? As she left to hide behind Leopardsun once more, Sablepaw became aware of the two cats that had joined their party. All this doubting of their leader, how could they talk about it so openly? He levelled his gaze at Leopardsun before speaking. "You shouldn't talk like that, Leopardsun. Nightstar knows what he's doing, Starclan wouldn't have lead him to this path if they didn't believe in him." He had so much more to say on the matter, but talking like this to his deputy, especially in the open, might end badly for him. His eyes traveled to the kit behind Leopardsun as she made her introduction. "Hello, Darling, I'm Sablepaw. It's very nice to meet you." Darling, an odd name. Darlingpaw... That doesn't really sound right, I wonder what her warrior name would be.

Blinking at Snowfoot, she snorted. "I more so meant about the kits," she said, but didn't disagree. It made her wonder what their conversations had been like, but she doubted Nightstar would ever give her a detailed enough answer.

Leopardsun shook her head at Sablepaw. "Blind faith leads only to tragedy," she told him simply. It was a simple matter for her, at least- she had no faith in StarClan, and the living certainly weren't infallible. "Whether it's in your leader or in the stars. And besides that, it was Froststar that set him on this path, not StarClan; and it was Froststar's untimely death that made him leader- he wasn't deputy for very long." She paused before continuing: "Every cat is bound to make mistakes, and a Clan that never questions their leadership will be a Clan averse to change. A good leader can take that criticism well, and use it to improve. The world around us can change suddenly- we need to be able to change with it."

Darling's praise didn't go unacknowledged, either, as she curled her tail around the kit once more. "I think you're pretty cool, too," she whispered back.

Snowfoot smiled. “I almost forgot you weren’t around when Froststar was raising his kits. I think there were seven of us in all. I was the baby so I don’t know everyone else’s origins, but I came from much the same background as Darling here. By taking in kits who have nowhere else to go, you and I are walking in Froststar’s paw prints. And I like to think he’s proud of us.”