Catch Up [Nightstar]

Harechaser padded back toward fourtrees with a pair of voles in her jaws, mismatched eyes taking in the crowded area as the moon was just starting to clear the tops of the trees in the distance. Not long had passed since their flight from camp, but she still found herself uneasy and fearful, wondering if the earth would start shaking again, wondering if fourtrees was truly as safe as many cats seemed to think it was.

At least most of her clanmates were safe. The flight from camp had been chaotic, and not everyone had escaped unscathed... Just most of them. Harechaser's mismatched eyes searched for the form of her older brother, eventually finding his dark pelt in the gloom. He seemed to have suffered the worst of it, though Harechaser wasn't quite sure that she believed what she'd heard of it. Even so, his injuries had to be painful. He didn't seem to be preoccupied at the moment, so Harechaser changed trajectory, heading toward him with a wave of her ginger tail.

"Hey, Nightstar," Her voice was somewhat muffled by the prey in her jaws, which she dropped at his paws in a silent peace offering. "Are you alright?"

His wound still bothered him, feeling warm and raw, it seemed to have teeth every time he moved, but he supposed this is what he got for resisting treatment when there were hardly any herbs to go around amongst the five clans. The great rumble had ruined many places they'd grown, Windclans herbs being the most intact, but what was gathered and stored was destroyed or off limits due to the twolegs swarming their camps. He just hoped that Basilblooms flower patches were okay.

Pulled from his thoughts by his sister, he looked up at her, a perfect mix of Murkystar and Batglow. He looked down at the prey that she laid before him, a vole, not a favourite, and hardly a prey he had since their return from Thunderclan. "As I can be." Nightstar meowed, his mind wandering as he considered Thunderclan and Skyclan, he had a lot of able-bodied warriors, maybe he should offer to help the clans that helped them and repay those debts. He'd hate to have them much longer. "How do you fare?"

"Uhm, fine... I guess?" She mewed, pulling one of the voles closer to herself. "We didn't lose anyone this time, right? It's not as bad, I mean. Could be worse." She was trying desperately to look on the bright side of things, but Harechaser had visibly tensed at the question, her ears flattening. They'd been ousted from their home, again. How could anyone be fine? And then there was Roseburn, guilt for how they'd argued still weighing on her mind. It should've been less important giving the issue of being stuck in fourtrees and the earth's strange, violent movements, but Harechaser found that her thoughts returned to it anyways.

"Starclan must be testing us somehow. They continue to be cruel ancestors, that is for certain." Nightstar mused, pulling his vole towards him as well as he focused more on his sister. He wanted to stop talking, to let her carry the conversation, but wouldn't that make him Mistyfalcon? Sighing, he spoke back up, "It's true that we haven't suffered any losses in terms of lives, but we have still lost our home and territory for the time being. Again. We must keep hope tight to our chests, that these things will resolve themselves on their own. We don't have to depend on anyone but ourselves." Nightstar meowed, Harechaser didn't see him lose a life under the tree, surely she had heard through her clanmates, but as long as he didn't acknowledge it then she didn't need to have her suspicions confirmed. Not every cat in the forest needed to know he was down a life already.

"I don't see how older cats can possibly think they're benevolent, honestly." Harechaser muttered, "Have they ever actually done anything for the clans?" There had been the fight against the dark forest, technically, but she'd been told mom would come back and she hadn't. And then Deerleap and Sootwhisker had also died. How could they possibly be considered anything good after that, and after Shadowclan losing their home twice now?

"It felt like we only just got back, too." She couldn't help but feel more than a little morose at that. Shadowclan had finally managed to rebuild what was theirs, only to have it snatched away. "It's so... Crowded, here. And tense. I don't know... It makes me nervous."

"No, I don't think so. When I went to commune with them before I knew Froststar was dead, was them telling me I was going to be the leader. Didn't answer my question about what to do." Nightstar finally took a bite of his vole and chewed it contemplatively. "It will get better. We must believe it so. I believe that we will get used to each other, at least hopefully we will build camaraderie with Windclan. We are allies now, I had kept it hush hush for a little while since things kept happening and I wouldn't want to announce an allyship only to call it off because of border crossers." Nightstar waved his paw flippantly as he took another bite of his vole. "If it is any consolation. If I believe that it will end up okay, at least between the clans. Then you can believe in your leader and brother."

"Huh, that's... Real helpful of them." Harechaser muttered, "Can't say I envy you. But you and Leopardsun have Shadowclan's best interests at heart." That was something Harechaser could believe in whole-hearted. Her brother wouldn't do Shadowclan wrong if he could help it, no matter what the world threw at them.

And then Nightstar continued. "Windclan?" She asked, unable to quite hide her dismay at that bit of news. "Their warriors seem obnoxious, at least the one that decided that crossing the thunderpath was a good idea. She was... weird about it, and defensive. It was hardly a fight, really. Didn't even draw blood. Still, I think they're all frog-brained." She huffed. "Called me evil for flinging mud in her eyes. I think that taught her a lesson at least... I hope."

Nightstar stopped chewing abruptly and swallowed his bite of vole harshly. "Did she attack first as well?" Nightstar wanted to groan, he had only just gotten this alliance, and now Windclan was already threatening it. "I suppose they were a little too unhappy with my terms. I got a lot out of them and barely gave anything in return. It was a great deal for us, them... not so much." Twirling the voles tail in a claw as he spoke, he thought deeply. "I'll have to speak with them. They'll cower and go for the throat of their own if I make it obvious I'm not pleased. Which I certainly am not." Nightstar hissed, "I got information on their tunnels in their territory, and I secured a deal where if we help them gain territory, we get a sizeable portion of it. And while we are not rabbit and hare hunters, I'm sure we can learn easily enough. Food, territory, and secret ways into other clan territories? I'd hate to lose it." Huffing, Nightstar took a last bite of his vole.

"Hardly what I'd call an attack, but yes. She seemed... Startled that I was there, almost, though I guess I did come up behind her." Harechaser's whiskers twitched, "Her own fault for being unaware, really. She almost seemed like she hadn't been intending on fighting. I don't know why she was there though. Silvery she-cat, I never caught her name."

"They have tunnels?" She took a bite of her own prey, mismatched eyes fixing on Nightstar once more. "And just... Agreed to giving us territory if we help them? I don't buy it."

"I caught that one hare on my first day out of camp, it even impressed dad. I'm sure I could work up to catching them regularly." He could speak for himself on not being an apt hunter, but Harechaser thought it was perfectly within the realm of possibility.

"Ah, I think I know of the cat you speak of. Had a run-in with her while Sablestrike was still an apprentice when I was showing him hidden outcropping. Loud and obnoxious, was glaring at me when I put her in her place and glared at me while I was meeting with Windclan." The tom meowed, glad to have a name to the perp that crossed his borders and attacked his sister and clanmate.

"Yeah, they say that they can get into any neighbouring clan undetected, without crossing scent lines." He gave time for Harechaser to think it over a little bit, and allowed her to continue on. "I've caught a few myself since apprenticehood. Wouldn't be a huge learning curve for us." Nightstar shrugged, "Circling back for a moment here, but Windclan gets protection just by the other clans knowing that we've allied with them. Shadowclan is the biggest and strongest clan in the forest, having us back up Windclan just by name is bound to make them feel secure. That being said, we have to help them fight their battles, or Windclan won't have the other clans believe that we are protecting them. If they take another clan's territory, we help them, get a portion of it. So, breaking it down, we get to know their tunnels, we get some of their territory, and by extension their prey. We rarely get our paws dirty on a bad day. It's a great deal with so little effort on our part. I don't really like that I'll be sending cats to a fight that isn't really ours, but such is the price of backing a small and weak clan." Nightstar fell silent, contemplative.

"And they can't exactly back out now. I made it clear that if they turn on us, it is their territory I'll be taking from them and I'll waste no time doing it. They're in a tight spot now, and I don't think they even know the situation they've put themselves in." Nightstar sneered, almost malicious and overjoyed, how clever was he? Windclan was in a fox trap and they didn't even know it.

"You ran into her before? And she still hasn't learned?" That was stubborn of the she-cat... And foolish. Real foolish. "Have her superiors not disciplined her yet? It shouldn't have to fall to you."

"Into other clans' territories?" She tipped her head thoughtfully, "Let's hope those earth tremors didn't collapse them all, then. That would be useful, even just to keep an eye on, I suppose. I wonder where the exits are on our territory?" She muttered.

"Still... We're doing an awful lot for that information. And whose to say that they won't just tell that to another clan, too? Are you sure that Shadowclan is the only one who will know of these?" Harechaser couldn't help but still be dubious about the entire thing.

"I think so too, but if Silverwing keeps causing problems I can use that to my advantage. Besides, while we didn't necessarily discuss them telling other clans about those tunnels, I'm sure they're smart enough to avoid it but I'll bring it up as an allyship void if they tell anyone else. If they tell anyone else I'll run them out of their territory, and we can learn how to work those tunnels. They were stingy with the information, but I didn't want to test my luck. Maybe I can find a way to get more out of them... I'll have to think on it." Nightstar meowed, confident for once in his abilities.

"It'll work out I'm sure. We may be doing all the work now, but either outcome gets us results." Nightstar couldn't wait to confront them about Silverwing crossing his borders and attacking his clan-mate, if he couldn't get more out of Windclan, he'd at least ruin Silverwing.

"Of course they were stingy with information," Harechaser scoffed, "I've heard they like to poke their nose where it doesn't belong and then play the victim. Don't know how true it is, but..." The tortoiseshell shrugged. "They should see their warrior causing trouble as a detriment to this, if an alliance is truly what they want. Especially if she's bothering the leader's family. I know I wouldn't have done such a thing." She took a few bites of her vole. "But I suppose Shadowclanners don't usually have bees for brains, either. If you think this'll work, I think there's a shot. Unless their stupidity gets in their way."