A familiar spot

Swiftheart was out of the temporary camp that they had set up. She needed room for a bit. It was recent after her argument with her brother and she was still not in any sort of mood to be around him or around camp in general anymore.

She understood that he was under alot of stress being leader but that didnt mean he had to attack her the way that he had. That wasnt fair she felt.


She walked along just trying to clear her head when she picked up on a scent she did not expect at all. Her eyes narrowed. Another shadowclan cat?? Still out here... it was mixed in with alot of skyclan things that were also here so it was hard to tell who exactly it was right now.


She snuck forward a bit peeking around. Fourtrees was still neutral territory but there was alot of skyclanners around and she didnt really wanna run into one of them particularly if it could be avoided.



"Shadowclan?? she called out tilting her head....

"Its me swiftheart" she looked from side to side trying to see who it was that had left this trail, it was fresh so they must be somewhere around here.

It had been a long and cold trek from the Cat House to... Here. Harrierpaw had wandered, looking around for any hint of a forest as lush as the one she called home. Had anyone followed her from that awful and stuffy place, she hoped they kept up or at least waited for her if they went ahead while she'd been hobbling around.

She'd found a few places that could have been her wonderful home, but each one held no hint nor sign of Clan life within it. Except for this one. Trees were lopsided and the earth was a cracked and rubbled mess... This had to be it.

The land smoothed out as she slowly limped further in, a familiar scent she'd known only once. SkyClan. Lightningkit had held this scent when they'd met at Fourtrees. Her pace quickened, her dirtied Twoleg bandage dragging behind her back right paw. An itchy and thick collar securely fastened around her neck

And then, a familiar voice. Familiar scent. Two familiar names. Swiftheart. ShadowClan.

"Hello? It's Harrierpaw!" The she-cat called out, hoping she hadn't been hearing things.

Lightningpaw enjoyed exploring SkyClan's territory; or, more accurately, the area surrounding their camp in Fourtrees. It was home to her as much as their old clearing had been. Which meant it was theirs, and while she wasn't particularly in the habit of having any strong opinions on borders (for a portion of her kithood and her early apprenticeship, the Clans had all been bunched up together right here), she still paused when she heard someone shouting about ShadowClan.

Swiftheart wasn't a name she knew, so she ignored it; but then there was an answering voice- one she actually recognized.

The apprentice moved swiftly from low-hanging branch to low-hanging branch (the forest was still littered with traps, but the trees were mostly safe; so she kept to them more often than not), eventually coming to a stop a bit above a familiar face. "Hey! What're you doin' down there, Harrierpaw? Isn't ShadowClan over at- uh, whatsit- Highstones? Yeah, that's it."

She paused. Her brother had recently gotten his warrior name, so- was it rude to assume that Harrierpaw hadn't? It had been some time ago when they met- she was still a kit.

"Is it still Harrierpaw? Or is it Harrier-somethin' now?"

Swiftheart's ears tilted hearing the answer and she got very excited, Harrierpaw was back and okay?! Swiftheart quickly made her way over to the apprentice and purred delighted to see her.

Her back foot had some weird twoleg thing on it, as did her neck but all that mattered right now was that Harrier was alright and back.

Swiftheart purred happily clearly joyful to have a clanmate back. The eager and excitable warrior still had alot of her apprentice aged energy.

"Im so glad you are alright, come along ill get you back to highstones, we will get you fed and a nice warm nest too. she also wanted Harrierpaw to talk with Nightstar to see if she knew of any others missing but that could wait till she was in better shape and taken care of.

She was about to lead the way back when a voice from a tree called out. She sighed internally... skyclan had spotted them??

hmm well it should be alright, even if skyclan was living here, 4trees was always meant as a neutral and peaceful spot.

She glanced up spotting an apprentice aged cat, they seemed to know Harrierpaw and it felt like were maybe even friends with, that was good news! Swiftheart was just glad no one else had spotted them. The last thing they needed was to have Skyclans leader questioning them or worse... stopping their return.

The visible relief of a familiar face (though spooking her for a heartbeat) of that cute bundle of joy she'd met what felt like moons ago popped up in front of her. "Oh, you have no idea how--"  She stopped mid-sentence to address Swiftheart and the familiar scent of ShadowClan that clung to the warrior. "--How happy I am to see the both you right now!" She knew Swiftheart as Nightstar beloved sister, and that was enough for Harrierpaw to put full trust in her.

Limping over, Harrierpaw leaned against the ShadowClan warrior, holding back tears. "You won't believe what I've gone through; What the others I've met are living in right now. I've no idea if anyone else made it out. I know if was cowardly, but... I want to see my mother oh so badly..." It was the slip of tongue and high emotions that Harrierpaw called Leopardsun as her own mother, but perhaps that could just be between the three cats here...

Addressing them both, Harrierpaw with fatigue finally grasping her with all it's claws asked' "Has anyone else come through here...? Nightstar..?"

"Oh and congratulations, Lightningpaw!" She didn't want to forget to acknowledge the SkyClan apprentices upgrade!

Lightningpaw's tail swished lazily from her place on the branch, satisfied with herself. "Thanks! 'S been fun so far!"

She paused, curiosity piqued by the ShadowClan apprentice's words. "Huh. So you weren't at Highstones?" There was another pause as she sorted through the options, eventually realizing Harrierpaw had most likely been captured at Fourtrees. Not for the first time, she was thankful for the advice that had placed her safely up in the trees throughout most of it.

Can't catch what you can't see, she thought with some satisfaction.

The golden-furred apprentice felt an oddly sad expression tugging at her face, as Harrierpaw expressed that she missed her mother. She could understand that sort of feeling, even if she'd never been separated from her adopted mother for long.

"I haven't seen any ShadowClan cats besides you two since we were all at Fourtrees," she told them. "But I'm just one cat, and I don't spend all day looking for folks- I definitely could've missed somebody."