a matter of reputation [c]

Leopardsun had spent a great deal of time trying to think of the best way to approach Nightstar. She was exhausted from the journey home and all that had preceded it, and between what had happened at the Gathering and the end of the ShadowClan-WindClan alliance she had come to an unfortunate conclusion: much as she'd thought at the Gathering, she did need to speak to Nightstar about what had happened. There was a delicate balance to it, one she wasn't used to: she had to make the situation clear without offending him.

It was her duty as deputy to support her leader, that was something she understood well enough. But first and foremost she had a responsibility to ShadowClan; the very reason she'd accepted the position in the first place.

And even setting that aside, she had been asked to handle social matters; and while she didn't think this was what he'd had in mind when he asked (she had to assume it extended primarily to minor disputes within ShadowClan), their present situation certainly fell under that jurisdiction. His lack of tact had lost them an alliance, earned them the ire of two separate Clans in less than a moon, and could very well lead to extended conflict with one of them.

"Nightstar, I need to speak with you. Privately."

Simple, precise, impossible to mistake. The perfect phrasing.

The one thing about being the leader was that there was hardly any time to yourself. There was always some cat who wanted to speak with him, and in this instance, it was his deputy. "Of course, Leopardsun. You are always welcome." Nightstar meowed, motioning to let her come in unimpeded. Going back to crunching on his frog, a very missed prey item for the tom - frogs were his favourite after all.-

Leopardsun sighed, the sound heavy with exasperation. It lingered in the air between them as she gathered her thoughts, forming them into words that she could reasonably say to her leader.

A task that was proving far more difficult than it really should have been.

"Nightstar," she shook her head, considering the cat before her. "With all due respect- what in the world were you thinking? First speaking over SkyClan at the Gathering, now dragging injured WindClan cats back to their own camp and shattering your own alliance. If we continue along these lines, we'll be at war with the entire forest before the next half-moon!"

The look on her own face wasn't difficult to read: Leopardsun was no stranger to conflict, born and raised under the Dark Forest and their brutality, but she found that she quite liked the brief periods where her Clan wasn't in crisis.

As increasingly rare as those fleeting moments were.

"Am I correct in guessing that when you asked me to handle social affairs, it wasn't entirely to free your focus for other matters?"

That question was more or less a formality, as she was pretty sure she had her answer now.

“Those warriors shouldn’t have entered our territory, but dragging cats you severely injured back to their own camp is practically a declaration of war on its own! We simply aren’t prepared for a war, Nightstar. Our warriors are still going missing, half of our apprentices have no idea how to navigate the marsh- not to mention that we’re already in the midst of leaf-bare and the Twoleg traps haven’t made hunting any easier. I see no reason to add to our struggles. If they choose to attack any time soon, we won’t be ready.”

"Windclan won't be going to war with us, Leopardsun. Are they angry? Yes, I've given them a message with what I had done. But Windclan, no matter their anger and ire, won't be fighting us anytime soon, I know this because they are cowards. Windclan will be too busy rebuilding just as we are, too busy looking for their clanmates just as us, this twoleg issue isn't just afflicting Shadowclan at the moment. Besides, Shrikestar and Smallbean know exactly what I'm capable of - what Shadowclan is capable of, especially now, and I do not think they want to try their might. Negotiations with them on the initial alliance discussion gave quite an apt impression. If for whatever reason, they decide to take the fight to us, our territory is still dangerous, the great shake ruined their tunnels, and if their tunnels hadn't been we know of them now." Nightstar meowed, confident in his impressions of the Windclan high ranks.

"As for my remark at the gathering, that was entirely my mistake. I had thought it kind in the moment to say my sympathies, I am however aware now that it was not. I'll be apologizing at my soonest convenience." Nightstar meowed, seemingly almost pained at the thought of his social blunder, in front of a whole gathering no less.

"If we really are so afraid of those Windclan cats fighting us, why don't we just make our own tunnels by the outcropping? It isn't marsh, the ground will be fine. We can put the flip on them and get a perfect invasion or escape route." Nightstar meowed, shrugging flippantly. It wasn't a bad idea, but he'd rather not start learning how to dig holes on a frequently contested territory. But... it'd be a good skill to learn wouldn't it?

"It would be good to apologize, yes."

I'd rather not need to smooth things over with every Clan in the forest, all things considered.

Leopardsun was listening, of course (and just slightly reassured by Nightstar's doubts of WindClan staging an assault on ShadowClan), but something Nightstar said caught her attention quite decidedly. "Their- tunnels," she said, incredulous. "Their tunnels? They have- they had tunnels?"

She had wondered, often, what ShadowClan could possibly have to gain from an alliance with any other Clan. She preferred the route of remaining neutral and focusing on themselves, while remaining cordial where possible; but if WindClan had something like that... Suddenly, she thought she could almost understand Nightstar's initial thought process.

"I was going to ask what you could possibly have gotten out of this alliance to make it worthwhile in the first place, but... Tunnels that lead onto our territory? That's certainly useful information, if nothing else." Though she generally did her best to remain professional, kit-like curiosity gleamed in her eyes as she carried on her line of questioning. "What sort of tunnels? Where are they? How do they make them?"

And then, suddenly, Nightstar suggested- casually, as though it was only a passing thought- that they do the same. "That would be an excellent defense, but we'd need to know how to make them..."

She highly doubted any WindClan cats would be willing to teach them, given that they hadn't exactly parted ways on good terms.

Another concern occurred to her as she spoke:

"If they're damaged, they could potentially be repaired, couldn't they?"

That could be dangerous, but it could also be used to their own advantage.

Nightstar nearly sighed with relief as Leopardsun switched the discussion to the tunnels, excited and curious all the same, but Nightstar couldn't help but feel regret that he had not managed to tell her sooner. He had planned to, but with everything going on? He never got the chance. "Yes, Windclan told me of their tunnels and agreed to portion any conquered territory to us. Unfortunately, I never got to learn how their tunnels were made or otherwise, but it is up for debate whether they would have taught me that knowledge or not." Nightstar meowed, regret at shattering the alliance colouring his tone with some disappointment.

"I couldn't say. But who is to say that if they were built once, why could they not be built again?" Nightstar meowed, agreeing noncommittally to his deputy. "However... maybe after time has healed some wounds, I'll ask Coyotegrin to teach me. She owes me a favour. But even with that, I am not too sure that she'd let me be privy to that information. But who is to say we cannot learn ourselves?" Nightstar meowed. "That almost ties in beautifully with an idea I had. About training our warriors to dig and scoop mud, to help recover trapped clanmates, like when that tree had cost me one of my lives. Maybe we can do both." Nightstar prompted, doing his best to encourage Leopardsun into thinking about the whole concept.