operation london bridge [c]

It was inevitable, she told herself. It was what she had whispered to herself countless times over as the scenario played out within her mind for moons. Replays of the battle, step by step, action by action and swipe by swipe carried out among her mind's eye, analyzing every single twist and turn for where something could have gone differently. Each and every time, it was the same conclusion reached: Skyclan was at fault. There was a time for benevolence; had it simply constrained itself to the Oak, she perhaps would have been privy to some semblance of leniency. But it was the fact that they had darted deeper into the midst of Thunderclan's very battered and bruised terrain that had turned a frustrating slight into an unforgiveable sin. A sin that had been carried her and not of her own act to repent; but simply to bring forth to the high judge of the very Clan of which it had been committed. She had no doubt in her mind that the event itself had made its way to leadership, as it would be impossible to cover up such injuries. But the extent? The actual order of events? The fact that it had cost her a life?

She had absolutely zero doubt that the truth had been misconstrued.

Ever since that brawl, it seemed the forest had simply set delay after delay in allowing her the ability to converse properly with the silver tabby. She had accepted the setback of their initial journey, as the forest was in so such state to house a war. She had not anticipated, however, the illness that had ran rampant as a plague that struck down many. Mottlestar herself had not been spared from the claws of that ick, and it had only been recently that her voice had fully recovered. The descent of the violent canines of flashing jowls did not provide any assistance, nor did the tundra that forced them back home. It had been an unorthodox path, yet it had been the one that they had to take. Avoiding the return to their homelands any longer would have simply been unproductive, and she had been particularly thankful to find that the forest had indeed healed to sustain life once more.

However, with life, death also came. In this instance, the death of a mighty alliance. As she came to the border that separated both Clans, there was a particular twitch of frustration in her whiskers as the near-identical scent of Skyclan stung her nose at the oak. They had already been leeches of their prey, and it seemed there was even less respect for the remaining shattered fragments of the farse of an alliance that they held as they had marked themselves as owners of their border. The border that had been under Thunderclan's hold before they left, and there had been no reason to revoke.

It only added fuel to her frustrating fire. From all she now knew, Birdstar could rot in the flames of the Dark Forest.

Stepping into the space of the border, the molly sat, amber eyes glaring and waiting for a passing patrol. She would not simply march into Skyclan's camp. Though she was a war general, she was not senile in the slightest. There was protocol to follow... even if it seemed Skyclan did not care for it. At the flash of fur, her gaze had narrowed, and it had only been heartbeats later until she had been spotted and her presence taken into consideration. "I require a meeting with Birdstar." There was no requesting. It was a requirement, through and through. Anger stirred beneath her pelt, brewing further and further into a tornado of chaos. In her mind, she recalled the slights that Skyclan had committed against both herself, her Clan, and even Riverclan. Her stance in the brewing tensions was about to be made abundantly clear.

One of their warriors had ordered a patrol to ignore their borders, refusing to stand down when she had called for it to be so.
In refusing to stand down, it had cost grave injuries to cats that did not deserve them. It had cost Mottlestar a life.
Skyclan harbored a murderer; a conflict that had been seemingly resolved with Riverclan moons before Birdstar's ascension.
They held no care for what remained of their alliance as they blatantly claimed territory that was not theirs.

She had thought better of the other forest-dwelling Clan. Had truly believed them to become better versions of themselves, no longer restricted to the violent outbursts or evil doings of either Bloodstar or Dawnhawk. But it seemed the blood of those ruthless toms still sizzled within the Clan, and it would simply be the consequences of their actions chasing at their heels. If they wished to offend their allies... if Birdstar declined to uphold the contracts of alliance... Well. It was what they had coming.

As soon as the large molly would be in earshot of the tortoiseshell, Mottlestar wasted no time. Sitting with slightly narrowed eyes, her expression could have been mistaken for boredem. "Birdstar," A sigh followed the name as she closed her eyes for an elongated moment, sending a silent prayer that things would not turn into a myriad of claws and teeth just yet. "Care to explain why your clan has an ability to uphold even a fraction of our alliance? Or should I presume that it no longer remains and was buried in the dirtplace?" It was an honest question. Nowhere near outright hostility; but it set the tone. She was demanding answers.

There was a flick of an ear that came from the tortoiseshell at Birdstar's response. She had hoped for some semblance of warmth on Birdstar's end, but instead, she had been met with ice that could even rival the frigid leafbare they were all currently surviving. Before any fight had even begun, it seemed that the large molly had sealed herself to the fate of war. Almost as if she did not care to even attempt to plea her side. Even with her soured mood, there still had been a willingness of the Thunderclan leader to hear out the rationale that the molly had. Why she had seemed so desperate to fight for her family; just why exactly she had been fine with allowing her warriors' actions that were unmistakably nothing more than slights against their Clans.

A dry, bitter laugh escaped from the tortoiseshell at the excuses that came out of the Skyclanner's maw. Her mind flashed back to a very distinct call that she'd heard during that skirmish, one that had the very distinct call of daughter-to-father.

"His daughter called for him, Birdstar. ... Brightpaw... was her name..? A precious, blue-furred apprentice. Yet, he still pushed forward to fight. Or did he omit that? And fail to also mention how, despite my warning and willingness to let them leave... He struck first? And took one of my lives in the process? I hardly fail to see how that is simply assisting your kin. All they had to do was step back to the border. I would have turned a blind eye to hunting on this oak; but to step into the depth of Thunderclan territory? To mark your own kin as an enemy? I'm not a fool, Birdstar. That's a threat." A snarl pricked at her maw at the end of her words. Amber eyes blazed in a flame that was not unlike one that existed in a twin flame elsewhere in the forest; but that wasn't for such a traitor to know.

Her tail flicked. "No; nothing could have competed when you came insisting you were the enemy. If you didn't believe yourself to already be in the wrong, you would have fought to sway me. But you know you came into that alliance on a lie."

Rising to her paws, the tortoiseshell shook her head. "My words mean nothing if we know the outcome. The air is thick with the thunder of war, Birdstar. Even I can taste it. I had it in my interests to leave Thunderclan out of it for your sake, but it seems Skyclan took it upon themselves to choose which side we took. Word of advice: don't make promises you can't keep." There was no reason for her to stay.

It was time to prepare her Clan for war.

As one last thought pricked at her mind, the dry laugh once more sounded in the air as she glanced over her shoulder, her gaze zipping straight to where she knew the molly would be. "But, I suppose Skyclan is nothing more than its line of murderers. Seems Dawnhawk's influence permeated more than just his progeny." She spat behind her, before disappearing into the bracken.