the spider's web [closed]

Although her fresh scars still tugged annoyingly at her skin, Briarthorn padded over rocks and the slush that still coated the ground in SkyClan territory. She'd been doing all she could to lighten the burdens of her Clanmates, but she'd never be able to do anything about the burdens on their hearts and minds; that came with time. Today, she was patrolling with Falconmoon. Aside from occasional run-ins or overlapping duties, she'd very seldom interacted with the tom- not intentionally, it just seemed they never got the opportunity to talk. Not that Briarthorn was ever the first one to do so. She was never sure exactly how others felt about her, considering her past, so she'd resigned herself moons ago to let them come to her if they felt the need. That didn't change today as they padded along the scent line in silence, stopping occasionally to mark the border. If he had anything he wanted to say, he could, but Briarthorn wasn't going to force him to interact otherwise.

This couldn't get any more awkward. Falconmoon had been willing to exchange small pleasantries with Briarthorn, but going beyond that was proving difficult for a number of reasons. Firstly... he wasn't thrilled to see his dad's/Bloodstrike's latest squeeze still alive and well. Less because of Bloodstrike's brain dead decision to have kits with a Shadowclanner and then name her deputy of all things at one point, but more so because she helped Smokefeather shove him into the Dark Forest. If she had known the truth about Smokefeather, would she have helped her?

Probably. No one beyond an apprentice with head trauma and Blossomstep had any compassion for you and they were family. Why would she? It was a bitter thought that stayed in Falconmoon's head... and yet both himself and his alter agreed on one thing: They didn't know her at all really. Falconmoon decided after about an hour of patrolling together that maybe trying to learn about her would be beneficial.

"You're from Shadowclan originally, is that right? Why on earth did you decide to come here, aside from Bloodstrike? Why not stay in Shadowclan and raise your kits there? I'm not attacking you, just curious." Falconmoon reminded his alter that he had killed one of Briarthorn's children and maybe that ought to be enough vengeance for him... even if Briarthorn had helped kill him after the fact. Stupid apprentice.... What had she been thinking anyway?