Knotty Tanglefang

[Yoko]

Look it this place! It's a wreck! Where's the Hunting Patrol? The Border Patrol? The apprentices doing their chores? What's Patchclaw been doing? Asleep on the job as usual?

Tanglefang snorted, making her way across the quiet camp. The soft damp Earth squished between her paws and claws. Her fur was a tangled mess already, now it was muddy and wet on top of that. Somehow, she managed to blame this on WIllowstar, or at least direct her frustration at it towards the RiverClan Leader.

Or perhaps she should blame that worthless mouse-brain of a son, Skunkkit. If she had not been living in the nursery with him, the walk to the leader's den would not have been nearly as long, and then she would not be so filthy before her leader.

Strangely, she was concerned for her appearance. A leader is the highest rank after all, and she wanted to look presentable before one. Yet, she was not at all concerned for manners. She stormed right into Willowstar's Den with a rather fierce look.

"Willowstar!" she mewed with a cracking voice. "We need to speak!"

Nevermind that it was just after dawn...

[☆ Y e l l o w ☆]

"Willowstar! We need to speak!"

The fierce, raspy voice of the queen broke Willowstar from her sleep. Upon opening her eyes, the first thing she saw was the mud-coated, bristling, angry looking form of Tanglefang bursting into her den. Great StarClan, what happened to letting her sleep? It couldn't even be dawn yet! She obviously couldn't just go back to sleep, as she had one irritated Clanmate on her paws, so the only thing she could do was figure out what the queen wanted. Sleep would come again once this cat left her den.

"Yes, what is it, Tanglefang?" She asked, weariness in her voice as she pulled herself up so that she was still laying down, but facing the other she-cat with her paws tucked underneath her. "Is this about the WindClan kits?" She added, remembering Tanglefang had made it perfectly clear she despised Streamkit and Shadowkit.

[Yoko]

Ohhhh, so its the Leader who's sleeping and not the Deputy?

Tanglefang did the courtesy of shaking her wet fur off at the entrance, luckily for Willowstar, she was far back enough to only get a few sprinkles on the leader. Shaken off, she looked more terrible, her fur puffed up higher and the knots in it more visible. Her face was curled back in that thoroughly displeased snarl to which it was so accustomed.

She first made a grunt of agreement. The leader knew her well it seemed. She mumbled, "Well yes...there's that too... those..."

After mumbling a few unintelligible (but choice) words, she raised her head in that proud, pureblood, way that she tends to do, and spoke with a special kind of boldness, " I believe I have served my time in the nursery well, Willowstar. But, as you know! My greatest skills were best used as a warrior. I believe I have taken a long enough break from my Warriorhood. It's time I returned to Active Duty and served my Clan properly. After all, one measly kit is hardly enough reason to keep me in."

[☆ Y e l l o w ☆]

Willowstar pulled back a bit as Tanglefang shook, so graciously showering drops of water and mud around the den. So it had been raining outside, that much was obvious even if she hadn't heard the rain falling earlier. She groaned inwardly but put on a serious face. The sooner she dealt with this without setting her off, the sooner she wouldn't have to deal with the snappy queen. It was true that Willowstar respected all of her Clanmates, but some she enjoyed the company of less than others.

One measly kit? Her pelt pricked slightly at that particular comment. Willowstar was far from maternal and didn't have much empathy for queens and their kits, but she disliked the nerve of Tanglefang to say something so cruel about her own kit. Being a warrior was obviously her better suit as she simply didn't have the caring attitude needed of a queen. That begged the question of why she had three litters in the first place.

Either way, she had to consider the actual request. RiverClan was at no shortage of warriors, and a kit needed his mother to be properly raised and guided. However it was also true that Rabbitpaw and Otterpaw had turned out fine without parents, and Sootwhisker would at least be able to watch Skunk-kit until he was apprentice age. They needed to build up a strong front against any possible threat from ShadowClan, as well. Willowstar looked reluctantly at the queen, a stern look on her face. "You really want this? You would prefer to return to warrior duties than continue raising your own son?"

It came out more harsh than she had intended it to, sounding more like an accusation than anything else. But she didn't quite care.

[Yoko]

Tanglefang had not missed the leader's apparent displeasure at her comment on her kit. She simply chose to ignore it. She found it incredible how cats, both toms and she-cats, who had never had kits could pass judgement on her treatment of her son. What did they know about raising strong warriors? She had raised plenty of strong warriors! Admittedly, they had mostly died young, but the time they spent serving the Clan was no fur off any cat's back!

She also caught the rather harsh note the leader had added to her reply. "Weren't you listening? I've made up my mind. The little scrap will be fine, and in fact he's a bit of a Mama's Boy at the moment. He needs to toughen up. In any case, I'm not staying in that loud, crowded nursery which now reeks of WindClan. I'm not staying there even another night!" she hissed, long yellow fangs hardly showing past her wet-matted face.

[☆ Y e l l o w ☆]

At Tanglefang's hiss of a reply, Willowstar felt her fur prickle more but held back. No, she was a sensible leader and it wouldn't do to go snapping at a Clan mate. However easy it would be. Tanglefang may have had most of RiverClan stunned by her sharp attitude and cruel nature, but Willowstar refused to be intimidated. She was far older than the she-cat, had been deputy when she'd been born and saw no reason to be afraid of her.

She did a faint but heavy sigh and replied, "If this is what you want, I suppose I can't force you to stay a queen. Have you told Skunk-kit you want to leave the nursery?" She felt a bit of sympathy for the kit who likely wouldn't see this coming. But there was probably nothing she could do to change Tanglefang's mind.

[Yoko]

Tanglefang lifted her head proudly, always glad to have her way. Already, her mind was on the Border Patrols she would lead, and the hunts she would go on. Oh, and should StarClan decide to bless her with an apprentice! She would most definitely train them into a great warrior! And of course, she had Patchclaw to deal with. Well, Tanglefang would put her in her place! She was distracted from her dreamy daze by mention of Skunkkit. Him again? Is that all any cat thinks of?!

"No I have not," she mewed rather coldly. "And all the better! A swift cut is much better than a long torturous one."

Of course, her tone and stiff posture suggested that no such torture would be inflicted on her, regardless of when or where this separation was occurring.

"That said, Farewell, Willowstar. I suppose we'll be seeing each other more in the future."

And with that, the matted, tangled, knotty former queen, exited the Leader's Den.