stranger in a strange land

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The sycamore tree extended high into the air above her, and the night sky peeking through the branches was a pure, clear black. The blur of silver, white, and gray fur crept around the base of the tree, stepping over its roots and sniffing curiously at the air. Her tread had the barely restrained energy of someone who was trying to contain her excitement and failing.

Stella had volunteered for this mission without a second thought, and she was thrilled beyond belief at the chance to go to the center of a real Clan territory, just like she had been thrilled to meet the cats who came out of the forest and said they were from the Clan by the rubbish dump, ShadowClan. It was sort of an ominous-sounding name, and they were strange cats, really, but it didn't matter. They wanted her to go into the territory that was controlled by one of the other three groups, ThunderClan.

There were two others, she knew from hanging around the Rogue Loft. RiverClan was by the water, and on the moor near the Loner Barn was WindClan. They named themselves after nature, it was fascinating. She had named herself after nature, too, discarding her birth name in favor of one that honored the stars that twinkled overhead at night. Stella was fascinated by the Clans, interested in everything about their ideas and culture.

She heard from some of the rogues that they had a warrior code, and they believed that the spirits of their ancestors watched over them in StarClan. She heard that they were good hunters, and they met each moon to discuss business in the forest. She also had heard they weren't supposed to fraternize with cats from other Clans, so that must be why the ShadowClan cats had asked her and the other loners to look through ThunderClan territory for them.

They had weird names, she remembered -- all of them had two parts, a prefix and a suffix, nothing like the names of the loners Stella had known. They were cool names, so much different from everything she had heard in the past.

Part of her kind of hoped that some ThunderClan cat would find her here. Stella wanted to know if all Clan cats were as weird as the ones she'd seen.

Her silvery ears perked up suddenly at the sound of movement through the trees, and without hesitation she leaped to a low branch of the sycamore tree. Sure, she may have wanted to meet more Clan cats, but she felt that it wouldn't be good for the mission if she were caught, and she didn't know who this was. She knew there was someone else coming on the journey with her, though -- maybe this was them?

Well, all she could do was wait.

[Yoko]

Padding through the quiet warmth of night, a ghost of a cat skirted the edge of a clearing. He was tame and rather lax with his defenses. Somehow these movements felt dreamlike...somehow he felt unreal. All around him were the scents of ThunderClan and the rustling of plentiful prey. He was here, among the Clans again, but on the wrong territory. He had returned to break the Warrior Code once more. To spy on another Clan, and gain favor with his former clanmates.

How he had gotten this far in without being caught was beyond him. He had been so careless the whole way...Perhaps he was dreaming. As he reached the area that Snaketail (hardly older than a kit) had vaguely and enthusiastically described, he remembered that they had mentioned something about another cat. A partner in surveying the area.

Even as he emerged out in the open of the clearing, he did not bunch up in apprehension. Rather he coolly sat and looked at all the surrounding underbrush. Nothing. Noticing a strange shadow on the ground, cast by moonlight, he glanced up with unconcerned eyes.

"I take it you are the one I was meant to meet," he mewed in a deep, rolling voice, like quiet thunder. He stood on all fours and gave a small bow. "Are you coming down? Or should I come up to join you?"

[. s p o r e l e t t ♪]

The moon was high and bright, like a guiding beacon, she thought. Its silvery beams cascaded onto the still trees and the lush plants on the forest floor, so that they glowed like ghosts among the dappled shadows of the night. All was cold and pure as snow, but for the striped figure who slid like a sleek snake through those trees, those shadows. Mottledleaf was not usually one to take midnight walks, but remaining in camp all day to watch over her grandsons had a restlessness growing in her. She needed an escape, if only for one night.

Through the warm night she moved, dark-ringed tail flicking out behind her. She craved the night, and the hunt. It had only been a moon since she began caring for Spottedkit and Stonekit, and already she missed her life as a warrior. It wasn't that she didn't love being with her young kin as well, of course. It was a joy for her, and something that needed to be done in any case, for three kits couldn't be left unattended with no mother or father to watch over them. But she had to admit that she was rather out of practice with it, for all that, and welcomed the chance to slip away to spend one night with only herself.

She didn't notice them yet, the cats who waited and watched only foxlengths away. Her mind was elsewhere, consumed by the star-studded sky and the scents of the darkness. She searched not for intruders, but for prey, expecting all but the night-dwellers to be curled up in their nests with only their dreams to engage them. As she would have been, most nights.

Parting her jaws and taking in the forest's flavours, Mottledleaf thought then to wonder at the stillness of it. Though insects sang their keening songs, and bats flew, now and again, overhead, the scuffles and subtle movements of prey in the undergrowth were strangely absent. Puzzled, the she-cat flicked leaf green eyes around, seeing nothing, for the rogue nearby was hidden by a bush between them. But she scented strange cats nearby, and faced the bush presently, wish suspicion in her eyes.

"Who goes there?" Her question was wary, but insistent. This was ThunderClan land; danger could not be fled from here, not before it was first assessed and then dealt with accordingly. It could be no other way, if their territory was to have even a modicum of safety. "Show yourselves, please."

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Stella crouched in the branches of the tree, waiting for the other presence to reveal itself and, against her better judgment, expecting some kind of night-monster or a Clan cat even stranger than... what were their names, Snake... something... Snaketail. That's right, Snaketail and Lightningclaw! (So cool, she thought in the back of her mind. She wished she had a name like that; they were so different from the names that the loners had.)

But the rustling turned out to be the sound of a black and white tom coming up to the base of the tree.

Aww. She was kind of getting her hopes up that it was a monster.

"Ah, I think so!" Stella replied cheerily. "I was just being careful, you never know who might be around..." The silver she-cat made to slide down from the tree, but she froze when another voice reached her ears. This voice was female, and suspicious where the tom's was calm. Stella glanced down from the bough of the tree on which she was standing, and saw that it belonged to a brown tabby she-cat who looked too poised and strong to be anything but one of the warrior cats.

Excitement rose in her chest -- another Clan cat, and one from a different Clan this time! In spite of that, she felt a twinge of apprehension. After all, they were kind of trespassing on ThunderClan territory, and the ThunderClan cats probably wouldn't be happy about that. Stella had no way of knowing what this she-cat planned to do to any intruders, but then again she'd said "please," so maybe it would be okay?

She stayed paused in the tree, ready to leap down, and looked questioningly at her scouting partner. Even if she wanted to go say hi, there was someone else on the mission with her, too, and she couldn't just give them away without asking for his opinion first.

[Yoko]

Lost nodded. His fellow scout was not what he had expected, but then he had not expected much to begin with. She seemed rather pleasant at least and she had chosen a good spot to do recon from. The silver tortie was already sliding down the tree before Lost could tell her she didn't have to, but they both froze at the sound of a she-cat's voice. There were only supposed to be two of them out here, so the third was undoubtedly ThunderClan. The black and white tom glanced up, the loner seemed to be staring intently from her spot in the tree.

She can see the ThunderClan cat.

The loner looked back to him, as if asking what to do. Lost didn't feel much like a leader these days, but for their safety he would make a few suggestions. With his tail, he waved for her to get further into the leaves. Their mission had just begun and they he had hardly learned anything about the ThunderClan territory. It was too soon to get caught.

Out of practice, but still a master of ShadowClan stealth, Lost slid slowly further into the bramble bushes, weaving among the lush undergrowth and not at all fearful of the small rustling that his fur rubbing against the leaves made. Carefully, he pawed the ground, stopping only when he felt a rock the size of his paw. With all his might, he flung the rock to his far left, hoping that the sudden movement and noise would distract his opponent. Let her search elsewhere.

In the meantime, his mind raced to find useful information now,in case they, or just he, was captured early. Scents suggested that this was a prey-rich area, squirrels,mice, and thrush. Yet the silence might mean that night hunting would not be efficient.

His amber eyes had yet to see the ThunerClan she-cat from his throne of darkness, crouching in the shadows of a holly bush.

[. s p o r e l e t t ♪]

To Mottledleaf's complete lack of surprise, neither of the unfamiliar scents present nearby resolved themselves into feline shapes. It looked like, although it hadn't hurt to try, asking nicely wasn't doing the job. Cautious of following, very much aware that she was a lone cat with no precise idea of where her quarries were, she nonetheless crept forward, paws pressing softly into the dry forest floor as she eased around the looming bush.

The space behind was empty, yawning almost teasingly with its obvious absence of any intruders, but a rustle and slight thump from nearby caused her ears to twitch to the left of her. It didn't sound like a cat, unless that cat had stones for paws, but it did give her some insight into the mind of at least one of the cats nearby. If they were clever enough to distract her attention, it might be dangerous to linger around and give them the opportunity to attack. Even now they could be circling around to catch her by surprise, she thought warily. Best not to give them that option.

Still, she didn't want to go back to camp on a scent alone. The Clanless rogues were still nearby, she was certain. If she could catch a glimpse of them, it might be easier to track them down later so that they could be dealt with. They'd likely vanish from here as soon as she went for help in any case, so, like any true cat of ThunderClan, Mottledleaf turned to the most sensible option, in her eyes. Turning, she leapt into the shadows and, like a ghost, scaled the nearest tree with silent grace.

And almost fell out of it again when she came face to face with a pair of glowing green eyes.

Mottledleaf scrambled to retrieve her balance, and her dignity. When she had safely caught both, she perched nimbly on a branch adjacent to the silver loner's, deep green eyes assessing the young she-cat while her senses flicked about in search of her companion below. She found nothing, and wondered if the tom had used his friend as a distraction so he could slip away. "May I ask what your purpose here is?" she said sweetly to the younger cat, her eyes glittering brightly in the gloom. "This land is the territory of ThunderClan. We don't permit outsiders to hunt here."

[Yoko]

His ears strained to compensate for lack of sight of the enemy. She certainly didn't sound like she was leaving. It was a simple trick, but every once and a while a cat would fall for it. Suddenly it sounded as if she were moving after all, but the relief was stifled by the sound of claws scratching. He wondered what the sound could be, but he stayed perfectly still, confident in his shelter. Many mouse-brained cats would lose perfectly good cover out of fear that their shelter was insufficient.

The rustle of branches. Had his loner companion moved, or had the ThunderClan cat climbed a tree. She was speaking again and her words pointed towards the latter. A nice voice this she-cat had, and her tone was rather appropriate for polite words. All the same. He had a mission to complete. It sounded as if there would be no battle between the two. If there was, he would certainly come to the other loners aid. In the meantime, he moved with ghostlike silence through the shadows of the underbrush. His fur was tickled by the leaves from how lightly he brushed by them, curving around in the direction he had thrown the stone.

Apparently ThunderClan cats frequented the area. It was strong with their scent. But the final and most vital question, although Snaketail had downplayed it a bit, was how far away from the area was camp? The ThunderClan she-cat had travelled an awfully open path, but he followed her scent as closely as he could as he edged away from their tree.

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Almost before Stella knew it, she had been spotted in the tree; the other cat stumbled in surprise at the sight of her, which Stella hadn't really expected. I'm not too scary, she thought, but then, having heard what her father was like... anyway, the she-cat was speaking to her and her loner cohort seemed to have slipped away. That was good. She would have to cover for him while he scouted the area, create a distraction of some kind.

"Oh, don't worry, I wasn't hunting," Stella said in reply to the Clan cat's question. Well, she couldn't say that ShadowClan had sent her, that wouldn't go over well at all, but...

It was then that it hit the silver loner that she was standing face to face with a real ThunderClan cat. A real ThunderClan cat! "You're a Clan cat!" she exclaimed enthusiastically. "Well, of course you are, I mean, that's kind of a dumb thing for me to say, but I didn't know if I'd ever meet a real ThunderClan cat, but now I have! Um, I mean, I'm sorry for being in your territory, but I'm just really curious about how things are in the forest!"

That should give her fellow loner some time, she thought.

And also she really was kind of curious about how things worked in the Clans.

Sometimes it was hard to tell if Stella was being honest when it came to these outbursts, or if she was just using them to trick others into not seeing her as a threat. The genuine excitement in her voice usually convinced them of the former. (Of course, the silver-furred loner thought, why couldn't both be true?)