[Deleted]

LONER | 84 MOONS

It seemed like a dream.

Grousefeather felt her heart patter like the paws of a fleeing vole as she neared the RainClan border with her granddaughter. She could finally teach her kin about all the things she couldn't apply in the mountains: what it really meant to be a cat. The brown tabby she-cat wasn't as stealthy as she once was, though she still kept her thin form well camouflaged and quiet, at least, more-so than her companion.

Ternpaw stuck out like a tree in a field.

A tree who could talk endlessly.

It was just after dawn, making Grousefeather quite nervous. She hoped the morning patrol was running late, and relief coursed through her body when she scented old markers. They would wait until the warriors came. RainClan would undoubtedly be suspicious of them, though Grousefeather had her speech planned to a T. The elder began grooming her pelt: she didn't want to look like a rogue when her clan showed up.

The old she-cat heard an audible rustle, looking hopefully in the direction of a cluster of hardwoods. She was horrified to see Ternpaw on RainClan's side of the border several cat-lengths up a large oak. Grousefeather couldn't help but gape for a moment, fear of rejection making her hiss startlingly violent.

"Ternpaw! Come back!"

Too late.

Grousefeather noticed a brown tabby tom slip through the bushes, along with a few others. Seeing the tom's hackles raise was enough to send her sprinting to her granddaughter protectively. Ternpaw had jumped to the ground, fur fluffed up anxiously as the patrol approached. The brown tabby tom moved with a noticeable limp, though his posture was oppressive and intimidating to the she-cats who were so often treated kindly by their kin and travelers alike. Grousefeather's heart pounded. This is all wrong. It has all gone so wrong! She wallowed in shame and apprehension, the brown tom's voice made her feel like she had been dunked in cold water.

An icy chill scuttled up her spine.

"What are you doing here?" He hissed dangerously. "This is RainClan territory."

Grousefeather's short fur began spiking up nervously, and her heart melted when Ternpaw piped up behind her, squeezing past her grandmother to face the angry tom.

"RainClan?" Ternpaw's voice was bubbly, and the fear that had manifested itself in her posture moments ago had vanished, replaced with exuberance. "Grousefeather, we made it!"

COME BACK TO THESE DAYS

Grousefeather

Word Count: 413
Tags: @calico Justice
Notes: Adderstrike and Piketooth are on the RC patrol, plus whomever would like to join!