Let me spin you a story, Briarclaw [Tagged]

[Dyzzie]

Midnight -- hey mid, so I figured I'd do a seperate thread for Mudpaw telling Briarclaw about his last encounter with Pebblestar xP


The apprentice paced slowly as he waited by the elder dens where he'd been told by the Deputy to meet her. He wanted to make sure she knew about . . . about Chance, and what he'd told Pebblestar about Chance's path. Pebblestar had agreed to let him help Chance out, but he couldn't help but worry now. Worry that it would only end up hurting him in the long run, that by helping the poor female, it had endangered his leader, his clan - the one thing he'd been hoping to avoid. It was time for Chance to meet someone else from the clan - or at least, for him to explain Chance to someone else.

The older apprentice sighed, shaking his head, long fur fluffing up on the cool, winter breeze before laying flat, the tabby-siamese almost impatient. He'd had hoped not to bring this up with Briarclaw with out Pebblestar there to assure that he had been given the permission to aid a non-clan cat on Talonclan soil. but regardless to any concequences in regards to his actions (whether deserved or not), his duty was to his clan first. Always to the clan, and that meant exposing Chance to the deputy so that if she was the reason Pebblestar was missing . . . . then hopefully it could lead them to their leader. If not, well, the Deputy would be warned in case anything did happen because he was aiding Chance. Either way . . . it was time for Briarclaw to know.

[Midnight]

Briarclaw was worn out from dealing with all of the cats in the Clans, answering their seemingly endless questions and then assigning them to various patrols in the hope that someone would find Pebblestar at some point. In a way, a lot of it seemed hopeless - if they were going to find their leader, wouldn't they have found her already? Briarclaw was beginning to legitimately consider the idea that Pebblestar had cracked under the pressure and just plain ol' left. Who was the father to her unborn kits, anyway? Was he in the Clan? Briarclaw knew that Pebblestar had an in-Clan mate at some point, but she forgot who he was and she hadn't seen him around in moons, so it was safe to assume that he had left the Clan. Did Pebblestar continue to see her old mate, who convinced her to leave the Clan? Or maybe the TalonClan leader had a new mate who she wanted to be with, and so she disappeared without warning?

Were the other Clans to blame here? Did someone... did some cat kidnap Pebblestar?! No, that wasn't possible. Pebblestar could handle herself - or... could she? If there was a group of cats, could they have successfully taken TalonClan's leader hostage? but what purpose would that serve? Rogues were known to be dangerous, so it could have easily been a rogue group.

That was it. If Pebblestar didn't come back by the time the next gathering came around, she would ask the other leaders about it. No rogue group had any reason to kidnap their leader, Pebblestar wouldn't have left without alerting Briarclaw, and that left only the possibility that some Clan had kidnapped her to use her as bait because they wanted something. It was all so clear that Briarclaw wondered how in StarClan she hadn't thought of it before.


Slowly entering the elders' den, Briarclaw's eyes adjusted and she noticed that Mudpaw had arrived as promised. Briarclaw nodded her head to the tom and greeted him, "Hello, Mudpaw. You wanted to speak to me in private about something that might relate to Pebblestar?" It wasn't always the best idea to take an apprentice's word on such an important matter, but Mudpaw was an older apprentice, and considering the situation, Briarclaw would take any word she could get - unless the cat appeared to be lying, of course, but by the looks of things, little Mudpaw wasn't lying... or was he?

Everything had become so disgustingly complicated as of late. As if it wasn't bad enough that Briarclaw was back to doubling up on leader and deputy duties, she now didn't even have a leader, and she had to watch her back, because any cat in TalonClan could be deceiving everyone. Any number of things could have happened to Pebblestar, and that was a terrifying fact.

[Dyzzie]

The tom looked up as the female finally showed, taking a deep breath, and returnning her nod of greeting, getting straight down to business, "Yes, I'm not sure if you're aware of the last time Pebblestar and I spoke." He started, standing tall and reporting what he knew. A good little soldier, this one was, "I was patrolling a moon or so ago, and came across a young female, nearly dead from exhaustion. Ran all the way from the loner territory . . . or was it rogue . . . . to Talonclan territory with out stopping due to fea. I brought Pebblestar to her, to explain not only why she came that far, but to ask if the feline could stay in a cave on the outskirts of territory while she recovered. Pebblestar granted the request if I were to be responsible for not only Chance, but our ex-med cat when said feline would accompany me to check on Chance." He reported.

"Chance, the feline I found, told me, after some convincing, that she'd escaped from a group of cats that had begun to kill cats both for their own pleasure, and by request from others. She warned me they may come lookigng for her, but that they were to small in numbers to be a threat to a clan, and wouldn't likely cause the clan any harm. I doubt that this could have been the work of these felines, but I wanted to make sure you knew about Chance, as well as these cats who kill by other's demands, in case it was because of them . . . . I'd rather all possibilities be explored, rather than one marked off from lack of probability only for it to be the cause later on." The tom finally took a deep breath, his sincere, pale blue eyes turning towards Briarclaw, "If this group of rogue cats did harm, or even take Pebblestar, I am prepared to face what ever concequences might be dealt, do to the fact I was the one who asked that Chance be able to recover with in the protection of our borders." The apprentice added with a bow of his head. If these cats had done anything, or had anything to do with Pebblestar's disapperance, Mudpaw would make sure they'd pay . . . especially after what they'd done to Chance . . . but even if they didn't . . . it was only fair to make sure Briarclaw knew of his and Pebblestar's arrangement anyway.

[Midnight]

Why would she be aware of when Mudpaw last spoke to Pebblestar? It was weird that Mudpaw would even consider that - of course Briarclaw hadn't been aware of it! Pebblestar and Briarclaw led very different lives and they rarely had the chance to talk, and when they did, it certainly wasn't going to be about what apprentice she'd last spoken to and how their conversation went. Briarclaw shook her head and continued listening to the tom, trying her best to fully absorb everything he was telling her.

When Mudpaw began talking about Pebblestar allowing him to tend to this she-cat, who would be staying at the edge of their territory, Briarclaw's ears perked. This was becoming more important than she initially expected. Why hadn't Pebblestar told Briarclaw about this? A cat living in some cave at the edge of TalonClan's territory was just asking to be harassed by an unknowing border patrol, so in a way, this was a bit suspicious. Had Pebblestar run off with this "Chance" cat?

Ah, and there it was. As Mudpaw went on, Briarclaw's eyes narrowed, and she focused acutely on the younger cat's eyes. Was he lying? He didn't appear to be. Hiding something? No, that wasn't it, either. The tortoiseshell's fur began slowly rising in fear as Mudpaw's words sunk in.

The deputy had a choice to make. Clearly, Pebblestar kept Chance a secret for a reason (although, for the life of her, Briarclaw could not think of any reasons for this), leaving Briarclaw to choose between breaking that secret and telling the Clan about chance or keeping it quiet and investigating on her own. There was another option, but it required a lot of trust. "I want you to meet me outside the warriors' den tomorrow morning. I'm going to grab two of our warriors and I want you to show me where Chance's home is. We're going to go talk to her. I would bring more cats, but I want this to be kept a secret, and I don't want to scare her by bringing too many Clan cats." Briarclaw turned around and began padding out. When she reached the beginning of the tunnel out, she stopped, a forepaw mid-air, and turned her head a bit, meowing back at Mudpaw, "Oh, and two questions: is this loner, by any possibility, pregnant? And why do you think... actually, scratch that, just that question will do." Briarclaw wanted to ask Mudpaw why Pebblestar hadn't told her about Chance, but she didn't want to place him in the position of spilling their leader's secrets, nor did she think he would know, anyway.

[Dyzzie]

The tom sighed, seeing the look on Briarclaw's face . . . . . clearly she hadn't been told, so he began to explain the situation, keeping his posture relaxed, and his tone calm (hoping to keep the deputy calm as well. He had no desire to alarm her with the news he brought to her. As her eyes narrowed, he met her gaze calmly, pleading for her to understand, to believe him, to know he would only speak the truth. He might just be an apprentice, a mere apprentice, but he was also devote to the clan, and would never dream to lie about something like this. No. Never. He looked towards the female quietly, eyes gentle, "I wish I could provide brighter news, but I felt it was my duty to inform you of this situation." He meowed.

He fell quiet when the deputy finally spoke, telling him to meet her outside the warriors' den tomorrow morn, and that they'd grab to warriors and he'd lead her to chance. He nodded in understanding, "I'm grateful to be of help. but let me go first to speak to her. She panics in large groups. The group of cats she is running from . . . . . did many horrible things to her. She's terrified of being stuck among so many. I'd like to keep her calm so she'll be able to answer your questions, and that'll only be possible if I approach her alone first, to explain the situation, before bringing you, and the others in." He meowed, before nodding when the female went to leave, watching her pause.

He looked surprised at the quesiton, confused even. Chance, pregnant? He shook his head, "No, not that I know of at least." He said with another shake of his head, "She'd have told me if she was." He added, certain it was true.