(Crow/Running/Claw) Who Are You?

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It had been a day since the strange loner tom had been brought into the ShadowClan camp, and Spottedstar felt like she was sitting on pine cones. The leader had had trouble thinking about much else besides the tom healing in the medicine cat's den. Runningpath had claimed that there was a possibility of the loner being her kin, which would either make Crow a ShadowClan cat by blood, or- the second option the she-cat wasn't hoping for as much- the two black cats were both loners. Spottedstar didn't recall much about Runningpath's past, as they must have been kits around the same time. Was it possible that she had wandered into the camp as a kit?

The ginger-patched leader twitched her whiskers. No, that couldn't be it. Runningpath was a good warrior, and a mother to fine kits. She couldn't possibly be a loner.

Still, the only cat who could resolve the absolute truth on the matter was Crow. That was why Spottedstar had padded over to the medicine den and poked her head inside, in hopes of seeing a conscious loner inside. "Hello?"

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The tom watched as the sun had come up the next day. It seemed he had passed out and he only remembered bits and pieces of what happened in the medicene den. He did know that the medicene cat had helped him for his leg was filling better now and was just stiff.

It was now mid-afternoon, and he decided to move his leg about and found that he could without wincing. He had to hand it to the clans, they were great at this stuff. A sudden scent came upon him and he turned his head to look at the entrance. The leader's head poked through. From her tone of voice, he could tell that the hello was for him.

Blinking, he kept laying on his bed, but acknowledged Spottedstar with a twitch of his ears. "Hello to you too," he stated politely.

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Spottedstar only blinked in response to the tom, feeling a little odd from the different thoughts in her mind. The leader then stepped fully into the medicine den so that she wouldn't have to speak to Crow with only her head in the archway, and took a seat near the black loner's nest. Thankfully the den was roomy enough so that the she-cat didn't feel cramped up inside. "I came to check in on how you were doing," the patched leader explained, glancing him over for signs of injury. He looked fine, for the most part. Just tired. Hopefully that was all.

"You've caused a bit of commotion in my Clan lately... Not you personally, really, but between some of my warriors. It seemed like you knew Mudstripe well enough." Spottedstar twitched her whiskers. The tom was aggressive, to be sure, but he was still a loyal tom. An improvement from some previous warriors of the Clan. "Some of the Clan isn't so fond of loners on our territory. You must understand, we set our boarders to prevent loners and rouges from passing in, causing trouble or stealing our prey. I'm not so fond of the matter, myself. But it appears that you may have some interesting ties to Runningpath."

The ginger and white she-cat curled her tail around her paws as she paused for a moment, trying to process the words in her mind. "Runningpath has already told me that you've been meeting up near the boarder. She claims that its possible that the two of you are related."

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Crow listened to the clan leader's words and grew a little frustrated on how she looked at him and said how she had come to check up on him to see if he was okay. Of course he was okay! He was a loner and his body was used to pain. Inside though, he knew he owed something to this clan for saving him, but that just frustrated him more. A loner never did anything for a clan, ever, unless they had ties to them from their past.

He kept the turmoil inside secret and kept his gaze on Spottedstar. When she was done, he nodded and looked away for a second. Trying to collect his thoughts, he turned his gaze back towards the leader.

"I'm doing much better, thank you. I only dislocated my shoulder and putting weight on it didn't help," he smiled. Crow had sustained a few bad bruises that had bled a bit, but he didn't want to state that. The whole thought of fainting in the clan's territory embarrassed him.

Mulling over what Spottedstar had said last, he decided to reply. "It is very possible we may be related and Mudstripe isn't helping in the least," he flatly said with a glint in his eye at the mention of the tom. He wasn't going to forget his almost equal in battle.

Crow still had much to say about his thoughts of the relation, his past he couldn't totally recall, and the voices that had caused this whole mess. He waited patiently or the leader to reply though. If she wished to know about those matters, she'd have to ask.

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Spottedstar twitched her tail-tip, not quite feeling at ease in the situation, but knowing that this had to get done sooner rather than later. "Well, it's good that your injuries aren't beyond help. Clawheart will do everything he can to make sure that you have a full recovery." She had seen that look in his eyes, though, and it flared some hope in her. He was proud, he had spirit. He'd been offended at being thought of as weak. Promising signs of a bloodline.

"You can't dwell too much on Mudstripe... He's a loyal warrior, really, just very fierce about it." The white and ginger she-cat gave an apologetic smile. "But that's hardly important right now. What is important is your relation to Runningpath. I find it very important to know if there is a possibility that you share our ShadowClan blood. If there's a chance that you could remember something about the matter from your kithood, you could have a place here as a ShadowClan warrior." She then bit her tongue and waited. She was having quite a hard time of putting this. Did it sound too rushed? She didn't want to impose on the loner tom. But in a time when ShadowClan cats were few and far between, Spottedstar felt like she was being backed into a corner.

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Crow sat up though as Spottedstar continued. He nodded to tell her he understood that the medicine cat would help as best it could.

He listened about Mudstripe and couldn't help, but let a smirk escape him. The loner loved the way the leader had summed that tom up in a few simple words. Then she got to business and he sat up straighter, minding the bruises he had. Spottedstar quickly rushed through everything and he sat there, blinking at her.

She was going to let him join a clan if he had blood? That struck him as odd, but he couldn't help, but think about how Mudstripe would act at that. Total retaliation! So funny to see his face! It was a more serious matter though and his ears went down as if he was about to hiss at the leader in defiance.

How dare she think he'd change his loyalties so fast, give up the only life he knew, just to know the truth about her dear warrior. He wasn't to be used like a piece of prey, only once. He wasn't a kittypet either that would do anything to get a prize.

Crow knew he was being unreasonable, but it infuriated him. He did put his ears back up though as he regained his composure. With a heavy sigh, he looked away. "Spottedstar, you do understand that just remembering isn't as easy as catching a mouse. If it were, I would have already told you and Runningpath," he said truthfully. At the last bit, he looked meaningfully into Spottedstar's eyes.

"There is only one thing I can tell you right now. She looks like me, almost smells like me, and I have this warm feelings when around her. But there is something else. You see, ever since I met Runningpath, voices follow me everywhere I go. The night I came, I had been following the trail of volume they gave me. It caused me to pass out and get hurt," he said softly as his gaze trailed away onto a feather as if he was not happy to express his weakness.

"I've realized that now I'm in the camp here, it seems to have stopped, but when I go out for a stretch they come back....," he said as kept studying the feather. His eyes traveled back up to the leader as he said,"Are these stupid voices coming from the clans?" He hissed softly the last part.

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Seeing the tom's offended reaction made the leader want to work her claws on the earth to rid herself of the awkward feeling. But she had to retain her disposition. This wasn't starting off very well, but she couldn't let this tom slip by without really considering her option.

As he began to explain, Spottedstar looked down and shook her head. "I know, I know. I know that it can't be easy. I can't remember parts of my own past. Runningpath asked me if I could remember if she had a littermate, but I just couldn't say." She sighed. "And I can understand that you don't feel like leaping into our Clan just like that.. It's just that times are going to be hard right now for the Clan, with so few warriors and no kits..." Realizing what she was going on about, Spottedstar gave a quick shake of her head. "Nevermind."

Then, as he went on, her ears pricked at the mention of these 'voices' that he heard. Her mind began to race as he went on. Voices... Louder near camp, but nothing inside it... Now she did let her claws slip out, making little indentations in the earth. "I'm not sure what these voices are... But the two possibilities I can think of are, one, memories. The other I'm not even sure you'll understand, but, I have to say that it might be StarClan trying to speak to you."

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Crow closed his eyes while he listened to Spottedstar. It was wierd that she, a clan cat, understood him perfectly well. She even felt for his feelings. He felt surprised, but was glad that this was the case. It wouldn't do him any good if she turned out to be another Mudstripe.

As she replied to what he had said last, he opened his gaze and flicked his ears. "Memories? I doubt it...Starclan? What is that? I thought there was only four clans in this area unless you have all learned to hide underground and prosper there like badgers."

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Spottedstar gave a small smile in amusement. "No, we rather prefer to live above the earth rather than under it. StarClan is the Clan made up of the spirits of our ancestors, those who have died and gone to the hunting grounds in Silverpelt." The leader raised her head to look up above. Of course, they were inside the medicine den, and it was daylight in any matter, but still. "It's the largest patch of stars in the night sky. They watch over us, and guide our pawsteps throughout our lives. And yes, I am being very serious," she added in, anticipating the question. A loner would not have any knowledge of StarClan, and most likely would not understand. "It's possible that they may be trying to speak to you."

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Crow tried to understand everything Spottedstar was trying to tell him. He looked up when she did and cocked his head. His ear twitched to the side as he looked back at the leader. Something inside him felt pulled to believe her, that all was okay in the world and this clan could help. But how could a bunch of dead cats do anything other than stare at them below.

When the speech was over, his head began to ache and he felt nausea coming upon him as a bunch of whispers intruded louder than ever. His eyes found Spottedstar's and the feeling subsided. Fox-dung voices not leaving me alone. Crow's whiskers quivered, not wanting the feeling to come back. All he wanted was peace in his mind once again. Was it really that hard to ask for?!

The loner snorted lightly at Spottedstar's last remark. "Why would Starclan want to speak with me if they are who you say they are? I'm just a loner who's never lived a clan life in my years."

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At his question, Spottedstar blinked with uncertainty. "StarClan works in mysterious ways. Usually they are hard to understand. They can never just come out and say what they mean plainly. They leave things like that up to us to discover." The ginger and white she-cat curled her tail around her paws as she thought. His case was certainly not an easy one. The ShadowClan leader really didn't know what to make of it. "Perhaps they wanted to wait until you found Runningpath. Perhaps they were trying to lead you here for a reason." Spottedstar looked at the tom's face, looking for something there that would explain it all. Something that she knew wouldn't be there.

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The leader's uncertain gaze made him a bit weary. How could she talk about the Starclan without being certain? Crow listened to what she had to say though, just as respectively as another clan cat would.

What she said startled him. How could these ancestors look down at them and not do anything blankly in times of trouble. Sure puzzles could be thrown in for successors or that sort of stuff, not this though. They were talking about him now, not something that would happen eventually, but now.

At her questioning glance, after she was done, landed on him, he looked right back at her in bewilderment. Crow ended up shrugging his shoulders. "That is a bunch of perhaps," he sighed. A thought occurred to him and his ears straightened. "Is there a way for you clan cats to talk to them other than having these weird things happening?," he asked sincerely.

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Spottedstar gave a small smile. "Yes, sorry about that. It's just that StarClan can, like I said, be very diffficult to interpret. It takes time to unravel everything." Then as she listened to his question, her paws began to prickle. Of course she knew the answer as well as any Clan cat. But this tom was implying that he would want to go there... Was it a place for loners? Of course not. But this particular loner... The leader's tail-tip began to flicker. "Yes, actually there is... About an afternoon's journy from here is a place called Mothermouth. Do you know that ridge of mountains farther off? That is where it lies. It is a stone that lies far within the cave called Mothermouth, and it glistens with moonlight when the moon shines directly down at moonhigh. Leaders and medicine cats travel there when they need to speak most directly to StarClan." It was the most sacred place known to the Clans, and Spottedstar was a little hesitant to allow just any cat to go there. But, she reminded herself. what if Crow is more than a loner? This may be the only way to find out for sure.

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Crow's eyes narrowed as Spottedstar answered his question. He nodded as she described the ridge. What loner didn't know about that ridge? It was on land far from the forest, barely a whiff of mouse, and dogs sometimes sauntered around there. Of course it had the best view of the sky at night and day. Flowers grew in the fields as well, with grasses taller than a cat. No one ventured into the dark crevices though and clan cats going into it just made sense since they were already weird to begin with.

The name of the cave surprised him though. He'd never thought of it like a mouth, but rather like a big hole or pipe opening. A stone being lit inside with a light that could pierce the darkness confused him. Wasn't there rocks all inside of it? Wouldn't they all glow? Actually, how could a rock glow? Clearly these clan cats were bonkers, but this was his only chance to figure out what was going on and he wasn't about to blow it.

From the way Mothermouth was described, he could tell it was sacred to the clans. Why wouldn't it be if a bunch of dead ancestors talked to leaders and medicine cats? Crow cocked his head slowly with slitted eyes. "Let me guess, I'm not going to be allowed to go there am I, even though its important?," he mewed.

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Spottedstar grimaced at the loner's retort. "It's not that... Well, I suppose it somewhat is. The Moonstone isn't just for any cat to visit, and at first thought, I wouldn't even begin to consider showing an outsider the way. But you're right, it is important. You have a reason and a right to go." The idea still seemed undesirable to the leader, but what other option was there? If there was just a shard of possibility that Crow was of ShadowClan blood, the only way the Clan would believe it was from StarClan themselves. She had to hope for that, at least.

"I'd suggest going tonight, but the full moon is dedicated to the Gathering, when all the Clans meet in peace to discuss. If you're up for the journey, we could go the day after."