(Tangle/Ice) Just Another Little Cat

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Firestar hissed, turning to Tanglestar, "Because your idiot warriors took our apprentice here instead of taking him home! This is your clans fault so I am going to have him under surveillance 24/7!" she snarled, her fur standing on end. "Icepaw is a RiverClan apprentice, not some rouge you can nurse back to health and expect to join your clan! Now since he is stuck here until his leg is healed you are going to have to tolorate a warrior in your camp now and again until he can be transported to Miraclefur's den!"

[Tanglekit]

Tanglestar saw Firestar began to prickle and another growl of rage rang from her throat. "You little apprentice was trespassing in our territory when he was injured while attacking Riddlehawk. We are no thieves and you have no rights to place a warrior in my camp without my consent.", she spat giving a point. It didn't matter if Firestar willed it to be if Tanglestar didn't want Riverclan warriors in her camp she had the right to chase them off, no matter who was in their camp. She turned back to Icepaw wondering if he really was happy. "Icepaw has been here for almost a moon and yet you haven't taken any action to recover him until Rainwing alerted you.", she hissed her remarks, hoping that Icepaw would become angry with his clan and turn form him. She liked the young tom and although he was Riverclan she wanted him to stay. She would never force him, but she would always welcome him.

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"He has been here for a MOON?! And you didn't even MENTION this at a gathering or at least a border patrol?! How were we supposed to know he was even here, I assumed he was with his adopted or biological mother, they are both loners." she snarled, her claws sinking into the dirt.

[Tanglekit]

Tanglestar's snarl turned to a wicked smile. "I said almost a moon so of coarse I didn't say anything at the gathering because there wasn't one. And what did you want Riddlehawk to do? Drag him home and put him through more pain. What do you do let your warriors come and go as they please.", she smirked. It was not her responsibility to return apprentices that had gotten lost on their way into her territory. "You can say what you want but when it comes to my camp it is my descicion.", she hissed turning back to rage from amusement.

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"Yes, of coarse, because the difference between dragging him home and dragging him to your camp was so different." she flicked her tail, "Well then, your Highness[/i]." She sneered, "If you could so Kindly let us speak with our apprentice it would be much appreciated." she emphasized the High and the Kind.

[Tanglekit]

Tanglestar regained her amusement n the she-cat. "Go ahead talk all you want, and then when you are finished GET OUT OF MY CAMP.", she growled emphasizing the last bit. She gritted her teeth and padded from the den twitching her tail for Dirtfur and Rainwing to follow her from the den. Her gnashing teeth could probably be heard by a cat standing by the river but no matter, she would want to know what trickery the leader was using to keep Icepaw under her spell. How easily her excuse could be seen through. She had not even missed the apprentice until know and she was too incompetent to form her own opinions s to where the tom's whereabouts, having to be clued in by Rainwing. She hoped that Icepaw would see right through Firestar's scam and take off the blinkers forcing him to see only what the riverclan leader want him to.

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When Firestar came into the den, Icepaw's eyes almost popped right out of his head. "Firestar!" he mewed, relief and joy in his voice. So he hadn't been forgotten. The apprentice was overjoyed to see that his leader had actually made her way into the ThunderClan camp to find him. He must have meant something if she had. As she continued to talk, his eyes gleamed happily. "That sounds great," he purred. "I can't stand being in here much longer. I-"

The pale tabby tom cut himself off as Tanglestar returned into the den, bristling at both Firestar and Rainwing. His ears fell flat against his skull. Rage was practically pulsing off her pelt. Things weren't going to turn out well- he could tell that much. Firestar's rebuke seemed to affirm that, as well, as hisses began flying. The two grown she-cats' presences were almost looming over him as he lay stuck in his nest.

Icepaw couldn't help but flinch when Tanglestar told Firestar about just how he'd ended up in Rainwing's den. That was completely one sided! She didn't understand at all! Riddlehawk had equally baited and fought him. She made it sound like the whole thing was all his fault. But when Tanglestar then reminded the RiverClan leader just how long he'd been in the camp, his anger flickered into doubt. She was still right on that. He'd been here for ages. Why had it taken Firestar so long? The tom looked to her, hoping badly that there had been some good reason. But as she reacted as if she hadn't even realized, his heart sank a little more. So she hadn't noticed? Her thoughts about him being with his loner family seemed faulty to him. If he had been with them, surely he would have returned before a whole moon had passed. Still, Tanglestar's obviously sarcastic secondhand option seemed better than having stayed here. Than having to deal with two Clan leaders fighting over him. Ignorance would have been better.

Icepaw then looked back up to the two she-cats. Firestar wanted to talk to him alone. Tanglestar didn't seem to happy about the idea, but she agreed and stalked off. Once she had gone, Icepaw looked back up to Firestar, feeling more confused than he ever had before. What did this all add up to? Did Firestar care or not? Had Tanglestar actually been right all along? Nothing made sense anymore! All he could do was look up at the orange she-cat and wait for her to say something.

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Firestar sighed, she felt helpless in the matter of Icepaw, perhaps she had not acted about Icepaw, but It wasn't that she didn't care. With leaf-fall coming the clan would be as hungry as ever, with ice over the lake. She couldn't help with a twinge of regret how she had even been ignoring her own daughters and their feud. She didn't even know how it had started. Her gaze looked old and withered as she turned away from Tanglestar. She couldn't show weakness, not here, but it all seemed to hit her in one blow. She had failed, she had failed as a leader, as a deputy, as a warrior.... as a mother. It was her fault Froststorm died in the first place! If she had stopped the fighting so lang ago when she was deputy he wouldn't have been dead! Needleheart had even said so, it was her fault Froststorm was dead... With another pang she remembered what Needleheart would do if she did not return with positive news about Icepaw. Sadness caught in her throat but she shook it off, and put of a leaderly face. "Icepaw, don't believe a word of Tanglestar. She only wants another for her clan. RiverClan is where you belong." her shoulders sagged a bit, sitting down. "I suppose you want an explanation for our... lateness then..." she mewed her ears folding sadly.

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Icepaw twitched his whiskers as he listened to Firestar's words, wanting badly to not have to deal with this. He of course still wanted to go back to RiverClan, right? Yes, he had to. Unfortunately, Tanglestar's words were ringing louder than his own leader's. He'd been tossed aside. Forgotten. The pale tabby's claws dug into his nest, and he glanced down to observe their work. He knew he belonged in RiverClan, but emotions were conflicting. "Yeah," he mewed when Firestar finished, trailing off. "Did... Did you really not notice I was gone? I mean, it's almost been a whole moon, like Tanglestar said. Tell me the truth." The tom's bright eyes were dimming as he looked up at Firestar. Every hair on his pelt wanted her to brush it off as nonsense. But he had a feeling that it wasn't the truth.

[Tanglekit]

Tanglestar was paseing back and forth waiting for the Riverclan leader to leave. Contrary to teh way she acted she actually wanted Icepaw to stay here with her, safe from so many evils in the world. She wanted to tom to feel safe here and make a new life where he didn't have to ask if he was wanted... Where he would know he was wanted. "I want you here.", she whispered as quietly as could be hoping that by some will of the stars Icepaw would get the message.

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Rainwing could feel his leader's heated gaze on his pelt but he didn't acknowledge it. It was the right thing to do, to tell Riverclan what was going on, and he couldn't stop them from coming here. He could see confusion in Icepaw's eyes and wondered what Tanglestar had said to him while he was gone. He didn't see Skypaw, so she must have asked him to leave so it was just her and Icepaw. He frowned as the leaders began to argue, sighing. This was not the time for this and was not good for Icepaw.

"Course we noticed you were gone Icepaw, don't be silly. How could miss someone like you?" Now another, younger female voice spoke up and a pretty white apprentice stepped out from behind Firestar. Her scent was Riverclan, so obviously she came with the group Firestar had assembled. She gave a smile that was sweet but had something a little extra to it if you looked close enough. Her name is Featherpaw. "Firestar, I'll stay and watch him if you'd like."

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Icepaw had been so focused on Firestar that he must not have realized that there had been a second RiverClan cat behind the leader. It was another she-cat he had known. Perhaps not as well as some, but definitely a face he was glad to recognize. His eyes blinked and widened, along with his ears pricking. "Featherpaw?" He blinked again in surprise. Yes, she was really there.

Her words gave the young tom a little sense of relief. So, at least one cat had actually noticed? Firestar's silence wasn't proving so positive on her part, but Featherpaw's just being there was good enough for him. Truth be told, he had few friends that were actually, well, normal friends. The cats he was closest to were grown cats. But Featherpaw had always seemed like an alright cat. "It's just that I've been laying here for a good while. And Tanglestar said..." He trailed off, glancing back down to his paws for a moment. The ThunderClan leader's words still buzzed around in his mind like an angry fly.

Featherpaw's suggestion brought his head back up. What? Why would she even think about that? No cat wanted to hang out here. "Hey, there's no need for that," he mewed, shifting into a sitting position so he could actually look at her rather than up at her. "Seriously, this place is a bore. And besides, I doubt Tanglestar would allow it." His eyes flickered to the den's opening, where he thought he had heard the leader's voice murmur something. But the offer was a nice one, all the same. Icepaw wouldn't deny that it would be nice to have someone he actually knew there, but getting Tanglestar to say yes... It would never happen.

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Firestar sighed, "Icepaw, we honestly did notice your absence. But we had no idea where you had gone, look at it from our point of view, an apprentice goes missing on the brink of Leaf-bare. We barely had enough warriors to catch enough food let alone send tons of search parties. We don't know where you are and If we had accused the clans we would be thrown into a war again and be right back where we were when Crookedstar was leader, in war and hunger. We lost many cats at that time." she mewed, remembering Froststorm again. "Icepaw, some of us suspected you were gone for good." by some of us she meant she had never expected to see him again. "If we had known you were here we would have come as quickly as I had today."

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Icepaw turned back to listen to what Firestar had to say, but a small frown returned to his face as he did. He knew her excuse was perfectly reasonable. It happened- cats did go missing during leafbare. They never would have even thought to look for him beyond the boarder in the first place, even if they had sent out a search party. But still, all the same, he was remembering Tanglestar's words. "I know," the pale tabby mewed, glancing back down to his paws rather than meeting his leader's eyes. "I understand. I get it. It's okay." Icepaw worked at the nest a little more with his claws. "I guess I was just worried that nobody cared if I was there or not. I mean, I wasn't born in RiverClan. I'm worth about as much as any old loner. So I guess maybe I assumed the worst."

[Tanglekit]

Tanglestar's tail lashed savagely when she thought of the words being exchanged by the cats in the den, she was impatient. She wanted to hear what was going on and fight for the pale tom. He must have been so confused, and Firestar sowing her lies was not helping. She kneaded the growl growling all the while. All she wanted was what was best for the tom, and she really did think that he would have a better life here in Thunderclan.