Distractions and Disturbances

[Shinko]

Blazetail flicked his ears, his eyes clouded with worry. The words of the other leaders at the Gathering had greatly disturbed the ginger tom, as had the aggressive reaction of his Clan leader. Not only that, but his apprentice had brought him a disturbing tale of a rouge trying to pass herself off as DarkClan to incite a war with LeafClan. <i>Circles within circles...</i>

He shook his head to cast off the feeling and bent down to pick up the packet of herbs for the elders. Their bones were aching again, and it didn't matter to them who was attacking whom or whether cats in other Clans were vanishing. Their joints were swollen from the rain, and they wanted their poppy seed and dock leaves <i>now</i>, thank you.

So preoccupied was the tom that he didn't even notice another cat in his path until he blundered into them.

[::Key::Lime/\RainyC::]

Flamestar was taken by surprise when Blazetail crashed into him. The large ginger tom did not fall, though, he stood like a rock, looking down at Blazetail. His green eyes were clouded,filed with thought and memories. Ever since the gathering he had needed to speak with Blazetail. The two high-positioned cats had been needing to talk and now they could. The DarkClan leader bent down and grabbed his medicine cat by the scruff, roughly pulling him up to his paws.

"Blazetail we need to talk" His voice betrayed little emotion. The only thing that shone through his words was worry. "The gathering has been something to think about and now I've thought about it."

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[Shinko]

Blazetail winced as Flamestar's teeth met his scruff. Ordinarily he would have indulged in some barbed comments, but since the accident was entirely his fault he didn't exactly have a reason to lay into the Clan leader with his tongue. "Sorry," he grumbled, "I was preoccupied. Flamestar..." he hesitated, the steeled himself and growled, "We need to talk Flamestar. It's important. Recent events have been spiraling out of control, and I fear for the safety of DarkClan if we cannot look at this situation with a calm, dispassionate eye."

As he spoke, he gathered up the herbs that had gone tumbling from his jaws when he fell.

[::Key::Lime/\RainyC::]

The orange tom's ears burned as Blazetail mentioned approaching this with a calm manner. He knew that his medicine cat was talking about the gathering when he had let his fury pour out. Even if Flamestar hadn't uttered a single scorching comment. But he couldn't just watch the clans around him crumble and take his clan down with them. It was his very nature to solve his clan's problems through raw bloodshed. Alas Flamestar could tell that Blazetail did not see it that way. So he just nodded against his instinct he meowed.

"You're right Blazetail." He sighed then added. "Where was your apprentice last night. He wasn't at the gathering and I didn't see her the whole rest of the night we were home?"

Fallowpaw, the medicine cat apprentice, had made Flamestar suspicious at times. She seemed to care more about the well-being of the other clans than her own clan. He had wondered if she was off curing a sickness in LeafClan or something.

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[Shinko]

"That's something else we need to discuss," he meowed, "But not here. There are too many ears that might react with panic or outrage at what I have to tell you, and this is a situation that will require the utmost delicacy." Gesturing with his tail, the medicine cat padded back into his den. For now, the elders would have to wait for their poppy. Aching joints wouldn't kill them, but enraged LeafClan warriors out for blood might.

As soon as he had reached the deepest part of his den, farthest from the exit, he turned back to wait for his Clan leader to follow. Tension prickled in every hair on his pelt.

[::Key::Lime/\RainyC::]

Flamestar listened closely. He got slightly worried when Blazetail told him that his clanmates shouldn't hear what he had to say. Why would they be enraged or be pushed into panic about why Fallowpaw was gone? The ginger tom had a feeling he was not going to like this. He sighed as the medicine cat got to his paws and padded into the en that they were sitting in front of. Together the two high positioned cats maneuvered through the shadows of the den. Scents of herbs flowed around him like a steady river. Catmint made his mouth water, poppy seeds made his pelt prickle, marigold made is nose scrunch.

When Flamestar came to the point where Blazetail had halted he saw that the ginger medicine cat was prickling at the pelt. "What is it Blazetail?"[/blockquote

[Shinko]

The medicine cat sighed, "Last night, Fallowpaw was wandering around the territory, when she scented what seemed to be one of our warriors crossing the border into LeafClan territory." he flicked his tail with a touch of impatience, "Mouse brain that she is, instead of reporting it back to camp like she should have as an apprentice, she decided to investigate on her own. She found out that the cat she was tracking wasn't one of ours; it was a rogue who had rolled in our markers to hide her scent. And... she was trying to murder a LeafClan apprentice. The rogue ran off, but Fallowpaw managed to get herself caught red-pawed... literally, since the apprentice was bleeding so much and she was standing over him to check his wounds... by a LeafClan warrior."

[::Key::Lime/\RainyC::]

Flamestar bit his lip, hard, and sighed. Just what they needed. He got to his paws and looked at the torn up ground where he had been clawing at it. "This is perfect" He hissed. "Just what we needed, our medicine cat apprentice, of all cats, gets LeafClan to think that we attacked them during a gathering!" he shook his head and paced a little. Thinking hard. That stupid apprentice is going to start a battle. And if we do than all the tension is going to flare up at the gathering. The forest can't stay quiet for long. Then a delirious glaze covered his green eyes, paling them. Chuckling a little he meowed. "What a beautiful and interesting way to start the battle!" He might as well be twitching and laughing like crazy because that's whet it sounded like he should be doing. Flamestar needed to calm down. To think. "I'm leaving." He simply meowed, as he slowly passed by Blazetail. When he got out of the den the ginger tom shook his head furiously. What in StarClan's name went on back there? He couldn't understand what had overtook him when his mind faced the upcoming battle. Maybe I just need to lay down.

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