"Owlwing, I need you on a border patrol. Take Amberfoot and Ravenpaw with you." Kestrelsight called out to the she-cat. He was starting to get used to his duties as deputy, and the rest of the Clan was beginning to respect him a bit more. The dark brown she-cat nodded and trotted off to meet with the rest of the patrol members.

A sand colored ball of fluff bounced over to Kestrelsight. "Can we go on a border patrol too?" His apprentice, Lightningpaw, asked eagerly.

"After I organize a hunting patrol." Kestrelsight replied, gazing around the camp to see who was there. "Scorchear, can you take Jaggedpad and Mossheart and go hunting?" He called out to the colorpoint she-cat. She nodded, and went off to round-up the other two cats.

"Can we go on patrol now?" Lightningpaw asked.

Kestrelsight purred. "Sure." As his apprentice ran off out of camp he called after her, "Along the pine forest border, Owlwing has a patrol on the other side!" He hoped his energetic apprentice had heard him.

He followed Lightningpaw's scent trail, which, to his delight, lead to the forest border as planned. It was a small patrol, being just the two of them but Kestrelsight wasn't worried. The forest border was usually fairly quiet. Plus, the experience would be good for Lightningpaw. Usually the young she-cat had a problem holding her tongue, especially around her fellow apprentices. She was a bit of a show-off, trying to prove that she was the bravest of them all.

Lightningpaw turned to her mentor, her blue eyes wide and her ears pricked. "I smell SwampClan!" She hissed.

Kestrelsight tasted the air, checking for himself. "I do too, but it's faint. They probably haven't sent out a border patrol yet, it all smells like last night's rain. Although," he paused, checking for signs of an oncoming patrol, just in case. "We may want to head back before they show up. You know how protective they are, they'll probably accuse us of trespassing anyways."

As if on cue, a patrol of cats sauntered up to the border. "Hey, make sure you're on your side of the border!" One of them, a dark grey tom hissed. His fur was bristling and he looked as if he was about to strike at any given second.

"I can assure you we haven't, Hollowpuddle. Though I'd watch your step, you're getting awfully close there." Kestrelsight remarked, a growl rising in his throat. His ears flattened and his tail lashed wildly from side to side. How dare they accuse us like that?

The tom lashed his tail angrily and dig his claws into the soil below. Kestrelsight felt Lightningpaw tense next to him, when he turned to glance at her, her sandy fur was bushed up and she looked utterly terrified. He reassuringly rested the tip of his tail on her back.

"Enough, Hollowpuddle." A blue-grey she-cat turned to her clanmate from where she had inspected the scent markers. "Their markers are fine, leave them be. We don't want to start any fights.."

Hollowpuddle mumbled something under his breath, and Kestrelsight strained his ears to listen, and from what he could make out, it sounded like "mouse-hearted peace advocate.." From the look of the she-cat, it must have bothered her, as her tail twitched irritably.

As Hollowpuddle turned and stalked back to camp, Kestrelsight dipped his head respectfully to the she-cat. He had seen her before, but he couldn't quite place where. "Thank you.. uh," He paused, as if asking for her name.

"Mistwhisker" She replied. Was that a hint of a purr he detected in her voice? She seemed completely fine with giving this information to a cat from an enemy Clan. She turned and padded off after her clanmate without another word to him.

"Mistwhisker.." The name felt odd on Kestrelsight's tongue, but at the same time, felt strangely familiar.

"Do you know her?" Lightningpaw asked, snapping Kestrelsight's attention back to her. The sandy apprentice's eyes glinted with mischeif.

"I think I've seen her around before, she seemed familiar. Don't get any ideas." The deputy said sternly. He didn't need his chatty apprentice going around mouthing off about how her mentor had something going on with a SwampClan cat. Even as a joke, it wouldn't be received well by anybody. Cross-Clan interactions were definitely frowned upon, and taking a mate from the other Clan was punishable by death. In fact, really anything that could be considered "treason" could get you exiled, or in severe cases, killed. Stakes were high, and even the littlest things were found as reasons to go into battle nowadays.

"She seemed weird." The apprentice concluded after a moment or two, snapping Kestrelsight out of his thoughts. He nodded. A peace advocate? Is she against the war? That would make sense.. But why? This war needed to be fought, you can't win unless you fight.. The deputy's thoughts were muddled. However, he was thankful that she stopped a skirmish from happening, he didn't need Lightningpaw involved in a fight yet, she was still quite young and she had traces of kit-fluff behind her ears still.
"Let's just head back to camp. You did well today." Kestrelsight said, changing the subject. He had things more important than SwampClan she-cats to worry about. Lightningpaw bounded ahead of him, still full of excitement. The confrontation at the border must not have dampened her spirits too much.