Mossthorn would have never thought in a million seasons that he would wish for Brambleclaw's presence rather than the lack of it, and yet here he was. In front of a potentially soon to be dead dog and with the cat who was Squirrelflight's father, quite possibly Squirrel's future killer, and the leader of ThunderClan in front of him. No deputy who would've actually been good for this one thing of helping to convince Firestar to let Squirrel live, who surely would've taken Mossthorn's side in this conflict due to his delusion that they were friends and affinity for dangerous and scary things like Squirrel, in sight. Although maybe not counting on the mercy of that stupid foxer was a good starting point… Mossthorn padded slightly closer to Firestar, not wanting to get too far away from Squirrel and increase its anxiety and dipping his head respectfully. "Firestar, I know this is gonna sound crazy, but…" He lifted his head as he heard him unceremoniously interrupt him. "That you wanted to discuss this thing without anyone else around? Of course that sounds crazy. What if that leash breaks?!"
Mossthorn flinched, trying and failing to think of a sane response while his mouth hung open, and eventually closed it sheepishly as Firestar gave an extremely world-weary sigh, looking up at the sky dramatically as if fishing for sympathy from StarClan, before looking back down at him and continuing. "What is it that you wanted to tell me, boychik?" That idiosyncratic term of endearment that they were all pretty sure he had gotten from his twolegs calmed Mossthorn's nerves slightly, although he still knew based on Firestar's initial reaction that appealing to any sympathy he might have towards Squirrel was a bad idea. Mossthorn thought for a second before moving closer to it, shocking his leader by lifting up the claws of one of its front paws. "...Forgive me for saying so, sir, but… I was thinking, if we were ever in a tough spot with the other Clans… say, if they all ganged up against us for some reason… or even something outside the Clans, like with the twolegs that destroyed the forest…" He decided to get to the point faster, sensing Firestar's very apparent and swiftly growing impatience.
"...if you were to let Squirrel… the dog… live and stay here, then maybe…" Firestar scoffed at him, lashing his tail exasperatedly. "Maybe what? Maybe what?! Do you have any idea how ridiculous you sound?! Just because you keep a dangerous and scary dog on the territory, disasters don't suddenly…" He trailed off, looking behind him in shock as they heard a stick being cracked open loudly. Mossthorn followed his gaze, catching a glimpse of a cat that he was pretty sure was the RiverClan apprentice Beechpaw… Squirrelflight had shared a squirrel with him during the journey so that he could see what ThunderClan prey was like… before he quickly backed away from them in horror, his eyes locked on Squirrel, before spinning around and tearing away from the clearing they were in back in the direction of RiverClan territory. Eventually, Firestar looked back at them, begrudging respect for the both of them now in his eyes. "...Stop… happening… You can nurse this dog… Squirrel… back to health?" Mossthorn nodded eagerly, looking up at Squirrel as it bounded upwards, unmistakable relief shining in its eyes as well. "Yes, thank you, sir. You won't regret it!"
Firestar nodded slowly, looking back and forth between them with a mix of apprehension and opportunism. "Good. I'm counting on you… Mossthorn. I'll leave you to it." With that, Firestar padded out of the clearing, giving them a strange look behind his back more than once before he was out of sight. Squirrel lay down, yawning before settling its massive head on its front legs and rolling over so that its particularly matted back fur was now facing Mossthorn. He touched it gingerly with his front paw, unsheathing his claws as he thought he understood Squirrel's unspoken request. "You want me to fix your fur?... To groom you?" Squirrel nodded slightly, rolling over completely onto its side, and Mossthorn got to work sharing tongues with someone besides Squirrelflight for the first time in a long time.