Waspeye padded along the Skyclan border with Jackdawwing, Lionheart, and Dewpelt on a routine border patrol. It was still early in the day, and Jackdawwing was shivering slightly from the cold. Waspeye felt a little bad for him. Jackdawwing's coat was very light and short, which didn't do him many favors in leaf-bare. Waspeye kept an eye on him in silence, just to be safe.
A couple days had passed since his run-in with Moorwind. Alder had stayed hard at work, determined to stay useful no matter what. It was oddly endearing, though a few cats were still a little wary about him. That wasn't entirely unexpected, though it was clearly at least a little frustrating for the tom.
It was as they were getting close to the lake and the open territory that allowed cats to travel between territories freely that Waspeye heard a rustling in the bushes across the scent marker. He paused and turned just in time to spot a Skyclan patrol headed by Hawkheart pad into view. The Skyclan tom paused, humming in surprise before dipping his head in greeting.
"Hello, Hawkheart," Jackdawwing said politely. Snowthroat and Owlpaw stepped into view, followed by Tawnyspots.
"Jackdawwing, how goes it?" the Skyclan warrior replied. He dipped his head in greeting. Owlpaw gave a friendly smile to Waspeye, the tri-colored tom returning it happily.
"Cold, but otherwise well," the small, gray-black tom said with a nod. "The same for you, I hope."
Hawkheart dipped his head. "No trouble on our end. This leaf-bare is surprisingly prosperous."
"Hi, Waspeye," Owlpaw said with a small smile.
"Owlpaw," the tri-colored tom replied with a friendly nod. "How goes your training?"
"It's going well," the apprentice said with a quick, excited nod. "I'm finally good at climbing, so we're moving on to hunting in the branches soon."
"Oh, that sounds fun," Waspeye replied encouragingly. "Be careful, though. Don't want to fall."
"I will be," the Skyclan apprentice promised. He paused, glancing at Snowthroat awkwardly. Waspeye glanced at the white-throated tom as well, wondering what the look was about.
"Is something wrong?" Lionheart asked, noticing it as well.
"That remains to be seen," Tawnyspots said evenly. "Rumor has it that you've let a rogue into your camp."
"Where did you hear that?" Dewpelt questioned, the four Thunderclan warriors being careful not to give anything away just yet.
"Does it matter?" Hawkheart asked in reply, Waspeye noticing a small bite to his words.
"Of course," Jackdawwing answered evenly. "If somebody is spreading unfounded rumors, that sounds like cause for concern. It sounds like trouble, which nobody wants. We've had an unprecedented time of peace since before most cats around the lake were alive. Are we really going to ruin that over rumors?"
"Then you deny having a rogue in your camp?" Snowthroat asked. The white-throated tom's voice was even, not giving anything else away just yet.
"We have a traveler," Jackdawwing answered. "Staying until the worst of leaf-bare is over. When the cold passes, he will be on his way."
"What's his name?" Tawnyspots questioned, eyes narrowing suspiciously. The multi-colored tom stared intently at the four Thunderclan warriors.
Waspeye resisted the urge to look at Owlpaw. "He told us his name was Alder," the tri-colored tom replied in as neutral a tone of voice as he was able to manage. Owlpaw blinked.
"Alder?" the Skyclan apprentice repeated, and Waspeye felt a hint of nerves creeping up. Had Owlpaw not told Skyclan about what had apparently happened between him and Alder? If he hadn't, was he about to?
"That is the name he gave us, yes," Waspeye said with a nod. "Did you run into him before he came to us?"
Owlpaw hesitated. Snowthroat looked at his apprentice, suspicions starting to creep into his gaze.
"Owlpaw?" the white-throated tom meowed.
The young tom hesitated again, then sighed. "I…ran into him near the edge of the territory a few days ago," he admitted. "I was caught off guard, and his size scared me. He's big. Bigger than Waspeye, even, if only by a mouselength."
"Did he hurt you?" Snowthroat asked angrily.
Owlpaw shook his head. "No, no," he said quickly. "He didn't touch me. Just scared me a little, told me he didn't want anyone to know he was here."
Waspeye hummed. "He didn't mention that," he lied, frowning and looking to his clanmates. They all played along. After a few heartbeats he looked back to Owlpaw. "We'll make sure to have Jaystar question him. See what he has to say about it."
"You trust him to tell the truth?" Snowthroat asked, not quite incredulously but close to it.
"He hasn't lied to us yet," Jackdawwing replied neutrally. "At least not about anything we can verify."
"What could a loner possibly know that you would be able to ask about and know if he's lying?" Tawnyspots questioned with an exasperated huff.
Owlpaw glanced at Waspeye. "Ask him," the young tom said. Waspeye blinked in surprise, the other three Skyclan warriors looking between them in confusion.
"What's he talking about?" Snowthroat asked, suspicion slowly appearing once more in his gaze.
Waspeye glanced at his clanmates, worried what telling the truth might cause to happen but unsure how to get out of it any other way. After a moment the tri-colored tom sighed.
"Alder came to the lake to see if Cloverfoot made it back to Thunderclan safely," he answered. It took a few heartbeats for it to click with the others, but it was obvious when it did. They all blinked in shock, Owlpaw the only one among them who didn't seem all that shocked.
The Skyclan patrol shared glances.
"We would appreciate it if this news could be kept quiet," Jackdawwing meowed evenly. "Alder is only staying until the worst of leaf-bare passes, and he has shown no indication his presence is dangerous aside from supposedly intimidating an apprentice to try and avoid any unnecessary interactions with any clan cats."
Snowthroat narrowed his eyes. "Are you accusing my apprentice of lying?" he asked, claws sliding out and into the dirt. Waspeye felt a tinge of panic.
Jackdawwing didn't seem fazed. "I'm just saying that he might have been mistaken," he meowed coolly. "As he said, he was afraid. It might have just been that fear and potentially poor choice of words that caused him to think Alder was threatening him into silence. As I said, we will question him to try and get to the bottom of what happened. If Owlpaw is telling the truth, then you have the apologies of all of Thunderclan. If we had known of his actions, we would have sent him on his way, snow or not."
"My apprentice is not a liar," Snowthroat said with a growl.
"Nobody here is accusing him of being one," Lionheart replied in a placating tone. "Thank you for speaking with us, and thank you for telling us about what happened. We must return to camp and alert Jaystar."
Waspeye glanced at the Skyclan warriors nervously, both patrols slowly starting to part ways and resume their respective journeys. Waspeye let out a shaky exhale once they were a ways away from the border that he hadn't realized he had been holding in.
"You okay?" Jackdawwing asked, glancing back at him.
Waspeye nodded. "Just nervous," he replied. "That's the closest to a fight the clans have been since before I was born. And it was because of me."
"It was because of Alder," Jackdawwing replied neutrally. "Sharing his blood doesn't mean you share his blame. The choices of our ancestors, alive and dead both, are theirs to shoulder and theirs alone. The consequences of those choices are theirs all the same."
Waspeye was silent a moment, mulling over what the gray tom had said.
"We got your back, Waspeye," Lionheart meowed reassuringly, his confidence making it easy to believe.
The tri-colored tom glanced at Dewpelt, only then realizing he'd only heard the she-cat speak once since they'd started the patrol.
"You're being awfully quiet, Dewpelt," he remarked with a playful tone.
"Nothing to say," she replied neutrally. "Jackdawwing and Lionheart said everything that was needed. Our blood doesn't define us, and we'll stand with you. What more is there?"
"Be nice, Dewpelt," Lionheart meowed teasingly. She glanced at the tom.
"Am I not?" she asked curiously, seeming to be genuinely confused by the remark.
"You were," Jackdawwing replied with a small huff of amusement. "You worded it a little bluntly, but you were."
Dewpelt hummed, Waspeye feeling a little bad for the she-cat. She'd never seemed to have quite figured out the best ways to speak.
"I appreciate the support either way," he meowed with a friendly, warm smile. Dewpelt hesitated a heartbeat, then returned it.
It was a short time later that the patrol arrived back at Thunderclan, Jackdawwing padding over to where Jaystar was speaking with Brackenfur to tell her about their interaction with the Skyclan patrol. Waspeye could see her sigh in annoyance.
"Oh, Waspeye, how'd the patrol go?"
Waspeye turned to see Alder come to a stop next to him.
"We met a Skyclan patrol," he said. "Owlpaw was there. Your presence is already making itself known around the lake."
Alder hummed. "What did you tell them?" he asked curiously.
"We covered for you. Told them we didn't know, and that Jaystar would be questioning you about it," the younger tom answered. He sighed softly. "Why couldn't you have just been friendly?"
Alder ducked his head in shame. "I was caught off guard," he replied. "I wasn't exactly thinking the clearest. And at the time I wasn't planning on staying."
"Just try not to cause any more problems," Waspeye said. "I'm glad you showed up, but I'm not going to fight a battle over you."
"I would never ask you to," Alder meowed with a dip of his head. "What do you suppose Jaystar will do?"
"I'm not sure," the tri-colored tom answered. "She can't deny the rumors, since we admitted they were true. Her only real option would be to tell everyone at the next Gathering that you're here, how long you're staying, and to apologize to Skyclan and reassure them that we didn't know about your interaction with Owlpaw. She might have you come with us to apologize face to face."
Alder hummed softly in thought. "When is the next Gathering, anyway?" he asked after a moment.
Waspeye took a few heartbeats to think it over. "Not for a while," he finally said. "The half-moon hasn't come yet, and the Gathering is every full moon."
Alder hummed once more. "The half-moon is when the medicine cats meet, yes?" he asked, and Waspeye nodded. "Your culture is fascinating."
"Thank you," Waspeye meowed with a polite dip of his head. Alder returned it.
Waspeye noticed Brownfur padding over, the tri-colored tom turning to his friend. Alder turned as well, paused, then decided to let them speak alone and padded away to find something that needed done.
"Hey, I heard you ran into a Skyclan patrol," Brownfur meowed worriedly.
"I'm fine," Waspeye reassured him. "What about you? You do anything while I was out, or did you just sit in camp again?"
"Hey, making sure nobody tries to sneak into the camp is a valuable way to spend your time," Brownfur replied with a small, playful grin.
"That is true," Waspeye said with a nod. "Too bad that isn't what you're doing, eh?"
"Well, nobody's perfect," his friend said with a chuckle. He hesitated, then added, "I'm glad you're okay. Jackdawwing said Snowthroat was pretty angry. He let his claws out?"
"I don't hold it against him," Waspeye said with a shake of his head. "He just found out we were sheltering a cat who had scared and possibly threatened his apprentice. He had a right to be angry over that."
Brownfur sighed softly. A long moment passed.
"Do you think letting him stay is going to break the peace?" the dust-colored tom asked worriedly. Waspeye blinked, caught off guard by the question.
"Do you?" he asked in response. Brownfur hummed in thought.
"I'm not sure," he answered after a few moments. "But it almost broke today, and all he did was act intimidating. If he had actually hurt Owlpaw…"
"If he had actually hurt Owlpaw, Jaystar wouldn't let him stay," Waspeye said reassuringly. "Nor would any of us want him to."
"I know, but…" Brownfur sighed. "I just…I thought of you almost getting hurt, and I got so scared…"
"Hey, you're worrying way too much," Waspeye meowed with a playful grin. Inside, however, he felt his heart jump. He ignored it as well as the confusion it brought, knowing he could figure it out later.
"I know," Brownfur sighed, shaking his head. "I just…I don't know what I would do, you know? You're the closest thing I have to a littermate. I can't even begin to imagine life without you here."
Waspeye smiled warmly. "You don't need to," he said reassuringly. "I'm not going anywhere, Brownfur."
His friend huffed softly, amusement battling with worry. "Good," he said simply. The dust-colored tom nudged Waspeye with a small smile, Waspeye nudging him back with a grin.
"Come on," the tri-colored tom said. "I didn't get to eat before patrol, and I am starving."
"Oh, we can't have that," Brownfur replied in mock worry. "Look at you, you're practically bones."
"I feel like it too," Waspeye meowed with an amused grin. The two toms laughed, then started padding towards the fresh-kill pile.
As they took a rabbit off the pile, Waspeye reflected on the patrol in silence. Brownfur let him sit with his thoughts in silence, knowing the tom wanted the quiet.
The tri-colored tom wondered to himself if telling the truth had been the right choice. They might have avoided any conflict at all by pretending the rumors about a loner sheltering with them had been false, but that might have caused even more problems if the other clans found out they had lied. Maybe it was like Brownfur had said days prior, when Alder had first come to Thunderclan. Maybe there weren't any good choices, but ultimately, they still had to choose. Perhaps being truthful had avoided a full-blown battle where lying may have caused one. Waspeye doubted he would ever know for sure.
Waspeye hummed softly to himself, looking up at the sky. Brownfur glanced at him, following his gaze curiously.
"Something up there?" his friend asked.
"Just looking," the larger tom replied. Brownfur hummed in response, then tore off a bite of the rabbit.
Waspeye stared at the sky for a few moments longer, then went back to eating. In the end, all he could do was focus on the here and now. He glanced at Brownfur briefly. His friend always knew how to cheer him up. A small smile touched the larger tom's muzzle for a brief moment, then faded as he went back to eating.
Whatever came next, Waspeye would have his clan by his side. Of that, he was sure.