In the Moonlight [Shiny/Open]

[shatter]

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The apprentice had to squint to see in the low light. Not two fox-lengths in front of her, she realized, was the RiverClan border. Aspenpaw swallowed nervously, took a few pawsteps backwards, and thanked StarClan that she hadn’t accidentally crossed it. If she had, she’d have more to worry about than just Tigerstar and Foxheart. Much, much more.

She sniffed the air cautiously. Another scent was only thinly masked by the RiverClan cats’. “Is that… Is that ShadowClan, too?” She mewed quietly, unsure. The apprentice had only seen the borders a couple of times in her one moon of training, the scents were still foreign and a little indistinct.
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[shiningheart]

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Tawnypaw had forgotten that Aspenpaw had only been apprenticed last moon. There hadn't been any Gatherings due to the tensions between the Clans, and apparently Foxheart had neglected to tell her about the shift in allegiances before her apprenticeship. "Yeah. Brokenstar bullied his way into getting ShadowClan hunting rights in RiverClan territory."

She padded right up the border, close enough to cause her muscles to instinctively tense but not enough to be challenged should a patrol pass by. "I'm surprised, though, that their scent is mixed in with the scent markers. Something tells me Leopardstar would be harder to convince than Crookedstar was about Clan rights, but surely even she wouldn't let ShadowClan cats put scent marks on the borders...?"[/ul]
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[shatter]

[/u][/i]"

Aspenpaw blinked. That was unusual indeed. "Can't ShadowClan find prey on their own territory?" The ginger she-cat considered making a tongue-in-cheek comment about the more sinister clan's hunting ability, but stopped herself. After all, she couldn't be too sure that there wasn't one within earshot.....

"I don't think they're scent-markers," The smaller cat started, more meekly than before. She didn't like the idea of challenging what Tawnypaw had said, especially since Tawnypaw knew more than Aspenpaw did, and she hoped the calico she-cat didn't take it the wrong way. "Maybe they've just been hunting on the border, like us?" She inhaled deeply, familiarizing herself with the scents. "I don't think they've crossed our border, though. Good." The final, curt remark was as sassy as she would dare to get, considering a RiverClanner or ShadowClanner could walk by at any time.


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[shiningheart]

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When she responded to Aspenpaw, her tone said she was thinking her words over carefully. "I only know what the warriors passed around camp. Goldenflower was still pregnant with me and Bramblepaw when Brokenstar first demanded hunting rights." She backed away from the scent line, not wanting to get caught by a midnight patrol. "Apparently leaf-bare wasn't as harsh to them as it was to us, because their kits and elders all survived the harsh cold. Supposedly, at least. You can never tell with ShadowClan what's true and what's false."

Aspenpaw protested them being scent markers, but it was in a weak voice. Either she didn't want to take the chance of offending Tawnypaw or she wasn't all that confident in what she was saying. With Aspenpaw, it could go either way. 'She needs to grow a backbone.' the tortoiseshell thought snidely. Still, Aspenpaw had a point. "Probably. They wouldn't find a lot, though. I hope the mouse-brains went hungry."

She turned away from the border and walked away, calling over her shoulder, "Which is what we'll be doing if we don't hurry up and hunt!" Tawnypaw halted and looked back at Aspenpaw, a mischievous glimmer in her green eyes. "Unless you're already tired?"
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