THE STOLEN || OLD - being rewritten

Chapter 8 - { Face to Face }

Who are you really,
Starry eyed stranger who loves me?

Flicking her tail as she sauntered through the forest, Darkpaw's shoulders rippled beneath her pelt. She was weary and exhausted, having woken up just as moonhigh was settling upon the diamond sky. The dark tortoiseshell she-cat glided through the forest with swift bounds and soundless leaps, hardly turning up a leaf on the forest floor as she delicately approached the StormClan border; scenting the air and listening closely for any foreign bodies.

Cecking the coast was clear, the tall, lanky she-cat set out towards the riverbank. Straying from the treeline and casting her pale moonlit gaze to the starlit willow, that lay in the middle of the river between the two clans. Tail tip twitching, she spotted some stepping stones on the BlazingClan side of the river. Stalking up towards them, she hesitantly bounded towards the first one, keeping her wits about her.
Swiftly and silently, she made her way across the river, Darkpaw's dark pelt vanishing into the shadows as she crouched in the twisting roots of The White Willow. No sign or scent of Adderpaw anywhere.

Waiting patiently, her whiskers quivered in anticipation. Any moment she was expecting a muscular figure to slide out of the water and onto the banks of the small island. But no such thing happened for a long time. Darkpaw was starting to doze off until a movement on the opposite side of the bank caught her attention. Watching with wide, attentive eyes, she was disappointed to see that it wasn't Adderpaw approaching, but Roanpaw.

Great. She thought miserably.

"Darkpaw?" The thick furred tom whispered, bounding across the StormClan stepping stones and onto the island of The White Willow. "Adderpaw sent me."

"Sent you?" Darkpaw asked, rising to her paws, ears pricked in confusion.

Roanpaw nodded, his emerald eyes reflecting the moon and flashing in the half light. "She dislocated her paw in the marshes on the way back to camp, and she called me a clumsy oaf!" He giggled. " Anyways, Lakeripple and Tawnypaw have instructed she stay put and not walk on it for at least a day or two meaning she won't be coming to the daylight gathering tomorrow either." The tom mewed in a quiet voice. "She's stuck in the medicine den."

Darkpaw blinked thoughtfully. "Is she okay?"

"Yeah, yeah! She'll be fine! She told me to talk to you about the weirdos from NightClan. She said that they kept going on about how StarClan was awful and blah blah blah." He mewed, sitting down and rolling his eyes as he drew a paw over his muzzle.

The BlazingClan apprentice frowned, narrowing her gaze. "Not 'blah blah blah' you mouse-brain! What else did she say?"

"How in StarClan's name am I supposed to know? She just told me to talk to you about what some of the NightClan apprentices said to her!" Roanpaw growled, lashing his long feathery tail.

Scoffing, Darkpaw groaned. "Will Adderpaw be back on the last day?"

Roanpaw shrugged. "It's undecided. She should be, but with her brother Tawnypaw as medicine cat apprentice I doubt he'd allow it. He's very protective you know!"

Darkpaw bowed her head before giving an exasperated sigh. "For StarClan's sake." She muttered before lifting her head and sighing again.

Roanpaw was useless and StarClan's word it frustrated Darkpaw so much. She had come here to talk to Adderpaw about strange NightClan Warriors, not to do nothing with Roanpaw who was unproductive and inattentive!
The StormClan tom blinked, shuffling his white paws before sighing and giving Darkpaw a defeated look.

"I think we got off on the wrong paw." He started. "You're really interesting and different Darkpaw, and I would love it if we could be friends, if not mutual acquaintances."