Warrior Cats- The Valley Clans

Minnowstone, not having been given any orders, stood uncertain at the entrance to the camp. She wanted to speak with Honeytuft, but wasn’t sure whether it was an appropriate time. “Um, Honeytuft?” she asked softly. “You can go and dry off first, but can we talk for a moment when you’re finished?” She eyed Leon. “Alone?”

When foxtip woke up he heard foxsong barking orders "ugggggg" he buried his head in his paws "shut upppp"

Honeytuft was padding to the medicine cat's den when she heard Minnowstone speak to her. While she was still shivering, but she was mostly done dripping, and wanted to know what the she-cat had to say. "Yeah, of course, now's fine." She also glanced over to her brother, who was sitting quietly at the edge of the camp, knowing he was in danger of getting in trouble. "I think he's busy with his tail between his legs for now."

Foxsong poked her head into Drizzlestar’s den and saw the leader wasn’t there. She shrugged and padded back to the centre of camp, pleased that Honeytuft and Mosspebble had retired to the medicine cat den.

Drizzlestar was having a nice nap near one end of camp. He seemed to be bathing in a ray of sun meant just for him, and his soft, fluffy belly was exposed to soak up the heat. It was an oblivious, picturesque moment. An eye peeked open when he noticed Foxsong looking around the leader's den and he rolled over when he noticed the serious look on her face.

"Hey, you!" he called her over in a quite nonchalant voice as he stood up and shook himself off. "What's the matter?"

Foxsong caught sight of Drizzlestar and padded over.
“There were some... slight issues during the dawn patrol. Honeytuft noticed some mysterious paw prints along the border, but we weren’t able to investigate. Mosspebble fell into the river and Honeytuft ended up jumping in to save her. Both are fine now, resting in the medicine cat den. Foxtip left sometime during the patrol and I haven’t seen him since.”
She caught Drizzlestar up on all the events that had happened that morning, laying beside him.

Minnowstone caught up to Honeytuft so that they were both lingering near the entrance to the medicine cat’s den, into which Mosspebble had disappeared. “I didn’t get to see exactly what happened, and I didn’t want to ask Foxsong while she seemed to have so much on her plate, so...” she started. She followed Honeytuft’s gaze to Leon and the pieces fell into place in her mind. “Oh, no. Mosspebble fell in because of him, didn’t she? I knew inviting him to join dawn patrol was a bad idea.”

Minnowstone mentally cursed herself as soon as the words left her mouth. She didn’t mean to insult Honeytuft’s brother to her face, but this was worse trouble than he had ever caused before. Annoying was one thing, but a potential danger was another.

Honeytuft bristled slightly. She looked over to her brother, his shoulders hunched and head handing. He was free to go whenever he wanted, but it was clear he was sticking around to make sure she had gotten back to camp safely and to receive any scolding the deputy or leader might give him. With the way he was acting he probably had something to do with it, but she knew it wasn't on purpose.

"I don't know what he did," she stated plainly, "but he helped us out. Yeah, he's probably the reason it happened in the first place, but he's also the reason we got out of the river." She didn't notice her voice got more stern as she continued. "I know he's annoying, but he's not a bad cat. He visits because he gets lonely, and I'd rather him be here being a bother than getting reckless out on his own. I'd take responsibility for him, but he doesn't let me. He's not the freeloading idiot that he seems."

Minnowstone opened her mouth as if to speak, but nothing came out, so she closed it. Looking over at a sulking Leon, she could feel the guilt spread throughout her, heavy and cold. She put her head down.

“I’m sorry. I know he’s your brother. I didn’t mean to offend.” She lifted her head to look Honeytuft in the eyes, despite the discomfort, so that her apology would come across more genuine. “I trust your judgment. I just worry...”

Admittedly, Minnowstone didn’t quite understand Leon’s loneliness. She was a bit of a loner, herself; then again, she’d always had the clan, so maybe she took them for granted. She made a silent promise to herself to try to be more empathetic towards him in the future.

“If I may ask, why didn’t he want to join when you did?”

Settling down once again and tucking his paws under himself, Drizzlestar listened to his deputy with a neutral face. "I see," he said, flicking his tail absently. He wasn't quite sure what he was meant to do about all that. "I trust Mosspebble to take care of them both if they were well enough to make it to the den. I'll check on the two of them later."

His eyes flicked over to Leon, who seemed to be lingering at an opposite corner of the camp. Why did he get the feeling he had something to do with this? "... I can send another patrol to investigate the paw prints later after everyone settles down. Foxtip should be fine, but we can check on him too. Thank you for keeping me updated," he added thoughtfully, his tail flicking a couple more times. "Say, did Leon happen to join that patrol somewhere along the line? I've got a hunch."

Foxtip found it easier to sleep, now that he couldn't hear anyone

Foxsong nodded.
“He joined us as we were leaving camp, but he got distracted and ran off.” She sat, thinking for a moment. Leon helped get the two she-cats out of the water, but he was probably the reason they were in there to begin with.

Foxtip woke up and walked out of the camp, making sure no one noticed him. 'i gotta find the Gracie's he though, it had to be his father. When he found the tracks he followed them and realised they went farther than the fox den he was attacked at. "Thank starclan" he said, taking off running.

*tracks

Honeytuft's shoulders slumped. She didn't like telling her brother's story for him, but he would never do it himself. If anyone ever asked him he would always say it was because he was a free soul, something that could never be tied down; silly things like that. She took a deep breath before beginning, "He's just... insecure."

She sat, looking down at her paws as she spoke quietly. "The idea of clan life scared him. We were on our own from a young age, and we had to learn to take care of ourselves. Leon wanted to be the reliable strong brother, but he's not... terribly focused, or coordinated. He hated when he would accidentally get into trouble and I'd have to help him out."

"When I asked him to join with me he said he didn't want to hold back an entire clan because he kept forgetting where he put his own paws. He doesn't think he would be able to pull his own weight in a place like this. So, instead, he barely gets by, hides how skinny he is with his frizzy fur, and pops by when he realizes how lonely he is. That's why I don't have the heart to chase him away, even when he's tired his 'carefree fun guy' act to death."

Leon had been watching the deputy and leader talk, and stiffened when he caught Drizzlestar glance in his direction. He had already felt terribly bad for the incident, but the thought of disappointing Drizzestar made him feel ashamed. He was thankful to the leader for letting him into their territory when he pleased, and he deserved more than a bothersome cat that slunk around responsibilities.

The tom stood and padded over to the two, head low and apologetic. "I'm sorry if I'm interruptin' anything," he said, sitting down and not looking either of them in the eye. "I just wanted to confess that it was my fault Mosspebble fell into the river. I spoke too loud and startled her, and she slipped and fell in. I did what I could, but I can't swim, so if it wasn't for Honeytuft then it probably would have ended badly, so... I'm sorry for causin' such trouble." He shuffled his paws like a kit ready for a scolding.

Foxsong listened to Leon’s confession, but didn’t feel anymore anger towards the Tom. She respected him for confessing, and for not running away when things got difficult.

“I can’t speak for Drizzlestar, but I respect that you confessed to us what had happened, and that you didn’t run off when things turned bad. I don’t believe it would have ended any worse if Honeytuft wasn’t there, you’re a strong cat, you just have to stop and think once in awhile.”

Fox tip decided to head back to the camp when he was at the border. It was getting dark and he was hungry. He decided to catch a rabbit to have a excuse. ' besides' he thought 'maybe I should make friends! Leon and foxsong sound nice.' he walked to camp and dropped his kill in the pile, then looked for foxsong. He was her with the others and decided she was busy and he should talk with other people instead.

Drizzlestar listened to Leon, and then to Foxsong, and quietly pieced his thoughts together for a few moments. "You're not in trouble," he said to the loner, sighing. "She's right, you've just got to think about things better sometimes. I don't think it's your fault, but who knows what could have happened if something went wrong? At the very least, let my cats do their jobs when they're on patrol." His version of a stern lecturing voice wasn't really stern at all. It was like he was just chatting with a pal or something.

"Anyways, you can go now. Might want to do that before I decide to actually get mad at you." He made a lazy wave of his tail in the general direction of the clan entrance. "I'll see to it myself that the two of them turn out okay, so don't worry about checking on them for a while."

Foxsong sat and quietly listened to Drizzlestar speak with Leon. After Leon had left, she turned back to Drizzlestar.
“Was there anything you needed me to do?”