Briarpath hauled herself along to the border, nearly walking straight over it until Grackleflight called over, "Hey, hold up, that's the street."

"How do you even tell them apart?" Briarpath grumbled.

Heartgaze grinned. All this work waiting for some "prey" worked out! She decided to stalk them. Her eyes shone with so much coldness, no light could go past them.

Grackleflight only shrugged in response, "I get out more than you do."

"Fine," Briarpath answered, "But I don't know how you stand the noise... or the smell, for that matter."

Grackleflight smiled and shrugged again. "I can't say I have much of a sense of either these days."

"Don't you worry that something could just jump out at you?" 

"Not particularly."

Heartgaze decided she'll wait for the right moment. She didn't care who she killed, she just wanted to kill.

"Alright, well, we've seen the border.  Can we go ahead and head back now?" Briarpath asked, scowling at her creaking joints as she started back toward Grackleflight.

"Your memory must be starting to go-- that's not that point of a border patrol," Grackleflight meowed and started along the border, heading southward.

(Gotta go, night)

(I just realized wee're on the wrong thread.  Moving over to EclipseClan-Loner Border)

Tickpelt was doing a solo border patrol along witgh a little hunting. So far he only caugh a scrawny mouse, maybe he'd tried fishing..... He scanned the area, taking on last chance to spot any ground prey before he saw a black pelt, Thundersong..... The tom padded up to his mate, the air around her was damp in the scent of anxiety, and another faint scent..... Though the tom didn't realize it, that faint scent was the small scent of milk.

Tickpelt nuzzled her back but kept his cool expression, licking her on the ear, " You have, have you?" He grinned a little teasingly. " Come,dear. Spit it out." He meowed pulling her closer

Tickpelt's eyes held a tint of fear, their kits could very well be the end of The Deliverance, but they were going to be born. They needed to be born. The brown tom looked over at his mate, curling his tail around hers, " It's alright. We'll scatter them around the borders, make it seem like some loners dropped them off."

Tickpelt could feel anxiety for the first time, but he had to be strong, not only for The Deliverance, but for his mate and their soon to be kits. His kits would never know who their father was, but since they were scattering the kits across the borders Thundersong could take one in and Tickpelt could as well. He could at least be there for one of his kits, hopefully.... Looking at his mate, he nodded, " Let's go then." (Gathering Place)

Ash of Dying Ember sat solemnly at the border, looking into the copse of trees past the river, into EarthClan's jungle of twisting rivers and streams. Her body was stronger since her departure, the prey and cold of the mountains shaping her into a muscular, riveting, strong she-cat worthy of battle and charm. But she had many dark stains in her past.

She had corrected one. When she had returned to the tribe, she had found the Stoneteller still running rampant, weathering newborn kits to death and struggling to perform even his most basic functions as the tribe's leader. Ash would not stand for it, and as soon as she could, she asked to speak to him alone. He was dumb and thought her naive, but in a shocking turn, the she-cat had seen an eagle fly above them. Stoneteller spent his life in darkness and was half-blind in the sunlight, and Ash hadn't said a word as the eagle dove, though she herself got out of the way. She watched as he was carried off, her heart surprisingly unfeeling. He had screamed, but the sound was barely heard over the whistle of the wind.

The tribe did not know what to do, but few cried tears of grief the way Ash thought they might. They tried to appoint Ash the new stoneteller, and she hissed and bit enough that they let her alone. One of the older she-cats stepped up to take Stoneteller's place, and Ash left, triumphant, confident in their ability to get along without her. But she did not belong there. All the while, the summer greens and hunting did not compare to EarthClan's water and trees, and every time the sun rose between the mountains Ash yearned to return to where her brother was. She despised the way she had acted, but also remembered her five kits she'd left behind.

She still hated them, wanted them gone, and knew they were the one obstacle she had at a blank slate. She had tried to kill them even, an unforgivable act. She wondered if they remembered or cared. She hoped not- every time she thought of them, she cried, and hated herself just that bit more. There was just no way to repair the relationship, and so Ash wouldn't even try. It was too hard.

But EarthClan still called her, and so she sat at the border, looking in, thinking. Should I? She asked, wondering where her paws should lie. She had told the Tribe she would be back by sunset- two sunsets ago. Surely if she returned she returned again they wouldn't trust her word anymore. And EarthClan was where her last bits of family were- Spark. Ash's heart swelled at his name, his thought, his scent and familiarity- despite all she had done, she prayed, hoped, wanted him so desperately to forgive her.

But oh, Ash had sinned.

Spark was a mess. He had always been a mess. There were always worries and uncertainties circulating through his brain. He knew he had bitten more than he could chew, with adopting all these kits, but he didn't want anyone to have to live the life he had. Being alone with nobody there, being mocked for having no parents, having nobody to congratulate you when you finally made it and finally took on your role in life. Ash... had been there.

Spark stopped for a moment, feeling anger fluctuate in his system. The thought of the she-cat made him angry. His claws kneaded into the ground as his thoughts raced. He knew she had gone through a lot, he had too. They all had, that's why they had moved, to start over. But she threw that all away when she left them without a word, even her kittens that were still suckling. She was forced, he knew that. He knew that it wasn't abnormal to not want the kittens, but he could not but feel angry at her for abandoning them. They didn't do anything wrong. It wasn't their faults. They were innocent and Spark was sure Ash was the sinner here. 

Ash spotted Spark over the border, and for a second her one thought was to sit as still as she could, motionless, and know the tom wouldn't see her. But then she realized she was an idiot- her white-and-black pelt didn't blend in with the grass and mud the way it did with the snow, and with the same ease that she picked Spark out from the greenery she knew he could see her. So she stood, and looked with golden eyes at him.

It was a pregnant silence, each one waiting for the other to speak first. Who would be the bigger cat?

Spark raised his muzzle when he smelt a familiar scent and his eyes widened instanly. Ash.. she's here what..? What does she think she's doing? Just waltzing back here after all that has happened? Spark shot daggers at the she-cat, holding nothing back in his furious gaze. He wasn't going to approach her, seeing as she was the one that needed to explain herself, he would let her.

Ash of Dying Ember blinked again, her golden eyes the same hue of Spark's golden tabby markings, and his silver eyes likewise with hers. They made quite the scene underneath the falling brown pine needles and drifts of golden oak leaves. In the end, Ash spoke first.

"Spark," she said, breathy, almost a whisper, the wind carried it like a secret. She took a step forward but hesitated before bringing her paw back, unwilling to step over the imaginary line of the border. "H-hi, I've missed you."

"You've missed me? Really now? Then how come you ran off on your own and left your whole family behind, not to mention your kits that were still suckling." His words were laced with anger and disappointment. Does she even realize what she's done? She's acting like nothing happened, that nothing has changed, that she didn't leave us all and go back to that ****. "What were you thinking? Running off like that! Do we mean nothing to you, that you can't even inform us that your leaving? Or actually take care of your kits. You act like they are the devil spawn. You might fool Aetos, but I know those names were insults. They are innocent. They had nothing to do with you being forced. Why can't you see that? Why are you so blinded! Tell me, Ash!" 

Ash of Dying Ember shrunk back, preparing to toss a scathing and sharp retort back at him, but the word never came. Even in her addled mind, she couldn't think of an excuse for her actions. She'd had her kits, tried to kill them- wait, Spark didn't know about that. How could he? To anyone watching, it was an accident.

She felt herself begin to shake, playing the victim in her warped mind. She felt angry at the world for putting herself into the position, and she cast a sidelong glance back behind her, where the mountain ranges were a few days away. She'd done wrong there too. And wherever she went, she knew misfortune would follow.

"I'm sorry," she said simply, though even she wondered if she meant it as she forced her ears forward, duplicity in her actions, feigning that she cared for the lost cause that was her uterus seeds. "How are they- my kits? And yours- you had a lot- Midnight, I miss her, and that other litter too. I missed so much," her eyes began to water, just from the sheer fact that she didn't care, no matter how hard she wanted to.