It's cold

Hij was klaar met de drama van Riverclan. ThunderClan hield zich stil voor nu en daar was hij blij mee ook. Zodra ThunderClan begon te mengen in alles zou alles losbreken en blij was hij er niet mee. "Dat is zeker waar, maar welke van de twee is nog steeds lastig te voorspellen. Gelukkig weten we vrij zeker dat ze niet naar ons zullen komen zonder eerst langs een van de andere clans te gaan." sprak de kater, waarop hij even zuchtte. Hij hoopte het maar, voor de clans sake. "Dat hoop ik dan maar." bromde hij tegen de deputy. En dat deed hij echt, want hij had er niet veel zin in om de dingen op te lossen voor de andere clans. Echt niet. Er was al genoeg mis in hun eigen clan daarvoor.

Cormorant vond het niks, RiverClan. En dat liet hij goed merken ook, want hij sprak fel over de Clan. Normaal hield hij wel redelijk zijn mening voor zich hoor maar.. Ja, nee dat kon hij nu echt niet. Het was beter als Riverclan een keer een paar klappen kreeg zodat ze weer de realiteit konden gaan zien in plaats van iedere keer weer in die fantasiewereldje leven van hun. Hij kon er gewoon niet tegen, die vieze vissen eters die iedere keer deden alsof zij zo speciaal en goed waren. Bah. Verschrikkelijk. "We kunnen er alleen maar op voorbereid zijn en meer niet." Sprak Acorn rustig, waarop hij langzaam knikte. Hij zuchtte even geïrriteerd, iedereen zat in een lastig parket. "Thornstar is misschien wel de makkelijkste leader die ThunderClan ooit heeft gehad. Hij maakt geen problemen." sprak hij zuchtend. Dat kon hij van zijn leader niet zeggen, die constant allerlei capriolen uit voerde. Bah.

ThunderClan was veilig in zijn ogen. ThunderClan deed niet veel en van wat hij had gezien durfde Thornstar ook niets te doen. Het was te merken. Het kon altijd omslaan, dat wist hij, maar het leek hem niet iemand die het touw in handen nam en een hele oorlog zou gaan beginnen. Zoals Butterstar wel was eigenlijk. Want het zou niet de eerste keer zijn dat Butterstar iets aan het plannen was. Het was frustrerend in zijn ogen. De leaders die hongerig waren naar meer power, naar meer territorium en misschien ook wel naar alle andere katten in het bos. "Voor nu lijkt het daar wel op, maar wie weet voert hij ook wel wat in zijn schild." klonk er van de kater af, waarop hij even langzaam knikte. "Het lijkt me niet echt een kater die het hef in eigen handen neemt." sprak hij laag tegen de andere kater. Daar was hij vrijwel van overtuigd. "Maar je weet het nooit. Ik denk eerder dat ThunderClan naar RiverClan zou neigen dan naar ons." sprak hij kalmpjes tegen de ander. De meeste clans hadden wel een beetje de pik op RiverClan, had hij het idee. En dat zou alleen maar in hun voordeel zijn.

Van alle leaders die er op dit moment waren, vond hij die van ThunderClan nog het beste. Eentje waarvan ze het minste hoefden te verwachten. Het moment dat ThunderClan hen zou aanvallen wist je wel dat ze heel erg in de knel zaten, want dan leek hem dat ze eerder naar RiverClan ging. Dat was ook makkelijker met grenzen, wie wilde nou het donderpad over om een stuk territorium te gaan claimen? Hij niet tenminste. "Het lijkt er niet op nee," bevestigde de kater tegen hem. Ze hadden andere dreigingen. BloodClan, WindClan en vooral RiverClan. Ze hadden dan nog het geluk dat ze het verste af zaten van RiverClan, maar je wist nooit wat Butterstar nu weer zou gaan verzinnen. "Thunderclan en Riverclan hebben vaak genoeg gevochten over Sunning rocks, dus het zou niks nieuws zijn als dat gebeurde." Hij knikte even, die twee clans bleven maar ruzie maken over van wie het kleine stukje territorium nou was. "En dat terwijl het niet eens een gedeelte is waar veel prooi is." sprak hij met een oogrol. Een deel van het bos kon hij wel begrijpen maar dit?? Wat was dit nou weer voor een onzin? "Puur principe gedoe voor beide clans, kinderachtig." mompelde hij even fronsend tegen de kater.

If there was one thing childish in his opinion, it was the battle between ThunderClan and RiverClan, the battle of the sunning rocks. He never understood the point and many cats have died for the little piece of territory. What kind of leader are you when you lead your cats to their death? For a piece of territory that isn't even usefull? It was horrible, he hated it to the bone and most of all- he was disgusted. But it was back into ThunderClans possession for quite some time now, call it a record. "At least they're busy with each other then." Acorn said to him, to which he nodded, but still slightly frowned. "Yeah, don' want no reckless leaders to hunt us down." he rumbled with the frown. If they would fight like that over that piece of territory, how bad would the fights be if it was for a good piece of territory? "It's best if there was no fighting anymore, but even I know that it is unavoidable." He nodded, agreeing with the tom-cat. No matter what they were doing, no matter what was going on, somewhere in this forest would be a fight. Be it verbally or physically. "Even if they try, we're stronger. Ya know we are." He said with a small nod. He couldn't imagine them being weaker. That was just not happening.

Shadowclan was one of the toughest clans, if not the toughest clan in the forest. He was sure of it, there was no clan who was better prepared for anything than them. They had everything here as well. They had trees, like ThunderClan, but they were used to hunting in the dark as well as fighting in the dark. They could do both. No way that they could be surprised in the dark, which could be a thing they could exploit if they ever wanted to make a dent in the asocial behaviour of the other clans. Make them feel that they're not as powerful as they think they were. "I'm sure we're stronger." Acorndust told him and he nodded. He wasn't even sure they were stronger, he just knew they were stronger. It was a thing that his whole body was translating as well. He was the embodyment of tough and strong. Whole ShadowClan was. Most cats had such a broad build. They didn't have to be quick. You couldn't win with just quickness. "I will never give a piece of our territory to another clan, though it is not my decision to make in the end." The tom told him, to which he glanced to Acorn and frowned. What, he was going to let Tallstar give away pieces of their territory? "It is. It's the decision of the whole Clan. No-one wants to give it away. If Tallstar wants to and you would go against it, the whole clan would follow you." He spoke clearly. He wasn't lying, he trusted this tom. If his judgement told him to go against their leader, then he would follow him.

He couldn't see why some cats wouldn't get behind the choices Acorndust would throw their way. He was more loyal than their leader in his eyes. Their leader always went off and played nice with the other cats, had a kitten with a WindClan warrior, had friends in all clans and maybe the worst thing in his eyes: He was unpredictable. He didn't like it if cats were unpredictable. That meant that there was no way of telling what was going to happen next. There weren't a lot of cats where he couldn't predict what they were going to do next, but yet Tallstar was one of those cats. He could always predict what his dad was going to do, most of the time it would be angry shouting. Sometimes more. And he knew it from the moment he saw his dad eyes. "I'm not sure they would, there are some that are completely loyal to Tallstar." Acorndust told him, to which he let go of a soft "Pft.". He was not agreeing with those words, not in the slightest really. Cats like that were idiots, because everything screamed authority from the cat in front of him. Yes, okay, he took off for a vacation once. But that was just once. And it was with Tallstar. "But I do my best to be the right cat for that loyalty." The tom-cat told him, to which he slowly nodded and grunted in response. A quite common response for him. It was different for each cat, how they responded to it. Some cats would get mad because it seemed indifferent, but other cats could somehow figure out that it was in agreement- or disagreement. He never really did it with a conscience, it was more like a defense meganism, to protect himself from really saying his opinion if it mattered. "Ya'll be fine." He told the tom-cat calmly, looking at the other cat with his calm, stormy-grey eyes. "Jus'... Dun't worry, 'kay?" He told him with a soft nod. A promise to the tom cat in front of him laying in his eyes. He would follow this tom-cat til his death.

He already knew that not every cat would follow Acorn’s lead, but most of them would. Especially if the leader did something that was unheard of. He hoped it wouldn’t come this far, but then again, you don’t know with a leader as they had. A small smile appeared on Acorn’s face, agreeing with his words. He meant those words as well. He would never lie to his deputy but mostly to a cat that he was getting to know. He was never really a cat that was getting to know other cats. Acorn was an exception to this rule. ”Don’t worry, I won’t.” The tom told him, to which he nodded. Good, that was good. ”We just have to hope that one-day Tallstar will grow up.” The tom-cat told him, to which he nodded in agreement. He couldn’t believe that their leader was that childish, even when he had such a big responsibility to the clan. ”And till that time I will just have to clean up after him every single time.” One of the corners of his mouth slowly rose up, even if it was just for a small period of time. He wasn’t a big smiler, cats always had to do it with the sometimes very small smiles he gave to other cats. But even those were quite rare for him. ”If ya ever need someone to help ya clean up after ‘im, jus’ call.” He told the older tom, his slight smile already gone from his face. He could believe that it was hard to clean up after the mess, especially if it was Tallstars mess to clean up after. He’d rather not be in that position, but if it was to help the other tom than sure. He would accept that.