[@PrettyWalrus] Sootpaw gave a small nod to her mentor. As he questioned if she was wanting to fight, she opened her mouth to quickly disagree however the chance never came as the older tom went off rambling about some crazy fight of his.  The apprentice sighed softly to herself and let him continue on about his story. She was able to tune him out after a while and slowly became lost in her thoughts as they walked closer to the border.

His voice finally caught her attention again when he mentioned how close they were. Sootpaw perked back up and scented the air. "Not really." she answered with a smile. "I'm more concerned about getting my hunting down than those cats." 

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[@AngelKitten][@CLIW]

"That may be so but I didn't have to be coddled like a kit in order to learn." He muttered in response to the deputy. Harepaw held Boulderstar's gaze with a look of pure arrogance. If he was able to survive that winter and more before the clan came to be, what was there to prove? His green gaze then shifted to his mentor as she hissed at him which earned a low but hushed growl from the tom in return.

Pearpaw lowered her head slightly. It seemed she had done the wrong thing as both Boulderstar and Amberleaf advised her otherwise. They were kind to her but she felt as though she had disappointed them. She had been a kittypet before she found her home among the clan cats and she had never been used to interacting with some many different cats. Especially those such as Harepaw who was impossible to get along with even when she attempted to stay out of his way.

At her mentor's words, she picked up her pace and padded slightly behind Amberleaf. She liked being at the front much better than the back anyways. Harepaw, on the other hand, waited a good long pause before following his deputy. He took up the back of the patrol in a cold silence. 

"It's strange to think that it wasn't long ago that all there was in the valley were rouges and loners... No clans..." Pearpaw meowed in a hushed tone, as if trying to avoid ridicule from Harepaw. The young she cat hadn't seen the valley in it's dark days and had arrived slightly after the clan's formation. She was relatively new to everything. Despite her attempt to keep her voice down to avoid Harepaw, he still over heard her. "Probably a good thing for a kittypet like you." He remarked in a snarky tone before heaving a sigh. "It was messy and bloody. Many were lost. I don't know about most of the mousebrains who survived but I would rather not go back to such a time." he grumbled, casting his gaze off to the side.