-- World of silence [open]

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    Quailfeather


    A small white she-cat padded silently out of the camp, fur blowing lightly in the soft breeze that swept through the entire territory. Blue eyes trained sharply on the path ahead, Quailfeather carefully made her way across to a small clearing, usually uninhabited. There, she set herself down on the ground, heaving a soft sigh, and drew her long tail over her paws.


    It had been an exhausting day. There was a day of training Infernopaw, then she had been chosen out on a border patrol. By the time she'd returned to the camp, she'd found out that her ever-obedient apprentice had, yet again, behaved not in the best manner towards the elders, which meant that she had to spent the last reserves of her energy on delivering a suitable punishment.


    Honestly, the white she-cat preferred not to sleep in the camp. It was a strong preference of her's. The camp was absolutely too stuffy and held too many cats at once. Even with the large den, it still felt overcrowded. She much preferred the open air of the territory.

    Silensoul stepped out of the warrior's den and saw a small white cat. She went over to her. "Are you all right?" she asked, concern clear in her eyes. She always worried about everyone and everything. Her mother and friends always told her to mind her own business; in fact, she cared so much about others that she spent her whole time trying to solve other cat's problems, when she should be living her life instead.


    She let out a faint sigh. She had had an exhausting day, and then again there she was, trying to help out a cat she had never met before.

    The young brown sandy tom watched the she-cats with what was both curiousity and friendliness. His name was Swallowtail. He was always trying to be friendly to other cats, especially newcomers, but sometimes he felt that some cats seemed to push him away, 'Ah, sucks to them,' he thought, 'They don't know the true meaning of happiness.'
    He padded up to them, "Hi, I'm Swallowtail. Who are you?"

    Quailfeather


    The white she-cat glanced up at the sound of faint pawsteps to see one of her Clanmates emerge out from the undergrowth. She sat up, resisting a sigh, and gave a nod friendly enough. "Yes, I'm fine. Merely tired from the day." She gave a tight smile, slightly irritated. Didn't it appear obvious enough?


    As she finished answering, the light sound of pawsteps yet again broke through her thoughts. Different pawstep sounds, but still with the same SnowClan scent. Her blue eyes watched as a brown colored tom padded out. She gave a smile; a real smile this time. At least it was a tom, and a more handsome-looking one at that. "Hey, Swallowtail. I'm Quailfeather; it's really nice to meet you."

    "I'm Silentsoul." Silentsoul introduced herself. She glanced at Quailfeather.


    A cold wind ruffled her fur and she shivered. Why does it always have to be so cold here? she thought.

    Quailfeather


    The she-cat watched as the cold wind swept through the territory, her gaze almost aloof as she regarded Silentsoul. "Thick and long fur helps." She shrugged, casually displaying her well-groomed pelt. Appearance was something that she took great pride in.

    Quailfeather


    The she-cat flicked her tail. Cold weather? "How do you survive in leaf-bare, then? It's a considerably humid day for SnowClan, compared to the rest of the days. You're cold now, then you're cold everyday," she meowed, nodding towards the surrounding area. While SnowClan did generally have cooler weather, it wasn't as cold as Silentsoul had acted.

    Silentsoul sat down, her long tail swishing back and forth with annoyance. "In leaf-bare my fur is thicker, so I'm not too cold. I wasn't born in SnowClan, so I guess that's why I'm less used to the cold weather than the rest of you."

    "Well for one thing," Swallowtail said, irritated by their discussion, that seemed like a quiet argument, "It's nice to meet both of you. And it has been getting colder and windier lately, but that's no reason to complain, in fact, we should rejoice! SnowClan hasn't been in a war for a long time, and more and more loners are joining." The sandy brown tom had noticed the amount of newcomers, often they talked of anti-clans and ShadowClan and revolts. It was slightly upsetting, that one cat could create such havoc... in his own clan.

    Colder and windier? Was it really? Quailfeather shook her head, slightly confused, but didn't say a word. She merely stared out into the SnowClan territory instead, her blue eyes expressionless. Loners joining wasn't the best news. From what she'd seen, they weren't always loyal like the SnowClan-born, and they took up space.

    Silentsoul didn't know what to say. She didn't fully agree with Swallowtail, but she didn't dare to say so out loud.
    Instead, she gave her chest and shoulder a couple of swift licks and curled her long tail neatly around her forepaws.
    There was an awkward silence. Finally, she meowed "Well, I was a loner before joining." she glared at Quailfeather, guessing what she was thinking. "But that doesn't mean I'm less loyal than any of you."

    Quailfeather glanced at Silentsoul in surprise. "I didn't say anything," she pointed out. "I know that some loners can be disloyal, but I never specified you."

    "You cannot punish one cat for the crimes of a nation. Not all rogues or loners are bad, clan-cats can be too. But of all the loners I've seen, they have good hearts. It's not fair to bash them for where they come from." Swallowtail's brown eyes flickered to Quailfeather and Silentsoul, noticing how Silentsoul could tell what Quailfeather was thinking, "But of all the clans, we are one of the smallest. Having new warriors, no matter where they come from, is a great opportunity. After all, Puddlestar has done a great job of keeping this a peaceful clan unlike ShadowClan or BloodClan, and I think that is why they are joining." He looked to the land that was laid out below him, a great nation, and perhaps maybe one day, he would rule this nation, or a nation of his own. A family. He wanted a family. Swallowtail was still a young cat, in fact, he hadn't been made a warrior too long ago, but he had yet to find the perfect she-cat, and neither Quailfeather or Silentsoul seemed the right one for him.

    Bluefrost overheard the cats talking about loners, "You know I was born a loner, my father was a loner, my mom was a loner. Like you said, it doesn't make any of us different. As long as were are cats, we are all the same." Bluefrost mewed, flicking the tip her tail. She scanned her snowy- blue eyes across the camp. She sat down next to the cats, "By the way, I'm Bluefrost," she explained, as light flashed across her blue-gray pelt. She swept a paw over her ears, "I'm new around here, what are your names?" She asked, her long fur blowing in the mountain wind.

    Well, at least this she-cat seemed friendly. "I'm Silentsoul. I was born a loner too." The snow-white she-cat smiled. "I joined a long time ago, but there are still cats who think I'm not as good as them because I'm different." She glanced at Quailfeather. She knew it wasn't completely true, but she didn't like this cat, so taunting her a bit wasn't wrong, right? She definitely wasn't breaking the Warrior Code.
    Bluefrost seemed nice. At least, she wouldn't judge her because of her loner origins. Maybe they would become good friends.
    Silentsoul sighed. Friends. she thought dismally. She didn't have any friends anymore. She had had a few during her apprenticeship, but for some reason they had started hating her as soon as she became a warrior. She was convinced it was because she was born a loner. That was why she was so picky about this subject.

    Quailfeather glanced up as yet another cat joined the circle, suppresing a groan. Things were already going well enough. "You don't understand. You may have had good experiences with loners, but not everyone else has. Including myself. I have seen situations in which they can be disloyal. Clan born cats can be this way as well. I'm not trying to discriminate." The she-cat flicked her tail. She knew what they were thinking, from the way that they looked at her. The words almost seemed pointedly directed at her, too.


    "But let us change the topic. Do any of you have apprentices?" A new start once more. The debate on loners was quite open-ended; they would never have come to a solution or an agreement. It was too opinionated.

    "No." Silentsoul said. That had been a very bad question to ask. Of course she didn't have an apprentice! She didn't have any friends, so she wasn't very popular within the Clan. "I guess it's because I'm different." she sighed.

    Quailfeather gazed at Silentsoul as she spoke, noting the slightly depressed-sounding way that she spoke in. And she's unhappy with having no friends? Does anyone in the group look like they like me? The white she-cat sighed. "I don't have one either. I used to, but he left the Clan." It had been a complete failure of a training.