Huh. So Smallpines was the border to ThunderClan. How interesting. Given how high the tensions were with the clan of squirrel climbers at the moment, she supposed it made sense. She felt bad for not assisting her clan when it needed it most, but she would be able to help any other time once the time comes, she supposed. “Yeah, pretty sure they smell like a bunch of squirrels if I recall; makes sense given that they always climb trees.” Cormorantpaw muttered beneath her breath as she used a forepaw to nudge over a random pebble, finding herself wanting to explore the rest of the territory. “Fine if we go towards the Sleepy Thicket? Never went there before.”

[ @Marigoldwhisper ]

As Talonpaw caught up with them, Dusklion glanced at him over her shoulder and gave a flick of her ear in acknowledgement before looking ahead. The journey to the border was short, but whether that was because of the way her mind was reeling over everything that had happened lately. "Anythin' you two want to focus on as far as the quick battle trainin' lesson goes?" the deputy offered as the faint scent of ThunderClan came to her nose. Hopefully it was just the borders and none of the actual squirrels.

Ah, but wrong she was. Dusklion's eyes first found the familiar pelt of the cat she had been fighting in the raid, before find the fallen body of her Clan. Her hackles raised as she trotted over, signaling for the apprentices to keep their distance. The body was over the border, being tossed into the stream from ThunderClan's side. "Care to share what happened?" she tossed to Wolfhive with a hint of distrust.

She looked back down at Reedclaw's body and bunched her legs, springing into the water and coming up underneath the tom. [go with the flow purrk activated]. With strong strides the deputy swam towards where the land dipped enough for her to haul herself back out onto RiverClan's side, pulling the deceased warrior with her onto her back and making her way slowly back over to where Wolfhive stood, glancing once at the two apprentices with a warning in her gaze before looking back at the squirrel with narrowed eyes. If this cat had been over the border and this squirrel had killed him, it would be no fur off her back.

[ Wolfhive - @BEAR. ] [ Wrenpaw - @Neptune. ] [ Talonpaw - @Ian ]

•° Violetfreckle °•
Rapid Recovery • Collector • Master Scout

---

Oh stars above, this was a bit painful to watch. To her, it looked like Wolfhive was walking through mud, every pawstep a mountain of effort. The tabby looked at the Hornet up and down. He was like a scared kit, huh? If this were any other cat, Violetfreckle would be having a field day. But she bit her tongue and watched carefully as the cat finally made it to the edge of the bank. Progress was progress, she supposed. At least she was getting used to the water temperature.

Unlike the ThunderClanner, Violetfreckle relished being in the water. She lifted her paws up and let the current surround them before placing them back on the river floor. There was something soothing about letting the water wash over her fur, though she was sure Wolfhive and the vast majority of TreeClan would argue with her. Speaking of the other cat, he spoke up and she paid attention to him once more.

"I'm not sure if you can go much slower," She spoke with a grin, watching as the poor kid fought against the water. And boy was he losing. The emotions that flowed through her mind were a mixture of pity, sympathy, and humor. "Why do you ThunderClanners like climbing trees?" She shot back automatically, though not mean-spiritedly. If getting in the water for Wolfhive was like climbing a tree for her, she suddenly understood a bit better how the tom was feeling.

Finally, finally he made it in the water. Looking absolutely miserable, yes, but in the water nonetheless. "Alright, you made it! Now, before anything else, you gotta know what you're doing. We're gonna swim downstream in the shallow end first, that way you can kinda get an understanding of what your legs need to be doing. It's sorta like running, but the goal isn't to make contact with the ground and push forward. It's to push yourself forward by kinda moving the water out of the way. You gotta stretch your paws a little further and... well, it's easier to show, I think."

With that, Violetfreckle pushed off and demonstrated to the best of her abilities by swimming close to Wolfhive. She then turned and made her way downstream a couple tail-lengths before touching her paws back to the unsteady ground. "Oh yeah, and be careful when you try to stick the landing. Lots of rocks and loose sand in the riverbed. Try to slow down as much as you can, and don't panic if you can't stop smoothly on the first try!" With a quick tilt of her head, Violetfreckle invited the younger tom to try to swim downstream to where she stood. She was ready in case something went wrong, though hoped it wouldn't. She really hoped.

// @BEAR. \\

Most of the time, Redhawk wished she could share the same hardened opinion of RiverClan that Wolfhive had, and the rest of the Clan. She didn't like them in the slightest, but hatred? It was hard for her to hate any cat, really. Part of her liked that about herself, but the other part that wished for ThunderClan's safety above everything else... well, she wished she could put her foot down harder.

"Wolfhive, I don't t-think that's a g-good-" she started to say, springing backwards in surprise as the creature lunged. Wolf's yowls had her flattening her ears and quick as anything he was dragged into the stream. "WOLFHIVE!" Stumbling forward and ignoring the shooting pain that shot up her injured leg, staring desperately at the water. He had come up shortly downstream, clinging to a log and looking like he was already half-dead.

"...D-D-Dammit!" The curse slipped from her without even thinking as Redhawk stared wide-eyed at the otter. It started to swim back to where it had been, turning its beady little eyes on her and making all kinds of noises. Redhawk bared her fangs but turned her attention to her fellow drowning hornet as she stumbled along the bank. "H-Hang on! I'll g-get you out!"

...but how?

Just then the sound of undergrowth being trampled made its way to her ears and Redhawk looked up bristling. Oh, no not RiverClan! She couldn't fight them off and save Wolfhive!

It had to be some miracle that Dusklion had decided to start her day out at Smallpines. She was banned from going anywhere near the WindClan border, so that left her with only Smallpines and Saltmeadow Marsh to keep an eye on - which she did with no complaints. Mostly she was keeping an eye out for any trouble makers who may want to continue poking ThunderClan, wondering if Fades would let her use them as badger bait.

The screams coming from Smallpines had her spinning on her paws and barreling through the undergrowth. Emerging onto the river bank Dusk was met with a rather horrific sight; one petrified thunder-rat, and one thunder-rat clinging on for dear life to a log. Without a second thought the deputy didn't slow her stride as she sprang into the water, diving underneath and churning her legs with the expertise of many moons spent learning. [ go with the flow purrk active! ].

Swimming through the rather tough current until she reached the half-dead cat, Dusklion kept her eyes on him. "Let go," she grunted as she leaned forward to fasten her teeth to his scruff, hoping that when she pulled back he made the decision to let go. From there she mustered up whatever strength she had and made strong strokes towards the area where the bank dipped - but only on ThunderClan's side. Hearing stumbling paw steps from above she knew the other thunder-rat was following them.

With a grunt Dusklion surged towards the riverbank, straining herself as her claws sunk into the ground to haul Wolfhive up. From there, she felt the weight lessen as the thunder-rat seemed to be pulling him up on the other side. Coming up behind them and clawing her way onto land she pushed from behind to make sure he didn't fall in again.

Breaking off from the duo the deputy took a moment to catch her breath, turning to look with a glint of concern in her eyes. "...He alright?" she asked as her flanks heaved and she dripped water. From further upstream she could here the otter chittering; she'd figure out what to do about that later.

[ Wolfhive - @BEAR. ] [ Bumblestar - @dino. ]
[ dusk has brought bumble a gift - her half-drowned kid KJSDFDS ]