[Zee]

[ @Jay. ]

This was wrong.

Surely, as the RiverClan cats scanned their surroundings and examined the scents near where they stood, they would see that ThunderClan lacked a Leader and a Deputy. If a RiverClan cat were responsible for Eveningmists' timely demise (which the scent by his body seemed to indicate) the whole Clan likely knew about it. Whitewolf couldn't imagine the cat responsible wouldn't brag to the entire forest, after all. RiverClan knew ThunderClan was weak and they were taking advantage of that. What had happened to the Clans living united beyond the inevitable tides of war?

Worse was the fact that Kestrelstar wanted Firefly Cove specifically. Whitewolf's entire family was buried there--it was the fate she wished for her lifeless body when the sun set on her service to ThunderClan--but the premise of RiverClan's ownership of that territory alone was like spitting on their graves. She would no longer be able to visit them as she so often did for counsel. Patrols were out, too, and RiverClan outnumbered ThunderClan.

Unlike Eveningmist, Kestrelstar hadn't seemed to rise to his position while possessing any amount of stupidity or incompetence (he had his issues, perhaps, but Whitewolf would be a hypocrite if she so much as remarked on a difference in mental state with all that was unfolding around them) so it was Whitewolf's realization that he was well aware of all ThunderClan's disadvantages. Was he depraved enough to hurt the kits, Elders, or even the young Apprentices?

"Invading our territory is against the Warrior Code. If RiverClan had wanted a battle then they'd have chosen a place and a time," Whitewolf spat through gritted teeth. Her own clanmates were enough of a problem; this was the last thing ThunderClan needed right now even if it was what they were getting. Kestrelstar was violating the laws he'd taken an oath to uphold and some of the Clan had the gall to follow him. Well, they'd pay for it.

Whitewolf reared herself up by the nursery to protect it in case any cats thought harming the kits was acceptable. The Code-breakers wouldn't make it past her fangs and claws if it killed her. As she moved, she thought about something Albatrosspaw had said in an attempt to defend himself during his murder trial:

'There is a balance of life in this world.'

"Do not attack," she asked her clanmates, her voice clarion. She knew she'd lose her family's graves if RiverClan took Firefly Cove, but it was a sacrifice she'd have to make. She would see ThunderClan took it back before her death so she could be buried there with them...if RiverClan didn't defile their graves. "It's not Firefly Cove they want. It's ThunderClan blood."

Despite her words, all Whitewolf wanted was to charge up to Kestrelstar and rip him apart. Deep down, she knew better--that ThunderClan had committed so many crimes against RiverClan to warrant a fraction of these actions--but it was all of them together that set her over the edge. Her voice remained eerily calm but that didn't stop her fur from bristling and claws from readying.

If there was to be blood, Whitewolf would see she got her share.