Icywhisker was hunting in the snow, her large paws keeping her on the top of the snow rather than sinking into it. She crept slowly forward, her white pelt invisible in the snow, keeping her hidden from her prey - a snow-white hare, exposed against the hard rock behind it. A few leg-lengths from the hare now, she slowly raised her haunches, bunching the muscles in her rear legs, before leaping forward, paw-lengths from crashing down on her prey.
Suddenly, she awoke with a start, leaping to her paws, finding herself in the warm Stoneclaw den, red dawn sun beaming in, speckled through the bushes leaves, looking over to find the Steelclaw of the Fringe cats, Tuftedpounce - A large black tom speckled with white - giving her a nasty glare, the only other cat in the den A longhair she-cat, her pelt white speckled with amber, the amber colour pooling on her back aswell, cleaning her claws.
"Icywhisker." the large tom meowed sharply, "If you're going to be staying here, you might aswell come with us on dawn patrol, atleast, according to Cloudystar. I personally don't think an outsider should be going on our dawn patrols, but she's making me. Get up."
Icywhisker put in an effort to not let her neck fur bristle, deciding it wasn't a good idea to start fights with her new clan members. "Yes, sir." she meowed pointedly, before continuing "Who'll be joining us?",
"Snailback." replied Tuftedpounce, hostilely, then gestured with his tail toward the white and amber she-cat.
"Oh, hello, Snailback, nice to meet you!" she mewed friendlily.
The white-and-amber she-cat looked over, "Oh, uhm . . Hello!", she replied friendlily in reply.
Icywhisker felt happy at the prospect of having a friendly cat among her new clan, deciding to ignore the unfriendly glare from Tuftedpounce boring holes into her side.
Icywhisker, Snailback and Tuftedpounce walked slowly along the borders. Starting with the border between Those
Along the Fringe and A Murder of Crows. The border was traced along a thick still stream, which once rushed strongly, now reeking of Blackpath.
"Eugh. It smells awful," meowed Icywhisker, struggling with the scent, "You come past this every dawn? Why? What cat would swim through there to get to Fringe territory?"
Tuftedpounce responded with a hiss, "Several. You can't trust Crow cats. They're as rotten as the stream that seperates us."
"I can't imagine any cat being that bad" she meowed sharply in reply, glaring at Tuftedpounce.
Snailback paused for a moment, head turned to the bushes along the other side of the water, sniffing.
"What are you doing, Snailback?" Tuftedpounce meowed, less hostilely than he reacts to Icywhisker.
"Strange smell . . ." She meowed, sniffing gently.
All three cats were looking across the water now. Icywhisker couldn't smell anything over the awful scent of the water. "I don't smell anything. Are you sure, Snai-"
She was suddenly caught off-guard as all three cats caught movement in the bushes, the leaves rustling. All three cats' fur bristled, standing tall, and they all three crouched down, slinking back to hide in the tall grass.
A large, longhair auburn she-cat stuck her head out of the bushes, gazing across the water, her eyes scrutizing every movement.
Suddenly, a voice meowed, "Hushmoss. There's nothing over there. What foolish Fringe cat would swim across the water into Crow territory?"
The Auburn she-cat shrunk back into the bushes, a hiss following, as the cats went on their way.
Icywhisker meowed "Just a Crow patrol." and got back up, continuing to walk.
Tuftedpounce huffed, "Nothing to worry about, Snailback." he meowed, rolling his eyes, quickening his pace to return to the front of the patrol.
Snailback lingered for a moment, before rushing after the other two.
Not long later, they came to the border with Those of Gentle Current. The border was traced along the shores of the forest, A distant dry spot in the center of the marsh, where the Current cats' camp was.
"What cat would ever want to swim? It's the worst." Icywhisker meowed, annoyed at the feel of the wet grass near the waters edge.
"What cat would want to live in the snow? It's cold and uncomfortable." Tuftedpounce meowed annoyedly.
" . . . Fair point." She replied.
Next, they came to the border with Those of The Flurry.
Icywhisker felt Tuftedpounce's hot, suspicious glare on her pelt as they walked past the Flurry territory, the rocks below her paws comfortable and cold against her sore pads, the other two however seemed uncomfortable walking along the hard, cold stone.
She spotted a bit of movement against the stone, ears twitching to see if she hears anything. She spotted the outline of a dusty gray cat, blending into the gray stone. Is that . . Smokedawn? . . . she thought, but she made certain she didnt draw either of the other cats' attention to her friend.
Next, after a long trek around the far borders of the mountain, they came to the border with The Children of Honey, the border traced along the treeline, the Honey territory was an open field, very few trees for cover. The camp was visible in the far distance, nestled in a bush underneath a tree, flowers and herbs scattered the territory, a sickeningly sweet scent drifting across.
Icywhisker screwed up her nose, sniffling in reaction to the abundance of pollen in the air. "Eugh . . . I can hardly breathe through all the pollen . . Do cats really live over there? I don't envy them."
"I don't envy a cat living in the cold. Starving, freezing." Tuftedpounce meowed sarcastically. Icywhisker's neck fur bristled, but she just huffed and turned.
"Well, that's all the borders. What now, o' powerful leader, Tuftedpounce?" She mewed sarcastically.
"We go back to the camp." Tuftedpounce meowed sharply.
"I think we should let Icywhisker see the territory, Tuftedpounce. She's new here, if she's gonna be living here, she might aswell see the landmarks." Snailback meowed gently.
Tuftedpounce stopped and glared at her for a moment, then meowed, "It's mid-morning already. I have more important things to tend to than this cat. If you'd like to show her around, feel free, but I expect you back by noon." he meowed hostilely, glaring at Snailback, then walked off in the direction of the camp.
Snailback turned back to Icywhisker, "Well?" she meowed, "Want me to show you around our territory?"
"Uhm . . . Sure! sounds good", She replied friendlily.
On the way, Icywhisker stopped and sunk down onto her haunches, stalking toward a mouse. Snailback watched amused, as the mouse quickly spotted Icywhisker and rushed off, prompting Icywhisker to launch after it, slipping on the soft grass. The mouse was far faster, reaching the nearby burrow first. She reached her paw deep into the hole as it scuttled inside. "Blast!" she exclaimed in frustration, claws sinking into the dirt. "Icywhisker, surely you're aware you were upwind of the mouse. It could smell you coming far before you got within range." Snailback meowed, audibly holding back laughter.
"Hm? How am i meant to know that? Scent doesnt travel as far on the mountains." She meowed pointedly, ears twitching in frustration.
"Oh, surely you'll have to learn to hunt differently in the forest as compared to the mountains. Don't worry, i'll help." Her friend meowed back warmly, eyes full of amusement.
A bit later, Icywhisker screwed up her nose, licking her jaws slightly at the disgusting scent flooding her nose. "Eugh. What is that? It smells like the Blackpath." she meowed, disgusted.
Snailback's whiskers twitched in response to the same scent, "It's one of the landmarks of our territory- though, it's one we avoid, rather than are prideful of. It's the Roundthing." she mewed, leading Icywhisker toward the scent.
They broke through a thin bush, and there they found a large round black thing, the scent of Blackpath and Pale Ones reeking. She felt herself physically recoil, tail fur bristling. "Why did you bring me here? This is awful."
"So you know to avoid it, obviously. One cat tried to lick it and got horribly sick." Snailback meowed seriously, tail flicking slightly.
"What foolish cat would lick that awful thing?" Icywhisker meowed, already getting up and moving away from the Roundthing.
"A Woodclaw, obviously." Snailback meowed, following Icywhisker, before continuing to lead the way away from the Roundthing.
Next, they came to a large black-stone path. "A Blackpath . . . Wow, this one is so much bigger than the smaller ones we've seen in or around Flurry territory." Icywhisker meowed.
She walked over to it, stepping and slipping on something. Looking down, in the narrow dried out channels next to the Blackpath, strange objects were littered, smelling awful. The scent of the Blackpath blotted out the scent before, but now that she was close, it smelt awful. "Oh my Moons, this is . ." she retched as she hauled herself out of the channel, keeping herself from spewing.
Suddenly, she felt a hard thing slam into her side, bowling her over. She hissed and spat, expecting a cat, but when she heard a loud high-pitched crash she was confused. She quickly launched away from what hit her, before turning back.
On the ground was scattered sharp brown pieces of what appears to have been a brittle object, a thin shimmering sheet of red and white next to it. "What the . . ." she meowed, when Snailback meowed, "The Pale Ones in their beasts throw things at us sometimes if we're too close to the Blackpath . . . It's best we move on. You don't appear to have been cut by it."
Icywhisker turned to hiss at a passing beast, but was bowled over by the harsh wind it created, coughing and sputtering. She turned and fled into the woods. She stopped, to let Snailback catch up, before continuing.
Next, they came to large, towering rocks. They were gray, and pierced tall through the cover of the trees.
"Ah, now this, this i can get behind." Icywhisker meowed as she began to climb the rocks.
"This, is the Tallrocks. We come here to get some good sun, and survey to make sure nothing suspicious is going on around the forest easier." Snailback meowed, tail waving with amuse as her friend climbed up the rocks, laying ontop in the warm sun.
That's nice." She meowed, before yawning.
A few moments later, Snailback meowed "Come on, Icywhisker, it's time we get back to the camp, it's close to noon already."
"Alright," She mewed, and began crawling down the rocks, then started walking back toward camp.
This place is kind of nice . . Icywhisker thought, Could do without Tuftedpounce though.