Beware the border {OPEN}

[loki]

Crouched low under a thin bush, Redbird watched with bright yellow eyes focused intently on the bird that was pecking through the foliage that covered the ground floor. Its blue feathers kept catching the light that filtered through the trees making it easy to watch as the darker blue became an intense bright blue when the light touched the feathers. Redbird had been crouched here for such a long time she could feel her muscles had become tense and more then a little uncomfortable and yet she still did not move. As long as she did not move the bird would not be able to see her and Redbird knew this. From past experience Redbird knew she had to wait until the bird put itself into the right position if she had any wish to truly catch the bird without wasting her time or her energy. This method seemed to take longer but she knew that she could catch more prey by waiting patiently for the prey to come to her. The risk of making to much noise and scaring away the sensitive prey was to high, especially on windclan territory where most prey was used to living out in the open and constantly watching out for predators.

"Cheep, cheep." Redbirds eyes narrowed and she felt her muscles tensing in preparation for her pounce. The bird was relaxed and bouncing closer to her as it foraged for food. The innocent creature had no idea that it was about to die, it was focused on finding food and little else. It was moments like this that made hunting seem almost to easy, almost like the prey wanted to be caught and killed. At times Redbird almost pitied how stupid the prey she caught was. Not that her pity ever made her hesitate to kill her prey! She was a warrior and knew her job and she was good at it!

It was with a desire to confirm that she was a good hunter that pushed Redbird forward at the bird. Her strong hind legs pushed her forward and her front paws stretched out with claws extended to catch the bird. She didn't know what had alerted the bird but as she leaped the bird took flight. With a yowl of frustration, Redbird pushed off from the ground in a mighty leap in a final attempt at catching the fleeing bird. Miraculously her paws grab hold of the bird and pulls the blue jay towards her open mouth where she clamps her sharp teeth into the bird, killing it before she landed. With her front paws full of bird, Redbird landed in an ungraceful heap on the ground sending dirt and leaves into the air. She coughed lightly and set the bird onto the ground, feeling a spark of pride in her catch. Despite her poor landing it was still an impressive catch!

Only as the dirt settled did Redbird realize where she was. With a gasp she picked up her prey and backed away from where she landed in a hurry. The strong scent of both Windclan and Thunderclan told her that she was on the border and way to close for her comfort. If she was caught this close she would risk being accused of stealing prey despite the fact that she had remained on Windclan territory. Redbird was one to avoid conflict and so she looked around nervously, fearing that someone had seen just how close she had come to crossing the border...

[Mermaid]

Paleberry was working inside his den where he paws carefully sorted out his remaining supplies of medicine. He hardly had to think as he place each one into their respected piles, he had done this for many, many moons and he knew exactly what herb he was moving, its many uses and locations to where he could find it. When everything was finally orderly he took a step back to carefully examine his supplies. That was when he noticed he was missing some very crucial plants. He twitched his whiskers in annoyance for he hardly could remember when he had used up an entire pile of Goldenrod. It was an herb that was crucial to healing wounds and very much needed. He sighed long and loudly, he hadn't intended on leaving camp today but he suppose the exercise would be good for him.
Saying goodbye to a few of his clanmates he set out. The best place to find his needed herb would be all the way to his clan's border with Windclan. The small patch of woods Thunderclan had given up many moons ago had been an ideal place to find herbs and it still irked him that he could no longer reap its benefits. Still, he was a medicine cat and while he knew he couldn't cross the border he wasn't afraid of stepping close to find any precious plants.
The day was warmer than the thick-furred gray tom would of liked but he rather walk now than wait for it to get dark, the forest seemed all the more disturbing with nothing but the moon and stars to light his path. Luckily, it wasn't too long before he found his destination. He was close to the border but he made sure he was still very much on Thunderclan's side, plus he had already found a small pond where Goldenrod was growing on his clan's side of the forest. Delighted he had got there in record time he quickly reached down and bit off the plant at its stem. The roots were useless. He needed the leaves and flowers to make the poultice for wounds and roots were all too annoying to dig up. As if he would get his fur dirty!
As he raised his head he suddenly froze as a strange smell hit his nostrils. Yes, he could smell Thunderclan's marks and also Windclan's but there was something stronger on the breeze. He reluctantly dropped his sweet smelling herbs to be able breathe the scent deeper. It was definitely a Windclan scent but not a marker and not strong enough to be a whole patrol of cats.
Paleberry wasn't all that worried but more curious than anything. He was overly confident that no clan cat would hurt a medicine cat, even one of a foreign clan so he moved on much closer to the border, keeping his large ears perked.
"Hello?" He called out calmly, "I can smell you where you are"

[loki]

Hearing the voice call out to her confirmed her fears were not misplaced. Someone had noticed her and Redbird felt her hackles rise along her spin as her nerves got the better of her. If she was already caught though there was no need to hide and so Redbird stood tall and stepped forward so that she could be seen. Who she saw surprised her since she had been expecting to find a Thunderclan warrior but instead it was just the old medicine tom standing there with some herbs at his paws. It was a pleasant surprise and it helped Redbird relax and she felt her hackles go down so that her fur stood flat once more. Seeing the old tom standing at the border so confidently made Redbird narrow her eyes though. He was rather close to the border and she didn't like how relaxed he seemed to.

"I did not cross the border." Redbird wanted to make it very clear that she had done nothing wrong because that was what was making her so nervous, the fear of being accused of stealing prey. With it only being the medicine cat Redbird did not need to fear a fight but if he decided to accuse her of stealing it would still prove to be rather problematic for both herself as well as her clan. Knowing that she was not the best warrior made it that much more important that she not cause trouble for Wind Clan.

[Mermaid]

Paleberry was mildly surprised that the cat not only came out but tried to justify why she was here. What would a warrior do? He wondered for a moment then slowly he realized he really didn't know. He supposed if he was in a patrol they would try to scare the Windclan cat off but he doubt he was any form of a terrifying threat. Not to mention he was close to the border too, but he justified his actions with herbs.
"I can see that," His meowed sounded bored but her was merely calm. He moved his head to look around from side to side before adding, "I would guess there would be blood or feathers on this side if you had caught it here." He spoke reasonably though there was an edge of curiosity in his voice.
"Do Windclan catch birds? I thought you all kept to one kind of prey." He twitched his whiskers now obviously curious. It wasn't often that he spoke to a cat from another clan and they had typically always been Medicine cats, it seemed even rarer to speak to a warrior.

[loki]

Redbird narrowed her eyes at the medicine cats tone. This could be thought of as a rather serious situation and yet he sounded bored. She would have gotten offended if not for the fact that Redbird knew she would be blamed for any wrong doing that may come from this situation. When the tom cat looked around her fears came back in full force as she worried what it was he was looking for. Was he with a patrol and wondering where they were? His comment about feathers though made Redbird realize just how silly she was being. He was nothing but a medicine cat and yet Redbird was acting like he was some clan leader who had caught her killing kits or some other horrendous act. She had done nothing wrong and getting so scared was silly and pointless. His strange question though reminded Redbird that while there was no need to be afraid he was still a cat from another clan and she had to keep her guard up.

"Why would Windclan only hunt one type of prey when there is plenty of options? Does Thunderclan only hunt one type of prey?" Redbird asked skeptically. It sounded like a rather ignorant question to ask and so Redbird did not bother giving a very serious answer. It was true that Windclan cats generally went after rabbits since there were plenty of them in the open plains that took up the majority of Windclan territory but to think that that was all they hunted was silly and narrow minded. No clan could survive off of only hunting one type of prey. Even Riverlcan, who was renowned for hunting fish, probably had to hunt other prey during the winter moons when fish would be scarce. Though now that Redbird thought about it she realized that a medicine cat would not be expected to know any of this and her answer had been rather rude.

"I am apologize," Redbird mewed softly. She knew she could be rather blunt in her manner of speaking and felt that there was no need for her to be rude to the medicine cat, even if he was from another clan. "Windclan generally does not hunt birds but I find birds easier to catch, especially in this area."