Open to Join Stars Overhead (16LS21)

Survival demands caution, but greatness requires daring
⋆｡°✩ ⭒ ──● 𓄿 ●── ⭒ ⋆｡°✩

Kosmo slipped into the night the way a shadow slips between the cracks. The last of the puddles reflected slivers of moonlight as he padded through the damp grass behind the churchyard.

The cinnamon rogue scaled the side of the house momentum carrying him in one smooth pull onto the roof’s edge. He didn’t crowd Duke. Kosmo knew better than to spook an old fighter. His gaze turned out toward the sleepy town below.

"Quiet night." He murmured, voice a whisper over the night. "Storm washed the scent pretty clean." He didn’t push further than that. Not yet. Duke wasn’t the kind you corner with questions. His chin was tipped towards the stars, ears alert for...something other than the grizzled tom beisde him.

Survival demands caution, but greatness requires daring
⋆｡°✩ ⭒ ──● 𓄿 ●── ⭒ ⋆｡°✩

Duke’s question hung between them, catching in the ridge of silence that followed. At length, his jaws parted on a slow exhale. "There’s news." He meowed matter of factly. Not secretive but heavy. "None of it’s good."

His mismatched eyes drifted toward the treeline beyond the town where the Clans called the forest their home. "For one, the murderer is still out there." A muscle twitched beneath his eye. "I've seen killers before... and she is plagued by a great and twisting madness."

Kosmo’s tail flicked once, sharp against the shingles. "She kills not for need, but for wasteful slaughter." He turned his chin towards the large tom, at ease despite the proximity. "My raven has been keeping her trail so we can try to predict her movements. Confrontations have been prevented, yes...but some have died."

His gaze narrowed, reflecting a sliver of starlight that made him look eerily feral. His raven was well fed on her kills. She might have been doing him a favor weakening the wavering Clans, but she was unpredictable, even under pressure of ravenwing.

A humorless huff pushed from his nose. "Not an easy task chasing a creature that doesn't think straight."

Survival demands caution, but greatness requires daring
⋆｡°✩ ⭒ ──● 𓄿 ●── ⭒ ⋆｡°✩

Kosmo's whiskers stirred at Duke's bluntness, a faint twitch betraying amusement rather than offense. He shifted his weight on the shingles.

"There's always a plan." His voice was low, tinged with proposal.

"Some of the Clans are floating the idea of a temporary border truce. Just long enough to hunt her down without tripping over old grudges."

Kosmo finally turned his head, mismatched gaze fixing on the grizzled tom. "RiverClan and WindClan have allied in purpose. ThunderClan refuses." He purposely revealed with a curl of his maw.

A dark shape shifted above them. Perhaps a cloud. Perhaps a dark body of feathers. "How have you been?"

"Get back here, little lizard!"

𓅨₊˚⊹♡⊹ ࣪ ˖𓅨₊˚⊹♡⊹ ࣪ ˖𓅨₊˚⊹♡⊹ ࣪ ˖

Raven rarely took midnight strolls. She liked to sleep in her cat tree during the night and play all day. Though perhaps 'play' wasn't the right word anymore. She wasn't a kitten anymore. She was an adult now. Albeit barely.

The she-cat had been padding past when she heard the voices of two other felines speaking. Something about clans? The she-cat thought back to the encounter she had with that ThunderClan cat weeks ago. Maybe she could learn more about the clans.

Raven strained her ears, hoping to eavesdrop on the pair.