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."