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The first time Ashfang looked back at the barn, when they were hardly more than a few paces past the entrance, Summit couldn't tell what thoughts brewed behind his eyes. He hoped, like himself, Ashfang was finding it hard to walk away from their home. But there was no avoiding what they had to do here; Ashfang needed to tell his clan of his decision, otherwise he'd be nothing but a ghostly deserter, forever haunting the edges of PrairieClan's border.

So, instead of trying to press his mate into telling him what anxious thoughts brewed in his head, Summit just pressed his side to Ashfang's and hoped for the best.

Crossing PrairieClan's border felt different than the last time he did it. Then, it had been an accident under moonlight - just a mistake made by a distracted, addled healer looking for columbine. Now, his paws crossed into the meadow with confident intent, at least as confident as he could be, given everything. He was grateful for the moon guiding them, painting a silvery path across the meadow for them both to follow.

No comfort was lost between them as Ashfang spoke. Summit turned his gaze forward, briefly distracted by his mate's handsome voice, and nodded at the trees in the distance. He'd never seen PrairieClan's camp before, but recalled something about burrows? "Listen, Summit..." Nerves prickled down his spine. Born out of nothing but anxiety, Summit wondered if Ashfang was about to tell him he'd made a mistake, and that this trip would be Ashfang returning to PrairieClan. "Before we get there, you should know that Littlestar isn't the leader now; Cinderstar took her place a couple moons ago."

The nerves dissipated quickly. Summit nodded in understanding, feeling a brief burst of mourning for Littlestar. He never really knew her, aside from their shared RidgeClan heritage. Still, it was enough to feel shallow grief. "I don't know this Cinderstar," he said, not that it mattered much. "Littlestar's deputy was Wheat...fur? Ryenose?" The name escaped him. But that was a full season cycle ago - it stood to reason Littlestar picked a new deputy.

"I don't think it'll be a problem; she was always just as welcoming as Littlestar." Good. "Just... forgot to mention it before, with everything."

He dipped his head in gentle understanding. "That's okay," he murmured. Warmth bloomed under his fur where Ashfang bumped into his shoulder, and Summit nodded in response to his question. "Yes. I'm ready." They were close now. The hustle of camp, even at night, couldn't be denied - soft voices and softer pawsteps as cats mingled and readied for sleep while midnight patrols prepared for work. "Are you?"

"Ready as I'll ever be," Ashfang said, and Summit could hear the note of honesty in each syllable. He held Ashfang's lovely gaze for a moment longer, and then there was no more stalling. Night embraced them both as they slipped into PrairieClan's camp, speckled relief of trees amidst the endless golden prairie, bathed silver in moonlight. Summit tried not to look around camp too much as if he was studying, despite every instinct that was curious to learn about the clan he never once visited. Inside, there were two minds warring for dominance - Summit, the barn cat, curious about the clan his home allied with, and Bearpaw, the voice he still couldn't shake, curious about an enemy clan.

Enemy. What a horrid word it was. Summit wished each strand of fur that felt alight with danger as he walked through PrairieClan's camp would settle down. He was not in danger. Not as a barn cat, and certainly not with Ashfang at his side.

And still he wondered - how many of these cats lost someone, all because his clan chose war? They must have been more accepting, more forgiving, than he could possibly give them credit for. Why else would they harbor Ashfang - plus others, he was sure - after what Wolfstar did?

Summit settled next to Ashfang as he called out for Cinderstar. He was curious about this new leader, too. The name struck him as belonging to a dark colored cat, like the cinders that lingered after a fire. Had she been a tunneler? An herbalist? He would like to speak to PrairieClan's herbalist, if he had a chance while they were still here. From the fallen long, a curt voice rang out. Cinderstar's, presumably. "Is that you, Ashfang?" No, not curt. The leader sounded annoyed. "Yes, come in."

"I'm with you," Summit murmured before Ashfang moved, one last reminder that neither of them were alone.

-

Cinderstar blinked as Ashfang entered her den, confused for a moment by the enlarged shadow behind him before she realized it was another cat. Danger prickled up her spine until she saw the soft way the stranger held himself, and caught the familiar scent of the barn on his fur. Of course. Ashfang had just bumped into a barn scout. Is that why her warrior had disappeared all day? Something to do with the barn? "You were supposed to be on an evening patrol, Ashfang," she said, walking back her annoyance from earlier. If Ashfang brought her a barn cat, she was sure his reasoning behind his disappearance was a good one. "But I see you have an explanation for that. Who's your friend?"

In the dozen or so moons it'd been since Ashfang joined PrairieClan's warriors, Cinderstar had developed a decent, if wary, opinion of him. She wasn't wary of him because of his RidgeClan heritage - no, she often embraced other cats who left their clans, like Littlestar, especially if they left their clans to escape the moral failings of their leaders. Ashfang abandoning RidgeClan to leave behind Wolfstar's legacy was perfectly moral of him, she thought. Her wariness came in how reluctant he always seemed to connect with his new clan.

Early in his time as a PrairieClan warrior, Cinderstar was willing to forgive Ashfang's reserved nature, only able to guess how hard it was to transition to life in a new clan. But at some point you just had to make a damn friend, didn't you? Still, despite the wariness she held toward Ashfang, Cinderstar could see that he was genuine in the way he spoke to her. Nothing about him seemed false. If anything, he seemed full of more life than she'd ever seen him before.

Summit, Ashfang said the barn cat's name was. It wasn't the first time she heard the name. Cinderstar further relaxed at the confirmation that the beast of a tom behind Ashfang's shoulder was a healer. Just a gentle giant, then. "Before that, I knew him in RidgeClan; he was the medicine cat apprentice back when I was injured."

Oh - oh. Cinderstar wouldn't claim any familiarness with Summit beyond his name up until this point, but looking at him now, it was impossible not to see RidgeClan's old medicine cat apprentice in him. Bearpaw, too, had been a beast of a tom. "I thought I'd lost him last leaf-bare." In Wolfstar's attack, she knew he meant. Or just after it. There was so much emotion, so much tenderness, in Ashfang's voice, that Cinderstar was briefly possessed with the urge to close her eyes. She fought it back. "To the river. But he was injured in the fall and lost his memory. Cats from the barn saved him, and he's been there ever since."

"That's nothing short of a miracle," she said, voice plain as she processed the news. Her gaze shifted to Bearpaw, but he said nothing. Merely nodded, confirming Ashfang's words. From what she remembered from gatherings, Bearpaw had never been much of a talker, anyway. 

"I was with him today."

"So I assumed." Cinderstar looked closer between the two toms, unable to dismiss how the tenderness of Ashfang's voice still rang in her ears. She supposed she, too, might be emotional to be reunited with a lost clanmate. Especially given that they seemed to share some bond - Bearpaw was the apprentice at the time of Ashfang's injury, he said? Maybe they were friendly. "I'm pleased to hear you've been reunited. Are you looking for an escort to RidgeClan's border, then? I'd be happy to facilitate that myself." Some good news for the gloomy mountain clan, she thought, to have a lost son returned to them.

Bearpaw - Summit, though the strange name didn't seem to fit a cat of warrior blood - frowned deeply, an expression that looked so natural it made Cinderstar wonder if he was born with it in place. "No," he said, and in his lone syllable, Cinderstar realized every mistaken assumption she made before he even corrected her. "I don't need an escort. I'm Ashfang's escort."

"Why on earth would Ashfang need an escort to his clan- oh." Because this wasn't Ashfang's clan anymore, was it? Cinderstar sighed, then turned back to Ashfang. "Let me hear you say it, then."

The words felt false to Cinderstar. She didn't meant to be cynical, nor did she particularly like how hollow Ashfang sounded to her, when she could see nothing but honesty in his eyes. It was just - of course PrairieClan had once again made itself a safe harbor, only to be left so readily. Cinderstar didn't disagree with the leaders before her who made it their mission to open PrairieClan's borders to all, but goodness, it exhausted her.

Ashfang was leaving. "If one day that debt can be repaid, you will find me in the barn." To the barn. She supposed that wasn't very far. "He's my home." And that admission was so sweet Cinderstar didn't know what to do with herself. She nodded, letting that serve as her response for the first moments of silence that followed Ashfang's admittance. Then she sighed.

"You never were a good PrairieClan warrior, Ashfang," she said. "We have flowers in our veins, and from you, I saw nothing but snow." A true RidgeClan cat. They both were - Ashfang and Summit. She could see it so clearly, no matter how willingly these two fled to the barn. She wouldn't judge them for it. RidgeClan was not the home they'd been born into. "But you were a good warrior, and I'm saddened to see you go. Don't fret." Already she could see more lines of concern forming on Summit's face. "You have my blessing. I won't keep you from your home. I will ask for something in return from both of you."

The request was better served to Summit, whose name Cinderstar knew well enough from the other barn cats she'd spoken to. He was respected. A healer. Maybe not a leader among the barn, but certainly a cat who had their ear. "I'd like to begin talks of a formal alliance between PrairieClan and the barn. I'll never ask the barn to meddle in clan business, but there's another matter that concerns us both." She glanced passed the two toms, vaguely in the direction of the abandoned cabin. "RidgeClan and MistClan will be distracted with the newly formed Kingdom. Neither of them will pay much attention to Foxglove and his gang." She could see distaste now twisting Summit's mouth. She hoped that meant he was on her side. "I want an alliance between us to handle Foxglove. Diplomatically, first. But if it comes to more..."

One day, PrairieClan would hunt their far fields again. "I know neither of you have decision making power in the barn, but I just want your word you'll do what you can to convince your fellow barn cats. Can you do that for me?" Summit was already nodding, a slow, thoughtful gesture. He did not speak. "Ashfang?"

Cinderstar saw the aggravation in Ashfang's figure, making his spine rigid and his eyes hard in distrust. Impressively, she also saw all these things soften a moment later, as if Summit's presence thawed the ice buried deep in Ashfang's soul. The adoration between the two of them was clear. It warmed her - it wasn't often she saw love so visible between two cats, outside of public displays of affection that made her tail curl in embarrassment.

She twitched her nose at the thought. Now wasn't the time to contemplate those things. She was trying to make a deal for the betterment of her clan - of the whole forest, really. "Foxglove is a threat to all of us, and I've seen the price of threats like that. You have my word."

Spoken like an oath. How solemn. For a moment, she could see nothing but the two RidgeClan warriors before her, and the life that was destroyed by a leader they once trusted. "Thank you for your blessing, Cinderstar."

"I wish you nothing but happiness," she said. "Truly." And then, turning toward Summit, she added, "The barn has been a constant ally as far as my memory places it. I have no desire to lose that connection by endangering your people. It was good to meet you again, Summit."

-

Summit straightened ever so slightly at Cinderstar's words. Your people, she said, and it felt good. Right. Each day he remembered more and more of his life before the barn. He feared one day uncovering a memory that made him desperate to go back, desperate for the shade of RidgeClan's trees, and the hovering presence of the towering mountains. But hearing the barn called his - that felt more right than any memory so far had, aside from the memories of how much he loved the cat next to him.

"The barn feels the same for PrairieClan," he said simply. Cinderstar nodded, looking pleased with herself. Summit wondered if it was only her familiarity with Ashfang that made her so easy to read, like she let her guard down around him, or if she was just more of an open book than leaders he was used to. How novel.

A moment later, Cinderstar dismissed them, and Summit took the lead out of her den. He blinked his eyes to adjust to the daylight, then gave Ashfang the gentlest nudge. "Is there anyone you wish to speak to before going home?"