But then, Palefire considered himself to be a lot of things.
The same could not be said for the particular company he was waiting on.
Bonekit had not yet found a comfortable place within his range of approval. The kit was definitely sitting somewhere along an indifferent fence in his mind. Now, Palefire held RiverClan cats to a high standard, elevating them on an automatic platform. Bonekit did not have that handicap, not yet: yes, she had some perks carrying her forward, perks that had permitted their meeting today. He wanted to see how she really behaved, away from the reasonable judgment of his clanmates, away from her normal comfort zone, in the environment of Warriors, and choice apprentices. Yes, the kit was being exposed to this early. But he supposed she deserved some sort of push from him, some sort of chance to prove that she could earn the privilege to carry the RiverClan name. Afterall, even he could admit that RiverClan was dealt the occasional bonehead: it made sense to reason then, that occasionally a cat was born outside of Riverclan who would be able to meet his expectations.
Although he would never admit that to any of the other Clans.
So now, he sat near the edge of the Camp, back behind the nursery, prepared to carry out his promise to be her escort for her wanderings- and to show her a bit of what they knew to already exist in their territory.
He was going back and forth with himself about whether or not to take her through relatively unexplored territory.
Maybe take her along the perspective ShadowClan border, and see if she was willing to travel further along those woods, not far from where they had found the Moccasins. Any one of his past apprentices, and certainly his current apprentice Finchpaw, knew how willing he was to push the will of the particular cats he took under his wing. Now, Bonekit was far from being called one of his, but, while she was with him today, he would give the young kit the option, the test, of exactly how far she was disposed to go.
She would have to swim through the river in order to leave completely leave the safety of their camp as well. He was not aware if the kit knew how to swim yet, but if she was going to be part of RiverClan, she was going to have to learn at some point.
For now, he waited. The light reflecting off the sleek, orange striping of his pelt and giving meaning to his name: the colors dancing like a pale stream of fire. The weight of his gaze already lingered, even without anyone else present, but still, that more charming, warm undertone managed to show through: the one that always seemed to brighten his expressions around his kin, that one that so strongly managed to relay his pride in everything that was RiverClan.
An expression that only seemed to strengthen once he turned his head in order to welcome the arrival of his good friend, Ripplestrike: all evidence of sternness lost from those keen eyes, at least during the moments he looked upon that silvery tom. Palefire stood, needing to take only at a few steps before greeting his friend by brushing up against his side, the slightest of purrs barely vibrating from his throat as he pressed so lightly against him, their coats mixing, all before Palefire turned back around to sit in the same manner as he had been before Ripplestrike’s appearance.
They had been separated for longer than usual that day, that fact alone being enough to prompt Palefire to act in the affectionate way he had: but, by now, he was already back into serious mode again, patiently awaiting the appearance of Bonekit. He had never discussed with the other tom about any of his propositions of where to take the kit. In truth, It really didn’t matter: he would allow the black kit to make the final decisions about where they would go: that was the point of this. To allow her to explore, the way she had done so in secret before, but now with escorts.
He cast a sideways glance at Ripplestrike, offering the tom a warm smile- and not really needing a reason for it. His friend always loved kits, and Palefire knew that Ripplestrike had faith in Bonekit’s intelligence: Palefire assumed the silver tom had probably been able to balance out his worry for the kit’s safety with his confidence in her.
He looked away after only meeting the vibrant green reflection of his gaze for a few moments. However, he found himself still thinking about his friend. It was funny how they were both so similar, and yet, so different. Palefire considered Ripplestrike to be a better half of him, in a sense: he at least always managed to bring out Palefire’s more amiable side, even if Palefire wasn’t it to mood for it to be shown. Another part of that better side was how Ripplestrike always managed to be so good with kits: Ripplestrke was reasonable and fun, without being too lenient. Or, at least, that’s how Palefire pictured him.
“You’re going to be an excellent father one day,”
Palefire mewed, rather absently mindedly, especially for him. There was a sincerity to his tone that almost managed to contradict his more stern stance as he awaited Bonekit’s arrival.
Both he and Ripplestrike were a little early. And he had come to this spot early for a purpose: to wait and evaluate Bonekit’s punctuality.
Yushika
Edited from the sixth paragraph down
StarrySeas
It took me way to long to edit that little bit~ sorry guys
