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Dhanus was sulking. She was not an ebullient cat at the best of times, but today's little squabble with Grimmalkin had her feeling her feeling far more sullen than usual. Miffed, she'd taken off for one of her favorite spots on the border, where the hunting was usually good. And she was alone. Always alone. Until today, when some dark-pelted stranger showed up, asking for directions and being smarmy as hell about it.

"The savage north?" she said casually, licking a paw. "I suppose it's just past the regular north, which, I'm certain any Miauen would know how to reach. To get there, just keep walking past when you start seeing cats with fangs." She knew darn well what he meant, but that didn't mean she was going to tell him. If he couldn't figure out the cardinal directions, he was beyond her help. She vaguely wondered what he was doing on what was technically Shadowmane land; but if he posed a threat to the clan, it was little skin off her nose.

"Teething kittens? Hardly. Nothing's more dangerous to a lone cat than a bunch of cold, hungry cats without a clan to help provide for them in their infirmity, you know. Or have you not been to the ravages of Domoria yet?" Dhanus continued to groom herself, not caring whether or not this dark-coated fool got himself ripped to shreds. "You certainly haven't been in Falori long; unless you're coming from lower Sisrak, you've been coming the dead wrong way since you left your clan." She was beginning to think he was stupid; no cat with his head fixed firmly to his shoulders was that smarmy when asking for simple directions unless he had either ulterior motives or two brain cells, and Dhanus was an utter pessimist at the best of times. She stared at him, eyes narrowed, tail twitching as she tried to figure him out. He was a dark creature; probably not from Sisrak. The heat of the desert would have made him highly uncomfortable. And what was that thing floating above his head? There was a sheen to his bright blue eyes; they were keen, not the blank, matte eyes of a dullard. Perhaps there was something else to this strange male, but if there was, she had yet to see true evidence of it.

"Knew you weren't one of us," she answered, quite satisfied with herself. "Knew you couldn't be one of them, neither, not with fur like that. But you're a bit far from home, aren't you, Northlander? Or have you a home to return to? I have one, not that does me much good. Supposedly, I'm guarding the edges of it, but I wouldn't risk my life for the cats in there," she said, jerking her head towards the jungle. "Not worth the claws in their paws, the lot of 'em. No, I'm out here because I'm thinking, and I can't do it in there, not with the others constantly asking me to do this or go here or watch this kitten or asking me questions about where I go when I disappear or who I speak to or generally getting up in my business." She debated melting into the trees, as was the way of the Falorians, but she decided against it. He didn't look like he'd be much trouble in a fight, so long as she watched where that metal thing went. Maybe she'd ask him about it... that is, if she didn't grow weary of him first. "And what's a gentleman like you doing so close to the border of the mighty Shadowmane?" Her words were poisoned honey, sarcasm cloying to each syllable, especially the word mighty. It was obvious that Dhanus found herself far superior to any of the Shadowmane cats; for all her youth, she was really a clever creature, and felt the ways of the Shadowmane were not at all conducive towards any sort of personal growth. Licking her paw, she smoothed the fur on her ear, completely un-self-consciously. Let him drop facades all he wanted; she had none to drop. As an afterthought, she added "Name's Dhanus, by the way."