Sootspot did not completely understand his role in this. Details seemed to have been left purposefully hazy, he was to be a pawn in someone else's game, a piece to be forgotten about once he had done his duty, as if he were just some average tunneler expected to do as he was told, not the leader's son. His fur spiked in resentment at his tiny part, only flattening as little kittens and two grown-up cats moved towards him. Eyes flittered in amusement at Granitepelt's words. "Granitepelt and I are very good friends," he smiled as if he'd just swallowed a canary, any confusion he felt hidden behind layers and layers of saccharine expressions. He did not know how long his mother had had loyalists within ShadowClan, he hated that he hadn't known, hated that he hadn't been trusted enough to be told until now. Sootspot bowed his head low towards Halfkit and Tanglekit, tilting his fluffy head upwards as his clan was mentioned. Instead of alarm, he seemed elated. "Ah, clever! That is why you were chosen for this," he turned to Halfkit, ears pointing towards the short ceiling. Whoever had been callous enough to name a child Half?
"You'll need your noses for exploring, and your wits." He gave a dismissive flick of his ear towards Granitepelt, a farewell where words could not be shared. "Brightshine's kits are not as talented as you two. They will arrive when they are stronger," Sootspot assured. "Now, follow me. I have explored most of the way, but I need two brave souls to help me with the last stretch." It had been an easy journey through the tunnels, even if two young idiots were following behind him. Since receiving his assignment, he'd mentally mapped the route over and over until it was all he had been able to think about while he ate rats and slept on spiked leaves. A left turn here, a right turn there, a quick check to make sure his newest companions had not fallen behind. No sooner did the journey start, than he spotted a set of ashen paws waiting for him. Sootspot met his mother's eye at the other end, searching for appraisal, shifting his body so she could see that he had brought the ShadowClan kittens with him. He didn't answer his mother when she asked about Granitepelt, the words lost as he searched for the right ones (What did it matter? He thought), his hunt cut short by the disinterest the other showed him.
They said that it was only loved ones that could truly hurt you because if you expected anything less from an enemy, you were mousebrained. Without so much as a well done, Sootspot felt as if he was suddenly a hundred tail lengths away from his mother. Pupils widened and narrowed in quick succession, tail curling and uncurling as he kept his emotions tempered. 'Should this go wrong, my involvement will not be acknowledged at least,' he told himself. Discretion was better than infamy, what better way to be discreet than to be the only party truly unpraised? He turned his head to the sky to sneer, pretending it was the moon's light that pained him and not his own blood. He listened with bated breath about how the pair were to become great WindClanners, how they were orphaned and how they would find new family. A muzzle twitched at Halfkit's innocence, or perhaps naivety, was his mother not the monster that ShadowClan Queens used to warn kits not to wander? 'Ah, orphans.... nevermind.'
"Would you have me visit my friends, mother?" He asked with a tilt of his head. "He will have quite the song to sing about these great warriors in the making, but he's no nightingale. Would be a shame for him to hurt ShadowClan's ears after they treated us so nicely." Sootspot hummed, hoping the leader would catch his meaning - there was no need to keep loose ends alive once they had fulfilled their purpose, not when they had the potential to confess their sins; and his.
