she isn't expecting to stumble across two of her old clanmates today- and she definitely isn't expecting for one of them to be stuck in a tree.
unlike other loners, ember doesn't care for appeasing the clans. she goes where she pleases, when she pleases; the idea of owning land is ridiculous, after all. and whoever thinks with that mindset... well, they're no better than sootstar and her goons, who forced ember and her family to either surrender their free will and join windclan, or leave the home they've lived in since before most of windclan were even born. she claims that she doesn't give a shit about borders... really, though, she just wants to piss off those assholes who mark the trees and grass with their stench.
she's wandered back to fourtrees, the stale scent of all five clans lingering in the air... and she curls her lip at the tang of rabbit dung and heather. what catches her attention is a call for help from nearby. tattered ears perk, a curious hm? reverberating in her throat. if it's a clanner, she doesn't have any intentions on helping... her gaze rakes over the clearing, pausing on-
"yewberry?" ember splutters on instinct, the name falling from a mouth agape before she could even think about it. two-toned blue eyes glare at the familiar tiny tunneler who stands at the base of a tree. the fuck is he doing all the way at fourtrees? is the greedy sootstar planning on claiming this land as her own, as well?
her claws unsheathe as a reflexive defensive action; ember doesn't think that the cowardly yewberry would do anything, and on the possibility that he does, she isn't too worried. she could easily swat him like a fly. but as she presses forward with a curiosity behind her guarded expression, she realizes something off. yewberry didn't smell like windclan. the familiar scent has been washed away over time, leaving behind only the barest trace of it ever existing. ember's fur puffs out. has yewberry gone rogue?
the thought sends a shiver down her spine, and ember laughs. one by one, sootstar's losing soldiers. even if it's minuscule in comparison to her army of loyal followers, the idea of more cats betraying her makes the flame point giddy.
once the shock's worn off enough for ember to remember why she'd found yewberry in the first place, her brow quirks. now that she's gotten a good look at him, he seems to be fixated on something in the trees... following his gaze, she spots another one, clinging onto a branch. galepaw- although the young tom must've earned his warrior name by now. he'd been on the cusp of graduating when she'd been exiled. he looks as stuck as a badger in a rabbit warren, and ember wagers he's the one who'd called for help earlier. she laughs louder. "holy shit, two of ya! what a sight for sore eyes, you are." ember snorts, her tail swaying in amusement. her claws sheathe once more, quelled by the picture she's already painted in her mind. yewberry and galepaw- she supposes she should call them yew and gale, now- two more rogue windclanners to add to sootstar's list. all three of them, they're one in the same, now, aren't they?
"the hell are you two doin', here, anyway? didja finally get your shit together and ditch the snake?" ember seems more invested in hearing yew and gale's stories than actually helping gale out in his predicament, circling around the base of the tree while her eyes cut between the two.
