It was Moonblight who she first stumbled upon. Her own young apprentice, now grown into a fully-fledged warrior...or actually, not a warrior, a loyal guard. His eyes brightened immediately upon seeing his mentor; despite all that had happened he still had that childlike wonder to him, the bright-eyed childishness so evident the first time the two had met.

"Larkspur!" he greeted with a smile, "good morning!" He hadn't seen his mentor in what felt like weeks, at least, since he had graduated from being her mentee and became the little soldier under Aspenstar's grip. "Are you going out on a patrol today?"

There was a flash of concern in his eyes at the way she looked at him, as if she wasn't really fully seeing him too. Was she okay? The young tom peered curiously at his mentor. She seemed tired, more so than she had ever seemed when they were training. He wanted to ask if she was okay, but after a moment, he decided against it. Perhaps for a later time, he thought.

"Of course!" he practically jumped on the opportunity to join her, "are we going hunting or on a border patrol today?" Perhaps in the forest, he'd ask if she was fine, he figured.

Moonblight nodded at that, eager to get going. He didn't know why she seemed so worried, but he was eager to find out, after all. The young guard didn't seem to notice that his position was what was making her nervous; he still felt the same as he always was, and he truly was–still naive and young and full of zest for the world, unaware of the direction his clan was moving towards.

"Sounds good!" he piped up, trotting alongside Larkspur. They had walked a short distance in silence, before he finally broke it. "I feel like I haven't seen you since we were preparing for our final assessment," he laughed lightly, "it's almost unreal that I'm actually a warrior...do you...you know...miss us?" He gave his mentor a cheeky grin.

Moonblight tilted his head to the side. As much as he had known that he'd rank pretty decently within NightClan, having a mentor such as her and a training partner like Sagebristle, he had never expected to be the cat chosen for the Loyal Guard. It had been a huge surprise when Aspenstar had asked to meet him outside of camp, asking him questions about himself that he could scarcely answer because he had known it was a test.

He still found their leader intimidating, and the way he could hardly read her made it all the more so. "It's been..." he didn't really know how to respond, and for a moment, he seemed to hesitate, as if thinking back to the last few days. He had found himself part of the SummerClan invasion, but he had been out in the territory–on a little day trip with Sagebristle actually–and it had gone well all up until they ran into some other SummerClan cats who had been furious with them. He was certain in Aspenstar's vision, that they were helping SummerClan through this but for that brief moment, he had been unsure. What were they doing in SummerClan?

"I guess it's a lot to learn too," he replied slowly, as if carefully selecting his words lest Larkspur thought he doubted his place in the Loyal Guard, "I...to be honest I thought it'd be a bit different you know? With everything going on, it's...kind of a lot to pick up on."

He nodded at her words, subconsciously agreeing with her. As much as Aspenstar had kept him close, trying to train him in her ways–and subconsciously molding him to become more like her, her loyal little soldier–this was still the first few weeks of his position in the guard. He had yet to fully become a pawn of the leader. At heart, he was still the naive, optimistic young tom who wanted to please his mentor way too much, never presenting a single opinion of his own, rather reflecting those of the others surrounding him in an effort to be the perfect...whatever anyone really needed.

"Asylum seekers?" he echoed, blinking in confusion. He didn't know what Larkspur was referring to. "What are asylum seekers? What's going to happen to them?"

He nodded in understanding. After all, he had been one of those said cats too; his father had dropped him off here because he was too young to continue the journey. He had never quite forgotten that, and despite it all, he still wanted to go out and find the cat...he sighed. It was tough for cats out there to truly find a place to call home, huh?

"Do you really think so?" he asked, his voice smaller than it was earlier, "I mean...I was one of those cats before...and they didn't take me, prisoner, you know? I even got to be a Loyal Guard...wouldn't Aspenstar rather welcome cats into NightClan instead?"

Moonblight blinked, as if not quite understanding what she meant. She only kept him because he was a kit? Surely that wasn't the only reason why, right? Aspenstar had always paid attention to him...right? Sagekit had also joined...oh. The young tom seemed conflicted, confused.

"But I've...I've never seen a prisoner," he replied lamely, "and...Aspenstar's always been you know, nice to me and she's...doing what's best for the clan...right?"

Moonblight still felt a little insecure over what she had just said; he knew she was just trying to make him feel better, but the truth was out there, and he was suddenly not so sure anymore. Not that he hadn't been having a couple of doubts here and there; he had no attachment to SummerClan at all. In fact some of the cats there were just plain rude, but...seeing them cry out for help that night they had been patroling the borders had planted a seed within him, and even in dire conditions, that seed began to grow.

"Yeah," he agreed, though not as enthusiastically as he did before, "she probably has to make tough decisions for the rest of us." Who was he to judge? Still, it made the air a lot more awkward now as they marched towards the old bear's den.

Moonblight's ears immediately turned red. "What about her?" he asked immediately, almost defensive, as if expecting Larkspur to tease him about it before realizing that...oh, of course. They were training together. They were promoted together. Right. "Oh yeah, uh," he felt his face flush even more as he stammered, "yeah, she's technically second in charge apparently, but Aspenstar must've had a slip of judgment if she thinks I'll let Sagebristle boss me around."