I love that, it makes a lot of sense honestly

Sunset faded into darkess, and soon after the tom found himself up and off to go on an early hunt, tracking the scent of mouse towards one of the farther edges of the Moonclan border. Hawise, although she didn't know it, was rather lucky that this was the case. As of recent he had been trying to avoid the border; he hated to admit it, but he feared the thought of being alone if he were to accidentally stumble upon another Sunclan invading patrol, or worse yet, another clan or band of rogues taking the weakened state of Moonclan after their last attack to their advantage. Yet even still, when push came to shove, the tom did venture down there - although even while stalking through the underbrush in search of the mouse there was a sort of anxious hesitance that marked his every step.

It was a while into the search that he eventually picked up Hawise's scent. At first he only could identify the unmistakable scent of Primal Instinct that lightly hung in the air, and his fur immediatly raised as he prepared for all his nervous thoughts over the last few days to be proven true. But yet, even as he was preparing a plan for what to do, heart pounding in his chest, he was still able to pause a moment and recognize the second unmistakable scent that intermingled with it - that of his sister.

There was a second jolt of alarm to that realization, though a bit less panic-inducing than the first. It was rare for his sister to visit him, he was used to having to fake a brave face and risk his life flirting with the edges of PI territory to ever get to see and check on her. He already considered her being here something of a bad omen, though he tried to maintain hope this was a good thing, a friendly visit and just a small change of pace. Of course, there was no way to know for sure until they talk, so he pressed on and followed her scent until he eventually stumbled upon a familiar silhouette among the darkness, finding himself just able to make out a hint of a her siamese markings from the sliver of moonlight that had managed to dapple through the canopy above.

"Hawise?" He called out gently, the concern and touch of nervousness in his voice already betraying his anxieties.

For a moment at Hawise's words of reassurance, the tom looked relieved. Unfortunately, the reassurance was short-lived, and soon the tom found his ears falling with concern once more at Hawise's mention of things 'getting more difficult'. It was just vague enough to make the tom anxious once again.

"More difficult? What do you mean, did something happen? Or is going to happen?" There was clearly a note of a more personal stress to his question, but it held more concern for his sister than anything else. He was about to continue on with his inquiries when he paused, remembering his prior fears just a moment before and with it realizing the danger of where they were at. Even though they were in a relatively far-off part Moonclan tertitory that normally would have been a perfectly safe place to avoid being discovered, as of recent patrols had picked up; securing the border twice and thrice over, and that naturally increased the chance of being seen considerably more than Windsweptashes was comfortable with.

"Uhm, also, we might want to go somewhere a little more hidden. Normally here would be fine but - well, uh, I can explain on the way." Windsweptashes gave a small flick of a tail for his sister to follow. It was lucky for him that he was familiar with very secluded locations in the teritory. Places not necessarily good by way of hunting or for anything else for that matter - save for being a quiet place away from most others to go and collect one's thoughts.

Had his sister lived anywhere else, the topic of her getting a promotion would have been something he would immediatly have been excited for her about. Of course he wanted his sister to succeed, for her to move on to bigger things if that's what she wanted, and to reach any promotion at all in any clan or group was a significant occasion and spoke a lot about one's talents. But this was the league they were talking about, and anything that had to do with the league immediatly put Windsweptashes on edge, nevertheless hearing that his sister had been promoted in it.

Hearing that she had been made into an assasin successor was even worse. What did that even mean? Well, he could guess. The tom didn't have much experience with Primal Instinct and its ranks, nor did he really want to, so he had no clue what the title entaled fully, though the name alone seemed like it explained it well enough. A successor to an assassin, to eventually be someone assigned to do probably the more high-profile dirty work and killing in the league. The thought made him uneasy. He didn't like to think of the fact his sister hadn't killed someone already, and given her position new position, likely would soon. He didn't want to imagine the kind of things League cats did in their free time, or the fact that there murder was sometime of a matter of life, because there, surviving was all that mattered.

There was a part of him that wanted to ask about her new role and what it actually asked of her to fill some morbid curiosity, and also, ironically, in hopes he would be reassured that it wasn't as bad as he thought. But another part of him, the part that knew better, stopped him. There would be no reassurance, it would only make things worse. He would hear likely exactly what he didn't want to hear and then some. Or, Hawise would lie to him to save him the small emotional crisis, but then he was sure he would know it was a lie anyways, and he would have to lie with the knowledge that whatever it was was so unsettling that his sister had lied about it - something that would just worry him even more.

So, he decided instead of questioning it, he would try his hardest to pretend as if this was any other promotion in any other clan or group, and swallowed his dread the best he could. "Well congratulations! I'm sure you're excited, do you like who you're going to be training under? And I guess also the other Assassin Successor, since I imagine you'll be working with them too..." Windsweptashes words trailed off a bit, but he forced himself to keep a warmth to his voice and a casual tone. Though even as he spoke it felt a bit surreal, he felt like he was complimenting a kit on their promotion to student, asking about mentors and den-mates. The cognitive dissonance was probably for the best though, even he was somewhat aware he probably was not prepared to handle the full emotional weight of the fact that he was complimenting his sister on the fact that she had gotten promoted to be trained to be an expert at killing other cats.

aww thank you <3 he's a soft bby for sure

Windsweptashes gave a slow, gentle nod. He didn't know what that meant, didn't exactly know if he wantedto know what that meant, but he allowed the feeling of the meaning, of a sense of it, to explain it well enough. And it worried him, made him sick with concern, which was probably why he was more than happy to move on to his sister's next comment, about who was chosen for the position and how. He would worry about what she did, what she was doing, later; whether he wanted to or not. The thoughts of it would soon slink back to him at night and wrack his already frail nerves, but for now he could let his mind slip onto something else, something that in the moment seemed slightly more pleasant.

"I'm sure it was for your skill, I don't think they would have chosen someone who wasn't very good at what they did." He reassured her, though even as he spoke, something knawed at him. Because, though he hated to think of it, he was sure he knew what skills the league appreciated and they certainly weren't ones of virue, to put it nicely. And perhaps there was something else, a soft, tragic, nagging sensation, that reminded him that even more than before, his chance of getting back his siter was slim. Though he would never say it, he had often hoped that one day she'd come to the realization that league life wasn't for her, that one day she'd walk away from it and never look back, and decide that she wanted to live a life far away from the cut-throat nature of the group and its members and find a home in Moonclan, where so much of the only part of her family that seemed about her to care resided. But now, with a position under her belt, the chance of being something more in the league so close to her grasp, Windsweptashes knew that there would be no dragging her away now. It was an odd feeling, losing a battle you didn't even know you were fighting, but he tried to bite back the sinking sensation in his chest.

As they padded onward, eventually Windweptashes lead her through a bit of thick bushes and other forest undergrowth, to what seemed like a tightly walled-in clearing. The land itself under foot was dry and near barren, lacking water from its distance from the river and, perhaps, the dense canopy overhead. By itself it looked like a terrible hiding spot, if someone stumbled upon them they'd be right out in the open; it didn't seem like a good location to hide in. But that was part of what made it such a good secret meeting place. No prey could hide here, no prey could even find anything to eat here, and so no one had a reason to come here except by random chance. And the thick greenery that seemed to surround everything meant that you would be hard pressed to catch a glimpse of them, even if a cat was passing through the area. The location itself had long been one of Windsweptashes favorite spots for getting away from everything, the silence and distance making it perfect for anyone who just wanted to be left alone. In fact, the only other scent that washed over this place, other than the usual smell of Moonclan's territory, the forest, and the dirt, was his. "This should be a good place to talk, by the way. No one really comes out here." He gently reassured her, though being extra safe he took a seat towards the middle of the clearing, the farthest point from any of the directions just in case a wandering eye happened to peer through all the greenery.

"You have to do what your job asks you to do. But I'll miss seeing you as often." There was a note of solemness to his voice that he tried so hard to keep out. But he couldn't, it hurt. He had already noticed the frequency of their visits slowly dwindling, the thought that it might fade even more was painful. It was something else he had tried to push away when she had given him the news, but now it truly felt real; the reality of the situation was painful. Still, he tried to keep up the illusion it didn't hurt as bad as it did, if only because he hated the idea that he might make her feel guilty. She had achieved so much, he wanted her to be able to feel proud, to enjoy the sense of victory that came from getting what he assumed must be a pretty high-standing position. But the sense of loss, the growing distance, it hurt in spite of how much he tried to pretend it didn't.

But then the conversation turned to him, and his ears perked a bit with surprise. As if she had read his mind, as if she had seen right through him. His ability to petend everything was fine was terrible, but he had pretended nevertheless, and he was inclined, as most people are inclined, to believe they weren't so completely and utterly transparent. "I, uhm... Well, there's been a few things.." He admitted, his gaze awkwardly glancing towards the Sunclan border, unease prickling at his pelt.

"I guess most notably, Moonclan was attacked recently. Sunclan raided the camp, and they did a really good job at it." There was something pitiful in that answer, a half whimper half sigh at the recollection that he tried to tinge with a bit of pathetic humor. The fighting, the unecessary bloodshed, all for some prey and herbs they barely had enough of form themselves. But he tried to wave the thoughts away; trying to keep up the illusion more for himself than anyone that it was all over and done with, despite the fact that he and those who had survived the combat were still in an immense state of general restlessness. "But we're bouncing back I think. It's a good thing that the spring weather started to come about right after they made their attack. It's funny really, if they had waited a little while, maybe all the bloodshed could have been avoided." There was something slightly distant, slightly hollow to their words, wistful in a way. It was impossible to know if Sunclan could have held out, or even if Sunclan, with its nightmarish earthquakes and slow degredation of their territory, could have survived on what spring brought along; or at this point, if spring would have even fully revitalized their land at all. But it was bittersweet to pretend that it could have all been avoided, that it was all for nothing.

"Oh, no. I'm fine." Windsweptashes reaffirmed, though his voice was sheepish, a hint of shame lingering at the edge of his words. He didn't know how to admit it, and perhaps that was why he didn't, but he hadn't even been in camp when the majority of the combat took place. He had been off hunting in the quiter part of the territory as usual, not able to sleep that day and restless in his thought. He had returned back to camp to find it in the end stages of combat, a few lingering Sunclan cats trying their best to retreat or get their last blows in, everything of actual use having already been raided and made away with. The most he had really done in those last few moments of the fight was be an intimidating presence, blocking a few retreating Sunclan cats until another shadowhunter managed to slay them or they had somehow slipped past him all the same. Even now he felt a chill of cold, sharp regret pang him. He didn't know if he really would have even been of much help being as combat avoidant as he was, but all the same he figured he could have done more if he had been there from the beginning.

But the came then offer and he was snapped back from his thoughts, his eyes widdening in both a tinge of shock, but more so pure fear at just the mention of the his sister trying her luck smuggling things out of the league of all things. "What- Hawise no!" It came out more as a yelp than a polite decline, and hearing the pure horror in his own voice made him pause, realizing how ridiculous he probably looked to his sister, getting so worked up at just the thought of it all. "I mean, no, you shouldn't go through all the trouble. Moonclan is doing fine, and it's very peaceful. I mean, as much as we can be after everything really." He tried to assure her, brushing off his former panic as gracefully as he could manage, which in truth was probably as graceful as a tumble off the side of a mountain. It wasn't helped by the fact it was all, in part, a lie. Moonclan was certainly still shaken, not entirely recovered from the signifcant losses after their brush with Sunclan. It wasn't even the stolen herbs and prey that was worrisome, moreso the loss of life. Spring would return any food and herbs lost, but it couldn't half as quickly return the sudden deficit of shadowhunters lost both in combat and afterwards from the injuries that couldn't be treated from a lack of healing supplies. But he didn't want to tell his sister those things. Not because he was worried she would use the info against him; he couldn't even begin to imagine that. He thought too much of her, trust her too completely; it was a incredibly sweet naivety, but it hadn't proven an unwise choice thus far. No, instead it was because he was terrified what might happen to her if she went out of her way to help them, and because he didn't want her worrying about him. He would be fine, he was sure of it -- but even if he wasn't, he would have rathered her safety and her peace of mind came first.