"Moonpaw! Fancy that. You forest cats always have the funniest names. I'm Jasper." The tom, who was tall and leanly muscled underneath his short reddish-brown coat, sat down. There was a bright twinkle in his eyes as he appraised the younger cat. "Sure are glad you're nice. Some of you guys are on edge as soon as you see another cat, which isn't very neighborly in my opinion."

Jasper laughed, revealing a mouth with a few broken teeth. "I'm here to ask about my daughter. She lives with you guys- or at least, I hope she does. Otherwise I don't know where she is. You have a Maia in there? Sweetest, bubbliest little thing? Why she must be around your age- maybe younger?" Jasper's whiskers twitched. "Can't remember exactly when her birthday is."

“I left her right here,” Jasper said with a thoughtful frown. “I’d guess this is the clan she’d join. I didn’t stay long enough to see if she got a different name. I guess she might have. I can describe her for you, if that helps.” Honestly he’d thought that the name and brief description would be enough.

“She’s a bit small. Pretty russet stripes. Bright amber eyes. Super bubbly, sweet, darling little thing. I hated that I couldn’t bring her with me, but my friends and I are moving cities and the move would’ve been too much for her.” Jasper explained with a wide smile. “Never met a sweeter soul.”

“Well, plenty of cats look similar…” Jasper said, not pleased by the description. He hated to think his little girl had changed so much since his departure. “I’m sure I left her here,” he said. “I told her to join whatever group took her in. I knew I couldn’t take care of her on the long trip. I knew she’d be better taken care of here. But grumpy… that doesn’t sound like my girl.”

“I can’t see her, because I know she’d want to come. Maybe you talk to her? Tell her I was here and I was thinkin’ bout her. That might fix her moodiness, if your training partner really is her.”

"Jasper," he repeated, giving that same broken-toothed grin. "And again, her name before joining was Maia. She'd understand why I didn't want her to come. It's a long trip- we got held up cuz Sammy broke his leg, so I thought I'd check in. Otherwise it'd be months of walking, and she was always a frail little thing."

The next question made him frown a bit. "O'course I love her and all, she knows that. I'd just think she'd like to know I hadn't forgotten her, and that I made sure she was settling in fine with her new home. Like I said- if I spoke to her in person she'd beg to come along, so I'd rather she just know I stopped in."

“Far away. I won’t tell you, because if she learns she might try to follow, and I really can’t be saddled with a kid right now- even one as cute as Maia.” Jasper’s tail flicked behind him, amusement in his gaze. “But thanks for passing along the message, Moony. I really appreciate it.” The red-brown tom stood, giving the apprentice another nod.

“See you around, kid. If Maia ever gets into trouble, make sure she’s got a strapping young lad like you around to help out. Take care.” And with that, Jasper set off with a cheerful trot, his tail held high behind him.

Sagepaw was picking the last meat off the bones of a mole when Moonpaw appeared beside her. “Hey Moonboy,” she greeted rather neutrally, her tail tip flicking behind her. Noticing the confused expression on his face, she laughed. “What, you need more hunting help or something? You looked stumped.”

Sagepaw froze mid-chew, amber eyes locked on Moonpaw with something akin to fear. She hadn't heard that name for months, and the only cats who knew her as that- apart from Aspenstar and some other adults- were her father and his friends.

"What did he want?" She demanded, ears flattening against her skull, her voice carefully, painfully neutral. "Who was he?" It couldn't be her dad, right? It had to be one of his friends. Why would he return? Unless... he was here to take her home? Mixed in with the fear was a strange, strangled kind of hope in her eyes.

Sagepaw had to fight to keep the bewilderment and agony from resurfacing on her features. For the most part she succeeded, but the clench of her jaw was too tight and her eyes were filled some strange, wild light. So it was her father, after all. Why had he returned? Was that really all he wanted?

It was excruciating to ask, and Sagepaw didn’t want to hear the answer, but she had to know. “Is he… still there? Was that all he said to you?” Didn’t he want to see her? To apologize, or ask her to come home, or… something?

Sagepaw could've screamed. She wanted to. The pain was manifesting tenfold now, wracking her small frame with waves of fire that emanated from her chest. Her father had come back, not to see her, not even to speak to her directly, but just to make sure she was alive and settling in? Talk about the bare damn minimum. He didn't want her to follow, didn't want her with him.

It shouldn't have come as a surprise, but somehow the buried pain had not subsided with time. Now that Moonpaw had dug it up again, it was devastating.

Sagepaw caught the grimace on his face, the dislike of this entire situation written into his features. If she broke down here, she'd be just another burden to someone else. "Good think he wasn't talking about me," Sagepaw said in a faintly strangled tone, a hysterical laugh bubbling from her chest. "My name's Sagepaw, not Maia. Thanks for letting me know about the nuisances at the border, though."

Swiftly she stood, shoving aside the bones of her dinner with a rough swipe. "See you for training tomorrow," she told him, before departing from camp as quickly as she could, disappearing into the trees.