Iwazaru

[**Liz**]

Huddled in a small circle, three toms protected themselves against the wind and rain, eating their fresh kill.
Two toms were big, muscular and menacing. The other was small, sly and quick to the tongue.
The first tom, the oldest, etched a small symbol in the dust. The second interpreted it, and smiled, nodding enthusiastically.
He relayed the message to his other brother, who threw his blind eyes to the heavens and laughed raucously.
"Very good Iwazaru! Taken a leaf from the Kika tree, have we?"
Iwazaru shuffled his feet over the etching, and drew another one, looking slyly over to his younger brother, who was feeling around blindly for his fresh kill, accidentally biting into a fallen leaf.
Mizaru was looking blankly off into the distance, as if the conversation had ended. Iwazaru nudged him gently with the tip of his paw, and gestured to the etching.
Mizaru read it, looking rather confused, then burst out into a bought of deaf, slurred, laughing.
Kika's facial expression changed, his head tilting somewhat upward, as it usually did.
"What?" He meowed, feeling for his fresh kill once more. "Miza, what'd he say?"
Mizaru smiled.
"Noshthing, brother, noshthing. Jusht eat your fresh kill. S'all right." He meowed, pushing the vole closer to Kika and guiding his brother toward it. Kika scowled, as if not understanding the big joke, and resided to eating the fresh kill.

Iwazaru was always detached, from every conversation. Although, not from the world. Of all the brothers, he was the most capable warrior. Big, strong, smart. It was only that he couldn't speak, that was the problem.
Bidding a silent goodbye to his brothers, Iwazaru padded off and toward the leaders den, where he wished to visit with Maplestar and ask about the clans. It was his hobby, to know the who's who of the clans. But also, he wanted to know about the clan which held his older sister, and what was to become of that.
He padded into the den, and bowed his head respectfully in greeting, etching a drawing that said 'Good morning, Maplestar.'

[Sasha]

Maplestar was rising from sleep as the elder cat entered, and she turned to him with a lazy smile. She remembered looking up to him as an apprentice, and was just getting over the awkward feeling in her stomach when he would pay her more respect than she, as she believed, deserved from him.

"And a good morning to you, too, Iwazaru! What brings you around?" she settled to a comfortable sit, leaning her side slightly against the stone wall, watching him intently.

[**Liz**]

(I meant younger sister X.x)

How do I put this...
Taking his paw, he washed away the etching and began to draw another. He drew a big circle, representing the lake, and around that he drew the clans as symbols; A circle for Thunderclan; A square for Riverclan; A triangle for Shadowclan; And a wavy line for Windclan. He crossed out the Windclan marking, and looked up at his leader with hopeful, sad eyes.
He waited a moment to let her interpret, before drawing the angry head of a cat, and raked his claws across it's face, again looking up at his leader questionably.
He knew what the problem was, but what where they going to do about it? What were they going to do for Windclan?
He feared blood would be spilled-
Iwazaru sat his rear end down on the den floor and curled his tail around his feet, warming them.
He was still in his prime as a warrior, and he wanted to know how he could help.

[Sasha]

She understood the first one rather quickly, staring hard at the second as she spoke, missing the meaning but concentrating anyway.
"Oh, Iwazaru, I'm not sure what's going on with Windclan." She gave up on the second one, staring at him sadly. "It worried everyone, you know, that Windclan wasn't at the Gathering, and I haven't even scented a Windclanner for some time now. The clans are nearly seperated at the subject, and I--" she paused. "I want to help them, but if it's bad, we might..." Maplestar paused again, shrugging her shoulders helplessly. "I will keep you updated, though. The whole clan, in fact. Soon as I hear something."

[**Liz**]

Shaking his thick fur with frustration, Iwazaru looked to the ceiling to the leaders den thoughtfully. It was apparent to him that Maplestar hadn't understood the meaning behind his second etching, and decided that it wasn't worth prodding at. Instead he washed it away, this time drawing the three remaining clans as symbols, and encircled the one representing Shadowclan.
He wondered how Deathstar was handling all this. He wouldn't know her to be the kind of cat to go for this 'helping' thing.
A small smirk crossed his face as he remembered Kikazaru tell some doe eyed kits about Shadowclan's bloody history, albeit, exaggerating quite a bit.
Shaking his head again, he drew yet another etching, drawing a wavy line and a circle with a triangle on the end. Want to go fishing? He would have said, had he the voice. Fishing always made him feel better, in times of stress, and the company would be good. If he was lucky, she would just talk away to him, and he would respond with his copious amounts of facial expressions. He hardly talked to anyone beside his siblings, and they were bothering him now.

[Sash]

The she-cat smiled gratefully: finally, something to do where ranks didn't matter! "Sure, I'd love to go fishing. Haven't been by the river in awhile, to be honest." Maplestar rose to her paws, motioning for him to exit first. She would follow.

She paused, glancing about the camp in a loving sort of way. She remembered her talk, not too long ago now that she thought of it, with Sunmist. Maplestar was glad for the medicine cat who had made it clear to her, she had more important things to think about than Ivymoon. Duties first, Ivymoon second: she took a great breath of air, clearing her head and looking to Iwazaru with a friendly grin.

[**Liz**]

Iwazaru couldn't communicate with Maplestar properly, so instead he placed his tail gently on her shoulder, in the direction he intended them to go.
He let his paws carry him through the camp entrance and into the forest, where he planned on getting a cool drink from the stream, and planned on basking in the sunlight and maybe catching a few lazy fish while he was there.
He looked to his leader and softened his facial expressions, asking her through his eyes, where she wanted to go and what she wanted to do.
It was all up to her, he figured.

[Sasha]

Deep in her thoughts, she twitched at the feeling of his tail brushing against her shoulder, letting him lead her. He looked to her, however, and she nearly ran into his hind end.
"Please," she said, "lead the way. I'll be thankful for the break." Maplestar chucked quietly, then glanced at him, her smile fading. "It's not that I don't like being Leader, you know, I just..." she shrugged. "I was never really...how to say it...into everything the way I am now. But besides that, I'll follow you. Definantly."

It hadn't been too long ago that she'd been unkown, a quiet little face in Riverclan. A troubled little face: why? She stared hard at the sky, narrowing her eyes, focusing, before lowering her head and looked to Iwazaru.

[**Liz**]

Iwazaru purred lightly, his eyes shining with pride. She had been a good warrior, and he was more than thrilled when she became leader. But, as he lead the way, a sudden sadness swept over him. If only he could tell her how proud he was of her...
He communicated with his eyes, and his body. He flicked her with his tail again, to get her to look into his eyes, and let his raspy purr grow louder. He could kind of talk, but it pained him. Purring, not so much.
You're doing so well, he mouthed the words instead of speaking them. You should be very proud of yourself.
For a second, he wondered if he mouthed the word 'proud' properly, and watched her face for any signs of offense.
He shook his black tipped fur, and looked up to the sky, his eyes swimming with memories and wisdom beyond his years.
He could faintly see Starclan poking through the brush, but blinked once, and they were gone.