The Honey Zone

"You have stolen prey, trespassed, have no names, and yet you demand sanctuary?" Lionface kept his tone even, letting just enough of a growl in his voice to make his position clear.

The red tom glanced back at the seer, apparently more concerned with her opinion than Lionface's. She only returned a stiff nod, shooting the golden warrior a cocky smirk. "My charge is sick and hungry-"

"And a rogue and disgusting," Lizardtail piped in. He withered back behind Lionface as his senior warrior glared at him to keep quiet.

"-And she communicates with StarClan. It is my duty to care for her. I wouldn't have stolen if it weren't necessary. And it was." He stuck out his lower jaw in a way that instantly reminded Lionface of the seer herself.

Brindleface tapped Lionface's shoulder with her tail as she stepped forward, allowing him a moment to recover from the kit's audacity. "ThunderClan does not take in rogues for nothing. In shedding your name you have shed your privileges." She sighed, giving the small- too small, really- tom a gentle look. He really couldn't be much older than kit age. "I daresay, though, that StarClan would not be proud if we turned away such a young cat without at least a small meal." Her gaze shifted to Lionface. He sighed through his teeth, the bridge of his nose wrinkling somewhat.

"The boy chased off a fox for you, too. Oughta repay him for that." The seer chuffed, meeting Lionface's gaze steadily.

Lizardtail sneered and wrinkled his nose. "What'd he do? Stand up wind of it?"

"Didn't," the warden snapped before either the seer or Lionface could say anything. Flaming green eyes challenged Lizardtail. "If anyone's smell scared it off, it was probably yours anyways."

Lizardtail's jaw dropped with shock and he stammered to find a retort while the nameless seer let out a loud guffaw. Lionface, however, only frowned and shook his large mane.

"That's enough," he said, partly through gritted teeth. "At the very least, Bluestar should hear about this. We can't leave you alone on our territory, though, so we'll take the nameless seer and warden-"

"Rusty."

Lionface had half turned to his patrol before the warden's voice caught his attention and made him turn back around. A glance at the seer told him nothing. "Pardon?"

"I only shed my apprentice name. You can call me Rusty. My kittypet name." Rusty calmly ignored the confused and shocked expressions of the ThunderClan patrol. "She already said it was alright." He jerked his chin towards his charge and she nodded stiffly.

"Indeed I did." She met Lionface's eyes steadily. "No harm in using a new name, is there? Not speaking the old one anytime soon, I'd think." Rusty nodded quickly in confirmation.