Experienced
Characters:
Ospreyfeather – mottled brown and grey tabby she-cat with amber eyes
Archpaw – brown and gold tabby she-cat with amber eyes
Marshwing – stocky grey and white she-cat with blue eyes
Gorsepaw – crass tabby she-cat with green eyes
Narrowstar – skinny dark grey tabby tom with yellow eyes
Sharpfang – ambitious, aloof dark tabby tom with amber eyes
Nettlehawk – swift, skinny tortoiseshell and tabby tom with white paws and chest and blue eyes
"I say these words so that StarClan may hear them and approve of my choice." Narrowstar's voice rang out into the clearing. "Ospreyfeather will be the new deputy of ShadeClan."
Archpaw sat miserably beside her new mentor. The grey and brown tabby didn't look any more excited than she did at the prospect – strange, considering she'd seemed perfectly happy about it when Narrowstar first proposed it.
"Ospreyfeather! Ospreyfeather!" Yowls echoed around the camp as cats threw their heads back and chanted her name.
Someday that will be me, and Ospreyfeather won't be the one putting me into that position, Archpaw thought darkly. She cast a glance at Ospreyfeather, who seemed pleased but distant.
"Archpaw," the she-cat meowed suddenly, "do you want to go hunting? I'd like to see what you were taught by Marshwing."
As crisply as she could, Archpaw replied, "No, I'm going to visit my mentor in the medicine den." She got to her paws and stalked away, waving her tail as if she didn't have a care in the world.
Gorsepaw trotted up beside her; the tabby she-cat looked disgruntled as always. "Firethorn wants me to go check the elders for ticks and change their moss," she grumbled. "Those old fox-breaths don't need their stinking bedding changed! And they sure don't have any ticks; Firethorn had me looking through their shambling old pelts all day yesterday! Fox-dung!"
As usual, her friend's indomitable surly attitude helped Archpaw feel better; she nudged the shorter apprentice with a purr. "Careful he doesn't hear you talking that way, or you won't be hunting for a week!"
Gorsepaw snorted. "As if he could stop me! If I want to go hunting, I'll go hunting, and there's nothing that mousebrain can do to stop me!" She fell in beside Archpaw, increasing her pace to keep up with the longer-legged she-cat. "So what are you doing?"
"Visiting my real mentor in the medicine den," Archpaw meowed dully.
"I gotcha," Gorsepaw mewed, giving her a knowing look. "Say, when you're all done there, mind helping me change the elders' bedding? Like I said, they don't need it – but I've got to do it anyway, and it'd be nice to have someone to talk to."
Archpaw nodded. "Yeah, that's fine with me. Just avoid Berryfur – he's weird."
"That crazy old badger should avoid me!" Gorsepaw boasted, puffing out her chest and strutting proudly.
Archpaw couldn't help it – she burst out laughing. "You look like a turkey!" she laughed, speaking of the strange and ugly birds that the Clans had encountered strutting around on the fields.
"Hey!" Gorsepaw protested. "I don't look anything like those fat feathered things!"
Laughing and teasing, the two apprentices pushed past the ivy tendrils that covered the medicine den and entered the rocky crevice.
Marshwing looked up at their approach, injured leg stabbing out of her nest awkwardly as she turned to them. "Hey, Archpaw, hi, Gorsepaw," she greeted them amicably. "So I see the ceremony has been performed?"
Archpaw growled as her good humor vanished, lashing her tail. "But you're still my mentor," she insisted. "I don't want Ospreyfeather! I want you to be my mentor! You're the best cat in all the Clans – you're a better deputy than she'll ever be!"
The grey and white she-cat narrowed her eyes. "Archpaw, I've told you time and time again that you're not to make trouble for Ospreyfeather. She's a good warrior and I promise, if you give her a chance, that she'll be the best mentor you could hope for. And she's wise as well; ShadeClan will prosper with her…" Though she stopped there, the unspoken words hung in the air between them: …when she's the leader.
Gorsepaw nudged Archpaw. "Marshwing is right. Even if Ospreyfeather ends up being a bad mentor, she'll be a great deputy." She paused for a moment. "I think maybe you should go hunt with her instead of helping me clean the elders' den. You don't want to get in trouble, right?"
"Fine," Archpaw meowed curtly. She turned away from her old mentor and her friend and pushed past the ivy to trot briskly into the clearing. Ospreyfeather was lapping at her paw and drawing it neatly over her brown ears, but she looked up when Archpaw approached.
"Are you ready to go hunting now?" the warrior asked; her tone was guarded, though Archpaw couldn't tell if it was because she was angry or she didn't want to seem threatening.
She hesitated a moment, just long enough to show that she considered the act a chore, before nodding her consent. "Yes. Where will we hunt?"
Ospreyfeather flicked her grey and brown tail. "Where would you like to hunt? Is there anywhere you prefer?" Though the she-cat seemed to be speaking kindly, there was a strain to her words. Archpaw suppressed a smirk – she didn't want to make anything easy on her new mentor.
The woods were alive with prey. Archpaw had chosen to hunt in the thickly forested area near the StreamClan border, where she knew squirrels often nested. Squirrels were her favorite prey to catch – swift and clever, but fat and juicy; it never failed to impress warriors when she carried two or three into the camp.
Ospreyfeather seemed uneasy in the forest. Though most of ShadeClan's territory had little undergrowth, this area was always filled with bushes and brambles due to the wetter territory of StreamClan nearby. The grey and brown tabby warrior jumped at every rustle of the leaves; it was clear that she disliked the close conditions.
Archpaw, being smaller and more suited to the undergrowth, enjoyed her new mentor's discomfort. After catching a plump thrush, she leaped out of the bushes behind Ospreyfeather and yowled, "I caught something!"
The expression on the warrior's face was incredible – Archpaw had to stifle a purr of delight. Ospreyfeather scowled. "Don't sneak up like that, Archpaw. Obviously you're sneaky, but I didn't ask for a demonstration." She paused. "But the thrush is a good catch."
Great StarClan, is she going to try and be supportive of me while snapping at me the entire time? This is going to be worse than I thought, Archpaw thought with a grimace. "Yeah, thanks, sorry," she growled. "I'm going to –"
"Wait." Ospreyfeather's sudden command halted Archpaw in her tracks, more out of surprise than obedience. The deputy was sniffing the air cautiously, hackles raised. "I smell StreamClan."
"We're at the border," Archpaw pointed out drily. "I hardly think you're going to smell BreezeClan."
Ospreyfeather dismissed her with a single flick of the ear, not even sparing a glance in her direction. She turned, moving slowly so as not to disturb the leafy surroundings, and began to slink softly towards the border. Archpaw followed, not bothering to be quiet until her mentor shot her a glare.
At the border was a patrol of StreamClan. It was not a battle patrol – too few cats for that. But they had crossed the border deliberately, and were strongly marking a section of ShadeClan's territory.
Ospreyfeather curled her lip. "They're stealing territory. Archpaw, come with me; we need to report this intrusion back at camp."
"Can't you tell them to go away yourself?" Archpaw meowed innocently. "Since you're deputy and all?"
"They don't know I'm deputy, Archpaw – for StarClan's sake, stop trying to aggravate me now! This isn't the time to pick a fight over whether I'm a terrible mentor or not. StreamClan is stealing territory, and we have to report back to Narrowstar."
Suitably cowed by her new mentor's sharp tone, Archpaw nodded meekly and followed her into the bushes. Once they were safely out of earshot of the StreamClan cats, the two she-cats began to sprint through the forest towards ShadeClan's camp. Ospreyfeather's long legs and light frame meant that she could have easily left the shorter apprentice behind and gained all the glory at reporting for herself, but to Archpaw's surprise she matched her pace.
As a result, they burst into camp at the same time. Ospreyfeather called out, "Narrowstar! StreamClan is stealing territory!"
The skinny black tom was nibbling at his flank, perhaps chasing around a flea, but at Ospreyfeather's yowl he sat bolt upright. "You saw them?"
"We did," Ospreyfeather confirmed. "It was the size of a normal border patrol, but they had ventured into the forest and were leaving scent marks in our territory. We left before they could see us, but they'll have moved on by now."
Narrowstar flicked his ears back crossly. "Great StarClan, I'd thought maybe after Burnstar was killed, the other Clans would realize that it's not the time to pick fights with us."
Archpaw butted in before she could stop herself. "We had to change our deputy; the other Clans probably think we're in a state of chaos right now. StreamClan most likely believes that they can take whatever they want from us without any danger of being attacked while we scramble to choose a new deputy." Suddenly her pelt prickled as eyes around the clearing turned to her with curious stares. "I mean… it's true, right?" she mumbled, stepping back and fixing her eyes on her paws.
Ospreyfeather flicked her tail across Archpaw's flank, smoothing her fur. "That's a very good analysis, Archpaw. I agree with her, Narrowstar; if we don't act on this right away StreamClan will likely keep taking chunks of our territory." Archpaw blinked up at the warrior, surprised by her praise and elaboration.
"Very well said, Ospreyfeather," Narrowstar meowed. "I'd like you to form a plan of action – this will also assess your abilities as a deputy. Speak with Sharpfang and Nettlehawk to come up with a plan, and let me know when you've come up with something." He sat down again, licking one slender black paw.
Archpaw blinked when she realized that he wasn't going to say anything to her. But I was the one who explained it! Doesn't he care?
Ospreyfeather had begun to pad away to where the two warriors were – Sharpfang, dark tabby pelt twitching impatiently, and Nettlehawk, tabby-tortoiseshell fur shining in the afternoon sun. Archpaw followed, itching to know what the plan was.
"Now then," Sharpfang began as Ospreyfeather opened her jaws to speak. The senior warrior lifted his head and looked down sharply at Archpaw. "Is it necessary for your apprentice to be here?" he demanded.
Archpaw curled her lip, about to argue, but Ospreyfeather laid her tail over her mouth and spoke first. "She won't talk. I see no reason to send her away; for all you know, she will take part in whatever there is to come." She met Sharpfang's gaze, and Archpaw was surprised to see that the older tom looked away uncomfortably.
"Let's talk," Nettlehawk prompted. "What would you suggest we do as a reaction, Sharpfang – reset the borders, perhaps?"
Sharpfang nodded. The tabby tom meowed, "Yes, that would work. If we increase patrols along there, they will realize that we haven't lost any strength and concede."
"That's not right!" Archpaw protested, realizing what would happen. "They'll be scornful that we've increased patrols and take territory somewhere else."
Sharpfang spun on her, eyes narrowed. "What are you doing?" he growled. "You aren't old enough to talk with us."
"Really? Because I'm obviously old enough to know one thing," Archpaw retorted. "StreamClan is smarter than that. If we increase patrols in one area, they'll know that we have to be slacking in other areas. They'll start to take territory in other areas and let us have that stretch of territory. We'll end up nearly unable to defend our land, our patrols will be stretched too thin, and then they'll start to attack us. Our warriors will be exhausted from the constant patrolling, while StreamClan will have the advantage. We could end up with a tiny portion of territory. It's better to attack now, while we are strong and they think we're weak. They'll be relaxed and won't expect a battle so soon. We must show the Clans that losing our deputy hasn't affected us at all." She locked eyes with Sharpfang.
"No," he growled. "This is ridiculous. Apprentices don't have enough experience to join in with serious warrior conversations. Ospreyfeather, you would do well to keep your apprentice in check."
"On the contrary," Ospreyfeather meowed sharply, "I agree with her." She took a step closer to Archpaw, defending the smaller cat. "StreamClan is ambitious, more so than LightningClan, and they are strong. If we allow them to walk over us once, they'll simply continue to do so in other areas of our territory. Archpaw is absolutely right, and in fact she has displayed more tactical thinking that either of you have." She turned to Archpaw. "Thank you for taking part in this discussion; don't listen to a word of Sharpfang's bluster."
"You mean it?" Archpaw mewed, surprised. Even Marshwing had never let her participate in discussions.
"I do," Ospreyfeather replied earnestly. She blinked kindly down at Archpaw. "You are one of the brightest cats I know, Archpaw. Maybe the warriors don't treat you that way, but you deserve to be treated as one. That's why I was willing to be your mentor – I know that you have great potential. You might," she added, "even become the leader someday."
Archpaw stared at her in shock. Is she serious? Then, before she could stop it, a purr rose in her throat. "Thanks, Ospreyfeather."
Her new mentor blinked at her. "Why don't you go visit Marshwing and tell her about your strategy?" she offered, nodding towards the medicine den. "I bet she'd like to hear it."
"I will," Archpaw agreed. As she turned away and headed for the medicine den, her eyes gleamed. Maybe it won't be so bad being Ospreyfeather's apprentice after all.
Hey everyone, Rainy here with another one-shot of ShadeClan. This one is, as the summary says, based around the line "Apprentices don't have enough experience to join in with serious warrior conversations." Because I wanted to write a story that showed the bond between Ospreyfeather and Archpaw (later Ospreystar's deputy Archclaw), I decided that it wouldn't be all about the line. Instead it's Archpaw making her new mentor's life miserable, then displaying startlingly clever tactical thinking. That's why she ended up as deputy, everyone - I hope you're taking notes, because this will be on the test.
I'm just kidding. Thanks for reading, please leave a review if you can!