Shadecloud was padding across the camp to join the sunhigh patrol when, out of the corner of her eye; she caught a flicker of something dark. Looking around the gray she cat realized that the dark thing was her own shadow, purring in amusement she continued on to where the rest of the patrol had gathered.
As she came within earshot of the group of cats she heard her friend, Hollyfrost, call out to her. "Hey Shadecloud, what took you so long?"
"She can tell you while we're walking, we're late already." The patrol's leader, Snowsky, said coldly.
"Right, let's go then!" Shadecloud said with false brightness, endeavoring to escape Snowsky's disapproving glare.
"Yeah, let's go, we're wasting sunlight." Sparrowpelt agreed, sensing the tension and doing his best to dispel it.
With a wave of her white tail Snowsky left the camp, the rest of the patrol following her. Sparrowpelt soon caught up with Snowsky and began chatting quietly with her, Shadecloud and Hollyfrost brought up the rear.
"Snowsky is so uptight!" Hollyfrost whispered to Shadecloud, careful to keep her voice low.
"I know, but she gets things done so it's okay?" Shadecloud responded in a halfhearted attempt to defend the harsh deputy.
"Was that a question or a statement? Seriously I don't know how you can defend her, especially after she got mad at you for being late. Speaking of which, why were you late? You said you'd tell me on the patrol, or Snowsky did." Hollyfrost asked, leaning closer to Shadecloud.
"It's kind of silly, you have to promise not to laugh." Shadeleaf said, feeling her ears grow warm at the embarrassing memory.
"I won't laugh! I promise, now tell me!" Hollyfrost purred to her somewhat skeptical friend.
"Well, I got scared by my shadow. I just saw it out of the corner of my eye and it freaked me out for some reason. See, it was just Shadecloud being silly again." Shadecloud said, a laugh bubbling up inside her at her friend's serious expression.
"That not silly at all!" Hollyfrost hissed, her eyes widening.
"Why?" Shadecloud asked curiously.
Hollyfrost opened her mouth to reply but was interrupted by Snowsky's commanding voice. "We're at the border, if you two want to get your heads out of the clouds we have more important things to do than loll around chattering."
"Oh, sorry Snowsky." Hollyfrost apologized sheepishly, her gaze fixed on the ground.
"I should think so, maybe next you'll actually pay attention." Snowsky grumbled, turning her nose up.
"We'll try." Shadecloud said, shuffling her paws.
"Good, now while you were busy Sparrowpelt and I were making a plan, we're going to split into groups of two. Each group will patrol the border in a different direction, starting in the middle and working outward. Once you have checked your assigned part of the border you may return to camp. Is that understood?" Snowsky asked, staring down at the other two she cats.
"Yes Snowsky." They chorused quietly.
"Excellent. Shadecloud, you go with Sparrowpelt, Hollyfrost, you're with me. Now let's go before the dusk patrol arrives, I'll see you two back at camp." With that Snowsky set off at a brisk trot, Hollyfrost casting a pleading look back at Shadecloud before hurrying to catch up with the white warrior.
Shadecloud turned to Sparrowpelt, waiting for the older warrior to say something.
"Right, let's get going then." He said, setting off towards Windclan territory.
"Oh, okay." Shadecloud said, half running to keep up with the leggy brown tom. "Could you slow down a little bit? My legs aren't as long as yours."
"Sorry, sometimes I forget that other cats aren't as fast as me." Shadecloud looked over at him, trying to find some trace of arrogance but coming up empty pawed.
He had simply stated it like it was a common truth, which it kind of was, Shadecloud reflected as the pair padded along the border. The two warriors walked in silence, stopping now and then to renew scent markers or investigate a scent, none of which lead to anything.
The silence bore down on Shadecloud; unable to take the smothering quiet any longer she burst out with the first comment that came to mind. "So Sparrowpelt how is Silverleaf?"
"What? Oh, she's fine." He answered, looking a bit surprised at the outburst.
"That's good, how are the kits?" Shadecloud asked, genuinely curious about the clan's newest members.
"Oh they're good, they've just opened their eyes actually, Oakleaf says it's the fastest he's ever seen kits open their eyes. They're beautiful, just like their mother. There's a little silver tabby, she looks exactly like Silverleaf did when she was a kit, right down to the white paws. The other one is ginger, he's a little warrior already, just this morning he pounced on my tail. They both have Silverleaf's eyes, bright blue, like the sky." Sparrowpelt purred, happy to talk about his kits.
Shadecloud nodded along, happy to listen to him chatter about Brookkit and Lionkit and the mischief they got up to. The dark gray she cat fell into a sleepy daze, lulled by the warm air and the sound of Sparrowpelt's voice, slowly meandering along after the senior warrior.
Her feeling of sleepy contentment was disrupted by the odd sensation of being watched. Stopping in her tracks Shadecloud whipped her head around, searching for the source of the sensation. Catching a flicker of motion behind her she whirled around to face... her shadow? All that was there was a smoky copy of herself, lying passively on the ground.
"Shadecloud? Are you alright?" Sparrowpelt called, concern clear in his voice.
"I'm fine, don't worry." Shadecloud said, padding across the clearing to join the brown tabby.
Shadecloud cast a last look back at the clearing, only to find the same scene of peace and normalcy that she had observed before. She had been so sure that there was something there...
Shaking her head to clear her thoughts the she cat ran to catch up with Sparrowpelt who had already reached the edge of the border.