A Union of Sensibility

Characters:

Badgerstep – large, responsible black tom with green eyes, white-striped face, and large paws

Drizzlepaw – blue-grey marbled tabby she-cat with yellow eyes

Ospreystar – mottled brown and grey tabby she-cat with amber eyes

Archclaw – brown and gold tabby she-cat with amber eyes

Thornpelt - pale tabby tom with green eyes

Saltcreek – white tom with very faint calico markings and hazel eyes

"Drizzlekit, you are now six moons old, and it is time for you to be apprenticed. From this day on, until you receive your warrior name, you will be known as Drizzlepaw. Your mentor will be Badgerstep, who will surely pass down all he knows to you."

A surge of shock crackled through Badgerstep as he stared at Ospreystar. Me? A mentor? What is she thinking? He swung his head around to look at the newly-named Drizzlepaw, who was staring at him with just as much surprise in her gaze, though of course he could attest her alarm to his size.

"Badgerstep," Ospreystar prompted, and he took a few dazed steps forward to stand beside Drizzlepaw in the clearing. The leader looked down at him, her gaze warm. "You are ready to take on an apprentice. From the moment you left the nursery, you showed yourself to be brave and kind. For this reason, I have chosen you to be the mentor to Drizzlepaw, and I expect you to pass your knowledge on to her."

Still feeling as if this were some sort of bizarre dream, Badgerstep turned to Drizzlepaw and lowered his head. Even so, she still had to stretch up to tap her nose against his. As their noses brushed, the Clan began to chant her name.

"Drizzlepaw! Drizzlepaw! Drizzlepaw!"

She lowered her gaze, apparently embarrassed by the attention, and twisted her head to look over her shoulder at Gorsefoot and Nettlehawk, who were cheering loudly. Behind them, Badgerstep saw Swiftsong with her three kits at her paws, eyes round as an owl's as they stared at Drizzlepaw.

When the cheers died away, Drizzlekit looked away from her parents and flashed a quick glance up at Badgerstep, as if expecting him to order her around immediately. "Go and talk to your parents," he meowed, trying to be reassuring. "We'll go into the forest later."

She looked up at him, brow furrowed, before quickly turning and rushing over to her parents with a yowl of excitement. Badgerstep watched her go, amused, before he felt a tail tap his back. He turned to see Ospreystar behind him.

"I know what you're thinking," she mewed before he could speak. "You think you're not ready for an apprentice. Too young? Or too inexperienced?" She didn't let him get in a word edgewise before pressing on. "I have watched you, Badgerstep, though I suspect you haven't noticed. At first, it was mere curiosity – who was this little kit who stood up to a badger to protect his sister? But as you grew up, I saw the cat you would become. A cat brave, strong, and kindhearted. A cat who is loyal, but doesn't act purely on loyalty." Was it his imagination, or had Ospreystar glanced at Archclaw when she said that?

"And yet, you're not that cat today." He felt slightly disappointed when she said that, as if she was chiding him for not having grown up quickly enough. "Which is why I want you to train Drizzlepaw. I know you can be a great warrior, Badgerstep, and I think she'll be good for you. You need a cat who will temper your abilities as you temper theirs, and I suspect that Drizzlepaw will fit the bill. You are a good cat, even though you've never reached for goals such as leadership."

"I don't want to be the leader of the Clan," Badgerstep blurted. "I'm not good at commanding. I just want to protect all my Clanmates!"

Ospreystar twitched her whiskers, and Badgerstep's eartips burned. "I understand, and that's exactly what I mean. You're a rare breed – a cat who wants only to protect the Clan. Drizzlepaw, though," she cast a look at the blue-grey tabby she-cat, "is ambitious and proud. She will want leadership someday, I'm sure, and it'll do her good to have a cat like you around – just as it'll do you good to have someone like her around."

Badgerstep's head spun, confused by Ospreystar's manner of speaking. "Wait, I don't think I follow…"

She purred. "You don't need to understand just now, Badgerstep. Just train Drizzlepaw, and become her friend. That's all I ask of you. And I promise you that you're the best cat for the job."

"O-okay," he stammered. "I will."

Ospreystar turned to leave, and her place was taken by Archclaw. Now Badgerstep was particularly surprised – he had never spoken much with the deputy. The leader's job was to know all her Clanmates and watch over them, but Archclaw had always seemed so absorbed by her job.

"Let me guess," she began with a glint in her eye, "she came up to you with vague but meaningful statements about how you and Drizzlepaw were supposed to temper each other?"

"Spot on," Badgerstep admitted.

Archclaw chuckled. "I suppose it's true, but we've got ulterior motives as well. Nettlehawk is her father, and as you know he's a rather aggressive warrior. Gorsefoot, her mother, is also hardheaded." Her eyes gleamed fondly as she spoke about her friend. "With such stubborn parents, we wanted to ensure that she was taught kindness as well. Up until now, most of her influence has been fierce. We want you to teach her to be kind and merciful."

"That doesn't surprise me much," Badgerstep meowed carefully, recalling how Archclaw had asked him recently about the incident at the border with Asterpetal and Chestnutpaw. He had tried to soften the blow of his father's violence, but from the look on her face he'd suspected she knew more than she was telling. "She doesn't seem to like the attention from the meeting, but I've noticed that she was a particularly fiery kit."

A brown-tipped tail flicked his ear gently as Archclaw looked up at him, head cocked to one side and eyes narrowed. "She is fiery, but she's not like Nettlehawk. I want you to be aware of that as you're training her – we want you to teach her kindness, not treat her like a monster. If you look at her, and all you can see is her father –"

"No," Badgerstep interrupted firmly. "I don't see cats as products of their parents. Drizzlepaw is Drizzlepaw, not a smaller version of Nettlehawk. I would never look at her – or anyone – that way."

Archclaw broke into a purr, eyes crinkling with gladness. "That's good. I knew you were the right choice. Now, your apprentice is coming back – go take her on a tour of the territory! And good luck."

Badgerstep nodded as the deputy trotted away, apparently in good humor, and Drizzlepaw approached tentatively.

"Hello," she meowed, staring up at him with owlish yellow eyes.

"Hi," he greeted her in response, unsure of how to handle her.

"You're very large," she observed.

"Maybe you're very small," he suggested, and was rewarded with a mischievous spark in her gaze.

"I think you're just big," she retorted. "I'm perfectly normal-sized."

"Oh, yeah?" Badgerstep replied, beginning to purr. "Why don't we go into the forest and see how tiny you are against all the trees?"

Drizzlepaw's eyes stretched wide. "The forest? We can go into the forest?" She didn't wait for him to answer before a delighted look spread over her face and she began to bounce in a circle around him. "I get to go in the forest! Finally!" After circling him twice, she tipped her head to one side and looked up at him. "I've been waiting for forever to get to go in the forest," she informed him matter-of-factly.

"Well, you need wait no longer," Badgerstep meowed. "We can go right now."

"Yes! I can't wait!" Drizzlepaw charged forward towards the camp entrance, and Badgerstep was left to catch up with her. For something so small, she sure is fast!

The blue-grey she-cat was waiting at the entrance when he caught up. "Where are we going first?" she squeaked eagerly. "I want to see the StreamClan border! Wait, no, I want to see the Gathering Field! Does it really fit all the Clans at once? Can we see the LightningClan border? Do they really only attack when it's raining? Why do they do that? Can I catch a mouse?"

"Slow down, there!" Badgerstep laughed. "I'll take you as far as I can today, but we'll come back to camp when you get tired. And I don't think you'll be able to catch a mouse just yet – I need to teach you how to hunt first, after all."

She frowned briefly before brightening, unaffected. "Okay! I don't even care! Let's go to LightningClan! I want to see the fields!"

"All right," Badgerstep purred. "Follow me, okay? I don't want you getting lost." So saying, he slid out of the camp entrance into the forest, pausing to let Drizzlepaw look around.

Her eyes were huge as she stared up at the treetops. Though ShadeClan was mostly pine trees, there were still plenty of golden, brown, and crimson leaves marking the start of leaf-fall. A gust of wind sent a cascade of leaves raining down on them, and Drizzlepaw yowled in delight as one of them landed flatly on her head. Badgerstep laughed at her wide-eyed intrigue as he led her outwards, past the gorse-lined camp border deeper into the forest.

"We'll go to LightningClan's border for now," he informed her as they walked, "since you'll be able to see the border, the fields, and the Gathering Field that way. On our way to the field, I'll show you the training hollow and the birch copse."

"What's that?" Drizzlepaw mewed eagerly.

"The birch copse is a small area of the forest where there are a lot of birch trees and no pines," Badgerstep explained. "Birds like to nest there, since we don't usually climb that type of tree – the branches are too flimsy to hold up a cat. There won't be many birds there, since it's leaf-fall, but just wait until Newleaf. You can barely hear yourself think with all the birdsong!"

Drizzlepaw bounced on her paws happily. "This is awesome already!"

Badgerstep pricked his ears, hearing the sounds of a scuffle. "We're near the training hollow now – seems like someone's beaten us there." He held back a few branches to let Drizzlepaw pass. Upon following her into the clearing, he was surprised to see Ospreystar there. How did she get here so quickly?

She looked away from where her apprentice Violetpaw was scrapping with Emberpaw and nodded warmly. "I hope you're not planning on teaching Drizzlepaw to fight on her first day," she purred.

"No, we're headed for the LightningClan border," Badgerstep replied with an affable nod. "I figured I'd show her the training hollow since it's on our way." He looked down at Drizzlepaw, whose wide eyes were fixed firmly on the training apprentices.

Violetpaw swiped one paw down onto Emberpaw's face, and he retaliated by pouncing onto her and pinning her down. She struggled in vain to squeeze out from under the tom, who was quite large despite his younger age, until finally giving in with a defeated huff.

"Remember what I told you about being trapped under an opponent?" Ospreystar meowed, looking at her. "Try to flip over or throw them backwards."

"Yeah, Violetpaw," Emberpaw meowed teasingly, "I didn't think you were the type to give up so eas –" He was interrupted as the lilac tabby hurled him off, surging up.

"Got you!" she yowled cheerfully. "I knew that would work!"

Badgerstep glanced down at Drizzlepaw, wondering if she was absorbing anything being taught. He was encouraged to see that she was watching quietly, drinking it all in. When the two apprentices parted to shake dust from their fur, she looked up at him. "When I do I get to train like that?" Drizzlepaw whispered.

"Well, Violetpaw is less than a half-moon from becoming a warrior," Badgerstep meowed as they began to move towards the LightningClan border again, "so she's learning much more advanced battle moves. You'll be starting with the basics."

"Okay, but when do I start?" she mewed quietly.

Recalling what Archclaw had told him about Drizzlepaw's only influences being aggressive, he replied, "I'll tell you, but I have a question first. What do you want to learn first, fighting or hunting?"

She cocked her head at him. "If I answer one, does that mean it's what we work on first?"

"No, I'm just curious," he reassured her.

"Hunting, then," she announced promptly.

Hmm. Interesting. "Why?"

"Is this an assessment?" Drizzlepaw purred, stepping up the pace jauntily so that she was a tail-length ahead of Badgerstep. She turned and eyed him, a gleam of mischief in her golden gaze.

"You're not going to tell me, are you," Badgerstep sighed.

"Not unless you're going to punish me for not saying, which you won't because you said you were just curious!" the blue-grey tabby chirped, twitching her whiskers as she sprinted ahead. "Come on, hurry up! I think I see the birch copse!"

Indeed, in another moment they had entered the cluster of white trees. Badgerstep looked up at the slender branches, which were laden with shimmering golden leaves and awkward, lumpy clusters of sticks that marked abandoned bird nests. Drizzlepaw was chasing the falling leaves as they drifted lazily from the boughs overhead, pouncing on one after another. The behavior was that of a kit, but he didn't bother to call her out on it.

Instead he watched closely as she wiggled her haunches, tail lashing wildly, before lunging for a leaf. "Don't move your tail," he called out.

Drizzlepaw turned around, the leaf in her mouth looking hilariously disproportionate to her small form, and tipped her head to one side.

Badgerstep beckoned her over with a flick of his tail. She spat the leaf out and trotted to his side curiously. "You want to keep your tail very still when hunting so that you don't scare away the prey by stirring up leaves or grass. Watch," he hunkered down and stuck his tail out so that it didn't brush against the ground, then took a few careful pawsteps forward. "You have to set your paws down very carefully so that the prey can't feel you coming – and so that you don't make any sounds." So saying, he crept another tail-length forward and lunged, hurling himself through the air to land on top of the leaf Drizzlepaw had caught before.

"Whoa! That was awesome!" she exclaimed, dashing to his side with wide eyes. "I can't wait until I can do stuff like that!"

"Ha, well, I didn't quite intend for you to have a hunting lesson on your first day, but here we are. Let's keep going so I can show you LightningClan's scent." Badgerstep took the lead, weaving around the thin birch trees towards the fields. Drizzlepaw skipped happily at his side, purring,

At last they reached the tree line, where the pines abruptly stopped and opened into the rolling golden hills that were shared between all four Clans. Drizzlepaw's eyes grew huge as she stared around. "It's amazing! I didn't know there was this much territory in the whole world!"

"There's much more to the world than this," Badgerstep meowed. "It goes on for a much larger area than the territory you see here." He lifted his head. "About two days' travel from here, there's a place called the Moongully where we go to share tongues with StarClan. It's a huge crater in a plateau, and you can see for ages from the top."

His apprentice's eyes stretched wide. "Whoa! That sounds amazing – can we go see it?"

"Don't worry. You will meet StarClan before you become a warrior," Badgerstep reassured her. "Probably in a few moons, or whenever Ospreystar thinks you're –"

A yowl cut him off. He spun around to see a patrol of warriors a few hills away, at the border. It was too distant to tell which ones were ShadeClan and which ones were LightningClan, but it was clear that a fight was brewing.

"Drizzlepaw, we should keep moving," he warned her. "Border skirmishes are dangerous for grown cats, let alone new apprentices."

She was squinting at the swarm of cats. "Why are they fighting?"

"They're not fighting yet," Badgerstep pointed out.

"But they're going to," she retorted. "What are they fighting about?"

"LightningClan may have crossed the border, or maybe one of our cats crossed it. I don't know their reasons."

Drizzlepaw lashed her tail. "That's stupid! You shouldn't get into a big fight just because someone accidentally crossed the border! If we did that, wouldn't the Clans fight all the time?"

Badgerstep narrowed his eyes. "The Clans do fight most of the time."

"What?" She stared indignantly at him, as if fighting between the Clans was a personal insult to her. "That's so dumb! Can't they talk it out? Claws and fangs can't be the answer all the time, right?"

He was surprised to hear a cat as young as Drizzlepaw saying such things. Amongst the Clans, it was commonly regarded as a foolish waste of time to dream of peace. Some cats believed that avoiding fights was cowardly and disloyal – Sharpfang was a prime example of such beliefs – while others were simply certain that peace couldn't be achieved, that it was the way of the Clans to fight. Badgerstep had always thought it was foolish to put Clanmates in danger over an errant word or a wrongly-placed paw, believing that while total peace wasn't realistic, fighting less often was.

Most apprentices dreamed of their first battle, of defending their Clan with teeth and claws, before they dreamed of catching the biggest piece of prey or visiting StarClan. They would play battle games in the camp as they waited to become apprentices, stalking each other and scrapping in the dust. He had expected Drizzlepaw to be the same way – and yet here she was, scorning the idea of battle.

Then he realized that she was staring at him expectantly. Going over the past few seconds in his head, Badgerstep realized that she was waiting for an answer to her question. "No, you're right. We don't exist to fight one another."

"Can we go tell those patrols that they're just a bunch of mousebrains and they should quit fighting over nothing?" Drizzlepaw queried, casting a frustrated glance at the cats at the border.

Badgerstep hesitated. He didn't want to bring Drizzlepaw into danger, and he particularly didn't want her to be the focus of an enemy patrol for calling them mousebrains. And yet there was an undeniable spark of determination in her gaze that made him think she would be fine.

"All right," he meowed after a moment. "But," and he put on his most stern expression, "if they start fighting, you need to run away. Hide in the forest, behind the tree line. I don't want you charging into battle and getting hurt."

She looked almost offended at the idea. "I'm not dumb," she promised, locking gazes with him. "I won't do anything stupid. If they start fighting, I'll get away – but you aren't allowed to get hurt, okay?"

Badgerstep was surprised by her fierce concern for him and began to purr. "Of course," he agreed. "I'll be fine. Now, let's go."

They headed over the hills towards the two patrols, eliciting a few looks from cats on both sides. He saw that Thornpelt was leading the ShadeClan patrol, and couldn't help but sneer inwardly. Of course he would be the one getting our Clan into fights. But such a thought was unfair, no matter how true it might be, and he forced it from his mind. He needed to have a clear head if he was supposed to help his apprentice negotiate peace between enemy patrols.

Drizzlepaw took the initiative quickly, stepping forward. "Why are you fighting?" she meowed, looking from cat to cat. Her fur was fluffed up to make her look slightly nervous and confused, while her eyes were innocently huge. Badgerstep chuckled softly, Look at that act. There was no way his apprentice was as nervous as she appeared, not with the way her eyes had glittered with determination on their way up the hill.

Thornpelt cleared his throat. "Badgerstep, is this your apprentice?"

He raised his head and gazed down coolly at Thornpelt. "She is. Why not answer her question?" It was amusing to see the pale tabby tom lower his gaze almost guiltily before turning to Drizzlepaw.

"Saltcreek has been deliberately provoking cats patrolling the borders," he meowed.

Badgerstep cringed inwardly upon hearing the name Saltcreek. A quick glance at the LightningClan patrol did indeed show that the arrogant white tom who believed himself to be StarClan's gift to the Clans was leading the patrol, hazel eyes narrowed as he watched Thornpelt speak. Once the tom had finished, Saltcreek spoke as well. "It's not all cats patrolling the borders, Thornpelt. It's only your sister. She's been found very close to the border recently."

Thornpelt curled his lip and stalked forward until he was right at the border. "It's our territory right up to this point, Saltcreek. You leave my sister alone."

Though there was no love for the tom and his sister in Badgerstep, he took a few pawsteps forward and waved his tail between the two. "Hang on. We don't need to fight over this."

To his surprise, Thornpelt turned to him with bitterness in his gaze. "Easy for you to say. What if it were Foxtail who Saltcreek was harassing?"

His claws curled into the soil despite himself as Badgerstep imagined Foxtail going for a stroll along the border only for Saltcreek to begin snarling at her without cause. "I'm not saying I think it's fair, Thornpelt," he meowed in a carefully controlled voice. "It's just that –"

"There's no reason to fight over it," Drizzlepaw cut in. She looked at Thornpelt. "You mean Hollyclaw, right? She has the right to walk at the borders," she mewed to Saltcreek, "and you should leave her alone. But maybe she's walking close to the borders to get under LightningClan's skin. Maybe the blame should be shared, not piled onto one Clan or the other."

Badgerstep twitched his ears. It sounded like something a full-grown warrior would say – though no warrior would dare to sound like they were sympathizing with LightningClan. He was impressed anyway.

Saltcreek snorted. "You can't be more than six moons old. You're barely a kit. What do you know about blame and borders?"

"Enough to know that you're both being dumb," Drizzlepaw retorted. "I don't think it's fair to bother Hollyclaw, and I don't think it's fair to walk right at the border just to bother an enemy Clan."

"Great," Thornpelt growled, "so now we know that everyone's at fault. How is that supposed to help us? Badgerstep, why don't you control your apprentice?"

"Or you could try to listen for a moment instead of ignoring her," Badgerstep snapped. Had any other cat requested that he control Drizzlepaw, he might have listened – but to hear Thornpelt arguing only incited his annoyance. "She's speaking more sense than either of you two." The tabby tom froze, glaring at him, and Drizzlepaw took the chance to continue speaking.

"You're both at fault, yeah," Drizzlepaw meowed. "You're even. There's no reason to fight over it. There's a simple solution: Hollyclaw walks further from the borders and Saltcreek stops bothering her. You don't have to claw each other's fur out to solve a problem."

Badgerstep's chest swelled with pride at his apprentice's words. He had expected – well, he didn't know what he had expected, but nothing quite so sensible as this.

Saltcreek scoffed. "You know what, you're not worth my time anyway," he growled at the ShadeClan warriors. With a flick of his tail, the LightningClan patrol turned and began to head downhill towards the forest within their territory. "Have fun wasting time listening to a kit," he tossed spitefully over his shoulder before vanishing into the tall grass.

Thornpelt watched him go, expression unreadable, before turning to Drizzlepaw. "I don't know if I agree with you," he meowed, "but you kept us out of a fight. So… thanks, I guess." He signaled for his patrol to head further along the border, but as he turned away Badgerstep caught a look of frustrated malice glittering in his gaze. Thornpelt must have wanted to fight for Hollyclaw, he thought to himself. Well… I suppose it's better to shed no blood than to shed his.

He looked proudly at Drizzlepaw. "Well said," he purred.

She looked at him with pleasure in her golden gaze. "Thanks! I know they didn't want to listen to me, but I'm glad they did! And a little surprised, honestly." She scuffed the ground with one paw. "I don't really think it's fair to make Hollyclaw walk further away from the border – it is our territory right up to there, after all – but Saltcreek wouldn't have agreed to leave it at that if we didn't give a little."

"Spoken like a true diplomat," Badgerstep chuckled. "And he didn't quite agree to anything."

"Sure he did," Drizzlepaw shrugged. "Maybe not with words, but he listened and he didn't attack. Even if he thought it was all mouse-dung, he thought it wasn't worth fighting over. And that's good enough for me."

Badgerstep leaned down to touch his nose to her eartip. "You're too clever for your own good," he purred. "I think I've learned more than you today."

Drizzlepaw blinked at him, her gaze affectionate. "No way! You're an awesome mentor, Badgerstep. I learned a lot!"

"Yeah, but now it's getting late," he meowed, nodding towards the sky. The sun was beginning to lower towards the horizon, and the clouds were touched with faint pink – the first hint of sunset. "We should go back to camp; I'll bet you're tired."

"I am, a little," she admitted with a yawn. "And I'm pretty hungry, too."

"You deserve a big meal after what you did today," Badgerstep agreed. "A border skirmish would make trouble we don't need with LightningClan. Now, let's get you back to camp."

As they walked, Badgerstep looked down at the small she-cat at his side. It was amazing, he reflected, how quickly he'd begun to think of her as his apprentice instead of some young cat he sort of knew. It was in his paws to train her and make her into the best warrior – and maybe someday, the best leader – that ShadeClan would ever see. And if today was any indication, he suspected that they would turn out to be friends as well. Today marks the start of a good relationship, he thought to himself with a purr.

Drizzlepaw looked up at him. "How come you're purring?"

"I'm just thinking of the future," he replied.

She beamed. "It's going to be the best!"

Yay, another story! About Badgerstep, and the character who was originally going to be the main character... Drizzlepaw! Yeah, she was going to be the subject of an entire story. Instead she is one of several characters, though by no means a minor one. As soon as I knew for sure that Badgerstep was alive and well, I was certain that he would be Drizzlepaw's mentor.

I hope this one followed the prompt... it was as much about Badgerstep's relationship with Drizzlepaw as it was about the prompt, because I am telling a continuous story here and it needs to have, well, continuity. Other than that, I don't really have any comments about this story. I have unfortunately run out of prompts, which means I can't write any more stories just yet although I already have a total of seven ideas for stories in mind. All I need are some fitting prompts to weave in so that it's more of a challenge to write them.

Hope you enjoyed the story. Please leave a review if you see anything that could be improved on - or, heck, if you liked it. Reviews are the best motivation!