&Chapter One;
It was raining, but it wasn't raining any type of liquid. No, it was raining sunshine across the whole entire of our territory. Everything was bathed in a bright glow that was thanks to of all the sunlight pouring out from the source -- the sun, that fiery ball of goodness knows what.
A gentle breeze fluttered through, caressing the leaves on all the plants ever so faintly, letting them air out. Dew moistened the plants slightly while the sun soon dried the tiny, crystalline droplets out. The earth seemed to be alive with creatures as they opened their eyes, ready to face a new day. Here and there, rustles were audible as tiny animals scuttled about in the underbrush. From nearby, a few notes of birdsong pierced the serene silence. As more creatures began awakening, the birdsong rose up even more into the air, supported by the birds that sang. The notes hovered in the air with a beautiful tone, unwavering as they soon faded out.
I, by myself in the center of the DawnClan Camp, was witnessing all this beauty. Most of the other cats weren't awake yet, but some of them were. I saw my sister, Aspenpaw, padding about Camp, an expressionless mask on her face. She was the medicine cat's apprentice, so that was just normal that she showed no emotion. What was odd about it, however, was that she wasn't even a full-fledged medicine cat yet -- she was still a medicine cat apprentice and yet she had still almost mastered the technique of not letting her emotions show through her face. Strange. She was the only she-cat in our litter, and I knew that she felt rather deprived sometimes. My two brothers, Thornpaw and Icepaw, were still asleep in the apprentice's den.
I've never liked Thornpaw -- he's rambunctious and always so haughty as if he's better than everyone else. When we used to play games as kits together, he would always be the loyal and true warrior while I always had to be the evil one that betrayed the Clan. Icepaw had never really played with us and Aspenpaw was out of the question. Only I played with Thornpaw, the reason being because I wanted to be like him -- he was all muscular and had a large frame while I was narrow-boned and not as big. My mother, Ivyleaf, told me not to worry and told me that I would eventually grow big and strong, but I didn't really believe her. Thornpaw, however, was a very handsome cat -- he had a pure black pelt with sharp, green eyes, the reason for the prefix 'thorn' for his name.
Icepaw? Well, he's never been really close to Thornpaw or me. I guess you could say he was the one that was the most attached to our mother more than any of us. I don't exactly know that much about his personality, which is surprising, considering that he's my kin. He has a cream colored pelt accompanied with amber-brown eyes.
And me. Well, I can't exactly describe my personality, but I think I can kind of describe my looks. I'm jealous of Thornpaw; he could capture the attention of any she-cat while she-cats would barely even take a glance in my direction, not even knowing that I existed. I have a grayish colored pelt with just plain brownish nut colored eyes. It's nothing special and no one really cares about me. That's fine. I've learned to live independently, although my mother has usually been there for me. Still, I don't want to grow up being always so close to my mother -- I wanted to break free sometime -- soon, if possible!
Suddenly, I hear a loud purr cut in to the air from nearby. Surprised, I turned my head to look and my eyes were greeted with a sight that brought annoyance in to me. No, the first cat that I laid eyes upon wasn't the one who irritated me -- no, that cat did nothing even close to annoying me.
Her name's Whisperpaw. In my eyes, she's absolutely and positively stunning and brilliant in every which way. She speaks in a soft voice, part of the reason why her name is partially 'whisper.' Her pelt is a snow-white color, white enough to rival even the color of fresh-fallen snow. And her eyes... They're absolutely breathtaking. They're a mixture of blue and silver -- causing a gorgeous silvery azure color in her eyes. It's beautiful. Her dainty and petite frame makes her seem as if she'd shatter apart in to a million little pieces if someone knocked her over, but to tell the truth, she was an extremely skilled fighter and hunter. I long to be seated next to her and to hear her soft, melodic purr in my ear.
You could say I had a crush on her.
There was Whisperpaw, the love of my life. But she would never notice me, not when Thornpaw -- yes, he was now awake -- was around. Thornpaw was also quite taken with Whisperpaw and seemed captivated by everything she did. Unlike me, however, Thornpaw actually had the guts to show some signs of affection for Whisperpaw like brushing his pelt against hers or running his tongue over her ear or touching his nose lightly to her flank. My only consolation in this situation was that Whisperpaw never really seemed to return Thornpaw's affections back as enthusiastically as he gave them.
So, there I was, sitting about the DawnClan Camp and watching as Thornpaw tried to woo and win Whisperpaw's heart. He just never knew when to give up, did he? I watched with narrow eyes, my tail lashing out against the ground especially hard one time when Thornpaw wrapped himself protectively around Whisperpaw as if she were his she-cat and his only. Yeah right.
"Whisperpaw, you're fairer than anything in this world. Your pelt is a beautiful white color, white enough to rival fresh-fallen snow. Your eyes are exotically gorgeous; they're an absolutely beautiful color." His voice cut in to my thoughts. I jerked my head up, glaring at Thornpaw from where I was seated. To my satisfaction, Whisperpaw didn't really respond.
"Thank you, Thornpaw," was all she murmured in that soft, silvery voice that captivated my attention so much. There! That just proved that she wasn't in love with Thornpaw! A purr of delight rumbled in my chest while a wave of affection and tenderness for the ivory colored she-cat engulfed me in its grasp.
"Whisperpaw," I breathed to myself, letting her name flow over my tongue freely. It felt good; each syllable was placed in the correct place that made the name just happen to sound out in the air just like magic. Whisperpaw.
"Whisperpaw's caught your eye?" A voice jolted me out of my thoughts as I whipped around to see who had spoken to me. To my surprise, I saw Aspenpaw standing behind me with a rather amused look in her eyes. My gaze met hers, and in them, I almost thought I saw a strange hungry longing in them for something, but I couldn't quite put my paw on it for sure.
Aspenpaw didn't even wait for my response -- she just gave a slight purr of amusement, flicked my ears with her tail, then padded away as if this were all just some little joke that she had planned. I raised my shoulders in a shrugging movement as I watched her disappear in to the medicine cat's den, obviously on her way to go assist her mentor with herbs and the like.
I turned my head so that I could look back at Thornpaw and Whisperpaw, although my eyes were only on Whisperpaw as she implied the fact that she was politely declining on Thornpaw's rash affections. Giving a mental sigh of frustration at the fact that Thornpaw wasn't getting the point, I turned away.
Another voice spoke behind me. The familiar soft, whispering tone of it surprised me as I whirled around, surprise causing my heart beat to pick up and move so rapidly and loudly, that I thought that everyone in the midst of the DawnClan inhabitance known as the DawnClan Camp could hear it. My gaze met a lustrous silvery blue one. As I recognized whose eyes they were and my eye widened their view to see the expanse of the cat speaking to me, I nearly fainted from the exhilaration that filled me as I determined who it was.