The Trouble with Rain (Originally written April 2013)

Chapter 1

Watery sunlight streamed into a sandy den. A dark gray lump lifted a sleepy head and adjusted round blue eyes to the light. The half-grown cat sat up, licking her chest. She glanced at the piles of fur in the nests beside her, one dark gray and one pale. They were Rainpaw's brother and sister, and were still sleeping soundly.

"Tansypaw! Stonepaw! It's time to get up," Rainpaw mewed quietly.

A dark gray tom opened one blue eye, "But I'm tired!"

Rainpaw poked her brother gently with a slender paw. "Get up. It's not my fault you were up late last night."

The pale gray apprentice, Tansypaw, sat up, staring at Stonepaw with bright green eyes. "She's right. You know what Reedwhisker said about you sleeping in yesterday."

Stonepaw's eyes widened, "You don't think he'd really make me clean the elders' den by myself every day for a moon, do you?"

The she-cats exchanged amused glances. "Is that a chance you're willing to take?" Rainpaw asked.

"No way!" Stonepaw gasped. He leaped out of his mossy nest and hurried out of the den, leaving his sisters behind him.

Rainpaw stepped through the leaf barrier of the apprentice's den, scenting the crisp early new-leaf air. The sky was a pale pink, the sun not quite risen yet, but warming up the grass that blanketed the wide, open camp.

The RiverClan medicine cat, Willowshine, was sitting by the fresh fish pile. Seeing the apprentices, she got up and walked over to them. Rainpaw's eyes brightened at seeing her mother in a good mood this morning. Usually Willowshine was in a foul mood because the Clan gave her a hard time about breaking the warrior code and having kits. To make it worse, no one knew who the kits' father was. Tansypaw, a miniature version of her mother, was sure their father was a rogue Willowshine met while gathering herbs. Stonepaw thought their father was a RiverClan cat who was just unwilling to admit he had kits with the medicine cat. Rainpaw wasn't sure who her father was, but she didn't care. Willowshine was a wonderful mother, and that was all that mattered to her.

"Oh, my beautiful kits! Are you ready for a day of training?" Willowshine mewed, licking the top of Stonepaw's head.

"Yeah!" he said, "Reedwhisker's teaching me more fishing techniques today!"

Tansypaw looked equally excited. "That's what Mistystar and I are doing, too!"

Rainpaw sighed sadly. Her brother and sister had gotten such great mentors. The RiverClan leader had taken Tansypaw as her own apprentice, believing mentoring a young cat would preserve the elderly leader's youth. Mistystar had given Stonepaw to Reedwhisker, the Clan deputy as well as her son, so the two could train their apprentices together. Rainpaw had gotten stuck with Hollowflight, a young warrior who had not had an apprentice before and spent most his time lecturing Rainpaw on how useless she was. Rainpaw had been an apprentice for a long time, yet had never caught a fish, hated swimming, and could not learn battle moves that took place in the water.

Watching her littermates leave with their mentors, Rainpaw waited for Hollowflight to finish his meal.

"Don't you want to eat?" he asked, nudging a half-eaten fish toward the dark gray she-cat.

Rainpaw wrinkled her nose in disgust. "I hate the taste of fish!"

Hollowflight stared at her. "That's too bad. You're a RiverClan cat, so you eat fish."

Rainpaw shrugged dismissively and asked what they were doing today.

"Patrol. If you can handle that," Hollowflight meowed.

Rainpaw sighed. She'd rather live under trees than the open land of RiverClan territory, but she said nothing.

The morning was quiet- not even the birds were awake yet. Hollowflight and Rainpaw walked in silence through the RiverClan territory. The apprentice tried to get her mind off her previous failed training sessions and concentrated on studying the land. The territory was mostly open, with wide areas of soft grass. A few trees and bushes decorated the meadow, but the trees were young and small- too small to offer shelter from rain and too small to climb.

Patrolling with Hollowflight was uneventful. There was no activity on the ShadowClan border, so Hollowflight decided they would head back to camp so Rainpaw could clean out the nursery. They walked in silence through the territory until Rainpaw scented something strange. She paused, looking around. She spied a mouse rustling around the roots of a small tree. Rainpaw immediately crouched down, not seeing the surprise in Hollowflight's eyes. She crept toward the mouse slowly and quietly, until she could pounce. Rainpaw's claws sunk into the soft flesh of the mouse. Turning to show Hollowflight her first catch, she saw the dismay in his eyes.

"We are RiverClan. We do not catch mice. You'll have to eat that, because no one else will." Hurt by his discouraging response, Rainpaw trailed him quietly back to camp.

That evening, as the sun was setting into a deep purple sky, Rainpaw sat with Tansypaw and Stonepaw outside the apprentice's den, talking. Rainpaw's eyes wandered toward Mistystar's den, an old rabbit warren long abandoned. Hollowflight was talking with her and Reedwhisker, and they kept glancing at Rainpaw. Finally, Hollowflight left and went to the warrior's den, but Mistystar and Reedwhisker headed for the medicine cats' den. Oh no! Mistystar is going to tell my mother how badly I'm doing at training! Rainpaw thought miserably. After what seemed like moons, Mothwing came out of the den and called Rainpaw and her siblings over.

"Mistystar and Willowshine want to talk to you," she meowed.

Tansypaw gasped, leaping to her paws. "She must be telling Mother how well I'm doing at fishing!"

Stonepaw nodded excitedly. "We are both doing really well at fishing and fighting!"

Tansypaw replied, "So why do they need Rainpaw?"

Normally this comment would have hurt Rainpaw, but as she padded into the medicine cats' den, Rainpaw noticed the serious looks in the eyes of the adult cats and knew this was not a meeting about fishing.

Mistystar was first to speak, "We have something to tell the three of you. It's time for this secret to be told."

(Revision date- February 24, 2014)