Dawnpaw raced up to her sister, Lightfur, who had come back from hunting. "Lightfur! What did you you catch? I bet you caught the most prey, since you're the best!"
I rolled my eyes at Dawnpaw's behaviour. She worships Lightfur like she's from StarClan.
"No, actually, Mintpelt did." Lightfur replied modestly.
"Yeah, but you caught the biggest, Lightfur." Mintpelt answered, poking Lightfur with his tail.
"Well, yes, but—"
Dawnpaw watched silently as their exchange continued, then, sadly walked away toward the apprentice den, where I was. I quickly hid in the shadows, my dark pelt helping me blend in. WHen she came through the entrance, I jumped out at her. "Hi Dawnpaw!"
Dawnpaw jumped, startled, her fur fluffed up. "Great StarClan, Featherpaw, you scared me!" she yelped.
"Scaredy-mouse!" I laughed. "So, how's your new religion coming along? I think Mintpelt would be a pretty loyal Lightfurite. Of course, you two are probably the only ones in camp."
Dawnpaw was turned away from me, so I couldn't see her face. "What do you mean? Lightfur is the best cat ever! She will become leader someday, so you better watch your mouth!" she snapped angrily.
Mouse-brain. What does she see in her? I thought. Even normal siblings don't usually worship their siblings that much. "Well, maybe I'm tired of hearing speeches of how amazing she is. Every. Single. Day. And always having to save the best prey for Lightfur. And—"
"ALRIGHT! I get it. You're fed up with it. But can't you see how much she means to me?" Dawnpaw was facing me now, and I could see the tears in her eyes. "She's all the family I have left." she whispered, crying now.
Oh. Oh. Wow I am mouse-brained. Since her mother had died while Dawnpaw was still a kit, and her father and other siblings left after Snowmelt died, blaming the clan for her death, Lightfur was really the only family Dawnpaw had. With the rest of her family abandoning her, she probably does sees her as a gift from StarClan. And I've been mocking her out of jealousy. I reflected sadly.
"That's it I'm done with your teasing. What kind of friend are you?" Dawnpaw turned toward the entrance of apprentice den, fuming.
"Wait! Dawnpaw, I—" she had left. She's right. What kind of friend am I?
oOo
The next day, we were on a hunting patrol together, with Lightfur and Mintpelt, the latter of which Dawnpaw did not seem to happy about. This would be a good chance to try and talk to Dawnpaw. But she seemed to still be angry with me. She stayed quiet the whole patrol, not even praising Lightfur. That's odd. I thought as Lightfur made a particularly good kill, and Dawnpaw didn't start jabbering about how amazing her elder sister was. It's probably because of yesterday. I concluded. But yesterday was not the first time I had teased her, and she never acted like this after. So what is it? I decided to think about it later, as I had just spotted a mouse.
After a while longer, we still didn't have much prey, so Mintfur decided that it would be a good idea to split up, him and Lightfur in one group, me and Dawnpaw in the other. Dawnpaw was very opposed to the idea for some reason, arguing how it would be a bad idea to split up, what if a fox or some other hostile animal caught the other group, and we're just apprentices, shouldn't the groups be warrior and apprentice? "Dawnpaw, we're almost warriors. I think we're strong enough to be in our own group" I interjected.
"Yes Featherpaw! That is why I am trusting you to be able to go on your own" Mintpelt exclaimed. Dawnpaw glared at me. What did I do? "So how about you two go hunt over there" he pointed to the right with his tail "While Lightfur and I hunt over here." He pointed to the left.
Dawnpaw grudgingly turned and walked away, with me following her. When she turned to look at me, I said "What? We're supposed to be hunting together."
Dawnpaw was silent. Working together, we caught a few more pieces of prey, but she didn't celebrate every kill. What's the matter with her? This is the opposite of the Dawnpaw I know. A squirrel ran by me without me noticing. When I did, it had run up a tree into safety. Dawnpaw noticed and started berating me for missing it, did I want to become a warrior, and if I did I better stop daydreaming or I will be stuck an apprentice until the elders I take care of will be as old as me, so get to work! I nodded dumbly, taken aback by her outburst. She's probably mad she wasn't put in the same group as Lightfur, I reasoned. So why did she snap at me? And why does she not like Mintpelt?
ooOOoo
AN: Hi there. First story on here... so, yeah. This was originally for a challenge for a forum I'm in, but I had too many ideas to put in 600 words, so it's a story now. This is the first chapter, I guess, and the chapters are probably going to be short.
