This story has major spoilers for both Omen of the Stars and A Vision of Shadows (If I ever get that far, anyway.) This also takes place during Omen of the Stars, after The Fourth Apprentice. You have been warned.

Art by dewpewls on Tumblr. (If I can't use it, I'll remove it then)

I do not own Warriors. Characters and situations are created by Erin Hunter.


Chapter 1: Respite

The morning air was thick with mist, the milky light of dawn shining its rays above ShadowClan's territory. Tawnypelt led Starlingpaw, her apprentice, through the cool, forest territory. The large trees and shadows helped them against the heat, especially since it was greenleaf. Starlingpaw looked around curiously, the tabby ginger tom following after his mottled, tortoiseshell mentor.

Tawnypelt glanced back, making sure that her apprentice was still there. "So, where do you think we should hunt?" she asked, smiling as Starlingpaw gave her a confused look.

"You're the mentor," Starlingpaw confirmed, nodding his head. "And besides, how should I know? This place is just a huge marsh." To prove his point, he dug his claws into the earth, feeling the wet and muddy ground beneath his paws.

"And you know you're going to clean your paws before you hunt, right? Not only are you about to disrespect your prey, but it's just gross to the cat who is going to eat it." Tawnypelt replied coolly, her emerald green eyes twinkling in mischief as she continued to walk forwards. Perhaps Tigerstar had influenced her with not just fighting skills, but with words as well.

Starlingpaw froze, his sky blue eyes widening in fear, then confusion. "Hey! That's not fair at all! It's just some mud. Besides, I can wash it at the stream!" he protested, following the lean, pale-furred she-cat as she padded off towards a better hunting place.


It was already sunrise when Tawnypelt and Starlingpaw finally made it back to the camp, with Tawnpelt holding a frog and lizard in her jaws and Starlingpaw running off with Pinepaw to share his shrew he had caught. She realized Russetfur had already completed the patrols, with only some cats staying behind. The tortoiseshell looked around the camp, watching the activities pass around her like a blur. Flametail was tending Tigerheart's paw, which he claimed was now sore. She watched her sons interact, smiling as she listened to their laughable conversation.

"How could you get hurt from a pine needle?" Flametail laughed as he chewed burdock into a pulp.

"It... it just hurts okay. It was a pointy needle, too." Tigerheart added, his brown, tabby pelt heating up with embarrassment.

"Yeah, right." Flametail stated, focused intently on his brother's paw.

Tawnypelt continued to move forward, managing to spot Ivytail and Kinkfur in the nursery, gushing over the small, yet adorable kits. Sighing, she dropped her prey in the fresh-kill pile, spotting her mate, Rowanclaw, talking to their daughter, Dawnpelt, who looked rather annoyed.

"What's going on here?" Tawnypelt asked teasingly as she brushed her fur against Rowanclaw and licked Dawnpelt on her cheek.

"Ugh! Mom! I'm too old for that," the cream-furred she-cat stated, shaking her mother off and refusing to look at her parents. "And besides, I'm a warrior now," she added proudly, puffing her chest in pride.

"That doesn't mean your mother and I can love you any less," Rowanclaw stated, his tail flicking towards Tawnypelt.

"Well, can you stop bothering me? I told Crowfrost I would go hunting with him this morning." Dawnpelt eagerly said, searching for the black and white tom, avoiding her parent's gazes as she scampered off to go find him.

Rowanclaw turned around, looking at Tawnypelt pleadingly. "Ah.. you see, Dawnpelt is having tom troubles..." Rowanclaw trailed off, obviously embarrassed that he had to talk about the ordeal in the first place.

Tawnypelt looked at him, her leaf green eyes widening in realization. "I thought she didn't like Crowfrost?" Her daughter was troublesome and changed her mind quickly, but she never thought that someone could love someone out of the blue so fast. Especially when they resented each other in the first place.

Rowanclaw only shrugged at his mate, confused as well. "I thought she just viewed him as a clanmate,"

Tawnypelt mustered out a sigh. "I believe Dawnpelt can make her own decisions. She's a bit too old for us to be checking in on her all the time, you know?" she let out a small smile at the dark ginger tom.

"...I suppose." Rowanclaw hesitantly replied, staring off into the sky.


Tawnypelt kept her gaze on the ground. On the trees, the leaves that grew on it, anything to not meet her deputy staring at her. Russetfur had been staring at her all day long, whispering to Blackstar, in which he would nod hesitantly because he probably didn't understand what Russetfur was doing and why.

It had started after talking to Rowanclaw after Dawnpelt's tom troubles. Russetfur would give her a serious look. She even looked sad at one point, in which Tawnypelt had returned it with a half-smile. Anything to not make her look weak. Especially in front of her deputy.

What's going on? Why does she keep looking at me like that? Tawnypelt could feel her heart beating rapidly.

What's going to happen to me?


By nightfall, the looks had stopped, and Tawnypelt was immensely grateful for that. She was already in the warriors' den, curled into her mossy nest. Most of the warriors were in the den already sleeping, or trying to sleep. The she-cat was exhausted, having to train her apprentice at dawn, hunt, and do so much more things that Blackstar had assigned her during the daytime.

At least my own leader can trust me. The thought had popped into her head more than once. To help her realize that not all things in ShadowClan were bad. That things could be good in ThunderClan, but ShadowClan would always come up to the top.

But no matter how hard she tried to convince herself, it would always crumble her spirits down. It was not the first time she had thought this, nor would it be the last. Tawnypelt could only think of Brambleclaw when she heard of ThunderClan. When she heard ShadowClan, she could only think of Tigerstar.

But ShadowClan has changed. Not every cat is bad. Tigerstar was just a horrible leader. And Tawnypelt was right. She had to be.

But Brambleclaw. Starlingpaw had reminded her of her brother. Oh, Brambleclaw. Her brother, her littermate. One of the few, if not only, cats she had trusted in the clan she was born. She remembered when they were apprentices, fooling around. She remembered how when the elders made rude or snide comments towards her relation to Tigerstar, Brambleclaw would always cheer her up. The memories of Bramblepaw and Tawnypaw- not pelt- seemed to fade, like a StarClan cat being forgotten.

The thought of that made Tawnypelt feel even more dejected.

Tawnypelt remembered Tigerstar bribing her to join ShadowClan, and she, being naive, joined him. She would never forget the look of sorrow, betrayal, and a small hint of anger in Brambleclaw's gaze from that day. She had joined and worked through many hardships to earn her place in ShadowClan. How could she ever leave her clanmates now?

Brambleclaw and Tawnypelt were old enough now. Old enough to understand that not all things last forever.

Tawnypelt looked out of the den, watching the moon as it reflected its pale light towards her, shining her mottled fur.

Satisfied, she curled her tail around her body, listening to the lulling snores of her denmates as she fell into a deep sleep.


Author's Note: Did I just give side characters personality? Yeah. Do I regret it? Nope.

Alright, so, as I said before, this takes place after The Fourth Apprentice. Specifically, this chapter is set during Fading Echoes. Basically behind the scenes :]

Also, please tell me if I got anything wrong. It could be herbs, grammatical errors, etc. Just tell me so I can fix it, lol. I don't want my story to be a jumbled mess. (Even though it probably already is _) It would also be nice if I got some suggestions or ideas for future chapters! And yes, chapters will be relatively short. 1k words or a little more each.

Happy reading,

-RP