Here's the second part. Enjoy and have fun.
Thornclaw was awoke by someone prodding him lightly on the side. He grunted. The prodding continued, more insistent. Thornclaw grunted even louder.
A sharp jab.
"What!"
Thornclaw raised his head. Hazeltail jumped back. She lowered her eyes. "Sorry," she murmured. "I was supposed to wake you up for the Dawn patrol."
"Oh..." Thornclaw yawned to cover his embarrassment. He had forgotten that he had Dawn Patrol with Dustpelt, Hazeltail and Berrynose.
"Sorry about that," he grunted as they made their way to the entrance den.
Hazeltail's tail shot up in the air. "Oh, it was no problem," she mewed brightly.
The forest still held its marshy undergrowth as the Dawn Patrol squished their way to the border close to Shadowclan territory. Berrynose complained most of the way, unsurprisingly. And Dustpelt was able to catch a mouse along the way.
"Doesn't look like Shadowclan's been here yet," Dustpelt reported as Hazeltail finished re-scenting the border.
Berrynose sniffed under a bush while Thornclaw scanned the borders. Dustpelt was right. He couldn't hear or see a thing. Oh well, guess no fighting today, he thought with disappointment. Though Thornclaw loved to fight, that wouldn't mean he'd literally start a fight to satisfy his own craving... well, unless they started it first.
"Let's get going," Dustpelt mewed, breaking Thornclaw from his reverie. Berrynose took the lead, again, unsurprisingly, while Dustpelt and Thornclaw followed with Hazeltail close beside the latter.
More then once their pelts touched because of the narrow trees, prompting Thornclaw to move further and further away from the she-cat, who would back a step or pad forward a few paces to parallel with the golden warrior.
Why wouldn't she leave him alone?
Dustpelt retrieved his mouse along the way and gave it to Berrynose for Poppyfrost and her kits. Thornclaw thought Dustpelt only did that so Berrynose would stop complaining with the mouse in his jaws while they returned to Thunderclan.
A sigh of relief escaped Thornclaw by the time they arrived in Thunderclan and he quickly left the Dawn Patrol to sit next to Brightheart and Cloudtail near the Warriors Den.
"--sure you'll get an apprentice soon," Cloudtail mewed. Thornclaw sat beside them, frowning. Brightheart, though promised an apprentice some time ago by Firestar, had still never even received one yet! Thornclaw realized. What was taking their leader so long in deciding the perfect cat for her? He continued to stare at his sister, his mind wandering.
Of course, he realized, watching as Brightheart gossiped about Poppyfrost's kits and how much of a handful they were when she tried to give Poppyfrost some herbs. It's probably because of her condition. With having only one eye Brightheart would only be able to teach an apprentice techniques that were only useful to a cat with one eye.
Thornclaw pushed the thought away. It didn't matter that his sister only had one eye, he thought fiercely. She could still become a great mentor if Firestar just gave her a chance!
"Thornclaw!"
Thornclaw turned. It was Brambleclaw. "Yeah?"
"Hunting patrol tomorrow at dawn with Mousewhisker and Poppyfrost."
Thornclaw flicked his ears that he understood. He turned back to Cloudtail and Brightheart with the intention of striking a conversation, only to find that they had settled to purring happily together. He shrugged and made his way to the other side of the clearing with Berrynose and Cinderheart. They, too were talking about Poppyfrost's kits.
"Who do you think is going to be Mokekit's mentor?" Cinderheart asked.
Berrynose shrugged. "Whomever it is they'd better do a good job. I don't want my kits slacking off just because the mentor knows who their father is."
You don't have to worry about a thing, Berrynose," Thornclaw joined. "The mentor training the kits and not the father is a lot less stressful than you'd think."
Cinderheart purred in laughter at the joke. Berrynose, however, did not get the job. Yet agai, unsurprisingly, Thornclaw thought.
The trio gossiped for a while until it was time for Cinderheart to go. "I'm going to take Ivypaw to practice some new fighting moves," Cinderheart mewed, stretching. "You guys want to come? We'll need some practice dummies."
Thornclaw shrugged in agreement while Berrynose mewed that he had just gone patrolling and he would like to stay with his kits. Thornclaw snorted but kept quiet as he and Cinderheart stopped by the apprentice's den to pick up Ivypaw.
"Should we get Briarpaw too?" Cinderheart thought out loud.
Thornclaw looked around to Briarpaw as she continued to chat with Dovepaw. "Nah. Let her ease off for a bit. I'll make it up to her later."
By the time they were at the training hollow Ivypaw was excited to learn the new technique Cinderheart was hinting but never revealed.
"Okay, today I'm going to teach you how to defend from two cats attacking you at once," Cinderheart explained. "For this you'll have to keep your eyes on both targets and make sure they don't catch you off balance or trap you. Fighting one clan cat could be tough enough, but against two you'll need more than just knowledge of fighting moves and strength—you'll need to understand how your opponents' moves when confronting you." Ivypaw nodded once to show her understanding.
Cinderheart pointed her tail at Thornclaw. "You get on Ivypaw's left side, and I'll be on her right." They began to circle the apprentice, who immediately tensed in a crouch, looking left and right as Cinderheart and Thornclaw stalked towards her.
"Don't let the enemy come at your blind side," Cinderheart explained. "Make sure to keep your attention to both of us." Ivypaw padded quickly behind her, making sure to keep both Warriors in her line of sight. "Good, now when Thornclaw attacks, you dodge away. But remember: he'll be trying to corner you to where I am so you wouldn't have anywhere else to escape. You do the opposite and move either further away, or streak in between us the minute he tries to bring you closer to me."
Thornclaw jumped and slashed forward with sheathed claws. Ivypaw dodged and streaked away before he could push her further behind Cinderheart.
Cinderheart nodded in approval. "Good. Now we're going to do it again. And after that I'm going to show you how to attack both cats when you have no choice. But you need to remember that unless you have to, don't try it. Running away when the odds are against you doesn't make you any less a Warrior."
Ivypaw nodded again in understanding.
The training had gone well. Ivypaw was not able to attack both cats at once, but she was able to dodge very well the first few times before either Thornclaw or Cinderheart were able to lay a paw on her.
"Good," Cinderheart nodded as Ivypaw was able to dodge Thornclaw's paws and cuff him over the head in the process. "Now I want to see you make a quick spar with Thornclaw for me to observe your techniques. If that's alright with you?" she asked.
Thornclaw shook his head. Together he and Ivypaw practiced. Twice during the practice spar Thornclaw was able to cuff Ivypaw on her side, and twice Cinderheart said nothing when they parted. After they separated with Thornclaw pushing Ivypaw from over him yet again, Thornclaw looked around to Cinderheart, confused with her silent treatment. The gray she-cat was staring at him.
She quickly looked away. "That was good practice, Ivypaw," she called. "Great work! You too Thornclaw."
Ivypaw's eyes shined. Thornclaw, however, merely flicked his ears disconcertingly.
During the walk back Thornclaw and Ivypaw were in the front group while Cinderheart trailed behind them. Ivypaw gossiped the whole walk about how she was going to show Briarpaw the technique and wondered out loud how far Dovepaw was getting on her training with Lionblaze. Throughout the entire trip Thornclaw was uncomfortably aware of Cinderheart's eyes burning behind his pelt.
Does Cinderheart have a thing for Thornclaw, or is the senior Warrior over-exaggerating because of his paranoia, whatever it may be? The answers will come easily and soon enough.
