Oh my gosh! Eleven reviews, and only one chapter?! Thank you all SO much for your support! :D
Just a heads up: I'm gonna be uploading new stories for other fandoms soon, as well as some more for Warriors, so updates here might become sporadic. I'll try to update often, though! If you're interested in The Kane Chronicles, How to Train Your Dragon (primarily the books), Lord of the Rings/The Hobbit (specifically Tauriel), or Tamora Pierce's Tortall books, and would like to read some fanfiction for those fandoms, I'd appreciate a follow, and you'd get some stories!
Thank you, and here's chapter two, introducing some of our protagonists! :)
CHAPTER TWO
Poolgaze was usually a deep sleeper. When she grew tired, she slept, and nothing could wake her from her slumber. Luckily for ThunderClan, she didn't snore. Her still body was often a pain to crawl over in the morning as the warriors crept out of their den for the dawn patrol.
On this particular night, she slept as deeply as she would on any other. She had no intentions of rising early; she was not scheduled for the dawn patrol. Unfortunately, Finchwing had another idea.
"Wake up," a voice muttered in her ear.
Poolgaze only groaned and turned over in her nest.
A paw prodded her sharply in the ribs, effectively rousing her to wakefulness. Grumpy, Poolgaze decided not let on.
"Why won't she wake up?" the voice complained to someone else.
Poolgaze sighed internally. It was Finchwing. She wouldn't rest until she had risen.
"I'm awake," she said through a yawn, cracking open her deep blue eyes.
"Oh, good," Finchwing said in relief. "Well, come on! Get up!"
"What do you want?" Poolgaze grumbled as she stood.
"That's what I'm saying," another cat said testily. Grayfeather. Well, if Finchwing wanted Poolgaze up, chances were Grayfeather would also be involved.
"You'll see," Finchwing said confidently, her amber eyes bright. "Come on, follow me!"
The lithe tabby she-cat turned and wove her way through the mess of sleeping warriors and out of the den. Grayfeather rolled her green eyes and followed her. Poolgaze, now much more awake, left too, more curious than disgruntled.
Finchwing led them out of the camp and through ThunderClan's territory. Poolgaze followed, listening to Grayfeather grumble to herself.
"Stupid...middle of the night...forest...tired...ugh," Grayfeather growled under her breath. If Poolgaze could hear her, she was sure that Finchwing could also, but the tabby she-cat chose to ignore Grayfeather's protests.
"Where are we going?" Poolgaze asked Finchwing.
The older warrior only flicked her ears in response, plunging further into the depths of the forest.
"She wouldn't answer me, either," Grayfeather groused. "Aloof, mysterious...stupid."
Poolgaze smiled. "Come on. This is bound to be fun, if she gets up this early!"
The gray-furred she-cat only snorted and rolled her eyes.
They walked on for a little longer. Then Finchwing turned and stopped, beaming at them. "Here we go!" she exclaimed.
"What is this?" Grayfeather demanded, squinting into the patch of forest in front of her. "All I see is a tree and...oh."
Poolgaze gasped, suddenly seeing it. The thing was huge—a strange den-like thing, looking like it was cut from a tree and stuck together with more trees, but without the leaves. It was ancient, old and crumbling, and the forest's greenery had mostly overtaken it.
"What is it?" she asked in wonder, her clear blue eyes wide.
Finchwing purred, sitting up proudly. "I heard one of the elders talking about it yesterday, and I couldn't sleep tonight, so I went looking. It's a Twoleg nest."
"There used to be Twolegs in our territory?" Grayfeather said in awe.
Finchwing shrugged. "A very long time ago, before the Clans arrived at the Lake. Jayfeather—one of the Three—found catmint here and used it to save the Clans, way back when."
"You really believe those stories?" Grayfeather said incredulously. "About the Three, with magic powers and all?"
Finchwing shoved her friend playfully. "Of course! If you don't believe in the Three, do you even believe in StarClan?"
"Well..." Grayfeather hesitated. "I do believe in StarClan. But the Three? That sounds like made-up stories to me. I mean, come on. Reading minds? Invincibility? Super senses? That's ridiculous. Not to mention the other stories—going back in time, vanishing, becoming immortal...it's stupid. They're made up stories, just for kits."
"Grayfeather," Poolgaze said placatingly. "Come on. You loved those stories when you a kit—even when you were an apprentice!"
Grayfeather rolled her green eyes. "I'm a warrior now. I don't have time for Twoleg nests and kit stories."
"Come on, Grayfeather," Finchwing said placatingly. "Where's your adventuresome spirit? Your sense of wonder?"
"I don't have one," the gray-furred she-cat snapped, her eyes flashing. "I don't need one anymore." She whirled around and stalked away. "I'm going back to camp. I need to sleep, I've got dawn patrol."
Finchwing scowled, her amber eyes darkening as they stared at Grayfeather's retreating figure. Poolgaze stared at her, her eyes wide with shock.
"What are you looking at?" the golden tabby snapped.
"N-nothing!" Poolgaze squeaked. Out of the three of them, she was the youngest. Finchwing and Grayfeather were littermates, and Poolgaze had always been a moon behind them in training. Still, she had worked twice as hard and had earned her reward when she was made a warrior at the same time as Finchwing and Grayfeather. Still she strove to prove herself to her older friends, especially the fiery and enigmatic Finchwing.
"I'll go exploring the nest with you," Poolgaze offered, smiling timidly. "That...is why you brought us here, right?"
Finchwing scowled. "Yeah. I don't really want to do it without Grayfeather, though."
"Oh...okay," she said quietly. "Are...we going back then?"
The golden-furred tabby sighed. "Yeah, I guess so." She grinned at Poolgaze. "She sure is a grump when she's tired, isn't she?"
"Yeah," Poolgaze agreed. She remembered their other nighttime frolics, mostly from their apprenticeship. Grayfeather had always trailed behind unenthusiastically, though she had always come and gotten into it after a while.
"She's always been that way," Finchwing confided, padding away from the Twoleg den. Hastily, Poolgaze trotted after her. "Ever since we were born. Though you know that as well as I, Tagalong."
Poolgaze smiled to hear her kithood nickname. The two sisters had at first teased and mistreated her when she tried to play with the older kits, calling her "Tagalong", but eventually they accepted her and used it as a term of endearment.
"She'll come tomorrow afternoon," Finchwing added confidently.
"She won't be nearly so tired then," Poolgaze agreed.
They arrived at the camp and crawled back into their nests, careful not to disturb the senior warriors, like they had done for moons and even seasons to the ones they had trained with in their early apprenticeship.
Grayfeather was already there, curled up and asleep. Poolgaze settled into her nest, her blue-gray fur fluffed up against the night's chill.
"Goodnight, Finchwing," she whispered, closing her eyes.
"G'night, Poolgaze," the other she-cat sighed in return.
The next afternoon, Finchwing gathered them all up again. Grayfeather, though she sighed and rolled her eyes, agreed to come now that it wasn't the middle of the night.
Poolgaze was excited to go on another adventure. They hadn't done something quite like this since they were apprentices. Finchwing seemed bright and happy, too, and even Grayfeather had some of the old gleam in her eyes as they left the camp to go traipsing through the forest in search of the Twoleg nest.
They had barely stepped foot outside the camp when a voice called out, "Finchwing? Finchwing!"
The golden she-cat sighed and rolled her eyes. "Thorntail," she muttered in exasperation. "Not again."
Poolgaze smiled sympathetically. Thorntail was trying to court Finchwing, even though she had made it clear she was uninterested. He often butted his way into their conversations to flirt.
"What is it this time?" Finchwing demanded, turning to face the broad-shouldered black tom.
He blinked, surprised at her irritation. "Calm down, sweetheart!" he exclaimed, smiling. "As much as I'd love to stay and talk some—"
"Don't you always," Grayfeather commented under her breath.
"—I've got to go on patrol. No, Amberstar sent me," Thorntail explained.
"Amberstar?" Poolgaze said in surprise, tuning into the conversation.
"She wants to see you three in her den. Something about the Moonpool," he said flippantly. "I'll catch you a starling, sweetie!" he called out as Finchwing pushed past him, heading back through the camp entrance.
"I can catch my own prey!" she snarled back at him. "Thanks for the message, but leave me alone!"
"I wonder what Amberstar wants," Grayfeather said thoughtfully as they crossed the camp, heading to the leader's den.
"Let's find out," Finchwing said boldly, leaping up the rocks. "Amberstar? You wanted to see us?"
"Yes," their leader's voice said from behind the lichen covering the entrance. "Please...come in. We have much to discuss."
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