"This is nettle. We eat it to counteract poison." Jayfeather said condescendingly, as slowly as if he were explaining something to a kit. He hoped some of what he was saying would make it through his new apprentice's thick skull.
"The sky is blue." Halfpaw replied in the exact same tone. "Birds fly in it."
He could feel frustration radiating from her like waves of heat from the sun. Memories of Leafpool trying to teach him manners flooded his mind. Was this how she'd felt?
There was no way to know. She'd lied to him and now she avoided him.
Jayfeather lashed his tail and stalked off towards the lake. "This way."
"Wait!"
But he disregarded her and sped up. Suddenly, he felt the ground curb away and scrabbled for a paw hold. The sand kept sliding, and he felt himself falling. Then strong teeth fastened in the scruff of his neck and hauled him upright.
"You stupid furball, watch where you're going!"
His pelt burning with humiliation at being saved by his ShadowClan apprentice, and sand rubbing against his skin, he whirled on his apprentice. "I can't! In case you didn't notice, I'm blind. I don't need your help and I don't need special treatment from anyone, let alone my own apprentice."
"You frog-brained jerk, I didn't help you because you're blind. Warriors help each other, no matter what. Believe it or not, nobody cares if you're blind. Your problems aren't the centre of the world's focus!"
Taken aback by her venomous exasperation, he took a half pace backwards.
Her anger dissipated and she sniffed his flank. "You're bleeding. You've got serious skills. You're annoying and you get hurt really easily. I have a feeling you'll be the death of me." Her tongue rasped against his fur and he flattened his hackles cautiously.
Halfpaw's predecessor Flametail had died when Jayfeather couldn't save him. Maybe she was right that he'd end up killing her one way or another.
"No more playing in sand. I swear I'll never get the taste of ThunderClan off my tongue. Let's hunt, okay?"
"I… I can't hunt."
"Oh, yeah. Well, hunt for herbs while I find a nice bird. I've seen what you ThunderClans call prey, furry little scraps. Might as well eat good prey while I can."
Shaking his head, Jayfeather returned to sniffing his way down the slope to the place where watermint grew.
x-x-x-x
Halfpaw spat. "ThunderClan scent and tick taste? Next you'll have me swallowing travelling herbs."
Jayfeather's whiskers twitched and she fought the urge to claw them off his muzzle. Three days trapped in camp, listening to boring ThunderClan elders' tales that seemed pointed at her. They all starred ShadowClan villains.
"Here's some more moss." He said, rolling a small moss ball towards her.
The silver kit, named Willowkit, barrelled into it at the last moment. Scraps of moss went flying.
"Why is my bedding still wet?" Mousefur yowled. "Halfpaw!"
The new medicine cat apprentice went along, shaking the dirt off the moss and trying to gather into one bundle again. She muttered under her breath about ThunderClan cats in general.
Her mentor prodded her with one paw. "You should serve elders with a good attitude."
"Jayfeather!" Someone scolded.
Halfpaw recognized the voice of Brightheart, a one-eyed warrior. She was the only person who criticised Jayfeather and rebuked him for rudeness every once in a while.
"You'll work her to death. You always hated this chore, so don't go around acting like you were the perfect apprentice."
Feeling a little better, Halfpaw carried the moss into the elder's den and started clawing up Mousefur's old nest.
"Did you hear Blackstar took on a mate half his age?" Mousefur asked Purdy pointedly.
Halfpaw barely managed to keep her fur from bristling.
"Ah, that's nothing new." Purdy said. "That young cat Dustpelt mentored his mate's littermate. Why, I remember this one cat who—"
A purr rose in the ShadowClan cat's throat. Not only had Purdy come to her rescue, there was no stopping him now. Mousefur would have to wait for him to take a nap before she could harass Halfpaw again.
After looking around to ensure the elders' nests were made and their pelts tick-free, she walked out into the hollow and stretched.
She felt confined in the small space, like the walls of stone would close in at any moment.
"Tell Jayfeather I went to find more tansy." She told Berrynose, who was helping Millie and Daisy in the nursery as a punishment for being rude to her.
Berrynose grumbled something under his breath before the kits distracted him by announcing he was an intruding ShadowClan warrior.
"No, I need that tail!" He was saying as she left. "Don't—argh!"
He didn't have much of a tail for the kits to attack anyway. With a mrrow of laughter at the thought, she plunged into the thinner part of the forest.
The scuffling of newly thawed brown leaves being scraped back alerted her to the presence of prey. A blackbird was tugging on a worm at the base of an oak tree.
Her paws ghosted over the dim forest floor as she used roots to avoid the crunchy leaves. She'd seen ThunderClan cats hunt and knew they could catch so much more if they were smart enough to avoid the noisy ground.
She ran out of roots to stand on, but it didn't matter. Halfpaw sprung, her claws sinking into the black-feathered wing as the bird took off. The worm fell to the ground. Crows and other animals would eat it and grow just a bit plumper for her Clan to consume.
Halfpaw froze. Since when had ThunderClan started being her Clan? Three days and she was forgetting her loyalties already! The she-cat shook herself and headed back to camp with the prey.
