Chapter One: Breath

Whisperingclan had always been one of the more easy-going clans. It had always been known for its ability of cats striking quickly. Whereas they were known for their speed, the other two clan -; Cinderclan and Serpentclan - were both known for sheer power. Serpentclan had always been quick agile felines of the darkness, Cinderclan being known for its sheer raw power and brutality in its cats.

Soothingpaw however was never known to exploit her clan's special little attribute. With her seedless paws and kind smile she never had truly thought about fighting. Although she had been confronted by Cinderclan and Serpentclan cats alike who drew their claws at her presence she had for the most part been able to avoid taking too much damage just by her sheer teeth. Even if Starclan didn't exactly approve of this method, she knew and hoped they would understand.

Or at least she really, really, hoped.

Truth be told, Starclan had been dormant for many moons. They never even spoke to her personally, but she was okay with that despite the seeds of doubt it planed in her mind. She always tried to stay on the positive side, after all.

Shuffling about in her nest, she stretched out her limbs and spread apart her jaws as she let out a long but vaguely audible yawn into the air. Shrugging her shoulders out wide as she got up and stretched out her hind legs she eyed the white she-cat that had been sleeping in the den for many moons now. Any day the she-cat named Oliveeye would birth, and she wanted to be there.

This birth wouldn't hold the weight however of the first she had seen many, many, moons ago. In fact, this would be hardly exciting for any other cat in her position. But as said before, Soothingpaw tried to look towards the way of the positives. However, this would be a much needed desire for her clan considering it was the only one without kits in the clan at the current moment.

Carefully, Soothingpaw stepped her way aside from Oliveeye careful not to wake the sleeping queen as she slid out into the ending night.

The camp itself was filled with the shimmering darkness of what would be before the sun rose in no less than half an hour, though it was about time the earlier birds of the clan started waking. Her mentor himself, a wise and young feline that taught her all she knew about medicine, often wasn't in the camp in the night. Ravenheart - the clan deputy - had always claimed it to be the work of a horrible phobia of hating closely linked space. Soothingpaw never thought to doubt it, especially so considering when cats like the blissful Quietsong neared him even just for a friendly greeting he shuffled away and showed ever so slight tension in his shoulders.

Almost as though on cue, her mentor Duskfall appeared from the brussels that surrounded the tree-based encampment. His face was not new to her, not by much at all, but she still greeted him all the same. Raising her tail as she dipped her head towards him, respecting his distance, he dipped his head back.

"Do you know when the next half moon is?" She questioned curiously. The moon had already disappeared behind the horizon.

"Soon, in a few more sunrises in fact." He said quietly, his tail wrapping around his haunches as he sat down.

That was all they really socialized about was when the next half-moon was. He had long since taught her everything needed to know about the herbs and medicines that surrounded them. If he was of an older age she would have long since allowed him to retire, but when she overheard cats questioning themselves why not he claimed to be still as springy and young as ever.. which he was.

She kept herself from thinking too much about it, really, how long she had stayed as a Medicine Cat's apprentice. She had always thought him a perfectly good cat who met the requirements, she didn't mind waiting.

"Morning." She jolted when she heard Oxenstar's deep voice directly behind her; fur prickling as she looked over her shoulder to face them.

"You scared the fur off my back.. ! A little warning is appreciated." She chuckled and tried to calm her nerves.

"Just making sure you aren't falling asleep on me." The large black tom nudged her shoulder a bit, making her lose her balance slightly before regaining it.

"Me? Fall asleep? Psshh, I don't even know what its like to sleep."

"Exactly why I thought you would fall asleep on me.. temptation is a powerful thing, afterall."

She sighed heavily, she knew already there was no winning with the large tom-cat. His life's goal was to practically antagonize her, but she supposed it kept the dew off the leaf per-say. Getting up from her comfortable resting position she stretched out ready to do her daily rounds near the mint patches at the border.

…..

It was some time later when she actually reached the near the border of the clans. The sun had come to fully touch all the corners of the land and nestled itself a quarter-way in the sky as long shadows reached across the earth in an act of fear against the day. Soothingpaw paid no heed to their dissipating ways as she swayed across the earth with a gentle sway in her bound.

Soon the scent of mint filled her nose as she looked upright towards the meadow that carried in of it Mint. From here she could see the Serpentclan border, and she acknowledged they wouldn't hesitate to jump her if she did not at least acknowledge that their border was just over there. In fact, as a younger apprentice she had met their old medicine cat named Blueheart back when Foxfoot was still Foxpaw. The tom hadn't hurt her, though he did scare her. She remembered pawing at him with her unfruitful paws those many, many, moons ago as she sighed with a contemptment.

Having decided that the border was clear, she shuffled forward. This was always a dangerous piece of the territory, which when she was younger she would have to go with a guard. Now a days she no longer required guards, though the deputy Ravenheart always insisted on such but she had left before he awoke. Serves him right for sleeping in.. she figured.

It was about the time of the sun nearing its unrelenting heat of the mid-day when Soothingpaw had come to rest in the mint field. She pondered to herself i Foxfoot and Lizardpaw would be coming here but she knew fully well she should probably avoid them unless it was the time to meet under the half-moon. She sighed to herself as the basking heat rolled across the dark colors of her patched pelt as deep green eyes slowly fluttered away below the mint bush.

Or so they would have if she hadn't heard the rustling.

As soon as she heard the slight rustle in the leaves her ears and head shot up at full attention and her fur pricked with a sly fear. She had extended past her welcome in the mint brussels. Slowly, cautiously, she seeped back into the green hues of the bush as the color of black caught her eye as it bobbed in a shape behind the bush in front of her.

She doubted they had noticed her in her dazed state, but she watched the figure as it moved. The scent was masked by that of the mint plants as she knew fully well it could've been a cat just as much as it could a dog, since dogs had been running around the clan territories lately. Each was just as deadly to the clawless cat as the other.

But just because she couldn't use her claws didn't mean she didn't have weapons.

The shadow paused, as she felt its eyes sweep over her and she knew it had spotted her. She ran to the left as the black figure- now recognizable as a black cat- lunged at the spot she once was. Mutually the two danced around each other in a circle of hissing and spitting as Soothingpaw took in every detail of the tom before her.

She still could not get a scent on him, but whether or not he was a clan-cat or not didn't matter that much to her in the moment. All she knew was that she was getting assaulted by a large, black, yellow-eyed tom with a scar across his chest. She didn't have time to take in much more before the tom lunged at her, to which she dove under and began to run deeper into her side of the territory.

But she did not get far before the tom was upon her again, and bit at her flanks pinning her down as Soothingpaw winced from the feeling of teeth inside fur along with the combination of rust red blood soaking her flank. She sprawled a bit, yowling as he dug his teeth firmly into her side as his claws came to bear down on her ribs as she kicked and clawless paws swiping at whatever she could but his grip was stubborn. Heaving her back to get below him she bit at the large tom's back ankle and with a thrust back unbalanced him as his teeth left her side to go for her shoulder but she managed to roll away with the deep wound on her side.

"Are you trying to kill me?!" Soothingpaw said but the black cat didn't let her speak before a paw came to claw her left cheek as she stood dazed for a moment.

"This is Cinderclan territory!" The tom spat before lunging at her again, in her daze she was caught off guard as the tom penned her down.

She looked into his yellow eyes and saw hate, murder, and more importantly her death. She knew fully well Cinderclan was a clan of dangerous cats morale-wise, but she would of never guessed they could be harboring a killer. Her paws were placed at his neck, stretching out and straining to keep the tom from biting at her own but without claws he could not feel the pain that told another cat to back off. The two were locked in a stalemate for some time before the brush shuddered again, and before she even knew it warriors of Whisperingclan were coming out of the woodworks.

A yellow she-cat with green eyes and black stripes she recognized to be Canaryflight, a recently active warrior after a period of being a Queen because of her kit Brokenpaw. Another was a russet colored tom with his matching dark green eyes and black stripes she knew as Reedtail. The two spat at the large rivaling tom of Serpentclan as he stood above Soothingpaw trying to access the situation but before he could complete a full circuit in thought Soothingpaw rolled below him as he came crashing to the ground.

Reedtail and Canaryflight alike exchanged glances before Reedtail went after the large tom, and from the bushes came the black lighter-striped tom with his piercing yellow eyes. She tried to grow small as Ravenheart, the deputy of the clan, stood over top of her clearly angered.

"What have I told you.. ?" He looked down at her from above.

"But-"

"No buts!" He spat as he turned away and began to circle, his large tail swaying back and forth,"I thought when I heard those yowls we lost a valuable medicine cat's apprentice.. !" His eyes seemed to be more so concern than fury now.

"I know.. " She said as she seeped upright.

Yowls off in the distance came as they both stopped to stare into the distance as Canaryflight went on ahead to go assist in the battle against the black colored tom. Soothingpaw and Ravenheart alike turned their attentions back towards each other.

"You are from here on out on dentention." Dentention was a pun made up by the clan for when kits typically got in trouble and were forced to stay in the den. This would be the seventh or so time shes ended up in "dentention".

As both Reedtail and Canaryflight finished dealing with the Cinderclan cat,Ravenheart shooed Soothingpaw along her way as they all- along with Soothingpaw's limp- made their way back to the campsite.