Chapter 2
Morningpaw
The evening summer breeze filled my nose as I watched the sun set from my favorite perch within the strong branches of a magnolia tree. I inhaled deeply and savored the sweet smell of the flowers mixed with the musk of the forest and I knew in my heart I belonged right here in this moment.
"You look beautiful tonight" a low, deep voice cooed. I turned my head and saw the deep orange eyes of the Windclan apprentice, Nightpaw. My head told me that this tom wasn't supposed to be here, that he was trespassing and, and how did he find my favorite tree!? But my body wasn't listening and I leaned my head in and-
"Morningpaw!" a voice broke through my dream and Nightpaws sleek black form turned into the muscular orange flecked pelt of Scorchpaw.
"Huh, what? Whats going on Scorchpaw?" I said sleepily
"You were supposed to be up by now, we are going on dawn patrol. Squirrelflight, is leading it, shes the deputy Morningpaw! How can you be late!" he scolded
"I know who our deputy is you furball!" I yawned and uncurled myself from my moss and feather lined nest. Scorchpaw let out a irritated sigh and waited until I stretched. We walked together over to the entrance where Lionblaze, Ivypool, Thornclaw, Whitewing and Squirrelflight were waiting.
"Sorry everyone." I apologized dipping my head submissively.
"Maybe Frostfeather should have named you Sleepykit." Ivypool mused and gave me a reassuring lick, no cat seemed upset by my tardiness so I let the scolding Scorchpaw gave me slide to the back of my mind. I became more alert with each step and soon I was pulling ahead of the group to sniff the air.
"Since Morningpaw is awake, why don't we do a bit of testing." Squirrelflight suggested, when I stopped for the fourth time to admire a dew littered leaf. I hung my ears low, embarrassed but Thornclaw winked at me:
"Don't worry Morningpaw, Squirrelflight was also hard to get moving for the early patrols during her training." He mused and we all laughed, except Squirrelfight who swiped playfully at her friend.
"Alright, so which of you can tell me which border we are closest to." she said as we resumed our patrol. We both sniffed the air but the thick morning mist dulled my senses a bit, "Shadowclan. Their border is a little walk away from here." Scorchpaw answered confidently.
"Very good, how did you know." Lionblaze said looking back at his apprentice,
"I couldn't smell them but based off the fallen tree and mossy rocks we passed a few days ago, I knew that's close to their border." He said and the patrol let out approving mews. I wasn't going to let Scorchpaw show me up so I took another deep breath and picked out each scent individually, moisture, decomposing earth, mud, robin feathers and cats, not Thunderclan though the smell was dank and pungent. I wrinkled my nose, "Shadowclan, they are at the border now." I said, the others turned their heads to me and also began to sniff the air:
"Impressive distance Morningpaw, even I have trouble separating the Shadowclan scent from the dead bug and mud smell." Ivypool said and a small chuckle rippled through the group. We quickened our pace to make sure the Shadowclan patrol didn't come too close for comfort, they were known for pushing boundries and this particular area was won in a battle that took their former deputy, Russetfur's life. They still distrusted Lionblaze because of it. I decided to push ahead, maybe I can get a glimpse of the patrol! The mist was thick and I could barely see where I was going, I jumped over the fallen trunk and ran right into a large tabby tom. "Hey, what are you doing on Shadowclan territory?" he hissed, I reared back and fell over the branch I just crossed, "Doesn't Thunderclan teach its apprentices where the borders are?" hissed a Shadowclan warrior, "I bet you are trying to steal more of our territory!" another hissed. I froze in place, I was surrounded, "I-it was a accident, its foggy and I- "Aww the poor kitten cant see." They sneered, I herd a yowl and Squirrelflight broke through the trees, followed by the rest of the patrol.
"Goodmorning, Tigerheart. How is your patrol going?" Squirrelflight asked standing over me protectively shoving me behind the Shadowclan cats and the border. The large tom narrowed his eyes and silenced his snickering clan mates.
"It goes fine Squirrelflight." He was stern and didn't seem to be open to anymore conversation. When the rest of us filed through a black and white tom hissed at Lionblaze, "We were fine until your stupid apprentice tried to invade our terriotory." Whitewing pushed forward between me and said, "We were not invading! How dare you accuse us when you're the ones so close to the border." Cats on both sides began to prickle but Squirrelflight spoke loudly, "Keep your fur on Crowfrost. We are not trying to fight, we are doing a dawn patrol just like you." Tigerheart looked at Crowfrost warningly, "She is right, there is no need for hostility so early in the morning. Just keep your apprentices in your own territory" Crowfrost snorted and turned around, with cautious nods both patrols marked their borders and continued with the morning patrol.
"Is Shadowclan always so prickly?" I asked Ivypool later in the day as we practiced some battle stances. "For as long as I have known them." she answered switching from the badger form to swooping hawk stance. I followed suit, matching her perfectly, I thought she would elaborate but after a few moments of silence I asked her, "So do you think Scorchpaw and I will get picked for the gathering tonight?" she smiled a bit and switched to the fox pounce position. "Most likely, this would be your first gathering right?" I nodded vigorously trying not to show the strain I felt in my legs from the stretches. "I will put in a good word, you are doing wonderful on your training so far…when we can get you awake that is." She mused and I lept at her playfully.
I was so excited my very first gathering! My father Fleetwhisker scolded me twice for trying to push ahead of the senior warriors in front.
"Calm down Morningpaw, its rude to push ahead of the warriors." I felt my pelt grow hot under his light gold gaze and feel back with my training mate Snowpaw, "Don't worry, I was excited my first gathering too." His black and white belt brushed mine and I smiled back at him but that did little to curb the butterflies in my tummy. It would be the first time I was around so many cats and there would be so many new friends to meet but I found myself thinking more and more about that Windclan apprentice, his speed and sleek pelt plagued my dreams at night, I wonder why? we didn't even speak at that meeting but for some reason I could hear his voice so crisply and clearly in my dreams.
"Look, we are almost there!" Scorchpaw said pushing between Snowpaw, who glared at him in return. I shook my head of the toms calm orange gaze and watched as Bramblestar lead us to the middle of the lake where the clans had the gathering every full moon. I could hear the cats talking amongst themselves and the wave of new scents made me almost dizzy. Ivypool and Dovewing went to greet a group of Riverclan she-cats, Lionblaze sat with Leafpool over by the medicine cats and Squirrelflight gave Bramblestar a quick affectionate lick as he jumped to join the leaders in the low branches.
"Look it's the nosey apprentice!" a sneer filled my ears, I turned startled to see the Shadowclan tom Crowfrost sitting near a tree base, with two other apprentices next to him who also sneered my way. "Whats your problem?" I spit back, I didn't do anything to him. "My problem is you cat! You and your nosey clan, I bet your mother taught you that your Starclans favorite." I bristled at his rudeness, "What are you talking about?" I moved to stand in front of the grouchy tom and his friends pushed in front to block me, "Even the apprentices think they are better than every other cat. Your not even a warrior yet and your already acting like a clan leader!" I hissed back and unsheathed my claws,
"Whats going on here?" a familiar deep voice cut in, we all turned to see the Windclan apprentice, Nightpaw standing menacingly close, "How dare you insult Starclan by trying to fight during a gathering!" he hissed at the Shadowclan cats, the apprentices looked scared but Crowfrost narrowed his eyes, "Who do you think you are apprentice? Does any clan except our teach respect?" by now more heads were turning to see the commotion, "You're the one who needs to learn respect, if Shadowclan warriors are all like you then I pity Starclan for any relation." Nightpaw said boldly and moved closer to my side, Shadowclans leader Rowanstar hissed from his branch, "Crowfrost, how dare you embarrass your clan like this! What do you think your trying to prove?" Crowfrost immediately fell to his knees at his leaders scolding and Scorchpaw came to stand next to me, "What happened?" he whispered looking at Nightpaw suspiciously, "Nothing, just Shadowclan being pieces of road kill" I whispered back, with so many eyes on me I was getting very nervous. The leaders yowled to begin the meeting and I was thankful that this unpleasantness was interrupted by the beginning of the meeting. Scorchpaw moved a bit closer to listen to Mistystars report and I scooted a bit closer to Nightpaw.
"Thanks for your help, I wasn't sure what was going to happen there." I whispered, for a second I didn't think he herd me but his calm voice was low as he said, "I don't tolerate bullies. Not towards any cat no matter what rank they have." I glanced at him and realized how defined he was. He was black from tip to tail with, his head was broad but not large and his lean body made him look like more shadow than cat. The only thing that separated him from the essence of the night was his deep orange eyes, they were as bright as a harvest moon on a winters night. I raised an eyebrow at me and I realized I was staring, "Oh um, you have a leaf on your head." I said nervously and looked down at my paws, smooth Morningpaw.
Nightpaw
A leaf on my head? I shook my head and neck to rid myself of the unwanted accessory but I didn't see anything fall, "I don't see a leaf?" I questioned, feeling embarrassed myself, if she did see something then she must have thought I looked ridiculous! Her bright blues eyes shown with amusement, "Its gone, I think a breeze took it away when you shook." She repositioned her tail and whispered, "Anyway, I wanted to tell you again how great that catch was. I have never seen a cat move like you did!" just like before my blood pulsed at her compliment and I suddenly felt nervous, "Thanks, my father taught me how to widen my gate when I run so I don't waste momentum digging into the dirt." she craned her head a bit closer and I could smell the sweet scent of magnolias, "That's amazing, I could use something like that when Im climbing trees."
"I don't think running in an open field is the same as climbing a tree but its not that hard to learn I guess." I added a little wistfully, the full moon filtered down on her and the silver fur I dreamed about shown like the stars, I could even see darker lines of gray around her paws and tail. I dared a glance at her face and was stunned by the moonlight in her gaze, I didn't even hear what she was saying or even what the clan leaders were reporting about all I saw was the crisp blue in her eyes. She stopped talking suddenly and brushed my head with her tail, "Hey, if I am boring you then say so. You don't have look at me like that." she said sounding offended and moved to go sit by that stuffy clan mate of hers, "Wait, no I didn't mean to offend you." I called a bit to loud and Scorchpaw turned around and fixed me with a glare,
"What do you want? Go sit with your own clan." He moved closer to her and oddly my blood went from warm to boiling. I was about to say something but I realized he was right, why did I care about a Thunderclan cats feelings?
Morningpaw, I herd myself think, I shook my head of the anger and moved to sit next to my mentor Speckelwing, even though I wanted to glance back at her I made myself watch and listen to Bramblestar go over clan news.
When the gathering was adjurned I herd Rowanstar scold Crowfrost again and snickered. "Thank you for helping my apprentice." I white and gray tabby said, "She is a bit invasive but she means well." She said and before I could respond she went to join her clan mates as they filed out to leave. I moved to join my own but risked one more glance at Morningpaw, shocked I saw that she was looking back at me with confusion in her eyes, what was wrong? Maybe I should go ask her, I should apologize she must think Im "Nightpaw, come on!" I herd Crowfeather call and I had to break our gaze.
"That was quite a show you put on Nightpaw" Harespring said as we walked, "I didn't mean to, its just that that Shadowclan cat was way out of line. All the clans are equal, Starclan has never shown more favor to any one." I said and I herd my clanmates purr in agreement. "Your wise Nightpaw, Starclan shows no favoritism, Shadowclan has always wanted to the strongest clan but no one clan can be the best." Onestar spoke and I welled with pride for my leader, he was so wise and fair if any clan was the best it was Windclan for sure.
"That apprentice sure was pretty." Hawkpaw whispered in my ear, "I wouldn't have minded helping her myself." "Come on Hawkpaw, she is from another clan!" I said shocked, "So? That doesn't mean I cant admire her spirit right? Im not saying im inlove with her." He snickered and I felt a bit embarrassed, "Your right, she was kind of pretty." I said feeling letting her sky blue eyes fill my head.