Dawn Patrol

Breezepaw's POV

"You did what!?" I hissed at my best friend and clan mate. The patrol that had gone to the gathering had come back and Leopardstar had explained to the clan what had happened. Hollyleaf, a ThunderClan warrior had interrupted the gathering to announce her parentage. I now sat in the medicine den as Shadowpaw was getting cobwebs applied to her face. I was trying to grasp why my blunt, sharp-tongued friend had gone off on the ThunderClan warrior and gotten herself scratched.

"I called her out on her mouse dung," Shadowpaw replied defensively.

I looked at her incredulously, "you're not supposed to do that at a gathering!"

"She started it," she replied like a young kit. Sometimes I just wanted to swat her one good time to put her tongue in check. Judging by her muzzle Hollyleaf had already done that. That brought me some comfort knowing someone had attempted to put her in her place though I was upset to see her hurt. Before I could continue reprimanding her Ivyclaw walked into the medicine den.

"How are you feeling Shadowpaw?" he asked his apprentice. I was surprised that his tone was not harsh. The dark gray tom was not known for being soft or even remotely kind towards his apprentice until recently. Nobody knew except the elders why but I wasn't going to complain that someone else was starting to accept Shadowpaw into the clan.

"I'm fine," she replied curtly," I'm sure the rest of the clan wishes they could have been in Hollyleaf's paws". Even though Ivyclaw was starting to be kinder towards Shadowpaw she didn't seem to realize it. Trying to understand her reasoning for continuously being obnoxiously rude towards her mentor was beyond even StarClan's powers.

"Actually the clan feels that you were right in calling her out," Ivyclaw informed her, "and even Leopardstar kind of admires you for honoring the peace treaty and not striking her back."

"It wasn't worth it to strike her back," my friend replied, "besides the rest of the clans were already striking her with words."

"Sometimes you make me not entirely ashamed to be your mentor," Ivyclaw chuckled.

"Whatever you mangy she-cat," she scoffed.

I raised my paw, claws sheathed, and tapped her head gently. "Be nice to your mentor," I scolded. She replied with a glaring hiss and her ears laid back. She was so much like a pouting kit in that moment that I half expected her to stick her tongue out. Ivyclaw's green eyes bore into her with a slightly amused glare. He didn't get the chance to reply to her disrespectful comment before my brother trotted into the now crowded medicine den.

"Hey Shadowpaw how are you feeling?" he asked. He obviously forgot that he had some kind of feud with Shadowpaw and generally made it a point to be harsh to her.

"Are you actually concerned Bengalpaw?" I teased my brother. He immediately went into defensive mode.

"No I was just checking to see if what Hollyleaf did improved her ugly muzzle or not," he replied hastily. Willowshine glared at him from around Shadowpaw's muzzle not liking the comment or his presence overcrowding the den.

"I think I'll go find Mudfoot and see what he had planned for me today," I said taking the hint from Willowshine and weaving my way around the other four cats in the den. The sun was just beginning to rise as I made my way across the camp towards the warriors den to await my mentor.

"Hello Breezepaw," a deep strong voice said from behind me. I turned to see a slender black tom with small neat ears and dark gray eyes emerging from the mud and reed weaved den.

"Good morning Reedwhisker," I mewed cheerfully, "are you on dawn patrol?"

"Yes as are you," a strong yet soft voice said from behind the black tom. Mudfoot stepped out of the den and around Reedwhisker to look at me fully. He greeted me with a bright smile as he did at the beginning of everyday. With that smile came an all too familiar tightening in my chest that I never had an explanation for. I shook myself mentally realizing I had yet to greet my mentor or reply to his statement of our plans for the day.

"Good morning Mudfoot," I chirped quickly, "is it just going to be the three of us our are we waiting on someone else before we leave?"

"It will just be the three of us," he replied, "you're doing well enough in your training that I figured we didn't need a third warrior." His light green eyes held an amused gleam. I flushed knowing it was my baffled state that amused him.

"We should be going then," Reedwhisker grunted. Mudfoot nodded his head and began walking towards the exit to the camp. I obediently followed after my mentor with Reedwhisker right on my tail. We decided to begin with the border we shared with ShadowClan and began making our way to the greenleaf twoleg place and small thunderpath that marked the borders. "So Breezepaw how much longer do you think you'll be training for until you become a warrior?" Reedwhisker asked from behind me a little ways.

I slowed slightly until my pace was even with his and we were walking side by side. As we walked his shoulder brushed against mine and I felt a jolt run through me. I looked at the tom curious to see if he felt it too. I was unprepared for the intense look that gleamed in his gray eyes and it brought a blush to my muzzle. "Hopefully not much longer," I replied shaking myself mentally for the second time already today.

"It won't be at the rate you're going,"Mudfoot complimented from ahead of us. I blushed again at his compliment. It was nice to be complimented by any cat but it was especially nice to be complimented by a loyal warmhearted cat such as Mudfoot.

"You're going to make a great warrior," Reedwhisker said adding to Mudfoot's compliment, "I'll be honored to have a cat as trustworthy and intelligent as you by my side as a warrior." Though he said as a warrior I detected a double meaning to his words by my side. Then again I was probably thinking too far into things.

The rest of our trek to the ShadowClan border was in silence. It was peaceful to be able to walk quietly my paws sinking slightly into the always wet grass. Tensions had been running high with the clans as of late between Sol, ShadowClan's momentary lack of faith in StarClan, the clans fighting, and now knowing that two separate codes were broken by two of the clans. It was nice to just listen to the sounds of the marsh that made up RiverClan territory.

We soon arrived at the border and I was relieved to find that no trouble was being stirred up by ShadowClan. We marked the border as we usually did and began our decent to the WindClan border.

Not much was said as we made our way towards the border following the big thunderpath towards the first fence of the horseplace that marked the edge of our territory. It wasn't until we got to the river than ran from the lake that anybody spoke. "Should we stop to get some fresh-kill for the clan?" Reedwhisker asked Mudfoot.

"We will stop to hunt for a small time after we check the WindClan border," he replied, "but we'll leave the majority for the hunting patrol later." Reedwhisker nodded respectfully before carefully wading through the river. Mudfoot and I followed suit and we again continued in silence. Once we checked to make sure all was peaceful with WindClan we came back to the river to do some fishing. Mudfoot and Reedwhisker took to two separate ends of the river to fish and I stuck to the area between the both of them. I saw plenty of small silver fish swimming to and fro in my area but left them be. I knew if I left them now they would soon grow into bigger fish that would benefit the clan better. I patiently waited with my tail wrapped around my back paws for a fish with a decent enough size to be worth catching. My time came when a larger silver fish caught my eye. I waited for it to try to swim past me and hooked my claws into its unsuspecting belly and pulled it up onto the dry ground. I quickly snapped its neck, thanked StarClan and placed it in a safe area near me to get when we headed back to camp. I caught a couple more fish before Mudfoot said it was time to head back.

"Hey Breezepaw come look at this," I heard Mudfoot call to me. I padded to him to examine what he asked me to. He moved his paws away so that I could see what lay underneath. It was a small smooth red-brown colored stone. It was beautiful. "You can have it," he offered with a warm smile that reached his eyes.

"But you found it, you should keep it," I replied respectfully. It truly was a beautiful stone and it would be nice to decorate my nest with in the apprentice's den. But he was the one who had found it and it would be wrong of me to not at least attempt to let him keep it before I snatched it away.

"I want you to have it Breezepaw. It is a beautiful stone and should belong to a beautiful cat," He responded softly. He pushed the stone towards me and gave me a quick lick between my ears. I watched dumbfounded as he trotted off to collect the fish he caught. What does he mean a beautiful cat? I shook my head to clear it once more and followed the two toms back to camp.

A/N *Breezepaw thinking out loud* "Toms are weird."

*Bengalpaw from beside her* "That's because you're a she-cat. If you ask me she-cats are the weird ones."

*Shadowpaw swats Bengalpaw's head from behind* "Its a good thing no one asked you then."

*Breezepaw laughing* "Shadowpaw you don't have to be so mean."

*Shadowpaw sweetly* "Me? Be mean? Never"

*Bengalpaw rubbing his head* "That's not what my head thinks*

"Maybe I should give your head something else to think about"

*Breezepaw sternly intervening* "That's enough you two kits. If you guys are finished Bengalpaw you can go check the elders for ticks and make sure they have fresh moss."

*Bengalpaw stubbornly* "You're not my mentor."

*Beechfur padding up behind him* "No but I am and I think that sounds like an excellent idea."

"Yes Beechfur." *Bengalpaw sulks towards the elder's den*

*Mudfoot came to sit beside Breezepaw having heard everything* "You're going to make a great mentor one day."

*Breezepaw blushing* "Th-thanks Mudfoot."

*Shadowpaw fake coughing loudly* "If you two are finished I think our readers would like to get on with their lives."

*Mudfoot nodding respectfully* "You're right. Our apologies readers. We hope you enjoyed this chapter and will see you next week for the update."

*Breezepaw with syrupy sweetness* "And as always Read and Review. May StarClan light your path."