And we're back! Sorry it's been a while ): But I am here now! (:


Each night when Larkpaw went on his run he passed by the Cedarclan border, he didn't know if he did it intentionally. His paws just lead him to where he had met Jaypaw. When Jaypaw never showed up back at the border Larkpaw cursed himself as a fool for thinking his friend would wait for him. They weren't even friends! They were enemies, cats from different clans.

They could never be friends.

Larkpaw shook his head to clear it of all thoughts of Jaypaw. He began padding away when a rustle behind him made him stop. He looked over his shoulder and Jaypaw emerged from the bushes.

"Larkpaw!" he shouted giddily. Larkpaw didn't respond. Jaypaws face fell at Larkpaws hostility.

"Are you okay?" he asked warily. Larkpaw forced a smile on his face.

"Yah I'm fine...I just haven't seen you around in a while." Larkpaw explained awkwardly. He realized how ridiculous he sounded and shuffled his paws. Jay let out a mmrroowww of laughter at his expense.

"I didn't realize I was supposed to be meeting you." Jaypaw smiled good naturdley. Larkpaw was silent and Jaypaw studied him for a moment.

"I feel like I can trust you, I want to show you something." Jaypaw whispered. Curiosity grabbed Larkpaws attention and he followed Jaypaw without hesitation as they crossed the border into Cedarclan territory. Larkpaw studied the terrain. In Ravenclan the undergrowth was thick with ferns, brambles, thickets, and berry bushes. The ground of Cedarclan seemed barren in retrospect. It was tall green grasses everywhere, most reach up to Larkpaws belly fur. And he had very long legs to begin with.

Larkpaw looked up at the canopy of trees. It was all cedar trees, they were magnificent and glorious in a way that often went unappreciated. The trees could be thousands of moons old by their massive size. Their branches and green leaves stretched over for what seemed like a thousand miles, tossing shadows over the ground.

But the Cedar trees were spaced well apart, unlike the Ravenclan foliage. The space between each tree here was at least twenty fox lengths. You could easily see the orange and pink hues of sunset above in the spaces between cedar trees. Back in his territory the trees were so clustered together that sometimes their bracnhes wove so tightly in lock in kept out all daylight in an area.

Larkpaw couldn't help but think of his home as suddenly claustrophobic while Jaypaws was open and spacious and free. The ground under paw moved in elevation as they walked, the entire territory covered rolling hills which trees speckled. Soon they reached a valley between hills. In the valley were white boulders spread so far apart it looked like they just sprang up out of the ground. But there were hundreds of them.

Larkpaw had heard the stories regarding white boulder valley just like everyone else.

Once the white rock valley was a dense forest home to many foxes. Since foxes are greedy creatures they couldn't store their prey for fear of it being stolen, whatever they caught they kept with them at all times. One day a fox was walking around with all of his prey balanced on his back, when he saw a giant rock in the middle of the forest. The fox was tired and climbed onto the rock for a rest. When he awoke he was too lazy to want to carry all of his prey with him so he said, "rock, I will give you two pieces of my prey as gifts because you let me rest on your back."

The rock thanked him and the fox left with the remainder of his prey. That night the fox got terribly hungry and he ate all of his prey, having none left over. Now, fox was still feeling lay and he didn't want to go hunting. Instead he went back the rock to ask for his pieces of prey back. However the rock was mad, saying he wasn't giving back the gifts. The fox tried to steal them back, and the rock became enraged. The ground trembled and shook as all of the boulders in the forest began to roll, crushing the trees beneath them. The rocks rolled all around the forest, chasing the fox and crushing everything in their way. All of the other foxes in the forest hid in their dens, but because of all of the prey they kept with them they didn't have enough room and so their tails stuck out of the dens.

As the rocks rolled over them their tail tips were crushed and turned white, that is why foxes are red with white tail tips. And the rocks had crushed all of the trees in the forest, so it became a valley. And the rocks stayed where they stopped rolling, forever reminding foxes of what had happened. That is why there are so many boulders in white rock valley.

Larkpaw also remembered where he had heard it from; Stormpaw. She was telling Shadepaw the tale in order to help her sister fall asleep. Larkpaw couldn't sleep either and listened to the story as well. Seeing the white rock valley in person made him think about listening to that story and how he had slept better than ever that night.

"Larkpaw!" Jaypaw called, summoning him from his thoughts.

"What?" Larkpaw shrugged.

"Come here," Jaypaw beckoned. He was standing by one of the boulders, he nodded at something Larkpaw couldn't see, it was concealed by the rock form his view.

"I brought him, just like you asked." Jaypaw whispered to the mysterious being. Larkpaws eyes widened but he figured it was too late to run now so he pressed forward.

"Jaypaw," Larkpaw hissed under his breath. "Do you mind telling me what in Starclans name is going on?"

"I'll tell you," another voice offered. It was the cat Jaypaw was talking too behind the rock. The voice was smooth and complacent, but Larkpaw could here venom behind the words. This cat was cunning, like a serpent...

"Show yourself," Larkpaw barked.

"But of course," the cat chuckled. Larkpaw could almost hear its smile. The cat stepped out from behind the rock. Larkpaw impulsively stepped back. His eyes widened in surprise and he had to crane his neck back to look fully at the cat. He was immense, His legs were long and tall, his fur was well groomed and perfectly in place. His amber eyes were guarded but inviting. He studied him closer. He was a calico. And a tom! It was certainly a rarity to see that.

He saw him staring and his lips curled back slightly to reveal fangs. Larkpaws eyes focused on them instead. He looked menacing and powerful, but Larkpaw could tell he did not have the makings of a warrior. His legs were well toned, but not muscular. He was large in stature, but he had no skill to back him up.

"Who are you?" Larkpaw asked warily.

"My name is Sol, and you are Larkpaw." Sol smiled. Larkpaw blinked.

"Jaypaw has told me all about you, and I think we could use you," Sol continued. Ah, that's how he knows my name. Jaypaw told him! Larkpaw thought dismissively.

"Use me for what?" he questioned.

"Come with me," Sol ordered and began to pad away. Jaypaw immediately followed but Larkpaw was hesitant. He knew he was trespassing on Cedarclan territory. Eventually he too began to follow after the calico tom, Sol. However he was reluctant and wary of what Sol wanted from him. He was suddenly suspicious of his friend Jaypaw as well.

"Stop," Sol barked. Jaypaw stopped walking so quickly his paws almost skid. It was obvious the young apprentice worshiped the very ground Sol walked on. Larkpaw glanced at where Sol had wanted them to stop. They were at the base of a cedar tree, the gnarled roots seemed to have sprung up from the ground. Larkpaw looked closer. The roots concealed a den under the tree. Sol walked forward and simply disappeared inside. Larkpaw and Jaypaw waited until they heard Sol beckon them forward again. The instant Larkpaw stood inside the den he realized he could smell another cat as well, this scent was neither from Sol nor Jaypaw. Was it another Cedarclan cat? Or someone else?

"Who else lives in this den?" Larkpaw blurted out before slapping a tail over his mouth. He realized he needed to be cautious about what he said to Sol a second too late.

"Excuse me?" Sol snapped. Larkpaw tried to back track.

"I uh...nothing,"

"I said, excuse me," Sol growled. Larkpaw gulped.

"Well I can smell another cat scent in this den. It isn't you or Jaypaw, so I just..." Larkpaw trailed off. Sol quickly forced his fur to lie flat and plastered a fake smile on his face.

"That scent you are smelling is from my brother, Whisper," Sol muttered. Larkpaw was about to press the matter but Jaypaw stepped on his paw, telling him to shut up.

"So anyways, what am I doing here?" Larkpaw changed the subject. This time Sol smiled for real; his exposed fangs glimmered.

"I am glad you asked, but before I tell you, I must show you. Come with me."

Larkpaw fell into step with Jaypaw as they moved deeper and deeper into Cedarclan territory, eventually they were hiding on the very outskirts of the camp.

"I...I have to go," Larkpaw said abruptly.

"Wait, Larkpaw!" Jaypaw hissed as Larkpaw began sprinting away. Larkpaw heard Sol talking to Jaypaw as he fled.

"Don't worry, he will come back. The stars have foreseen that he will return," Sol chuckled. Larkpaw kept running until he was safely inside his own clan. His heart was pounding in his chest by the time he stepped into camp, but when he looked around he discovered everything in uproar.

Cats were running about in all directions. Adderstripe and Petalcloud were shouting at everyone. Nightstar looked bewildered as he ordered warriors out into eh forest. Pebblestep arranged patrols.

"What is going on?" Larkpaw asked to no one in particular.

"Where were you?" A cat spat behind him. He turned and found Birchpaw looking at him with hatred.

"I was, uh, out for a walk." Larkpaw lied.

"What is going on?" he asked again.

"Blossompaw has been taken!" Birchpaw yowled.

"What?" Larkpaw gaped.

"Twolegs came into the camp and raided it. They wore white pelts...they had long sticks with ropes at the end...the clan scattered. But Blossompaw wasn't fast enough. They caught her and now she is gone! And you weren't here to help save her!" Birchpaw accused. Frogpaw suddenly appeared by his friends side.

"You can't blame Larkpaw. It wasn't his fault, it was an accident caused by the twolegs." Frogpaw reasoned. Birchpaw frowned deeply in response. Frogpaw guided Birchpaw into the apprentice den and left Larkpaw standing bewildered int eh clearing. He felt a pelt brush up against him.

"Looks like everyone is already starting to blame you for Blossompaws capture." A sickly sweet voice laughed in his ear.

"Stay away from me Stormpaw," he growled.

"Why weren't you in camp? Everyone else was here. You maybe you did have something to do with this. It wouldn't take much to convince the clan," she threatened. Larkpaws face paled.

"Why do you hate me?" he demanded. Stormpaws face darkened.

"You left me no choice. I made a promise..."

Larkpaw didn't let Stormpaw finish, he darted away to look for his mother to find out more. He ran into Shadepaw before he could reach his mother, however.

"Shadepaw," he breathed. Shadepaw looekd startled by encountering him. Her eyes blinked quickly, her golden eye flickered as her violet eye flashed. Her black fur rippled with unease.

"Do you think we'll find her?" Shadepaw asked, referring to Blossompaw. Larkpaw felt his nose wrinkle.

"Why do you care? It isn't like Blossompaw ever cared about you." He snapped. Shadepaws face fell.

"We were friends!" Shadepaw argued. Larkpaw laughed cruelly.

"No one will ever be your friend, slowpaw."

At his harsh words Shadepaws eyes became damp with tears. Larkpaw felt a stab of guilt. He was taking all his anger and frustrations out on Shadepaw although she had never wronged him. He was about to apologize but Shadepaw scampered away into the apprentice den with Frogpaw and Birchpaw. Stormpaw was watching the exchanged from the far side of camp. She pointedly walked into the den after her sister. Her face seemed to say 'you aren't welcome to join us'.

Once more Larkpaw felt alone, like no one cared about him. He felt envy of Blossompaw. He wished he too could be taken from Ravenclan to a far away place. He wanted to be isolated from everyone in his clan. He didn't realize he already was.