Chapter 6:
Gathering News
Firepaw's fur tingled with energy as she looked at the large-framed leader of IceClan. Beside her, her brother Dustpaw shifted himself closer to her. He pressed a muzzle to her ear.
"Do you think she'll mention the cave-in?" He asked, his voice barely a whisper.
"I don't see why not. It's not like any clan caused it."
The siblings fell silent as Creekstar began to speak, his silvery fur turned white in the light of the full moon, his broad form a stark contrast to the dark bark of the tree he stood upon. He looked elegant, she thought.
"IceClan has been doing well this new-leaf. Prey has returned to the forests, and we have two new apprentices, Vixenpaw and Foxpaw." Firepaw craned her long neck to see above the heads of the larger cats around them. Vixenpaw, assuming the she-cat was her, looked haughty, her white chest puffed out and sharp yellow eyes gleaming. Her brother looked more reserved and modest, looking straight up at his leader and hardly acknowledging the others' stares.
"Aside from that, there's no news from IceClan." The leader then stepped back, nodding for StoneClan's leader, Silverstar, to come forward. In comparison to the IceClan leader, Silverstar was smaller, more unimpressive in terms of appearance, and to Firepaw far less impressionable.
"We are very much like IceClan in that prey is well and we also have two new apprentices, Hawkpaw and Eaglepaw." She-cat with dark tabby fur. Tom with fluffy, white-accented tabby fur. Got it. "On top of that, we also have a new litter of kits. Birdkit and Shrewkit were born to Petalbreeze just two days ago!"
Warm purrs of congratulations filled the clearing, just as they always did when kits were born, even if neither the mother nor the kits themselves were present. Once again Firepaw found herself craning her neck to try and pick out who the father might be, only to growl beneath her breath as she spotted the haughty gaze of Redpelt.
"Of course it has to be him…" Firepaw muttered to her brother, only to be silenced by a cold look from Fallenshadow. She exchanged a glance with her brother, frowning, before turning back to the leaders, forcing herself not to look to her fox-dung heap of a 'father'.
As Silverstar sat down, Howlstar of MarshClan was next, again with relatively the same news: new apprentice Cliffpaw began his training with Adderfang as a medicine cat. "A badger has also been sighted in the territory, so I warn the clans to keep a sharp eye out for it."
"Do you know if it crossed any borders?" Creekstar asked, his head slightly tilted to the side. Howlstar shook his ragged cream head.
"No. We tracked it some, but then we lost the scent. We believe it left the territories, but even so I advise caution."
Creekstar nodded, and when no more questions were asked Howlstar nudged Sagestar forward, and with a deep breath the long-furred she-cat began.
"All has been well with the clan, and we, too have a new apprentice, Frostpaw."
The white-speckled black she-cat looked completely indifferent to it all, just as Firepaw had predicted of her denmate. However, her cold green eyes were focused on another target than her leader: Cliffpaw. Curious, Firepaw made a mental note to ask her about it later.
"However, I bring some sad news. A little less than a moon ago, Liontail and Goldensong were killed in a cave-in while hunting through the mid-tunnels." Firepaw dared to look at her father then. Redpelt, that haughty, mouse-brained thing, looked completely indifferent. That fool!
Murmurs of sympathy arose, and concluding her speech, Sagestar jumped down from the tree, almost looking self-conscious. Then Firepaw heard why,
"She's probably lying about the cave-in. It seems like something she would do to get pity."
"Yeah, she-cat never should have become leader. I feel sorry for that Frostpaw to have to be under her command."
"I feel sorry for any cat who has to serve her. She's got venom on her tongue."
Almost immediately, Firepaw wanted to jump to her paws and defend her new leader against those cowardly StoneClan cats, but a tail resting on her shoulder stopped her. Dustpaw shook his head at her.
"Truce, remember?"
Firepaw sighed. "Yes, I remember."
Dustpaw nodded, then followed his new mentor, Breezeclaw, up to the hillside, where the two sat and waited for the other DarkClan cats to finish their gossiping. With intentions of introducing herself to the new 'paws, Firepaw shook her anger away and bounded off, almost bumping into Frostpaw and Cliffpaw. Her denmate blinked at her, then dipped her head to Cliffpaw and bounded uphill, with Breezeclaw and her brother. Firepaw huffed lightly. Wonder who put ants in her pelt?
"Can...I help you?"
Surprised to have forgotten about Cliffpaw so soon, she chuckled nervously, half in embarrassment and half in still-lingering irritation. "Sorry. My name's Firepaw. I'm Frostpaw's denmate. I wanted to introduce myself to the new 'paws."
Cliffpaw, for all his nervous and twitchy ways, seemed to relax quite a bit. "That's nice of you. My name's Cliffpaw, but you already knew that."
Firepaw purred warmly, then scanned the clearing for the others, the two sets of siblings. "Wanna come with me to meet the other ones? Might help to get to know them a bit."
Cliffpaw frowned, then glanced over the tall ginger she-cat's shoulder at his mentor. Firepaw caught the slightest glint of approval in Adderfang's stern eyes before she heard Cliffpaw reply: "I'd love to!"
Firepaw purred contentedly, and lead the way towards where she last saw Vixenpaw and Foxpaw, setting a brisk pace so she wouldn't keep any of the clans waiting; that could prove to be embarrassing.
She stumbled to a halt.
Cliffpaw beside her cast a worried glance her way. "You okay?"
Firepaw couldn't bring herself to respond.
As it turned out, Redpelt had beat her to the apprentices.
"Congratulations on becoming apprentices!" He was addressing all four of them, with Vixenpaw at the front, her brother a little ways away, and the other two bird-named 'paws behind them. A mischievous light gleamed in the sharp yellow eyes belonging to the fox-like apprentice as Redpelt said: "I imagine training's been going well?"
"You can imagine that, yes." Vixenpaw agreed coolly.
"Mind me asking about who your mentors are?"
"Not yours if that's where you're getting. Might wanna try the older apprentices; they might know where to find your apprentice."
Redpelt blinked once, betraying his mild surprise, before he let out an amused purr. "I see where you're getting at," he said warmly. "Well, I best be off, then. Hawkpaw, Eaglepaw, don't be long now."
"We won't," Hawkpaw promised, watching the warrior pad away. Firepaw burst into amused purrs as she bounded forward, followed by a very confused Cliffpaw. Vixenpaw averted her gaze to the older ginger apprentice, cocking her head slightly in curiosity.
"That was great!" Firepaw purred, half-snorting in her own happy amusement. "I never seen an apprentice send him off like that!"
Vixenpaw examined the taller she-cat before shrugging. "Eh, he seems too nice to be real, but then I don't got much a thing for too-nice cats." She glanced back at Hawkpaw and Eaglepaw. "No offense, of course."
Eaglepaw shrugged as Hawkpaw replied: "None taken."
Firepaw nodded her agreement. "My name's Firepaw, and this is -"
"Cliffpaw. I know." Vixenpaw nodded respectfully to the only medicine cat apprentice among them. Cliffpaw looked at Firepaw curiously.
"How come you don't like Redpelt?"
Firepaw stared in surprise at the inquisitive black tom, at a loss for words, until Vixenpaw spoke up. "Why don't we all tell a tale or two?"
Hawkpaw frowned at her. "At the next Gathering?"
"That's too far away." Vixenpaw shook her head, and for the second time Firepaw saw the characteristic glint of mischief. "Let's meet sooner, in the tunnels."
AN: Sorry for such short, delayed. time is a lusxury at the moment, so there's not much I'm able to do. Hopefully I can get things in gear soon now that state testing is over, but I can't promise anything at the moment. SORRY Dx
Also, a question I've been meaning to ask, but if I made a Clan Roleplay/everythign forum, would any of you be interested in it, and would anyone be interested in helping me run it if so?
