Despite the growing tension on both sides of the WindClan border, the only thing there was to show for it was increased patrols. A moon passed with nothing happening, and despite Tadpolepaw's anxiety, she slowly regained some confidence, enough to accept Shadepaw's challenge of a 1v1 moss ball game.
But that was a mistake. She lost very convincingly.
Tadpolepaw lay sadly, head on paws, on the camp floor. She couldn't remember the last time she managed to win against anyone in moss ball.
She felt a tongue rasping her head. Looking up, she saw Tansyfoot giving her comforting licks. She let out a small purr, showing her appreciation, and happy to see her mother.
Tansyfoot flopped down onto the grass next to Tadpolepaw.
"You know, if it makes you feel any better, I could never win at moss ball either."
"Huh. That makes two of us." responded Tadpolepaw.
"I would always play with my siblings, desperately hoping, just for once, I would beat them. I never did."
Tadpolepaw's head shot up.
"Your siblings? I thought you always said that you were an only kit."
Tadpolepaw saw shock flare in Tansyfoot's eyes, and she instantly seemed uncomfortable.
"I think I'm needed on the dusk patrol." Tansyfoot said this hurriedly, and quickly got up and left her kit, joining Sunfoot, Tigerfang, Aethernose and Cloudedwater on the dusk patrol.
She misspoke realized Tadpolepaw, watching her go but what has she got to hide?
"Tadpolepaw!"
Tadpolepaw shoved her curiosity about Tansyfoot to the back of her mind and stood up as she saw both Ashenpaw and Owlpaw excitedly running towards her.
"Tadpolepaw! Ashenpaw, Flightpaw and I are beginning our warrior assessments tommorow!"
"That seems very… sudden" mewed Tadpolepaw.
"Yeah, we were all quite shocked!" responded Ashenpaw.
"I'll miss having you in the den!" said Honeypaw, who had wandered over to see what the conversation was about.
"Yeah." Ashenpaw quietly agreed.
Next to Tadpolepaw, Owlpaw let out a large yawn.
Tadpolepaw, too, felt a claw of tiredness touch her, she hadn't noticed the sun set or the stars come out.
"Well, I've got a big day ahead me tommorow, so I'm going to head off to sleep." mewed Owlpaw.
"I'll come with you," said Tadpolepaw "I'm tired as well."
Tadpolepaw woke to the quiet, yet steady, patter of rain outside the apprentices den. She slowly got up, and walked out of the den. A drop of rain hit her nose, making it twitch, and she retreated back under the shelter of the apprentices den.
Tadpolepaw made a run at the fresh-kill pile, closed her eyes as she was forced to get a muddy starling, and then made a run back to the apprentices den, in which Owlpaw was now awake.
"Do you want some of this starling?" offered Tadpolepaw, embarrassment hitting her. "It's a bit wet and muddy, but I don't think our mentors will be happy if we take anything dry."
"Thanks." purred Owlpaw and he crouched down next to her and began to eat.
The pair ate in silence, and Tadpolepaw's mind wandered to Thornleap's appearance at the gathering. She had been so scared for the first few days after the gathering. She was constantly looking over her shoulder, thinking WindClan would be after her at any moment. Yet things were quiet. Had he really just forgotten about her?
"I've got a big day today." mewed Owlpaw, startling Tadpolepaw a bit, and breaking her out of her thoughts.
"What assessments do you have on?" asked Tadpolepaw
"Hunting all day," responded Owlpaw. "Team hunting skills till sun-high, and then solo hunting skills after. I'll bring you a sparrow."
"Thanks." said Tadpolepaw, the faintest bit of a purr catching in her throat.
Owlpaw soon had to go, so Tadpolepaw, feeling bored went to find Weaselfoot, who was sharing prey with Marshstep.
"Tadpolepaw," he purred. "Aethernose has been requesting to go on a patrol with you for quite a while, so I thought we'd join him and Snookwing on a hunting patrol."
Aethernose? Thought Tadpolepaw It will be good to go on a patrol with father. Maybe I can ask him if he knows anything about Tansyfoot's siblings.
The rain hadn't let up as the patrol tried to find a good hunting spot, and Tadpolepaw's fur was getting plastered to her body.
"Can't we just hunt anywhere?" Tadpolepaw complained.
"No one likes a whiner." hissed Snookwing at her.
"Snookwing, calm down," mewed Aethernose calmly. "But Tadpolepaw, I'm leading the patrol, and we need to go deeper into the territory if we want good hunting."
Tadpolepaw suppressed a groan.
Fortunately, it wasn't far to where Aethernose had planned to hunt.
"I was thinking we could do team hunting, considering the weather," mewed Aethernose. "We will be lucky to find anything in this weather. So I want us to be sure to catch anything we do find. Weaselfoot, is it OK if I hunt with my daughter?"
Weaselfoot nodded, and Tadpolepaw and Aethernose went a different direction to hunt for prey than Snookwing and Weaselfoot.
"Can you scent anything?" asked Aethernose after they had walked a while.
Tadpolepaw tasted the air, but with the rain, it was hard to scent anything. Still, she felt reasonably sure that there was no prey nearby.
"Nothing." she said to Aethernose.
Aethernose nodded, and they walked on.
"Did you know Tansyfoot's siblings?" asked Tadpolepaw suddenly.
Aethernose flicked an ear.
"I wasn't aware that she had any, I thought she was an only kit."
"She mentioned that she had some yesterday. But she didn't go into any depth when I asked her about them." mewed Tadpolepaw.
"I think there were plenty of other kits in the nursery when she was." said Aethernose slowly. "Maybe she was just very close to the other kits in the nursery at the time, and thought them as her siblings."
"If so, why not tell me?" wondered Tadpolepaw, wondering where she had got the courage to ask about this from. "She wouldn't go into any detail about these "siblings."
"Quiet," hissed Aethernose suddenly. "I smell lizard."
Aethernose pointed with his tail, and Tadpolepaw glanced at where he was pointing. Sure enough, there was a lizard there. Aethernose, waved his tail, signaling Tadpolepaw to chase it into his paws. Tadpolepaw quietly crept around it, so the only way it could go was towards Aethernose. Tadpolepaw then ran at it, making it sprint towards Aethernose, who snagged it on a claw, killing it instantly.
"Good work." mewed Aethernose approvingly
"But are you certain that Tansyfoot didn't have any siblings?" Tadpolepaw asked.
"Tadpolepaw," said Aethernose with an exasperated sigh. "Are you going to sit here all day discussing a mistake Tansyfoot made, or are you going to help me hunt?"
Tadpolepaw stared at her paws.
"Yes Aethernose."
After the patrol finished hunting, Tadpolepaw was told to clean out the nursery. By the time she was finishing, the sun was setting, and the rain was finally beginning to ease up.
"Hey Tadpolepaw," mewed Owlpaw warmly. "Just finished my assessment. Here's your sparrow."
"Thank you!" purred Tadpolepaw, a trickle of embarrassment running down her spine. "Let me just finish cleaning the nursery."
"I'll help." mewed Owlpaw.
"I hope I did OK on the assessment," said Owlpaw as he fluffed up a nest. "I think I brought back enough prey."
Tadpolepaw nodded encouragingly at him. "I'm sure you did."
Tadpolepaw looked at the horizon, and noted that the sun had been swallowed by it for another day. She then checked the camp. A drop of worry hit her. '
"Shouldn't Ashenpaw be back by now?" said Tadpolepaw
Owlpaw checked the camp himself.
"Juniperfang isn't here either. No mentor, no apprentice."
More drops of worry, mingling with the rain, hit Tadpolepaw. Where was her friend?
The pair kept working, and were soon done cleaning the nursery. They settled down to eat, and shared the sparrow Owlpaw had caught. But neither Ashenpaw, nor Juniperfang appeared. Worry was rising like a wave in Tadpolepaw now, but she forced it down, engaging in some idle conversation with Owlpaw. Suddenly Juniperfang rushed into the camp.
"Seedstar!" gasped Juniperfang "Ashenpaw is missing!"
Seedstar was next to Juniperfang in an instant. Tadpolepaw remembered that both Owlpaw and Ashenpaw were Seedstar's kits, so she would have a special reason to be worried about this.
"How did you lose her?" Seedstar demanded
"She was near the end of her assessment," said Juniperfang. "In fact, I would have said that she would be done, but she was already stalking more prey. I thought she was good for a moment, so I went to make dirt. When I came back, she was gone. I tried looking for her and calling for her, but the rain washed away her scent and it was too dark."
Tadpolepaw felt the fear rising in her, and she was sure that Owlpaw and Seedstar felt the same way.
"Where did you see her last?" asked Seedstar.
Juniperfang paused.
"Where?" growled Seedstar.
"By the WindClan border." mewed Juniperfang, her voice cracking.
And with those words, the fear of Thornleap and WindClan that Tadpolepaw had kept bottled up crashed down around her.
Sorry about the delay with this everyone, life has been busy. On the bright side, the holidays will be here soon, and I will be able to write a lot more then.
So… a missing Ashenpaw and mystery about Tansyfoot. The plot is starting to quicken….
Also, next chapter is my tenth, so I thought we would do something special for it! I'm going to give a cookie (::) to everyone who has reviewed, one cookie per review. So the more reviews, the more cookies!
Review responses!
ASJ7: Beechpaw and Sedgepaw are younger than Crystalstar's kits, who were already apprentices by the time Tadpolepaw was an apprentice. We just didn't see it happen because Tadpolepaw was still a kit and couldn't go to gatherings. Thanks for the review!
A Sky of Blazing Stars: Ha Ha! I wish buddy, I wish.
SomeoneI'msure: Thanks for pointing that out, I have fixed the mistake. Yep, Thornleap is probably a liar, and yes, the clans do have a problem about not having a system in place to get rid of corrupt cats. Thanks for the review!
ExplodingQuasar: Thanks. I can confirm that she will appear next chapter. I'm glad she's safe to. Thanks for the review!
Maple Dapple: Thank you so much! Yeah, Tadpolepaw was having trouble during that gathering! Nice description of Thornleap. :)
That is it! Thank you for all the reviews, please keep them coming as they keep me going and I will see you all next time!