Author's Note:
Wow! After last chapter, the story ballooned from 900+ views to 1100+ views! I love you guys!
Gingy: You've given me an idea. Maybe, after the end of this story, I could create a story in which Echo stays in WindClan. It could be a good thing to write while I'm thinking up a plot for another idea I had.
I thought of a great cat for her to trust. They have one thing in common that will help Echopaw trust the cat. And yes, in this, he's dead.
No. You're guesses are not right.
Moonbeam: I had a nice Thanksgiving. Did you?
Hint: My favorite chapter is not 1,3,4 part two, 6, or this one.
Older hints: not 8.
Echopaw's new mentor is introduced in this chapter. Who will it be?
Chapter Nine: Echoes of Suspicion
Echopaw was back. Her paws were placed firmly in the loose dirt of the meadow, waiting for the black tom. There was no sign of him anywhere, but Echopaw was sure he'd come. He'd promised her he'd tell her his name if she came back a second time. She didn't know how, but she was back.
"Enjoying the breeze, Echopaw?" A voice mewed from behind her, nearly causing her to fall flat on her muzzle as she attempted to spin herself around. After stumbling, she managed to turn over to see the black tom, who had a look of amusement on his face. "Having fun?" He teased good-naturedly.
Sighing, Echopaw shot him an exasperated look and said, "Did you really need to do that?" There seemed to be nothing different with the black tom, except for that he had a look of eagerness that made her want to ask what they were doing.
The tom laughed, "Why not? You were an easy target." Echopaw rolled her eyes. She had to stifle the urge to cuff the bigger tom, precisely due to the fact that he was the bigger one. After a couple of moments, he spoke again, "Before you ask, my name is Breezepelt." He sat down and motioned for her to follow, "I'm going to show you some more exercises, okay?"
Echopaw nodded and sat down. She couldn't wait to start because she wanted to be ready to train as soon as possible. The exercises helped her shoulders a lot.
They worked on exercises for the rest of however long Echopaw spent in the dream realm, her shoulders aching the more they were worked. Eventually, Breezepelt got up and mewed, "Alright, that's all for today." Before Echopaw could say anything, he disappeared through the tall grass, leaving the young she-cat to wake up alone.
A couple of weeks later...
Echopaw groggily sat up, blinking as she adjusted to the setting sun's light. She was still doing exercises with Breezepelt, but no matter how much she tried, he wouldn't tell her anything about himself, and Echopaw was getting a bit wary of him. He had started working her harder, even though her shoulders felt at least 99% healed.
Over the past few weeks, she had gotten plenty of visits, but only from mainly Amberpaw, Lilymist, Seedfall, and her parents. What worried and maddened her was that Cherrypaw still hadn't visited. No matter who she asked, they always said, "She's busy," and dropped the subject.
The last few days she had ventured out into the clearing to get prey numerous times for her and Jayfeather to share. He was normally either polite or grouchy, but he never got mad at her like Kestrelflight had. He had recently said that there was no chance for infection, but that the fading wound would leave a scar, which only increased Echopaw's anger towards Snowpaw. Last time they ate, he had asked her why she seemed so tired when she woke up, but she insisted that she was having reoccurring nightmares, because Breezepelt had told her that if Cherrypaw or Snowpaw heard about him, then he would have to train them too. Echopaw didn't like the idea of training with either of them, in real life or in the dream realm.
Besides the visits, Echopaw loved when Maplekit came to the medicine cat's den, because she was always nice to her. She never asked about hunting or fighting moves, and Jayfeather seemed to enjoy Maplekit's company. He had told her that he was considering her for his apprentice, but she knew that Maplekit was surely going to be ThunderClan's next medicine cat.
"How are you feeling?" Jayfeather mewed. He was behind her, sorting piles of marigold, tansy, and the precious catmint. He seemed to be in an especially good mood.
"I feel great!" Echopaw exclaimed. She stood up steadily and put equal pressure on all four legs without any pain stabbing her shoulders. Besides some stiffness, she was perfectly fine.
"Good. No pain? No nothing?" He inquired, his sightless eyes content. He gently pushed the piles of herbs towards her, "Could you put these back for me?"
Echopaw nodded, "Sure!" It was obviously a test. One that she was determined to pass. She flexed her forelegs and then carefully carried the marigold back towards its correct storage section. She repeated the process with the tansy and the catmint, her mouth nearly watering after the catmint. When she was finished, she stood in front of Jayfeather and mewed, "See? No pain!" Jayfeather's ear twitched, and Echopaw realized her mistake, "Oh, um, sorry."
Jayfeather rolled his eyes, "You'd think after being in here for nearly a moon, you'd know I'm blind." He motioned her away, "Go find Amberpaw and leave me alone to do my work."
Smiling, Amberpaw turned and made her way into the clearing. She drew looks as she made her way over to Amberpaw, who was sitting and eating a vole, but she ignored them. She was used to the looks by now, even Dovewing and Daisy's glares. She sat across the vole as Amberpaw looked up to see her and greeted her, "Hey Echopaw! That old grouch kick you out again?"
Echopaw laughed, "Why else would I be out here?" Amberpaw seemed tired, as if she had been through a tough day of training.
Amberpaw pushed the vole to her, "Here, have some. I'm sure you're hungry."
Echopaw smiled and bent her head down to take a bite, but before she could, everyone went quiet as Bramblestar jumped up onto Highledge, "Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey gather beneath the Highledge for a Clan meeting!" Echopaw sent a questioning look to Amberpaw, but she just shrugged.
After the cats gathered and quieted down, Bramblestar spoke, "Today, we return an apprentice to her duties. Jayfeather has informed me that she has fully healed and is ready for training."
Before he could continue, Hazeltail yowled out, "Why should we let her rejoin us? She betrayed us! She attacked my apprentice!" A few murmurs of agreement rippled through the crowd. She continued, "And then there's the question of loyalty!"
Bramblestar calmly replied, "Your apprentice doesn't seem to care, does she? She didn't leave us, she was kidnapped. Anyways, due to the unfortunate death of her former mentor Foxleap," Echopaw flinched slightly at the mention of her mentor, "She will need a new mentor. Echopaw, your new mentor will be Birchfall. I hope Birchfall will pass all he knows on to you." Echopaw looked through the crowd to see Birchfall with a surprised look on his face. Bramblestar continued, "Birchfall, you are ready to take on an apprentice. You received excellent training from Ashfur, and you have shown yourself to be courageous and determined. You will be the mentor of Echopaw, and I expect you to pass all you know onto Echopaw."
Slightly shocked, Echopaw slowly padded up to Birchfall, nervousness tightening her throat. Will Birchfall accept me? She thought. Once they were facing each other, Echopaw hesitantly touched noses with her new mentor, who still had the remnants of his surprise stuck in his eyes. He also seemed hesitant, but Echopaw could also see happiness growing in his gaze.
Around half of the Clan began cheering her name, some strongly and others reluctantly, "Echopaw! Echopaw! Echopaw!" Her nervousness fading away, Echopaw stuck out her chest in pride, I'm ready.
As the crowd dissipated, Birchfall guided her to the side of the clearing. He looked her gently in the eyes and mewed softly, "Listen, I know that no matter what I do, you'd rather Foxleap be doing it, but you've got to move past it. A lot of cats will doubt you, which isn't a reason to stop, it's a reason to try harder. You may have to fight WindClan again. If you do, you can avoid your former best friends, but you need to fight. If you don't, they'll criticize both me and you, so ignore your feelings of former loyalty and don't stop if anyone calls you a traitor. People may suspect you of plenty of bad things, they may call for punishments, but ignore them. Listen to me, your friends, Squirrelflight, and Bramblestar, but not the insults. Got it?"
Echopaw nodded, "I will try my hardest." She already liked Birchfall, but he was right. In her heart, she wanted Foxleap.
Foxleap smiled, "Good. That's all I want out of you, effort." He looked over to the sun, which was created amazing colors of orange and red. He sighed, "It's too late to start training. We'll start early tomorrow morning, okay? We're going to get you caught up with your sister, so get a good sleep tonight!"
"Okay," Echopaw mewed. She backed away from Birchfall and padded away. She saw Amberpaw back by her vole, and made her way over to her.
"Congratulations!" Amberpaw exclaimed as Echopaw sat down, "You can have the rest of this!" Echopaw sent her a grateful look and began eating. As she ate, Amberpaw began sharing tongues. Relaxing even further, Echopaw sighed in content.
After she finished, Amberpaw got up and mewed, "Alright. Time to set up your nest." Echopaw followed her into the apprentice's den, her nervousness growing again.
As they entered the den, Echopaw spotted Dewpaw, Snowpaw, and her sister talking to each other. Snowpaw looked over to the two she-cats and smirked, "If she's staying in here, make sure she's in a corner!" Dewpaw and Snowpaw both laughed, but Cherrypaw just sat there staring at her.
"You two laugh all you want, but neither of us have to talk to you or sleep near you!" Amberpaw hissed. She began gathering moss from a corner of the den, her back to the other three apprentices.
After they finished her nest, Amberpaw placed it on one side of the den and dragged her nest over next to Echopaw's. Echopaw and Amberpaw both laid down. "Good dreams," Amberpaw whispered.
"You too," Echopaw replied. The two apprentices both closed their eyes and went to sleep.
That Moonhigh...
The sound of a rustling nests woke Echopaw. She had been having her first dreamless sleep since before Breezepelt, but it had just been ruined. Echopaw opened her eyes to slits and saw her sister carefully making her way out of the den. Echopaw sighed, now would be the time to talk to her.
Being careful, Echopaw slowly got up so as not to wake Amberpaw up. As she stepped over Snowpaw, she contemplated whether or not she should stomp Snowpaw's tail, but decided against it. She slipped out of the den and found herself just behind Cherrypaw.
Before she could say anything, Cherrypaw mewed, "I don't regret it, you know." She slowly turned around, her eyes as cool as the breeze that was flowing through. Echopaw knew exactly what her sister was talking about.
"Why not? You enjoy hurting your kin?" Echopaw spat, gritting her teeth, "You hurt me, then when I come back, you shun me like I'm a lowly kittypet and you're the superior leader? You are a great sister." Sarcasm dropped out of her last sentence, thicker than honey.
Her sister's expression stayed the same, "You deserved it. You betrayed the Clan! You may have been taken, but you befriended them and shunned our Clan! Traitors will never be my kin!"
Their fur fluffed, the two sisters stared each other down, eyes narrowed. Finally, Echopaw whispered, "Then we aren't sisters. Goodbye Cherrypaw." She turned away and went back to her nest. She lay there thinking for a while, until dreamless sleep returned.
A/N:
Ooh! That's rough Cherrypaw!
I think Birchfall is going to be a perfect fit for Echopaw, do you?
And Breezepelt! He's dead, but he's not in StarClan!
Remember, two chapters left until the question is taken down.
Have a nice week!