Ay-oh!
Reviews- thanks for all the great comments!
(Eaglehaze- I think her name is going to stay 'Echo' but maybe the last part of her name will be influenced by her past name? I don't know)
Chapter 9
Echopaw looked around, utterly lost. She had been trying to find the elders so that Hailstorm wouldn't yell at her, but no cat seemed willing to stop what they were doing to tell her where they were. She sat down and stared at her paws miserably, she didn't like being responsible for anything.
She looked up as a shadow fell across her. "What are you doing?" asked a fluffy calico she-cat softly.
"I'm supposed to find the elders, but I don't know where they are," she mewed timidly.
"Didn't Hailstorm tell you?" the cat questioned curiously.
"No, he told me not to bother him," she mumbled awkwardly.
The she-cat gave a hum of disapproval, "I can show you the elders den, I need to got here anyway. And I suppose he wanted them to tell you about the Clan?" the cat asked, her bright amber eyes glancing around the clearing.
Echopaw nodded and got back to her paws, looking up at the cat. "Come on, follow me," the cat ordered and led her across the clearing. "By the way, my name is Leafsong, I'm the medicine-cat apprentice," the calico she-cat mewed.
"I'm Echo, err, paw, Echopaw," she mumbled.
Leafsong purred, "I know, Cinderstar announced it from Tall-tree," the calico cat laughed. Echopaw felt her ears heat up in embarrassment and she looked at her paws.
"Well, this is the elders den," Leafsong announced. They stood in front of a bramble woven den that had large, green, waxy leaves on the top. "We put those leaves on top of the den because it keeps out the rain so well, and the elders hate rain," Leafsong mewed with a glint of amusement.
Echopaw followed Leafsong into the den and looked at the three elders. "Echopaw, this is Talllegs, Scarnose, and Seedcloud," Leafsong announced, dipping her head to each cat in turn. Echopaw studied the cats nervously.
Talllegs was a scrawny, long-legged pale brown tom with a white underbelly and yellow eyes. Scarnose was a heavily scarred grey tom with black paws and blue eyes. Seedcloud looked like the youngest of the elders, she was a brown and white tabby with amber eyes, Echopaw noticed that her back leg was twisted.
"Seedcloud retired a little early because she broke her leg when she fell out of a tree and it didn't heal properly," Leafsong explained when she caught her staring at the twisted leg.
"Leafsong, what brings you here? And who is that you brought?" Scarnose asked grumpily.
"I'm just here to check on your infected tick bite, and this is Echopaw, she has come to learn about the Clan," Leafsong mewed calmly, unbothered by the tom's grumpiness.
"Well Seedcloud can explain, because I'm not, and Talllegs will pull her whiskers if she wakes him up from his nap," Scarnose muttered, glancing at the sleeping elder.
"Seedcloud, if you don't mind," Leafsong prompted.
The brown and white she-cat nodded, "of course, I'd be happy to help," she mewed softly, shifting into a more comfortable position.
Echopaw padded across the den to the elder nervously. She sat down in front of the cat's nest and curled her tail around her paws. "Now, first you must understand that for me to tell you the history of the Clan will take a long time, so I will merely explain the most important things in a Clan cat's life," Seedcloud began.
"First, there are several different positions in the Clan. One is warrior, the cats that hunt for the Clan and patrol the borders. The leader and deputy run the Clan, sometimes they may ask another cat to help them. Queens are warriors that are expecting or taking care of kits," Seedcloud paused, as if making sure she was getting all of it.
Then she continued, "elders are retired warriors, cats that can no longer hunt or patrol for the Clan. Each Clan has a medicine-cat, a cat that heals wounds and sickness and communicates with StarClan, they cannot have kits and can only have one apprentice alive at the time," Seedcloud glanced at Leafsong who nodded.
"Finally, there are apprentices, like you, they train to become warriors and learn the warrior-code," Seedcloud mewed.
"What's the warrior-code?" Echopaw asked curiously, more confident with the calm she-cat.
"The warrior-code is the code of honor that the Clan live by. There are several rules you will learn, but I will tell you the most important. First, you cannot have a mate outside your Clan. Second, warriors do not kill to win battles. Third, there is a truce on the full-moon, no fighting may happen at the gatherings. Fourth, elders, queens, and kits eat before any other cat…"
Echopaw listened at Seedcloud listed the code and rules of the Clan. Most of the rules made sense, but the StarClan ones confused her. What is StarClan? When Seedcloud had finished, she decided to ask. "What's StarClan?" she asked.
Seedcloud looked surprised and Leafsong gave a shocked gasp from behind her. Echopaw looked over her shoulder nervously. "What?"
Seedcloud recovered from her shock, "StarClan are our wise warrior ancestors, they watch and guide our paw-steps through the forest. We see them at night in the sky," Seedcloud explained.
Echopaw nodded, though still unconvinced. "Speaking of StarClan, there is one ritual I forgot about," Seedcloud mewed. Leafsong gave an interrupting grunt and Echopaw turned to look at her.
"Some other time," Leafsong mewed, giving Seedcloud a firm glance, which was returned with an understanding nod.
"Echopaw, it is almost dusk, I'll give you a quick tour of the camp if you would like," Leafsong mewed. Echopaw nodded and followed Leafsong out of the elders den.
"You already know Tall-tree, Cinderstar's den is at its base," Leafsong started. Echopaw nodded, remembering the den she had seen earlier. "Then the medicine-cat den it over there," Leafsong pointed with her tail at the den near the pool of water.
It looked half-covered on the top and the fern walls seemed to have been entangled with bramble bushes, her glimpse of the mini clearing inside of it was one of a large, grassy area. "Then the warriors den is over there," Leafsong nodded at a large, low, gorse den built against the trunk of a fallen tree.
"The nursery is next to it," Leafsong continued. Echopaw studied the smaller gorse den made near the roots of the tree, the gorse was woven even tighter with brambles and leaves then the warriors den.
"You already know the elders den, so finally there's the apprentice den, which is where you'll be sleeping," Leafsong finished, leading her over to the far side of the clearing where a small rock cave had been extended with gorse bushes.
"Nightpaw? Rainpaw? Are you in there?" Leafsong called. A slim, almost skinny, silver she-cat with darker grey flecks and yellow eyes appeared.
"Nightpaw is out on the dusk patrol, why?" the cat answered. Echopaw saw they were about the same age, six moons.
"This is Echopaw, one of the new apprentices, can you help her get settled?" Leafsong asked the she-cat. Turning to her, Leafsong mewed, "Echopaw, this is Rainpaw, one of the other two apprentices we have," she mewed.
Echopaw nodded and looked at Rainpaw, the grey she-cat was looking at her with a mixture of curiosity and laziness as she leaned against the den. "Sure, I'll help her," Rainpaw mewed, sounding lazy, and maybe a little superior. Leafsong dipped her head and padded away.
Rainpaw started heading back into the den but Echopaw hesitated. "Come on, I don't bite," Rainpaw called from inside the den. Echopaw sighed, I'm acting like a little kit, I'm six moons old! That's practically fully grown!
She took a steadying breath and padded into the dark den. "So, me and Nightpaw sleep in the middle of then den where its warmest, because, until today, we were the only apprentices. Anyway, you and your friend can sleep anywhere you want," Rainpaw mewed.
Echopaw blinked, making out some shapes in the almost black den. The ground beneath her paws was soft and mossy, she padded over to under the rock. She ran her paw on the smooth, cold rock . The ground under the rock was sandy and pebbly, reminding of her old den.
Gathering some moss together, she remembered how Rain had showed her how to make a nest. Making a base layer out of bracken, she laid the moss on it and spread it until it was soft and thick. She made sure it was against the rock so that she would be able to touch the strong rock whenever she wanted to.
She heard her belly rumble and realized how hungry she was. She hadn't eaten since that morning. "Are you hungry, Echopaw?" Rainpaw called.
"Yes," she answered.
"Well, you can share some prey with me and my brother who just got back," Rainpaw called back. Echopaw stumbled through the dark den and emerged into the faint dusk light where Rainpaw laid on her belly. A large rabbit laid at her paws and Echopaw saw a long-furred black tom with a white underbelly and ice blue eyes padding over to them.
"I've been patrolling or hunting ever since dawn! Its like Stonefoot doesn't want me to ever rest," the young tom grumbled as he flopped down beside Rainpaw.
"Its probably because you need more work," Rainpaw snickered at the tom.
"Whatever," the tom muttered, licking his paw that looked scratched. "Who's the new cat?" he asked, eyeing her with hostility.
"You weren't here for the announcement?" Rainpaw asked dubiously.
"No! weren't you listening? I've been gone all day!" the black tom huffed. "Anyway, what was the announcement?" he grumbled.
"Oh, Nightpaw, you're such a nice cat," Rainpaw mewed sarcastically. Nightpaw huffed and Rainpaw continued. "Anyway, Cinderstar allowed two rogues to join the Clan, this is one of them, Echopaw," Rainpaw mewed.
"A rogue, eh? Why does Cinderstar want a rogue in the Clan?" Nightpaw grumbled.
"Oh, be quiet! The Clan is short on young cats, with me and you as the only other apprentices and only Brightwillow's kits in the nursery," Rainpaw scolded her brother.
"Whatever, where is the other rogue?" Nightpaw mewed.
"Over there," Echopaw mewed, flicking her tail toward Stormpaw who was sharing prey with Falconpaw, or Falconcry, as he was now known as.
"The blue cat?" Nightpaw asked, squinting his eyes as he stared through the dusk light.
"Are there any other strange cats over there?" Rainpaw asked scathingly.
Nightpaw cuffed his sister over the ears and spat at her. Echopaw watched them in quiet fascination, she wondered if she had her own littermates, or if they were dead.
"Looks like your friend is coming over," Nightpaw mumbled as he took a bite of the rabbit. Echopaw could see Stormpaw padding over to them. The blue cat didn't say anything as she padded into the den.
Echopaw felt slightly hurt that Stormpaw had ignored her, but hid it by taking a bite from the rabbit. Together, the three young cats finished the rabbit and laid stretched out on their full bellies as a warm wind ruffled their fur.
Echopaw purred in content and cleaned her face carefully. She looked up as a powerful looking grey tom with blue eyes padded over to them.
"Stonefoot," the two other apprentices mewed respectfully, getting to their paws and dipping their heads. Echopaw copied them, not wanting to look rude.
"So this is the new apprentice?" the grey tom's mew was warm and welcoming.
"Yes," Echopaw mewed, relaxing at his friendly mew.
"You know, my father was a loner that joined the Clan," Stonefoot mewed. Echopaw blinked in surprise but nodded anyway. "You look familiar…" Stonefoot murmured, "have I seen you before?" he asked, a frown creasing his face,
Echopaw shook her head, "I would have remembered if we had me before," she mewed.
Stonefoot nodded slowly, "maybe I saw you beyond the border before," he mused. She shrugged, quite sure she had never seen him. "Well, apprentices, go sleep, training begins at dawn," Stonefoot mewed crisply, then padded away.
Echopaw looked at the other apprentices questioningly. "That was the deputy, he helps run the Clan and is in charge of supervising the apprentices training," Rainpaw explained.
"He's also my mentor," Nightpaw added, puffing his chest with pride. Rainpaw rolled her eyes and nudged her brother sharply, making him stumble. Nightpaw growled at his sister, but Rainpaw was already disappearing into the den.
Echopaw padded into the den with Nightpaw next to her. He curled down in his nest, but she continued to the rock. Curling down in her nest, she looked up and saw a crack in the rock that allowed her to see a sliver of black sky speckled with silver stars.
Closing her eyes, she fell asleep, feeling optimistic that her life would be good in the Clans.
...
Okay, so the chapter was mostly just explaining the Clan to Echopaw. Oh, and why do you think Stonefoot thinks Echopaw looks familiar? and fyi, Rainpaw and Nightpaw are litter-mates to the sacrificed kit. So, you can guess how that's gonna play in ;)