Hollypaw wasn't quite sure about what to do after having witnessed the kind of things that went on between Crowpaw and Freckleshine. Two days had passed, and she was still left without an inkling of what to do. She couldn't really tell the head-males, since Crowpaw hadn't actually broken the code. And she certainly couldn't confront the older apprentice about his actions, not without having to confess that she'd been spying. With no ideas about how to handle what she'd seen, Hollypaw decided to remain silent.
She was still ignoring Crowpaw, and with a greater reason this time. But it was much harder now. Following the incident, the black-haired male had become far more open with his apparent relationship with Freckleshine. They sat together during meals, and Hollypaw had seen them grooming each other on more than one occasion. Oddly enough, she always felt a stirring in her belly whenever she happened to spot them together, and she didn't like the feeling one bit.
"Hollypaw, are you alright?"
Hearing her friend's voice, Hollypaw looked at Whisperpaw and said, "I'm fine."
Whisperpaw, with an unconvinced look in her blue eyes, pointed at Hollypaw's tail, "Your tail is lashing."
Immediately, Hollypaw noticed that movements and stopped herself, although the black tip of her tail continued to twitch in a display of irritation. Why couldn't she be like her mother or Sandpaw, both of whom could control their actions easily, even when angered?
"It's about Crowpaw, right? I saw you glaring when Freckleshine was feeding him," Whisperpaw stated. She'd continued talking even as she bent down, searching the undergrowth for the herbs that Brightsky desired.
Frostpaw had a migraine, and was therefore unable to do much aside from groan in misery. Therefore, Brightsky had requested that some of the lovers go out and get the herbs he needed for his store, as he needed to tend to his apprentice. Hollypaw and Whisperpaw had been chosen, along with a couple older women. Two soldiers had come along as well, in case any trouble arose while the females worked. One of them, Volefoot, and dragged his apprentice and Hollypaw's brother, Patchpaw, along with him.
Hollypaw kneeled down, trying to continue her own searching as she replied to Whisperpaw, "I wasn't glaring. Trying not to throw-up is what I was doing."
"That isn't an answer," Whisperpaw said, pulling some marigolds from the ground.
"Well, the answer is obvious, isn't it?" Hollypaw asked testily.
Her friend nodded before saying, "Yes. You're totally stuck on him."
As soon as Whisperpaw had said this, Hollypaw stood up and said in a louder-than-necessary voice, "I am not! Crowpaw can jump off a mountain for all I care!"
Her outburst caught the attention of those nearby, one of them being Crowpaw's mother, Silverdapple. Noticing the eyes on her, Hollypaw covered her mouth with her hand, feeling her face go red. She hadn't meant to be so loud, and she certainly hadn't meant for Silverdapple to hear her say such a thing about her kit. Unlike Crowpaw, Silverdapple was quite likeable. She was brazen, not caring about what others had to say about her opinions and choices, and that made her quite admiring in a clan full of certain expectations.
But to her surprise, Silverdapple calmly said, "I have to agree with you to a point, Hollypaw. Crowpaw makes his own choices, and will have to deal with the consequences. With him going after a woman like Freckleshine, anyone can tell where his judgment comes from. StarClan knows we'd all hate to see another Scorchfire on the rise."
Hollypaw blinked in surprise. The older woman seemed to have very little concern for her son and what he was doing. It was even more shocking by how she'd plainly compared him to his father, Scorchfire, whom was known to have mad very poor decisions in the past. The other senior lover, Vixenskip, didn't seem to be fazed by Silverdapple's words in the least. Both Hollypaw and Whisperpaw, however, stared at the woman with wide eyes.
Silverdapple caught their look and said, "Relax. It's not like I don't care; I'm just waiting to see if he fixes himself or not."
"But what if that's just who he is?" a new voice asked challengingly. Hollypaw shifted her gaze, and saw Patchpaw standing nearby, his arms crossed.
"What do you mean by that?" Silverdapple inquired, not seeming very impressed by the apprentice's question.
Patchpaw came closer to the lovers, "Crowpaw is like that by nature. He doesn't need 'fixing'."
Silverdapple said nothing in response. Her eyes trailed over Patchpaw, as if she were analyzing him. The woman's eyes were known to give a strange, intimidated feel to anyone they were set on, something that Crowpaw undoubtedly inherited from her. But Patchpaw stood perfectly still, standing his ground as Silverdapple looked him over.
"That's an interesting thing for you to say," the woman said after a lengthy silence, "But your issues aren't the same as his. Don't try to relate to him."
With that, the senior lover stood with the herbs she'd collected and moved off to a different area. Hollypaw was speechless, unsure of what had just happened. She looked to her brother, but Patchpaw was walking away as well. His brown tail, speckled with cream, was lashing violently as he trudged off. Seeing the action came as a surprise to Hollypaw. Her brother had been acting very strange ever since Hollypaw had witnessed the tense conversation between him and his partner, Ripplespot. But Patchpaw had never been one to show his anger so openly. Hollypaw wondered why he'd get so passionate about something involving Crowpaw.
From beside her, Hollypaw heard Whisperpaw whisper, "It wasn't about Crowpaw, you know."
"Huh? What do you mean?" Hollypaw asked her friend, tilting her head.
"None of that was really about Crowpaw," Whisperpaw stated, using a more audible voice. She continued to pull at the roots of a thick-leaved herb, tugging the tendrils from the earth and covering her pale fingers in the brown soil. As she did so, she spoke, "Haven't you been paying attention? Those two were just using Crowpaw as a way to vent. It's just like Sandpaw said; they have their own problems. We talked about it earlier."
Hollypaw furrowed her brow, and leaned forward to assist her companion by pulling at a difficult root harshly, "What did Sandpaw say?"
"He didn't say much, but he mentioned some of what Silverdapple's gone through," Whisperpaw said as she used her claws to separate some soil from a pulled plant. She continued, "Apparently, she didn't mate with Scorchfire by choice, which was back when he went sort of crazy. Sandpaw thinks that she might be forcing her anger and such towards Crowpaw, because he reminds her of Scorchfire more than Marshpaw. And after that, I think so too."
This new detail was another surprise. Hollypaw was good enough friends with Marshpaw that she knew a lot about her, but she never knew all that much about her parents. Since before Hollypaw was born, Scorchfire kept to himself for the most part and Silverdapple was her usual, blunt and bold self. She'd never bothered to dig deeper into their lives. So the idea of Scorchfire somehow getting the woman to mate with him against her will was hard to fathom. But she'd been in the nursery when Marshpaw and Crowpaw were, and she'd come to see their mother's behavior towards them as normal. Marshpaw would be treated as any other kit would, but Silverdapple sometimes forgot to feed Crowpaw. She would accidentally drop him while tending to Marshpaw, and displayed various other signs of negligence towards him.
With the new information, Hollypaw found herself wondering whether all those incidents were truly accidents or not.
"We talked about Patchpaw and Ripplespot, too," Whisperpaw said, inspecting the ground for daisies, "You've noticed some tension between them, right?"
Hollypaw nodded, remembering the night she'd gone after Crowpaw, "Definitely."
Her friend continued, "Well, they've had a fight. No one but them knows what it was about, but Ripplespot's gone cold towards Patchpaw. He isn't taking it very well."
"That's obvious," Hollypaw said, "And Patchpaw's kind of the same. He's calling Ripplespot by his name, you know."
"Yeah, and now they've both been forced to come out here. I haven't seen Ripplespot since we got here," Whisperpaw said.
Hollypaw heard this and remembered that what her friend said was true. She hadn't seen or heard the dark-haired man since the group arrived in the area. It made sense for Ripplespot to not be nearby, since Patchpaw had chosen to stay close to the lovers in order to converse with Vixenskip. But now he had stormed off, and Hollypaw had no idea about what would happen if the two encountered each other, especially with Patchpaw being so emotional at the moment.
Whisperpaw sighed, "I think we're done."
After a quick look at what they'd collected, Hollypaw turned and said to Vixenskip, "Are you ready?"
The older female nodded and stood, holding a good amount of feverfew and various other herbs. She started in the direction that Silverdapple had gone in, "Come on, you two. Silverdapple and Volefoot are this way. We can meet up with them and return to camp."
"Wait, what about Patchpaw and Ripplespot?" Hollypaw asked automatically, remembering the two males. She couldn't help the feeling of concern that came over her when she thought about leaving her brother so close to HeartClan.
Vixenskip replied calmly, "They're big boys. They can surely find their own way back."
Although Hollypaw was sure that Vixenskip had said that as a form of reassurance, she couldn't help the feeling of wrongness that filled her gut. Still, she decided that it was best to listen and head back home. There had been enough conflict already, and she didn't want to risk the older woman's patience. Together, she and Whisperpaw stood and they both followed Vixenskip.
It didn't take too long to get back to camp, likely a half-hour at the most. The sun had begun to set and Hollypaw and Whisperpaw were greeted by Sandpaw after delivering the herbs to Brightsky.
"You were gone for a long time," the boy said, taking Whisperpaw's hand and bringing her to his side.
"The undergrowth is really lush this season," Hollypaw explained, "So it was harder to find some of the herbs."
Sandpaw hummed in acknowledgement, pushing a strand of blonde hair behind Whisperpaw's left ear. He then looked at Hollypaw and asked, "Where's Patchpaw? Didn't he go with you?"
Biting her lip, Hollypaw replied, "He got mad and stormed off."
"Stormed off? Patchpaw?" Sandpaw questioned incredulously. Then, after seeming to remember something, he asked, "And Ripplespot's still out there with him?"
"Yeah," Hollypaw answered. She saw the look on Sandpaw's face, and added, "I don't know if they're together or not."
Whisperpaw offered her own bit to the conversation, "You know, I thought about it, and I think it could be good for them. They need to make up, so a little privacy might help."
"Maybe," Sandpaw said. His eyes showed that he didn't believe it, however. Seeing the doubt on her brother's face, Hollypaw wondered just how much Sandpaw knew about the conflict between Patchpaw and Ripplespot.
It seemed that Whisperpaw detected the uncertainty in her partner's voice and quickly said, "Don't be so doubtful! Those two always make up."
Sandpaw sighed, but didn't bother to create an argument with Whisperpaw. His passiveness was one of the teen's key traits, and one that Hollypaw sometimes wish she had. A flash of black caught Hollypaw's eye as she thought this, and she looked up to see her mother rushing passed her. Confused, Hollypaw turned and saw that Darkcloud was approaching Ripplespot, whom had just come into camp.
The two were close enough for Hollypaw to hear them, and she clearly heard her mother say, "Where's Patchpaw? Volefoot said he would be with you."
"Well, he's not," Ripplespot replied coolly, "If you want to look for him, he went towards the northern HeartClan border."
"There? Why?" Darkcloud asked, showing obvious worry and surprise in her voice.
Ripplespot looked visibly irritated as he told her, "StarClan knows why."
After saying this, the man walked passed Darkcloud, leaving the distressed woman on her own as he made his way to the soldiers' hut. Hollypaw watched him go with wide eyes. Such an attitude wasn't normal for Ripplespot, even when he was angry. The feeling of wrongness came back to Hollypaw, and she had the powerful urge to go into the forest and find her brother. As she decided whether or not she should, her mother came to her.
"Hollypaw, Sandpaw, your brother hasn't come back yet," Darkcloud said, now trying her best to remain calm and collected, "I'm going to talk to the head-males. I-If he comes back while I'm gone, please come and tell me."
As she spoke, Darkcloud wrung her hands worriedly, glancing back towards the camp entrance repeatedly. Her worrying only made the feeling in Hollypaw's gut worsen, and she could feel her tail begin to twitch anxiously. The twitching continued even after her mother walked away.
"Hollypaw..?" she heard Whisperpaw say from behind her, with the obvious question of 'are you okay' in her tone.
"I'm going to look for him," Hollypaw said. Without waiting for a reply, she hurried out of camp.
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A/N: There you go, lovelies. I'm trying to get over a bit of writer's block, so forgive me if this chapter was crappy. Just so everyone knows, the story is really about to pick up now.
Fun-fact: Hollypaw is intentionally written as immature and slightly selfish. This is simply because of her age and mindset, and she will be made to mature over time.
Later, my lovelies~!
- Tina