Hello y'all! Here's the next chapter for ya, hope you like it :)
"Ha! Got ya!" Gingerpaw let out a startled squeak as Rainpaw pounced and grabbed the end of her bright ginger tail firmly in her jaws. "Hey, let my tail go Rainpaw! That's not fair!" Gingerpaw tried to wrestle her tail out of Rainpaw's grip, but she held fast, barely holding back laughter at Gingerpaw's furious expression.
A sharp hiss from behind caused Rainpaw glance up to see her mentor glaring down at her sternly. Her ears flattening in embarrassment, Rainpaw spat out her friend's tail and spun around to confront her mentor. Staring down at her paws, she mewed softly, "I'm sorry, I don't know what came over me."
In his deep, rough voice, Stonedust mewed seriously, "You are supposed to be hunting, not chasing each other through the willows like moonstruck rabbits." Even though his voice was betrayed annoyance, she noticed a faint glimmer of amusement in his dark amber eyes, and Rainpaw could tell he wasn't truly mad. Dipping her head to him, she whipped around and hissed to Gingerpaw, who was roughly grooming her tail, "Come on slowpoke, lets go!"
Rainpaw and Gingerpaw spent the rest of the sunny new-leaf afternoon fishing in the recently thawed stream. Bringing in a good haul of fish, the two she-cats prepared to return to camp but Gingerpaw, sounding serious for once, sat back down and mewed, "Rainpaw, can I ask you something?'
Nodding, Rainpaw flopped down in front of her friend and began to groom her soggy brown fur, her ears pricked. "Well, lately I've been wondering about...well...about my parents." Surprised, Rainpaw paused mid-lick and looked up at her friend. "Your parents? Why do you want to know who your parents are? They abandoned you!"
Scraping the ground with a paw, Gingerpaw mumbled, "Yeah, I know...but I still want to know!" A wistful look clouding her sky blue eyes, she mewed, "Maybe they had a good reason to give me up, I'll never know unless I find them!"
In her mind, Rainpaw thought that Gingerpaw was trying to catch the breeze. If her parents are rouges, they would be long gone by now. Rouges never stay anywhere long. Out loud, Rainpaw sighed in agreement and mewed, "OK, lets look at the evidence."
After a few minutes Rainpaw and Gingerpaw had laid out everything they knew. "Okay, so you were found on the border to the unclaimed forest by Redberry who was collecting herbs. You were alone, hungry and cold, and Redberry took you back to camp. He convinced Swiftstar to take you in, and Starflower adopted you." Rainpaw was even more unsure now. "This doesn't give us anything!"
Gingerpaw looked thoughtful. "How about we ask Redberry if he saw anything? Even if he didn't see my parents maybe he scented or heard something." Nodding, Rainpaw stood up and grabbed two small trout in her jaws before beginning the walk back to camp.
The RiverClan camp was settling down for the evening, most cats eating or sharing tongues in the sandy clearing. Rainpaw purred with laughter as she saw Sandstep's three kits, Birdkit, Brightkit, and Cloverkit, tumble out of the nursery and run over to their father Eaglefang. Their mother settled down beside them and the little family began to groom each other.
Nearby, she noticed Mapleflight leaning against her mate Stormsplash, her belly bulging with her second litter. Also, out of the corner of her eyes, she saw Daisystrike and Berryleaf sharing tongues and whispering to each other. Leaning over, she whispered to Gingerpaw, "The nursery is going to be full this new-leaf." Gingerpaw purred in agreement and set down her fish on the fresh-kill pile. Saving one, she beckoned Rainpaw with her tail and the two padded into the medicine cat's den.
Pushing inside the dimly-lit den, Rainpaw sneezed as herb dust got up her nose. Looking around, she saw that Redberry was nowhere to be seen, to their disappointment. Nettlefern, who had dislocated her shoulder while hunting the day before, told them that Redberry had gone out to gather herbs and wouldn't be back for some time.
Her ears and tail drooping sadly, Gingerpaw mewed, "Okay, thanks anyway." before exiting the small den. Rainpaw trailed behind her, and when they were outside of Nettlefern's range of hearing she mewed sympathetically, "He'll be back soon, you can ask him then."
Laying down on a sandy patch of ground near the training pool, the two shared the fat, juicy pike that Gingerpaw was going to give to Redberry. Deciding not to wait until the medicine cat came back, Rainpaw and Gingerpaw started to discuss who her parents might be again. They thought of everything; a half clan relationship, kittypets, loners, and of course rouges. When Bramblepaw came back from patrol he laid down beside Rainpaw and they let him in on their ideas.
"Hmm...I don't know Gingerpaw. I don't think that your parents, if they were rouges, are still around these parts. Your chance of finding them now is about the same chance of getting a WindClan cat to jump in the lake." Wincing at her earlier thoughts being put into words, Rainpaw saw that Gingerpaw had narrowed her eyes cynically at the ginger tabby tom.
Before they could get into a full blown argument, Falconwing pushed his way through the camp entrance and glanced around, seeming to be looking for something, or someone. When his eyes came to rest on Rainpaw and her friends, he grabbed a fish from the pile, a large trout, and trotted over to join them.
Rainpaw purred when Falconwing settled down on her other side, giving her a swift lick on the ear. His voice excited, Falconwing mewed, " I was on patrol with Swiftstar, and he mentioned that you three were going to the Gathering." All three of the younger cats pricked their ears, it had been quite a few moons scence they had attended a Gathering together.
"Are you going too?" Rainpaw asked him hopefully, only to drop her gaze sadly when he shook his head no. Clawing the ground, Falconwing mewed shyly, "Um..I might have.. you know... fell asleep on guard duty last night. Nightwish took over my shift and discovered me fast asleep. She was furious."
Rainpaw could barely hold back a purr of laughter, but suddenly tension ruffled her fur the next second as Bramblepaw stood up and hissed, "Well, it serves you right to miss the Gathering then. I would never fall asleep on the job." Glancing down at Rainpaw with a weird look on his face, he backed away and stomped off to his den, his tail trailing in the dust.
That night the full moon glowed brightly upon the lake as the RiverClan patrol made their way to the Gathering island. Rainpaw crossed the tree bridge quickly, her friends right behind her. Earlier in the day, Rainpaw and Gingerpaw had decided to try to see if any of the cats in the other clans looked like Gingerpaw, with her bright ginger pelt and sky-blue eyes. Rainpaw knew deep in her bones that Gingerpaw was terrified at the thought of being a half-clan cat. Well, I would want to be half-clan more than I would want to be a rouge.
As soon as the three young cats entered the crowd, Whitepaw of ThunderClan raced up to them and mewed, "Hey guys, how have you been?" Rainpaw and Gingerpaw mewed, "Good", while Bramblepaw mewed curiously, "Where's Firepaw?" Sighing in annoyance, Whitepaw hissed, "Firepaw got in trouble again. He tried to start a border skirmish with some ShadowClan cats, almost got himself killed! At this rate he'll never be a warrior, he'll probably he demoted back to kit!"
Rainpaw and Gingerpaw broke off from the two toms and watched the crowded sea of cats. Though they saw many ginger cats, none of them really looked as if they were related to Gingerpaw. "Hey, I wonder where Lilypaw is." Rainpaw mewed out loud, and Gingerpaw shrugged. "I dunno, I haven't seen her at all."
Deciding to ask her mentor, Rainpaw padded up to Breezestrike, who was in a large group of senior warriors, including Nightwish and Hawkeyes, and mewed, "Excuse me sir, is Lilypaw here?" To her surprise, and horror, Breezestrike's eyes narrowed into menacing slits and he spat down at her angrily, "That's none of your business, fish eater!" Nightwish and Hawkeyes stepped forward to defend her in case the tom attacked but all he did was whip around and walk off towed the Great Oak.
Dazed and confused, Rainpaw turned to go find Gingerpaw but before she could Antstar called for the meeting to start. She ended up sitting with Bramblepaw, Whitepaw, and three young ShadowClan apprentices she hadn't seen before. They must be new.
Antstar motioned for Swiftstar to speak first, and he started to speak, his voice booming around the clearing. "RiverClan is well, now that the stream is thawed we have plenty of prey, and one of our queens is expecting kits." Stormsplash puffed out his chest proudly as Swiftstar went on. "All of our apprentices are training well, and we have promoted a new warrior, Falconwing."
Swiftstar motioned for Acornstar to speak, but Willowstar pushed forward, hissing "I will speak next!" The silver tabby she-cat, her fur bristling with fury, yowled out to the crowd. "Cats of all clans, there are murders among us! RiverClan has killed Lilypaw!"
Rainpaw gasped. Lilypaw was dead? Grief flooded her mind for a moment as she remembered the kind, sweet she-cat, but it was quickly replaced by anger. How dare Willowstar accuse her clan of something so cruel, so vile!
When the gasps of astonishment and yowls of anger had subsided, Swiftstar turned towed Willowstar, his fur bristling, teeth bared in a snarl. "Willowstar, the nerve you have to accuse my clan of murder! What evidence do you have that it was us?" The WindClan leader, equally furious, hissed, "Lilypaw was found dead on our RiverClan border three sunrises ago with claw marks in her throat! If that's not evidence, I don't know what is!"
"Was there any scent of RiverClan, any scraps of fur? It could easily have been a passing rouge or loner, or even a fox." Rainpaw could see that Swiftstar was trying to remain calm, trying to talk scence to Willowstar, but she wouldn't have it. "It was on the border, there was RiverClan scent everywhere! It drowned out any other scents, and it couldn't have been a fox, it would have eaten her, not just leave her body there, and the claw marks are too small for a badger, before you throw that out there. It was some cat in RiverClan, and my clan will not rest until we find who it was!"
Leaping down from the Great Oak, Willowstar gathered her warriors and announced, "We are leaving, but keep watch Swiftstar, you will pay for this!" With that, the WindClan leader flicked her fluffy tail and WindClan exited the clearing. For a moment silence commenced, but soon the two other clans made their reports. ShadowClan had made three new apprentices named Brownpaw, Frozenpaw, and Otterpaw. When their names were called, the three apprentices near Rainpaw puffed out their fur proudly. ThunderClan reported that a queen had given birth, but nothing else very important had happened. When the meeting ended, the clans left in a hurry, a few cats throwing accusing glares at RiverClan. Great StarClan, even the other clans think we did it! What are we going to do?
Any thoughts on who Gingerpaw's parents are? Who do you think killed Lilypaw, a passing rouge or loner, or a RiverClan cat? Any ideas on who it could be if it was a RiverClan cat? Tell me your thoughts in the reviews :)
~Rain
