Frostwing woke shortly before dawn. The kits and Mapleleaf slept soundly on so Frostwing did her best to make as little sound and movement as possible, but this was foiled when she tripped over a moss nest.
"Fox-dung!" She exclaimed. Then realized she was supposed to be quiet. Fortunately the only thing that happened was Mapleleaf rolling over in her sleep. Relieved, Frostwing slipped outside.
The torrential downpour left the forest in a wet haze. Everything was damp and slippery. Frostwing shivered as she felt a chilly breeze rustle her fur. She gave an air a quick taste. It no longer smelled like newleaf. It smelled cold and barren, like leafbare. The taste of incoming snow filled Frostwing with some satisfaction. Unlike the others, Frostwing loved snow and ice. She had always thought it was pretty even if it was bitterly cold.
Shades of pink were beginning to show at the horizon. She should probably wake another warrior up for dawn patrol and set up a hunting patrol as well. She padded over to the mouth of the warrior's den but just as she was about to enter she bumped into someone.
"Watch where you're- Oh! Blazespirit!" She realized with horror.
"Sorry," He yawned.
"I was just about to get someone up for dawn patrol," She explained.
Blazespirit stretched out, elongating his long gray body stretching his front paws out, then as he pulled himself forward he left his back legs behind them dragging them almost. He froze in that position, back legs outstretched as he saw Frostwing's face.
"What?" He looked confused. "I'm only stretching."
"Yeah, but," Frostwing stifled a giggle. "In that position you look ridiculous, like your trying to walk dragging your hind legs!"
Blazespirit paused as if contemplating this, then, with his hind legs still in that stretched position, started dragging himself around. Frostwing laughed.
"Urf! This is harder than I thought!" He groaned.
"What are you doing?" She laughed.
"Trying to imagine what it's like to have no back legs!" He managed. "It's painful!"
"Come on," She managed. "We need to start dawn patrol." Blazespirit popped up, ready for action.
"Onward!" He yowled and dashed for the exit.
"Wait up you mouse brain!" Frostwing called after him.
"It feels good to be out," He tasted the air. "I smell," He threw a quick mischievous glance at Frostwing. "Rabbit,"
Frostwing' ears perked up. She loved rabbits! She gave the air a quick taste too. The scent of rabbit was over whelming. Her paws itched to catch it, but duty calls. "We should go," Frostwing meowed coolly as her stomach rumbled in protest.
"Whatever you say," Blazespirit responded giving a wistful look to the forest. Frostwing could tell he too was hungry but they needed to mark their territory.
The day grew even colder as they padded through the forest. The win picked up quickly. Frostwing felt her stomach rumble.
"That was loud." Blazespirit commented. Frostwing's face grew warm. She hadn't wanted it to be loud! "I am starving too. Maybe we should hunt after words."
"Fine by me," Frostwing agreed, but her stomach gave an enthusiastic yes.
It wasn't long before they had finished and had made it back to camp. Snakefoot greeted them as they entered.
"Did you just come back from patrol?" He asked.
"Yup," Blazespirit meowed cheerfully. "Nothing odd to report, except that Frostwing's been acting like a deputy."
"Shut-up," She rolled her eyes. "You two go on a hunting patrol, I'll go with Danwheart. If we head to separate places we might catch enough for the others when they get back."
"Blazespirit is right," Snakefoot remarked in a tone that suggested he really didn't want to be ordered around by a younger cat. "You're acting like a deputy."
"Well sorry if I want to eat!" She snapped. "If you want to go hungry, go ahead and don't go hunting!"
"Whatever," He rolled his eyes. "I wouldn't go out with Dawnheart though, I am pretty sure she hasn't slept all night. She only just now fell asleep."
"Who else am I going to take?" She asked him. "Our medicine cat?"
"Sure if you'll have me." Mapleleaf meowed from right behind them. They all jumped. No one had noticed her at all. "I just checked on Riverheart, his wound is healing much faster, and you tripping over that moss nest this morning? Smooth move." Frostwing felt her face grow hot. Snakefoot snickered.
"Fine, we'll go hunting together." She meowed hastily. "Let's move out."
"I never knew medicine cats went hunting," She commented as she watched Mapleleaf bury a shrew.
"We do," Mapleleaf responded and took another look at her handiwork. "Quit chatting and more hunting. I have one shrew to your zero. I thought you were the best hunter of your apprentices."
Frostwing's face grew hot once more. "I can catch more than you any day!" She bragged.
"Oh really?" Mapleleaf taunted.
As it turned out, Mapleleaf was an adept hunter even though she spent most of her time tucked away inside of a den. She caught 8 pieces of freshkill. Frostwing had her dignity to defend and broke her former record of 6 pieces by catching 8 as well. Meaning they were equally matched. As they dropped off their prizes at the freshkill pile Mapleleaf turned to her.
"So all that bragging wasn't just hot air," Mapleleaf meowed.
"I just let us go tied so you wouldn't feel hurt," Frostwing answered coolly. "Just kidding, Mapleleaf, you're an excellent hunter."
"You think I spend all my time wiping runny noses," Mapleleaf meowed gruffly. "Why don't we go check on your sister?"
Frostwing threw a glance at the warrior's den. It was awfully weird for Dawnheart to sleeping this late.
"Sounds good to me, I have nothing else to do," Forstwing shrugged.
Dawnheart was curled up in a tight ball muttering something in her sleep.
"Dawnheart?" Frostwing nudged her sleeping sister with her paw.
"No…" Dawnheart mumbled and rolled over. "Stop… get away…" One of her paws reached out claws extended. Frostwing didn't have time to get out of the way.
"Dawnheart! That hurt!" Frostwing yowled. Her face stung. Dawnheart's eyes snapped open. She took one look at Frostwing's face and gasped.
"Frostwing!" She exclaimed jumping up to take a better look at her face.
"Thanks for the scratch." She growled at Dawnheart.
"I'm so sorry! I had this terrible dream and-" Dawnheart stopped. Her eyes went wide. "I'm so sorry!" She wailed and burst into tears.
"Don't get so stressed out!" Frostwing meowed frantically. "It's just a little scratch. Mapleleaf can fix it up."
"Frostwing? Dawnheart?" It was Mapleleaf. She hurriedly padded in.
"Dawnheart, it's okay," She tried comforting the she-cat. "Let's go up to my den and we can talk about… this."
"Talk about what?" Frostwing called after them. Mapleleaf gave her a look that told her to shut-up.
