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Chapter Twelve: Pebbleheart's Fear
As Lionpaw dragged back into camp, his heart still pounding, his muscles aching from the hours of training he and Snowstar had worked at ever since sun-sigh, he immediately went to the apprentice den and collapsed, swiping a tongue over his ruffled chest-fur.
"Lionpaw?" Cricketpaw bounced over to him, Rowanpaw and Buzzardpaw following with narrowed eyes. "Where have you been all morning?"
Lionpaw glanced up at his sister. "Fighting a wildebeest."
"What?" Cricketpaw gasped.
"He had a training session with Snowstar," Buzzardpaw chuckled, padding up to stand next to Cricketpaw. He sneezed, and shook himself.
"You look like an elephant stomped on you," Rowanpaw snickered.
Lionpaw sighed wearily, trying to sit up. He didn't feel like dealing with Frostpaw's bitter brother at the moment. "Yeah. It was intense. But fun," he added honestly, eyes brightening. Even Snowstar had looked winded by the end of their training, and he felt pride swell in his chest; he knew he was becoming a good fighter.
"Well, we spent the morning hunting," Cricketpaw mewed, chuckling as she touched a paw to her brother's ear. "Are you hungry?"
"Famished," Lionpaw admitted.
Buzzardpaw sneezed again before flicking a tail across Lionpaw's mouth. "Better wait until the elders are content," he warned, voice cracking a bit. Lionpaw felt a bite of annoyance; how had word spread so fast about his punishment with Brightpaw and Frostpaw?
"I suppose. Have you three seen Frostpaw or Brightpaw anywhere today?" he asked. He hadn't seen his friends all day, and felt a pang, realizing he missed them already.
"Dustleg and Curlclaw took them out to train just before you and Snowstar got back," Cricketpaw replied.
"How long do you have to help the elders?" Rowanpaw grinned, eyes flashing with mischief.
"How long are you going to keep that stupid grin on your face?" Lionpaw snapped, heaving himself up and shaking himself, wishing his muscles would quit aching. Rowanpaw's face twisted into an angry growl, but before he could say something harmful Buzzardpaw peacefully growled, "Better go fetch them some fresh-kill, at least." He uttered a raspy cough suddenly.
"You're sick, aren't you?" Cricketpaw mewed anxiously.
Buzzardpaw sneezed again, and sighed, shaking himself. "I'll get over it." He turned to Lionpaw, and narrowed his eyes.
"Alright," Lionpaw sighed, not liking having to be reminded by another apprentice of his duties, yet glad Buzzardpaw was being fairly nice about it. After all, he was the senior apprentice. He wondered when he'd get named a warrior.
As he padded slowly across the clearing, he pondered at the pile of fresh-kill for a moment before deciding on a large piece of striped zebra to drag across the clearing, hopefully pleasing the old elders.
As he neared the large mossy log, he sighed and dropped the heap of still-warm meat outside the entrance. "Hello?" he meowed loudly.
There were voices from within the log, and a scrawny gray lion with a small mane poked his head out. Lionpaw blinked and took a step back; he hadn't really met the elders a lot before, and still wasn't used to their older smell. But they were usually gentle, so he tried to push the smell aside.
"Lionpaw?" he rasped.
"Yes," the apprentice meowed, shuffling his paws uncertainly in the dust beside the log. The smell of the jagged piece of zebra was sweet to his famished throat, and his mouth watered as he wished more than anything to take a bite into the juicy skin.
"Is that zebra I smell?" came another voice, as a patchy, slightly larger lion gazed out of the log at Lionpaw. "Oh- hello there."
"Company?" came a soft voice, and the head of a small white-furred lioness flickered in the shadows.
"It's just Lionpaw," the final creaky voice sounded, and Lionpaw could barely make out a skinny lion with a limp-looking tail laying in the cool shadows of their log. He blinked, and dipped his head uncertainly.
"Ah- thank you, youngster," the first lion, who Lionpaw thought was named Oldlegs, meowed kindly.
"I'm starving!" the elder named Fadefur exclaimed from the shadows. Lionpaw's whiskers shivered in amusement.
"Oh, hush, Fadefur," the last lion, the one with the limp-looking tail, named Tiredtail, retorted. "You're lucky these apprentices serve us so nicely."
"That's true," the only lioness elder, the one named Whiteheart, mewed quietly, chuckling, as Oldlegs sunk his teeth into the zebra leg and pulled it into the log to share.
"They hardly ever come around!" Fadefur exclaimed, voice rough.
"Ignore him," Tiredtail growled from the shadows, eyes bright with amusement. "He's just been in the elder's log for too long."
"Hey now," Fadefur growled, lashing his tail.
Lionpaw chuckled, sudden pictures of him, Brightpaw, and Frostpaw all gathered in the elder's den like this, many moons from now, arguing playfully as an apprentice brought them their fresh-kill.
Or will we be destined for something more? he suddenly wondered, tail flicking.
"You're welcome," he meowed politely to the elders, nodding his head respectfully, and padding away from their log.
Out in the open, he shook himself and took a gulp of cold air. It was indeed a cool, yet pretty day out. He felt less exhausted after stretching his bones, and as he tried to push his hunger away, knowing there were other warriors more deserving of a meal, he suddenly remembered his old promise to Pebbleheart, to come help her one day and fix up her medicine-lion den.
Happy to have a chance to see her again, and maybe ask her about the strange sign from StarClan, he turned directions and padded past Emberfoot and Ivytooth before ducking towards the medicine-lion den, eyes narrowing.
"Pebbleheart? You there?" he called softly.
There was a brief silence, and suddenly amber eyes flickered from the shadows. "Is that you, Lionpaw?" came Pebbleheart's soft voice as she slipped from her den, slender body gleaming in the sunlight.
"Yeah."
Her eyes immediately darkened with concern. "Are- are you hurt? What do you need?"
"No, I'm fine, but I just thought of how you said I could help clean up your den sometime if you needed it..." His voice trailed off, and he suddenly felt stupid. What apprentice helped cleaned the medicine-lion den?
"Oh!" Her eyes lit up. "Actually, I'd like that very much. Right now Amberpaw... she's out. It would be helpful if you could come on it..."
Lionpaw pricked his ears. "Thanks. I need something easy to do after a hard morning with Snowstar."
As they crept into the den, under the smooth stone and surrounded by comforting, cool shadows, Pebbleheart glanced around. Lionpaw narrowed his eyes, getting used to the damp darkness, and listened as she meowed,
"You do know Snowstar is your father, right?"
Lionpaw blinked, yet felt no surprise crash over him. He guessed it was fairly obvious, like he'd known all along, but never directly acknowledged it. Yet he felt a little prick of pride; leader, mentor, father. He was sure no
apprentice was that lucky to have three important role-models in one body.
"Yeah... I guess I knew. Is that why he chose me for his apprentice?"
Pebbleheart's eyes widened as they neared the large, cracked stone where she kept her many herbs in large crevices. "No, no... see, your apprenticeship is very rare. First, because a father hardly ever mentors his cubs, and two, a leader usually doesn't take on apprentices. You're a lucky cub, Lionpaw."
Lionpaw twitched his whiskers as she voiced his very thoughts. He shook his head, and roughly meowed, "Alright... well, where do I start?"
"Start?" Pebbleheart's eyes had lost their focus, but then she looked sharply at him again. "Yes- what to do. Well, you can start by sorting these herbs." She nudged a large pile of miscellaneous, colorful herbs in his direction.
As he bent down to accept the herbs, her nose brushed his, and the air quivered with lightning.
"Sounds boring," he joked, sitting down and beginning to carefully smell each herb, sorting them properly. He still felt her warm skin briefly against his, and wondered why it made him feel like stars.
"That's my job you're talking about," she retorted, flicking him playfully with her tail, before taking a step away and beginning to organize the crooks of herbs in the stone wall.
There was a brief silence, when she suddenly meowed, "Oh- hey, would you keep an eye on Buzzardpaw for me? He's been sickly lately, and I don't want him to end up with a cold."
Lionpaw nodded, realizing Buzzardpaw had been acting kinda sick recently.
They were quiet for a moment, before Lionpaw tentatively broke the silence.
"Any more signs from StarClan lately?" he asked, casual as possible.
Pebbleheart's friendly air suddenly vanished as she glanced at him, gaze dark. "You remember their first sign, don't you?" she murmured.
"How could I forget?" His heart began to race as he saw the burning intensity kindling in the medicine-lion's eyes.
Pebbleheart sighed, and shivered. "Nothing. They've... been quiet ever since."
Lionpaw angled his ears, knowing there was more to be said, yet she fell quiet, eyes swirling with dark, unspoken thoughts. He opened his mouth to talk to her when a head suddenly slipped into the den.
"Pebbleheart?" came the low growl. It was Longfang.
Lionpaw flattened his ears, but was startled by how fast Pebbleheart shot up, eyes flashing with... fear?
"Longfang?" she asked breathlessly.
Longfang growled low in his throat, glancing at Lionpaw. "I thought I smelled you in here, Lionpaw. Pebbleheart, what is an apprentice doing in here? You've already got your own."
"Lionpaw's just helping me with my herbs," she said softly. Lionpaw felt his annoyance at Longfang suddenly die, and his ears pricked towards Pebbleheart. There was a strange amount of fear and squirming unease settling in those pretty eyes, and he could see memories begin to unfold in her eyes... what was wrong with her? Longfang may be fierce, but she looked terrified of him.
Did she know something about the great deputy?
"That's what Amberpaw's for," he retorted, swinging his gaze from the medicine-lion to Lionpaw. "And you have better things to do than gossip with a lioness, you know," he rumbled, shaggy dark mane flicking in the bit of wind tossed their way.
Lionpaw swallowed, and replied coolly, "Amberpaw's out at the moment, and Pebbleheart really needed some help."
"I'm sure it could have waited. I want you out of here soon, apprentice," Longfang replied, shaking himself before the mighty lion prowled from the den.
Lionpaw fixed his gaze after Longfang before slowly turning to gaze curiously at Pebbleheart. Her claws sheathed and unsheathed, and her tail swung uncertainly about her ankles, eyes still frozen and cloudy as she stared at the spot Longfang had been just a heartbeat ago.
The golden-furred apprentice hesitated before touching his tail to her shoulder. "Pebbleheart?"
She stirred, and blinked, eyes slowly losing their raw fright as she recognized Lionpaw. "Oh- oh, I'm sorry... just had a... strange, um, thought...."
"You know that's a lie," Lionpaw replied quietly, tail lashing. "What's up? You're always so jumpy whenever Longfang comes around. Do you have a bone to pick with him or something?"
Pebbleheart shot a look at him, filled with such grief and unhappiness that he took a step back, knowing no words could possibly untangle the web of misery painted in her eyes. Her problems with Longfang were clearly deeper than he thought; but what were they? Maybe he could help her.
"Aren't you scared of him?" she asked in a soft voice, blinking quickly.
Lionpaw allowed his mind to fall blank, carefully concentrating on whenever the large deputy stalked by, tail-tip flicking, eyes glowing... Was he afraid of Longfang? The answer came like a growl of thunder.
"No," he answered honestly, narrowing his eyes. "He's a great and dark warrior, but... not frightening." Lionpaw hesitated. "Why are you so afraid of him?"
Pebbleheart gazed at h
im for a heartbeat before sighing and drooping her pretty face. Lionpaw felt sudden distress and sadness at seeing such a gentle, beautiful lioness deeply troubled by some secret she refused to admit. He wished then, more than anything, that he could help her...!
"I appreciate your kind words, young Lionpaw," she finally meowed, struggling to keep her voice calm. But she had pushed all the grief from her eyes, and she licked her chest-fur reassuringly. "But it's... all okay." She glanced at the pile of herbs at his paws. He'd barely gotten started, thanks to Longfang. For some reason, the great deputy hadn't wanted him and Pebbleheart alone and talking together.
But why?
"You should go," she said softly, sighing.
Lionpaw blinked, unwilling, but recalled the burning command in Longfang's voice, and knew he had to leave eventually. Slowly he stood up, and nodded respectfully to Pebbleheart before slowly turning around, and
beginning to leave the cave.
"Lionpaw!" she said suddenly.
Lionpaw whirled around eagerly, half-hoping she'd ask him to stay instead. His eyes met hers, and for a heartbeat, a million things were exchanged between them.
"Yes?" he meowed patiently, fur bristling.
Pebbleheart hesitated, then broke her gaze with him, lashing her tail. "Never mind."
Lionpaw blinked, and then shrugged, disappointedly turning back and leaving the den for the sunwashed clearing, wondering what Pebbleheart had almost tried to tell him.
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