I now have a poll open to vote for Skypaw's mate. Please vote! Also, thanks to Shadowfur who was the first to send in a review about mates. This is kind of a random chapter with an old canon character thrown in to spice it up. : ) Enjoy!
Darkpaw bristled, Tigerclaw, here! How dare he stand on the rock. Only leaders, noble
leaders should stand there. Even Bluestar in her weakened state deserved to stand there more than Tgerclaw! How dare Shadowclan take him in as leader... But Shadowclan didn't know of how Bluestar was betrayed by the dark tabby. He shook himself out of his thoughts, Fireheart was speaking. "A few dawns ago, fire started in the forest. Two of our elders died and we honour them. Patchpelt and Halftail were well respected. The clan especially honours Yellowfang, who died trying to save Halftail. The fire has scorched our camp but the forest will grow back as strong as ever!" Darkpaw and several others yowled their approval. That was well spoken. "And, Thunderclan is strong enough to protect our borders, from any threat." The deputy finished strongly. "Also, another litter of kits were born to Silverstep and Darkstripe." The clans murmured their congratulations. Fireheart had been smart to mention Silverstep's kits, it showed that despite the fire Thunderclan was definitely strong enough to handle day to day life, which included protecting borders.
Darkpaw hardly paid attention to what Crookedstar and Tallstar said. He was trying to find that grey Windclan She-cat, Skypaw. He couldn't get her out of his head. Every moment when he wasn't busy carrying messages to Silverstep's sister, or escaping forest fires, or hunting with Ashpaw and Cloudpaw, or doing battle training with Swiftpaw that was. He hoped seeing her again would stop he spotted Skypaw's rabbit catching friend, Dawnpaw. She was sitting next to Fernpaw and another Windclan apprentice he didn't know. Slinking around a group of elders, he made his way over to them. "Hello, Dawnpaw, Fernpaw." He greeted them coolly.
"Hey, Darkpaw!" Fernpaw mewed, earning her a glare from Mousefur. She continued in a whisper, "I take it you know Dawnpaw?" Clearly Fernpaw did not expect him, to know anycat. Darkpaw nodded and addressed Dawnpaw, "I heard your story last gathering." He admitted, "where's your little grey friend, you seemed pretty inseparable last gathering." He noticed Dawnpaw tense, was Skypaw dead? Instead the other Windclan apprentice replied. "Dawnpaw and Skypaw had a fight." He explained, "Skypaw's my sister, I'm Rabbitpaw." Darkpaw dipped his head, "nice to meet you Rabbitpaw. I take it Skypaw's not here then." He saw Dawnpaw narrow her eyes and his blood ran cold but Rabbitpaw was unabashed, "yeah, she's not here. Deadfoot probably figured it was a bad idea! I mean these two would be at each other's necks, claws unsheathed! Do you-" But the apprentice was cut off as Fireheart let out a yowl. Darkpaw turned around, Thunderclan were getting ready to leave. Fernpaw gave him a nudge. "Come on Darkpaw, we've got to go. Nice seeing you guys, good hunting!" She gave him another nudge "come on Darkpaw" Darkpaw got up, there was no point staying here, where Skypaw wasn't.
As they ran up the slope Fernpaw mewed, "I hope your just being moony, Darkpaw. When I told you to get over Brightpaw I didn't say to go and fall in love with a She-cat from another clan!" Darkpaw shook himself, Fernpaw had told him to get over Brightpaw when she saw him miss a mouse after Cloudpaw came back. He had been a little happy when his adopted brother was taken, he thought he might actually have a chance... It didn't matter now, he told himself, he had to stay true to his clan and his promise. Skypaw would have to stay in Windclan and out of his thoughts.
"Darkpaw, Darkpaw! What happened?" Three kits bounced up to him, Redkit, Ravenkit and Snowkit were starting to be a bit of a pawfull. "Was it awesome Darkpaw?" Darkpaw forced himself to purr, "It was great kits. Now go back to your nest, it's late." And leave me alone he thought silently. He padded to his own nest... And dreamed. "Darkpaw." Darkpaw turned around. He was facing a pretty silver tabby. "Who are you and where am I?" Darkpaw challenged the She-cat. "I am Silverstream." She paused, "and as for where we are, well I believe we are on the Riverclan border with Thunderclan." Darkpaw was in shock, Silverpaw had died when he was still a kit. "Your Graystripe's mate, the mother of the two kits who Goldenflower nursed." Silverstream nodded,
"That is me."
"Than why are you here, go haunt a Riverclan apprentice instead of me." He growled. But Silverstream shook her head, "No Darkpaw, the Warrior Code is not set in stone, you can love cats outside of the boundaries!" Darkpaw glared at her
"And look where it got you! Even if I was prepared to betray my clan, there's no way I would want that kind of thing to happen to another cat!" He hissed, "my loyalty is to my clan! Now get out of my dreams!" Silverstream sighed,
"As you wish Darkpaw, good hunting." Darkpaw watched as Silverstream walked away and his dream faded.
May Starclan light your path, the next chapter is going to be exciting!
Good hunting, Wishheart