C h a p t e r 13
Spiderpaw's ears flattened; the fight between Reedrush and Jaggedclaw had been bad enough...but Bluepaw was leaving him too. She was practically the only cat that he was on decent terms with in the entire Clan.
He licked one paw, drawing it over his ear as he watched the medicine den; he wanted to go and say goodbye to her, or ask her about her prophecy, but Shimmerfrost had told her to watch Silverstar, and he didn't want to interrupt that.
He glanced towards Sootpaw; she was obviously deep in thought, and he frowned.
When was the last time I saw her play? He wondered. She's always so serious now...always so worried. It's because of those stupid dreams of hers...why did StarClan send them to her at all, if they just make her anxious all the time, and she's too afraid to tell anyone about them? She won't even tell me, and I'm her brother!
And now she's worried about this journey...did she want to go? She almost looked like she was going to volunteer. His ears flattened at the idea. She's the only cat here besides Bluepaw that can stand me...if she had gone, I'd be alone...He felt a twinge of anxiety in his stomach, but he quickly pushed it away. Not that it matters. Eventually AshClan will see me for the powerful warrior that I am, and then I won't have to be alone anymore. Fireblaze will be begging me to be his friend. I'll be the one stealing his nest!
Speaking of...He glanced over his shoulder, his eyes narrowing as he spotted the ginger tom with his dark sister, speaking to Thistlethorn.
I forgot that Fireblaze and Blackpaw trained with him, Spiderpaw thought. He's not much older than they are, really, only by a few moons. They are probably good friends...His eyes narrowed. Is he the one that's been stealing my moss, for Thistlethorn?
His pelt prickled, but he blinked slowly as Blackpaw rose to her paws; glancing around the camp, he saw that Birchpool and Stormshadow had also risen; Eaglestrike hadn't given orders for the dawn patrol, but what else could it be?
His green eyes narrowed as something occurred to him, and he smiled. That would be one way to get Fireblaze off my back...but I can't talk about it in front of him.
He rose to his paws quickly, padding towards the dawn patrol; he could feel Sootpaw's puzzled gaze run over his fur, but he ignored her as he broke into a gentle run.
"I want to come too," he meowed. Stormshadow gaze him a cold glance, then shrugged; Birchpool flicked her tail with an easy-going purr. Spiderpaw peered at Blackpaw out of the corner of his eye; her fur was ruffled uncomfortably, and she didn't look at him.
Stormshadow led them into the forest; Blackpaw trailed right along his heels, leaving Spiderpaw and Birchpool to bring up the rear. Birchpool didn't seem to mind; she had a peaceful gleam in her blue eyes as she glanced over the forest. She looked down at him, and Spiderpaw found himself turning away; there was something unsettling about her almost unfocused gaze.
She lost her memories when she was hit by a Twoleg monster, Spiderpaw thought, and probably a bit more than that. Jaggedclaw should count himself lucky; at least he's not crazy.
The thought of the scarred tom made his ears flatten; Jaggedclaw would in a foul, bitter mood once Reedrush had left with the rest of the cats on the journey. And I'm going to be the one taking care of him, because no one else wants to, he thought sourly, before he felt a prickle of pity for the elder. It's probably a good thing that I didn't volunteer, I guess. Jaggedclaw would be left all alone then...
He was so deep in his thoughts that he didn't realize Blackpaw had stopped in front of him; he bumped into her flank with his nose, and she flinched as though he had struck her.
"Sorry," he mumbled, peering around her; she had stopped because Stormshadow had stopped to scent the air; Spiderpaw blinked with surprise as he realized that they were already on the border with PeakClan.
PeakClan's scent was strong; their dawn patrol had already been through the area. Spiderpaw concentrated, until he found his father's scent, and Shimmerfrost's; there was no fear-scent or blood-scent, so he assumed that the two of them had made it over to PeakClan's side peacefully.
Spiderpaw craned his neck, looking up at the Peak; the waterfall pounded the river with explosive force, showering one side of the Peak with dazzling water; if he cocked his head to one side, he could see a faint rainbow. He shivered, remembering that he had been born atop the craggy rock, in PeakClan's nursery.
Shimmerfrost watched Ravenwing give birth to me, he realized; he hadn't really considered it before, but now the thought made him wrinkle his nose. Gross.
It wasn't until Birchpool nudged his flank with her nose that he realized Stormshadow and Blackpaw had started moving again; he hurried to catch up.
As they neared the edge of their territory that was bordered by a Thunderpath, Spiderpaw caught the scent of a finch; neither Birchpool nor Stormshadow had seemed to notice, although he saw Blackpaw's golden eyes dart towards the direction of the scent.
Time to use Blizzardpaw's little trick, he thought with a smirk.
"Stormshadow, I think I smell a finch nearby," he meowed; the large tom paused, giving the air a sniff, before glancing over his shoulder at Spiderpaw. Spiderpaw smiled at him.
"I'd like to catch it, but I'm horrible at catching birds," Spiderpaw meowed. "Petalcloud tells me that Blackpaw's one of the best hunters in the Clan now. Can I watch her catch it?"
Stormshadow glanced at Blackpaw, who was staring determinedly at her paws as if by doing so she could make herself invisible. He let out an affirmative grunt; Blackpaw's ears flattened, but she padded forward, disappearing into the brush. Spiderpaw crept after her as silently as a falling leaf.
Blackpaw looked at him nervously as he approached, before signaling for him to stop with her tail. He did so, crouching and watching as Blackpaw fell into a bird-hunting crouch; the movement seemed as easy and familiar to her as breathing, and he blinked as he saw a spark of confidence entering her gaze.
The finch chirped just above their heads, on a low branch, completely unaware of either of them; their dark pelts helped them blend in perfectly with the shadows of the forest. Spiderpaw knew the two of them would be at a disadvantage during leaf-bare if it snowed, but for the rest of the year the advantage was theirs.
Blackpaw crept forward, keeping the finch firmly in her sights; Spiderpaw gauged the distance between the branch and the ground and smirked; there was no way Blackpaw could leap high enough to catch the finch.
Blackpaw stopped, her golden gaze focused; Spiderpaw blinked as he realized she was indeed planning to spring.
Idiot, he thought, only to stare with shock as Blackpaw sprang upwards with explosive force. The finch spread its wings, but it wasn't fast enough to avoid her paw; the finch fell to the ground, and Blackpaw landed in it perfectly, killing it with a swift bite.
If only she could be that fierce in battle! Spiderpaw thought. With that speed and agility, she could run circles around Stormshadow!
Blackpaw blinked at him, looking nervous. "Did, um, that help you?" she asked timidly. Spiderpaw's eyes narrowed as he remembered why he had led her out here. He rose to his paws, letting out a quiet growl.
"I want your brother off my back."
Blackpaw's ears flattened, and she looked down at her paws. "I, um, can't help you with that. Sorry."
Spiderpaw's tail twitched. "I'm serious. He's been blaming me for you staying an apprentice, and I'm tired of it. It's not fair."
Blackpaw seemed to shrink underneath his gaze, as she pressed her belly against the ground. "I told him not to be mean to you, but he won't listen to me." She flinched again as his tail twitched, almost as if she thought Spiderpaw was going to strike her. He stared at her, feeling confused.
"I'm not going to hit you," he meowed, puzzled. She glanced up at him quickly.
"You're not?"
"What? No! Why would I do that?" He felt an uneasy prickle of shame run over his pelt as he saw the relief glinting in her eyes. Did she really think I was luring her here to beat her up over this?
He realized she was watching him with a mixture of fear and confusion. "What do you want, then? I told you, I can't help. Fireblaze does whatever he wants, there's not much I can do about that."
"I want you to become a warrior," Spiderpaw meowed. He frowned at her as she remained crouching. "I'm really not going to hurt you or anything, relax. I just wanted to talk to you away from him so he wouldn't get mad over it." She didn't move, and he let out an irritated growl. "If I really was going to rough you up, would you just sit there and take it?"
She stared down at her paws. "I don't like fighting...and I'm not any good at it. Jaypaw always talks about how you beat him...so I know that if you were going to fight me, you would win, simple as that."
"But you should still put up at least a bit of a struggle," Spiderpaw said, exasperated. "This is the reason you're not a warrior. You're not willing to stand up for yourself."
She nodded slowly, still staring at her paws. "Yeah. I know. Reedrush keeps telling me that. In a nicer way, I mean, but we both know what she's really saying..." She sighed softly. "Reedrush is frustrated with me. That's why she's leaving on the journey. She doesn't think she can help me."
Spiderpaw snorted. "She's right. She can't help you. You've got to help yourself. Grow a backbone; I know having Fireblaze as a brother is probably tough, but still."
She glanced up at him curiously. "What do you mean?"
He cocked his head to one side. "What do you think I mean? He's loud, forceful, fierce. He has opinions, he sticks by them, and he makes sure that everyone knows it. You probably spent most of your life just trailing after him, agreeing with him, because he would badger you about it until you gave in otherwise. You're submissive to him, and in turn he protects her."
Her eyes widened, and he smirked, enjoying his superiority. "I'm quite observant."
She shrank back from him. "Why are you talking to me about this? Is that why you came on this patrol?"
He flicked his tail with irritation. "No. You've just gotten me side-tracked a bit. What I followed you out here for is-"
He broke off, as Stormshadow's gruff voice entered his ears, "Blackpaw! Spiderpaw! What are you two doing?"
He let out an irritated hiss; Stormshadow would be coming after them in a few minutes. "Look, just pretend to be asleep tomorrow night," he meowed quickly. "I'm going to help you become a warrior, okay?"
Blackpaw stared at him, then nearly leaped out of her fur as Stormshadow's gray face appeared in the brush. He glared at the two of them – noticeably more towards Spiderpaw than Blackpaw – and flicked his ear.
"Quit messing around, you two. Let's go. I've got things to do," he growled. Blackpaw nodded meekly, picking up her finch and pushing her way through the brush; Spiderpaw hesitated, before slinking after her.
. . .
He spent the next few hours with the rest of the Clan, waiting anxiously for Eaglestrike and Shimmerfrost's return; the apprentices had grouped together again, although this time Fireblaze wasn't among them; he was sitting with the warriors now, and obviously enjoying himself.
Blackpaw avoided looking at Spiderpaw; she sat closest to Jaypaw, pressing her pelt against his; it was obvious that she would miss him when he was gone. Spiderpaw felt out of place; he longed for Bluepaw's company, but the blue-gray apprentice was obviously a bit busy with Silverstar and the chilling sickness.
He settled for Sootpaw, but she didn't even seem aware of him; she was gazing at the sky despite the fact that the sun was hanging nearly directly above her, her yellow gaze glazed and vacant.
Robinpaw was practically plastered to her brother's side; her green eyes were filled with worry at the thought of what she was going to do without her brother. Spiderpaw ignored her, but he could feel his cousin's emerald gaze raking his pelt.
Finally, just after sun-high, Spiderpaw's ears pricked at the sound of approaching pawsteps. Almost as one, the Clan turned to see Eaglestrike and Shimmerfrost entering camp.
Eaglestrike smiled, seeing that once again he didn't have to call his Clan together. Instead of moving forward, he stopped, sitting down and curling his tail around his paws.
"Shimmerfrost, alert Silverstar, if you please," he meowed quietly to the medicine cat; she didn't spare him a glance as she stalked into her den. Bluepaw and Silverstar appeared in the entrance moments later, with Forestheart's glinting just behind them.
"I spoke with Northstar, and Stonestar," Eaglestrike meowed once he saw that his leader was listening. "We told them of our prophecy. Blackmoon told us that he and Birdpaw had not received a prophecy...it seems that AshClan holds that honor." He gave Bluepaw a small nod, and she flushed underneath her dark fur. "However, PeakClan cats are most definitely sick; Blackmoon had at least three in his den." He sighed softly. "One...has already died."
Spiderpaw's eyes widened, and he glanced towards Sootpaw; she seemed to have snapped out of her reverie, and was staring at her father in shock.
"Snowpaw was sick for over two moons," Eaglestrike continued. "She died only a few days ago."
She had two siblings...they were at that Gathering, the first one that I went to, Spiderpaw realized. Stonestar said that she was too sick to come...She had this disease. And now she's dead...
"But Snowpaw was a brand-new apprentice, or at least that is what Stonestar said," Reedrush mewed. "How could she have gotten sick?"
Eaglestrike gave her a small nod. "Yes. Snowpaw had not been officially training for very long. However, Stonestar said that she was very eager to become a warrior, and that she would often spar with some of the other apprentices. One of the apprentices that she was close to is also sick; she probably received the disease from her own mentor, since he fought in the battle. The incubation period seems to vary from cat to cat...it obviously proceeded with Snowpaw quite quickly. We believe this is because PeakClan has no immunity to the disease. Most of AshClan hails from the original forest, or at least close to it; our bodies have adapted to the forest-sickness, and, in turn, it takes longer to affect us. PeakClan has no such immunities, save for Northstar."
"So, Northstar agreed to help us?" Frostfeather demanded. Eaglestrike nodded.
"He feels it is in PeakClan's best interest to cooperate," he replied. "However, he will not be the only cat going. He only intends to find the FrozenClan herb and bring it back; four other warriors will be accompanying our own for the journey for the true cure. They have already volunteered. Young Rabbitleap, Rainwind, Brackenpaw, and Swanpaw will be coming on the journey with our own warriors."
Brackenpaw is Northstar's son...and Rabbitleap is his apprentice, Spiderpaw thought suspiciously. Swanpaw...isn't she Snowpaw's sister? Is she worried about getting sick too?
He looked to Bluepaw, only to find that Silverstar was smiling and nodding.
"I knew that Northstar would help," she meowed. "However, I also know that he's impatient. He wants to leave soon, very soon, correct?"
Again, Eaglestrike nodded. "Tomorrow, actually," he meowed. "At dawn. PeakClan will be waiting for us at the river." He turned to the rest of the Clan. "I suggest all of you that are going to wish Reedrush, Jaypaw, Bluepaw and Thistlethorn goodbye do so as quickly as possible...we have no way of knowing how long this journey will take, or where it is even headed."
He rose to his paws, padding into the medicine den; Shimmerfrost and Silverstar followed him, but not before the silver leader whispered something to Bluepaw. Bluepaw nodded, and smiled, then trotted towards the other apprentices.
"Tomorrow? You're leaving so soon?" Redpaw asked, touching his sister's nose with his own as she joined them. "Did StarClan tell you when you'll be back?"
Bluepaw sighed quietly. "No, they didn't...the whole prophecy is really confusing," she confessed. "There are at least three herbs that we have to gather and combine..."
"Why not tell us some of the prophecy? Maybe we can help," Blizzardpaw offered. Bliuepaw's ears flattened.
"I'm not supposed to, StarClan said not to," she mewed nervously. "The prophecy...it's sort of a line-at-a-time sort of thing, and they said it wouldn't do any good to figure it out ahead of time. We had to take each piece as it happened, once we made it to FrozenClan's sacred place."
Spiderpaw snorted. "That's stupid."
Bluepaw shot him a glance, her blue eyes anxious, and he felt a small prickle of guilt. "I mean, it just...doesn't make sense, I guess, why they would give such a weird prophecy and the orders," he said quietly.
Bluepaw shrugged. "StarClan works in mysterious ways, I guess? I don't know...but there's nothing that we can do but trust them." She yawned, then grinned, some of her old twinkle reentering her eyes. "I'm just worried about getting up so early!"
Spiderpaw's whiskers twitched; that was the thing that he liked about Bluepaw. She didn't hold grudges, or dwell too much on the past, or hold onto the negative feelings like he did. She let the go, moved on, and smiled. He knew Shimmerfrost didn't like Bluepaw very much, and the Clan mostly thought that she was a ditz, although they loved her for it...but he respected it. He could see it for what it was; a coping mechanism, something to allow her to move past the hard parts of her life so that she could focus on the good.
Considering what she went through as a kit...well, if I could, I would like to just smile away my problems too, Spiderpaw thought. But I hold onto them, think about them until they're bigger and more troublesome than they were before...I hold grudges, like Firepaw does. I don't just let things go.
He realized that he had been staring at Bluepaw while he was thinking, and he flushed, quickly looking down at his paws.
"Are you sure you really want to go?" Robinpaw asked her brother anxiously. "I mean...there are other apprentices that could take your place...and I feel fine. You don't have to go just because you feel like you need to protect me."
"I want to go," Jaypaw meowed. "I want to help. I want to be a part of something big...I mean, when our mother was our age, they had a giant enemy Clan to compete with, right? FrozenClan was causing problems even when they were only apprentices. PeakClan doesn't do anything like that, and we haven't heard from the Twolegplace cats in a long time either..." He trailed off.
"Ravenwing likes to say that every generation needs their own struggle," Sootpaw mewed. "For hers, it was FrozenClan, and the struggle to build a Clan here. For the generation before her, it was the struggle to find a new home and negotiate with FrozenClan to allow them to stay there. For us...I guess this is our struggle. It's natural to want to be a part of it, especially if..." Her voice died away, and Spiderpaw glanced at her quickly; her yellow gaze was still troubled, almost far-away as she blinked up at the sky.
Blizzardpaw nudged his friend with his shoulder. "We'll be praying to StarClan for you guys to be safe," he promised. "And for you all to come home quickly."
Jaypaw let out a quiet purr. "Thank you."
The apprentices were silent then, for a little while; Blackpaw began grooming Jaypaw's fur. Spiderpaw glanced at Bluepaw, wondering if he should do the same, but she seemed preoccupied, looking towards the medicine den.
Finally, Spiderpaw rose to his feet. "I'm going to bring Jaggedclaw his food. He's probably hungry."
None of the apprentices looked at him; his fur ruffled slightly at being ignored, but he said nothing else, simply stalking towards the fresh-kill pile and grabbing a plump sparrow.
Jaggedclaw appeared to be asleep as Spiderpaw approached, but as Spiderpaw set the sparrow down cautiously at the entrance of the den, he saw that Jaggedclaw was not breathing slowly and deeply like a sleeping cat. He frowned, reaching out with one paw to touch Jaggedclaw's back.
The scarred tom let out a low, rumbling growl; he sounded like a Twoleg monster. Spiderpaw felt a prickle of nervousness, but he pushed gently with his paw.
Slowly, Jaggedclaw shifted, until his single eye gleamed at Spiderpaw in the darkness of the den. "What do you want?"
His voice was a low growl as well, gravelly, as if his throat was dry. Spiderpaw made a note to get some moss and fill it with river-water for him.
"I brought you some food," he meowed, pushing the sparrow towards him. Jaggedclaw stared at it, then closed his eye.
"I'm not hungry."
Spiderpaw frowned again, but he felt a flutter of sympathy for the old tom; it was obvious what was eating him. He sat down, curling his white-tipped tail around his paws.
"This journey might be a good thing for her," he said softly. "It will give her some time to cool down...some time to see what it's like when you're not around. She'll have time to miss you."
Jaggedclaw was silent, but Spiderpaw knew that he was listening. "She's just angry that you don't trust her enough, that you don't think she can take care of herself. She was right; she's a grown warrior. She can hunt and fight like anyone else, if not better because of what she's had to endure in the past. She can handle this journey."
The scarred tom remained silent, and Spiderpaw cocked his head to one side. "Or are you mad that you're not able to go? That you're confined to this den while she can go wherever she wants? Do..." He hesitated. "Do you think she's going to leave you behind?"
Jaggedclaw said nothing for a moment, but Spiderpaw waited; he could be patient when he needed to be.
"Both," the tom rumbled finally, opening his eye again. "Or neither, maybe. I don't know. I just...don't want her to go." He spread his paws, almost in a motion of helplessness, and Spiderpaw felt pity prickle over his pelt.
"When she went to Twolegplace before...I was with her," the gray tom said slowly. "The first time, I helped her through it. The second time, we had to save Eaglestrike and the others. We were always together...so I could make sure that she wasn't sniffing around where she shouldn't be going. But now...I'm not there to stop her...and I'm pretty sure there's someone she's going to be looking for. I think I let something slip, a long time ago, and if I know Reedrush, she won't stop until she figures out what it meant..." A deep sigh forced itself out of him, sounding as though it came from his very bones. "It's dangerous, looking for knowledge like that. There are things that she thinks she wants to know about me, about where I've been, but...she doesn't want to know them. She can't. And if she tries, I think she might end up getting hurt."
Spiderpaw blinked slowly. "She's going to be with four other warriors...Thistlethorn, Rabbitleap, Rainwind, and Northstar. They're not going to let anything happen to her."
"You don't know her!" Jaggedclaw insisted. "She doesn't understand boundaries, or impossibilities. I'm not even sure she knows what danger is. She escaped from a Twoleg prison in the middle of leaf-bare, with kits on the way. She nearly killed herself. If I hadn't found her..." He shook his head. "It's like she thinks she's invulnerable. And so long as I was there to protect her, she was. But I failed, and now I'm here, and there's nothing I can do for her...I should be the one on that journey, not that Thistlethorn whelp. He's still wet behind the ears. He's never been farther than that lake, but do you think the answer is really going to be that close? He can't possibly be prepared for what's out there...and for that matter, neither are those PeakClan cats. They're sheltered, soft. The only one that might be able to protect Reedrush is Northstar, and I wouldn't trust him as far as I could throw him."
A long time ago, that would have been pretty far, Spiderpaw couldn't help but think. But now...you're practically powerless. Even as strong as you used to be...I bet even Blackpaw could beat you in a fight.
"She'll come back," he meowed. "You've got to trust her. And she might find out things about you, but that's okay. Everyone in AshClan can see that she's...quite fond of you. And no matter what she finds out there, she always will be."
Jaggedclaw snorted. "You're naive. You're as sheltered as a PeakClan kit. You have no idea what's out there. You have no idea what one cat can do to another..." He sighed again, more quietly this time, and he rested his head on his paws. "Take the sparrow to someone else. I've no appetite for it."
Spiderpaw considered being stubborn, but something told him that Jaggedclaw was one of the few cats that wouldn't relent; he bent to pick up the sparrow, and headed back to the other apprentices. His gaze settled upon Bluepaw; as if sensing it, she turned to blink at him, and he flicked his tail, beckoning her to him. She rose to her paws after giving her brother's ear a quick lick, and trotted towards him.
"I figured you probably haven't eaten today," he meowed, lying down and dropping the sparrow; she brightened, lying down beside him.
"You're right," she mewed, and her stomach gave a gentle rumble as if to prove it. "I've been trying to keep Silverstar's fever down most of the day, and talking to Forestheart...he's worried, of course, but he's been worried for two moons now." She nibbled on the sparrow, and let out a purr. "Did you catch this?"
"No," he admitted; Fireblaze hadn't given him any trouble recently, but then again he hadn't been out hunting much either. "I guess I'll be hunting tomorrow...after you're gone." His ears flattened at the thought.
"Yeah..." Bluepaw's eyes darkened, and Spiderpaw felt a pang of guilt; he was sure that she was scared and worried about the journey just like everyone else, and he didn't want to be the one to remind her of it.
"Why do you have to be the one that goes?" he blurted. Bluepaw blinked in surprise. "Shimmerfrost is perfectly capable, and wouldn't she be more useful in treating injuries and stuff? The only thing she's going to do here is help with the sick cats, but since we can't treat the chilling disease, it doesn't seem like having a medicine cat here helps us much at all?"
Bluepaw stared at him for a moment, and her ears flattened. "I don't want to go either," she confessed, "but I have to. Shimmerfrost...she has this thing, where she sees like...I don't know, shadows or something. Dark spirits, I guess. They don't really exist, but...they terrify her. The only time that she doesn't see them is when she's around cats that make her feel safe...if anything, it would be worse on the journey, because she's not at all safe around PeakClan. Silverstar...she's one of the few cats that Shimmerfrost really likes. Silverstar makes her feel safe and protected. Her visions are getting worse, I think...they have been ever since Silverstar was hurt, because after that it was like she couldn't even protect herself, let alone Shimmerfrost. If she went on the journey...I don't know what it would do to her. And PeakClan didn't get the prophecy...so it has to be me." She stared down at her paws. "But I think I'm just as scared as Shimmerfrost is."
"I don't want you to go," Spiderpaw mewed. Bluepaw looked up from the sparrow, as if startled; he couldn't be sure, but he thought she might have been flushing underneath her fur.
"I didn't mean it like that," he said hastily, flushing underneath his fur as well. "It's just that...you're one of the only cats that can stand me, I guess."
Her whiskers twitched. "Furball," she purred. "Maybe if you were actually nice to the others, they'd like you more."
"Maybe if they weren't all stupid furballs, I'd be nicer," he retorted, and she laughed.
"Some of them are furballs, I will admit, but some of them are nice, too. Give Blizzardpaw a chance, or Robinpaw...Blackpaw might be a bit timid for your tastes, but she's nice too. They'd like to be your friends, if you would let them."
Spiderpaw took a bite of the sparrow. "I don't need friends," he replied, as he often did to himself. "I just need cats that will respect me."
She blinked. "Well, if you're always a prickly mouse-brain, they won't respect you either," she pointed out. "It's a give-and-take kind of thing. You've got to let them in and let them see the good stuff, so they can start to look past the bad stuff. Friendship is a kind of respect too, you know."
He rolled his eyes. "Do you medicine cats always have to be so wise?" She laughed again.
"I really doubt Shimmerfrost would ever call me 'wise.' I appreciate it, though," she purred, flopping on her side and pushing the rest of the sparrow towards him. He finished it off, then copied her as she rolled onto her back just as a cloud covered the sun.
"I respect you, Spiderpaw," she said after a moment. "Because we're friends."
He turned to look at her curiously. "We are?"
She twitched her whiskers at him. "As close as you're going to get to one, I think."
He rolled his eyes at her again, but she only smiled.
"I hope the other apprentices are nice too," she said after a brief lull. "Brackenpaw's sort of okay...I've talked to him at Gatherings before. But the other apprentice, Swanpaw...I'm not sure about her. The other apprentices call her the 'ice queen,' after her mother. I'm not sure we'll get to be friends."
"Who cares? They're PeakClan cats. They're the enemy."
"Medicine cats are supposed to be above that, though. Birdpaw and I are good friends, I really like her...Blackmoon says I remind him of her. If that's true, I should be okay with Northstar too, since he's her dad...but I think it's important that our two Clans have cats that are friends with each other. We're going to be relying on one another during this journey, and the cats that stay here will too."
"What do you mean? Why would we need their help?"
"They might need us more than we need them," she admitted. "The sickness is really hurting them...Eaglestrike said they already had three other cats sick, right? And that poor apprentice died...PeakClan can't resist the disease, so they're going to have a really hard time keeping up with all of the sick and the hungry. It'll be a lot of work for them, and we should help them out...our Clans don't like each other now, but we have to band together against outside forces."
"Like Cane and Amber," Spiderpaw said, remembering one of Ravenwing's stories. "They were siblings that hated each other, but together they kept Carmelo down."
She nodded. "But after Cane died, Amber didn't know what to do...and Carmelo is probably a lot stronger now. It's the same with our Clans. If PeakClan perishes, we get their territory, but we're also defenseless against outsiders, like the Twolegplace cats. Without PeakClan's numbers, our Clan is too small to really stand a chance."
That does make sense, I guess, Spiderpaw admitted. I've always thought of PeakClan as the enemy...but Bluepaw's right. Sometimes, they're our allies.
The two of them were quiet then, just watching the clouds pass over the bright blue sky; it was a beautiful sight when framed by leaves of gold, orange, and red. Spiderpaw felt oddly relaxed; he smiled as the clouds covered the sun for a brief moment, dappling the camp in shadow. Bluepaw's eyes seemed to glitter right beside him, as bright as the sky itself.
"Bluepaw..." He glanced at her, his green eyes bright compared to his dark fur. She glanced back at him, still smiling. "I...I'm really going to miss you."
Bluepaw blinked slowly, her blue eyes darkening slightly. "I'm going to miss you too." She reached out with her tail, touching his flank, and his pelt prickled furiously as if it was crawling with ants. He swallowed nervously, but didn't look away from Bluepaw's dark eyes.
"Bluepaw!" Shimmerfrost's sharp voice nearly made both of them leap out of their fur. Bluepaw flopped over on her side, and turned; Spiderpaw followed her gaze to see Shimmerfrost glared at her apprentice from the den entrance. "I'm going to collect some herbs. Watch Silverstar when I'm gone. Make sure she eats some more feverfew. I'm going to see if I can find any lavender."
Bluepaw's ears flattened, but she nodded. "Okay, Shimmerfrost," she mumbled. The silver tabby stalked out of the camp entrance; Bluepaw shot Spiderpaw a glance. He sat up slowly.
"Um, I guess you have to go," he said, feeling awkward. She nodded.
"Shimmerfrost always takes forever gathering herbs...I'll probably be stuck in there the rest of the day," she mewed. Then, she shrugged and smiled, although the smile did not quite reach her eyes. "I guess it's okay. I already said goodbye to everyone...I probably won't see you again, unless you're up at dawn tomorrow."
"I don't think I will be," he answered, "unless I'm dragged out on the dawn patrol again."
Her whiskers twitched. Then, before Spiderpaw could react, she darted forwards and licked his ear, before quickly backing away, flushing underneath her fur. "Bye, Spiderpaw," she mumbled, before turning tail and dashing into the medicine den. Spiderpaw blinked after her, feeling mystified.
AN: Aww. Too bad she'll be gone most of the story. Oh well. Forbidden love is over-rated anyway, ya?
If you haven't already, take a glance at my 100 one-shots. I double-updated, so the newest one-shot pertains to this story (although only by a bit).