Firestorm: Hey! Well, here's the next chapter! Enjoy!
After two more days of silence from Silverstar, Whiteclaw finally broke through to her. She had padded out of her den to get some food from the fresh kill pile (well stocked- the apprentices had been busy), when Whiteclaw came up and slapped her across the muzzle with his paw.
"You," he said. "Need to start behaving like a leader. The whole clan is in turmoil. We're surviving yes- but what are you doing? You're barely alive!"
And he was right. After the few days she had been leader, she had wasted away to basic skin and bones. Cats, it turns out, need to eat more than humans would. It's hard to compare, but since they are so much smaller, it's hard to tell. And, with the recent change, her body needed more than the one mouse she ate a day. Silverpelt shook her head.
"What?" she asked, dazed. "Whiteclaw? Wha- hang on..."
He gently turned her head to her, rubbing his cheek on hers. "You need to get out into the forest, run around....have some fun."
She turned, and blinked. Suddenly, she ducked her head. "Of course," she said, and she sounded happier. "I'll come for a tour of the territory.
.............
"And over here," Whiteclaw said, pointing with his tail. "Is the sandy hollow. We're naming it after Thunderclan's camp training hollow."
He led her around it, where Thornpaw and Sunfur were working on some moves, watched by Fierceclaw. Silverstar blinked.
"Wow. That's really good. We've got some work to do," she said, butting Whiteclaw in the shoulder with her head. "You as good as that?"
Whiteclaw grew hot underneath his fur. "Well, Sunfur and I are tied in matches. We've both won twice and lost once."
"Oh." Silverstar suddenly seemed interested in moving on.
Whiteclaw took her around the whole border, showing her the Silverpool and the Moontree again. It took all day. They got back at sundown, just in time to see the evening patrol going out.
"Whoa," Silverstar said. "I've missed a lot. You've got patrols going?"
"Yeah," Whiteclaw said, sheepishly. "Neat, huh?"
Silverstar nodded silently. They walked over to the fresh kill pile and picked up a rabbit and two mice to share. They sat down to eat in the growing shadow of the Rock Pile. They shared the rabbit and each took a mouse. Leafpaw came over and said hi, and a few other warriors stared. They shared tongues until moonhigh, and as Whiteclaw walked away, Silverpelt shook herself, and suddenly ran after him.
"Whiteclaw!" she said. "Will you-...Will you come and share my den with me? It's horrible sleeping in a huge room by yourself..."
She grew hot under her fur, and shuffled her paws, kneading the ground. Whiteclaw seemed embarassed too, but he nodded, and padded after her. Leafpaw peeked out of her den at the retreating figures, and she smiled a secret smile to herself.
'All according to plan,' she thought.
Well, sorry it's so short. I'm so, so, so sorry. I'm thinking about what to do next. Until next time!
-Owly
