Sorry for the slow update! This chapter is about Rowan/Smoky joining ThunderClan. Anyway, thanks for all the reviews, favs, and follows! Here's the next chapter! ^-^
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The sky was a dark, stormy gray color. Clouds dappled the air like fluffy white sheep, contrasting to the stormy gray color of the sky. Icy sheets of rain poured down on the earth, some droplets clinging to leaves, others sinking into the earth.
"Intruder!"
A yowl split the air, and a golden-furred tabby whirled around, eyes wide in alarm. The one who had cried the alarm was a brown tabby, and flanking him was a pale ginger she-cat. Their fur was on end, a thin ring of white around their eyes, pelt bristling.
"That way!" Lionblaze meowed, opening his mouth and tasting the air. He glanced around at the ginger behind him, who gave him a nod. They raced forward, tails streaming and fur slicked back by the rain. They tried to keep a firm grip on the ground, however it was hard as the mud squelched beneath their paws and they sank downwards each time they took a step.
As they neared the border, they saw two shapes slinking through the snow. On their sides were too smaller cats, both shivering and eyes wide.
"Mother its cold!" One of them complained, flattening his ears against his head. The one on his right, probably his sister, let out a surprised squeal as a droplet of water rolled off of a leaf and splattered right on her neck. The fur on her spine lifted as she shivered hard.
"Stop right there!" Birchfall yowled, dashing forward. The patrol skidded forward in front of the other patrol of four, their fur fluffing up. Lionblaze's eyes widened in alarm as he stared at the muscular gray-and-white tom in front of him, and he stared in utter shock. Obviously, he recognized the muscular tom.
Firepaw tilted her head to the side, bewildered, as her mentor stepped forward and greeted the tom.
"Smoky…?" Lionblaze meowed warily, whiskers twitching, "why are you here?"
"I'm here with my kits and Coriander, my new mate." He replied, ears flattening. "I ran into Hazeltail and her patrol. I told them already what I'm going to tell you." He shivered and stiffened, looking cold. His fur was almost black, it was so wet. "The twolegs are going to be taking my kits soon… so I wanted to bring them to ThunderClan, so they could at least be with their other littermates."
Firepaw blinked, "how old are they?"
"Six moons." Coriander meowed shyly, speaking for the first time. Her voice was soft, like a whisper, but her gaze was round and frightened.
"Apprentice age." Lionblaze remarked.
"They both look healthy," Birchfall added, ears twitching.
"ThunderClan is low on apprentices…" Seedpelt added, eyes gleaming.
"Alright. We'll take you to Bramblestar." Lionblaze decided, his amber eyes scanning over the cats. "Follow us." He beckoned them with a flick of his tail, and the patrol padded after them.
Firepaw bounced a little with excitement, overjoyed that there might be new apprentices. She fell behind, so that she was padding next to the two younger cats. One of them had sleek tortoiseshell and ginger fur, and the other was gray-and-white. "Hi." She introduced herself, eyes warm. "I'm Firepaw."
"Thats a weird name." The tom replied boldly. Sniffing haughtily, he meowed, "I'm Smoky."
"Isn't that your fathers name?" Firepaw inquired, wondering if the tom was playing a joke on her.
"Yes… I'm named after him." He spoke in an exaggeratively slow drawl, as if he was speaking to a mouse-brain. She felt a flash of irritation and resentment. If he was the apprentice that was going to be joining, she didn't think she would be too happy with that. "And thats my sister."
"I noticed." Firepaw replied curtly.
The tortoiseshell she-cat was less bold than her brother, but wasn't shy. "I'm Rowan." She meowed cheerily, glancing at Firepaw with a friendly look in her eyes. "Sorry about my brother. He can be a real fluff-brain sometimes."
"Hey!" Smoky scowled, shoving his sister hard. She stumbled a little on her paws, immediately flattening herself down and staring meekly at the ground.
Firepaw watched the exchange with wide eyes. Smoky was a bully! "Hey!" She snapped, wedging herself between the two littermates, "you can't just shove your sister like that!" You need to cherish you siblings. Trust me. I made the mistake of not doing so.
"Who are you to tell me what to do." The gray-and-white tom snapped arrogantly, rolling his eyes and lifting his nose in the air. This tom was more arrogant than Berrynose!
FIrepaw bared her teeth. "Well, you are on my territory. Not to mention my being older, and my ability to easily squash you."
"Oh yeah?" Smoky snarled, drawing himself up. She widened her eyes- the gray tom seemed to be quite large. But he wasn't as big as her, "want to prove it?"
She hissed, "you're not worth getting into trouble over." With that, Firepaw shouldered him hard, sending him stumbling to the side and storming forward to her mentor. As soon as she reached Lionblaze, she nudged his shoulder lightly with her muzzle, eyes like twin flames, "I hate that tom. He's a mouse-heart! He's mean to his sister and he acts as if I'm below him. He's more arrogant than Berrynose!"
"I'm sure he isn't that bad…" Lionblaze soothed her, gently touching his nose to her ear, "he'll probably get nicer once you get to know him."
"Doubt it," Firepaw scoffed, voice dripping with scorn, "but I'm not going to get close enough to him to find out." With that she let out an irritated huff, shook out her pelt, and the two of them just walked in silence. She felt something brush her side, and saw a smaller she-cat.
Her dark blue eyes were miserable, "I'm sorry about my brother." She muttered an apology, sighing heavily, "he's always been like this. Smoky, our father, always seems to spoil him with extra prey and he lets him do whatever he wants to. I guess my father is just happy to have a little mini him running around."
"How could anybody be happy to have that fur-ball as a son," Firepaw snapped, looking doubtful. Then her eyes widened as she seemed to realize that Rowan was the sister of the gray tom and lowered her gaze apologetically, "I'm sorry." She mumbled.
Rowan sighed, "It's okay." She murmured, "I know he's a fluff-brain. But he is my brother and I do care about him. Once our parents leave… he's all that I'll have left." Her shoulders seemed to sag as she fell back, obviously wounded by Firepaw's harsh comment about Smoky. The flame-pelted she-cat felt awful as she stared back at them. Smoky was still swaggering around as if he owned the lake, but Rowan looked miserable and kept casting sad glances at her parents and Smoky.
Groaning in exasperation at the guilt churning in her stomach, she turned around and padded towards Rowan. "Hey, it'll be okay." She reassured her, eyes blinking warmly. "My father is the clan leader- that means that I hardly get to see him either. My mother is pregnant with another litter, so most of her attention will soon be on her new kits. My best friend is off on a journey. I know what it feels like to be alone." She left out the part about her sister, deciding against telling her that.
Once they entered camps, gasps of surprise seemed to arise in the air. Cats glanced at one another, disbelieving. Three cats especially, two cream-furred cats and his gray-and-white brother.
"Smoky?" Mousewhisker gasped.
"Who are those two?" Berrynose cut in, eyes flashing in surprise. His eyes were fixed on the kits.
"Who's that?" Daisy gasped, her voice sharp as she stared in disbelief at the red-furred she-cat at Smoky's side.
Lionblaze and Birchfall bounded towards Bramblestar, probably to tell him the full story. Seedpelt shifted her weight awkwardly, shuffling out of the way. Smoky began to explain again.
Firepaw wasn't listening, she just glanced at Rowan. Rowan still looked sad. "They don't want us here, do they." She muttered, flushing with embarrassment and awkwardness. Looking down at her paws, she sat down with a heavy sigh and shuffled, whether on purpose or not, a bit closer to Firepaw. The ginger she-cat stared in surprise as her fur lightly brushed Rowan's. The smaller she-cat didn't seem to mind. Firepaw realized that she didn't seem to mind either.
She suddenly felt a rush of emotions as she stared at her, and the ginger she-cat began to morph in front of her eyes. She watched in fascination and horror as her pelt took on a dark brown tabby color, her black ear-tips turning ginger, one single paw turning white. Her features twisted into a pretty smile, one that had belonged to her own sister. Her pelt was soft and warm.
"Owlpaw?" She whispered, eyes brimming with tears. Owlpaw-Rowan just seemed to keep smiling, her beautiful amber eyes glowing as she stared lovingly at her sister.
She hadn't realized how much she had missed her sister.
"Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey gather around Highledge!" The loud yowl jerked her out of her trance, and the dark fur melted off, revealing a tortoiseshell and red pelt. Amber became blue, the smile becoming a frown. Rowan seemed to trail away from Firepaw, but Firepaw let out a strangled gasp.
"Wait!" She called after Rowan, suddenly feeling as if she couldn't leave the younger she-cat's side. "I'll sit next to you." With that, Rowan shot her a confused but also delighted look. The two sat together in front of Highledge.
"Smoky has asked for his two kits to join the clan, as their half-siblings are here." Bramblestar meowed carefully, his eyes gleaming. "They will be taken away unless we accept them. So I have decided that the two of them can stay. Young Smoky," He beckoned towards the younger tom.
Suddenly, his cocky facade fell off. The gray-and-white tom trembled slightly as he padded forward, eyes wide in worry.
"From this day on until you earn your warrior name, you will be called Smokepaw. Your mentor will be Mousewhisker." He nodded curtly at the father of the kits, Smoky, and the muscular tom seemed to nod in thanks. Firepaw assumed the mentor being Mousewhisker was by request. "I hope Mousewhisker will pass down all he knows to you. I believe, Mousewhisker, that you are ready to take on another apprentice. Spiderleg has taught you well, and you have shown courage and determination. I hope you pass down all you know to Smokepaw." Bramblestar meowed.
The two half-siblings touched noses awkwardly before withdrawing to the edge of the crowd.
Rowan left Firepaw's side, looking nervous. She nodded encouragingly at her.
"Rowan, from this day on, until you earn your warrior name you will be called Rowanpaw. Your mentor will be Berrynose." Smoky smiled again, and Firepaw knew that both of the mentors were by request. Berrynose didn't look pleased at all. "I hope Berrynose will pass down all he knows to you. Berrynose, you are ready to take on an apprentice. I have taught you well, and you have shown courage and determination. I hope you will pass down all you know to Rowanpaw." Bramblestar finished.
The two touched noses.
"Rowanpaw! Smokepaw!"
"Rowanpaw!" Firepaw cheered enthusiastically. "Rowanpaw!"
As the red tortoiseshell padded to her side and smiled warmly, Firepaw purred. She vowed that she would protect Rowanpaw, and make sure that the little she-cat would never feel as lonely as she did.