"I hear rushing water up ahead," Pearlight announced proudly to the expedition team, his tail flicking as he stared to each of them. Kestrelpaw lifted her head from the conversation she had been in with Fleetpaw, her ears twitching slightly as she searched for the sound.
There, to the right, she could hear the distant echo of water.
"We should be able to make it there before sunset, from the sounds of it," Cindercall mewed. "Once we arrive, we should survey the area and settle for the evening. Then we'll inspect the further boundaries of the territory before heading out the next day. Do you all agree?"
Pearlight glanced at Nettlepelt, his gaze flashing briefly, before he nodded to Cindercall.
Kestrelpaw moved to fall instep with her mentor as they headed towards the water, her mind flickering back to the conversation she had heard at midday. She glanced at Pearlight with a stoic gaze, wondering if she should bring it up.
But the idea of the tom scolding her for eavesdropping put a sour feeling in her stomach, so she shoved it down.
Best not bring attention to it.
If Pearlight noticed her strange gaze, he didn't mention it, instead glancing at her with a twitch of his whiskers.
"Are you excited for this? We're nearly to the end of the expedition."
"Yeah," she purrs softly, shoving down the thoughts that still plagued her mind. Best not to sour this learning experience. "I can't wait to see what it'll be like. Maybe one day I'll live there?"
"Well, if you plan on having kits, then definitely. If you plan on being a guard, well, it might be a little less likely," he replied. "This area will be used more as a nursing camp for young kits, with warriors and a medicine cat stationed here with the queens. Of course, we'll need to train more medicine cats before that can happen, but it'll be sort of... a backup camp, so to speak."
"Yeah, you mentioned that when you told me about it," she purred, tail fluffing up. "And I dunno, maybe I'll have kits, but I wanna be a warrior! I'll protect kits from bad stuff. So maybe Eelstar will let me help protect them here?"
Pearlight hummed, the tip of his tail twitching in thought.
"Yes," he agreed. "You'd be a wonderful guard. You're already going to be a wonderful warrior."
Kestrelpaw beamed at his praise, fluffing out her chest as she trotted beside him.
"Thanks! I'm really glad that you think I'm doing great!"
Pearlight laughs softly, nudging his apprentice with a shoulder.
"You're humble, Kestrelpaw. Humble but strong. Always remember that."
"Of course I will!" She agreed proudly. "I can't forget much with the best warrior ever teaching me." She bumped him back, and Pearlight blinked.
He took a step back from her, clearing his throat.
"Actually, speaking of teaching, I should probably go see how Cindercall and Fleetpaw are holding up." He explained briskly, before trotting ahead to where the two had taken the lead.
Kestrelpaw watched him go, confusion buzzing in her head as she studied him.
Did she say something wrong?
"Careful, Kestrelpaw. You're going to trip if you're not careful." Nettlepelt's voice pulled Kestrelpaw from her thoughts, and she managed to avoid the root she was just about to trip over. She moved over to his side to avoid it, before looking up at him with gleaming eyes.
"Sorry, thank you for helping," she mewed. "Uhm, Nettlepelt, you're super good at like, observation, right?" She asks.
Nettlepelt's ears twitched, and he glanced over at Pearlight and Cindercall.
"Yes," he mewed. "I assume you're wondering if you had upset him?"
"Yeah," she mewed, her gaze turning back to her mentor. "I feel like I did. One moment we were just having fun talking about the new camp and how I was training, and the next he was all in a hurry to go see how Cindercall and Fleetpaw were."
Nettlepelt was silent for a moment longer, whiskers twitching as he watched the cats before him in silence.
Kestrelpaw, too, fell quiet, as they trudged on through the trees and into the direction of the rushing waterfall.
"No," he mewed after a moment. "You didn't upset him. Pearlight acts differently, and you can hear the hostility in his voice when he is." He glances at her. "You embarrassed him somehow."
"Embarrassed?" She blinks in confusion, her nose scrunching up as she looks back at Nettlepelt. "I didn't mean to—"
"No, I doubt you did. This is a good kind of embarrassed, though, I think," he pauses as he watches Pearlight chat with Cindercall, his voice low and quiet as they discussed the trail and the expedition. "He doesn't look upset, at least."
"Oh..." Kestrelpaw fell quiet, reviewing their conversation in her head. Was he embarrassed because of her comment of him being the best?
She hummed, before feeling a shoulder nudge her softly.
"Don't worry," Nettlepelt mewed gently, his eyes gleaming with affection as he studied his daughter. "He won't avoid you for long, if you're thinking that. Pearlight just sometimes has to cool down after getting embarrassed."
"Okay," she purrs. "Good, I didn't want him avoiding me. I am his apprentice n' all. That'd be awful, if I had to get someone else to train me."
"Are you enjoying his training?" Nettlepelt asked gently, his gaze becoming inquisitive.
"Yes! He's so patient and nice!" She purrs. "And if I make a mistake he doesn't tease me about it like Jaypaw or Fleetpaw does. He'll repeat stuff if I need to hear it, and he makes sure I'm comfortable with everything I'm learning before moving on."
Nettlepelt's ears twitched, and he nudged the tip of her ear with his nose.
"Good," he rumbled. "I'm glad you're enjoying your training. It's a wonderful time, and when you have as good a mentor as Pearlight, you tend to have more fun learning more than anything. I had a lovely mentor named Greysong, you know. She was a very sweet she-cat with a decent temper, so she rarely got angry at me."
"Greysong?" Kestrelpaw echoed softly. "I've heard that name before... I think Larchsplash mentioned it in the—" She stopped when she noticed the darkening glow of Nettlepelt's gaze. "What? Did I say something wrong again."
He shook his head.
"No," he mewed. "It's just... Larchsplash was... er..." His ears pinned to his head. "Larchsplash... she didn't say anything about Cindercall, did she?"
"Nope. No mention of Cindercall," she shook her head. "Just that Greysong was super brave and was a good warrior. What happened to her?"
Nettlepelt's gaze dropped as the twisted memory of his mentor's body entered his mind.
"She passed away," he mewed softly. "A nasty battle took her life."
Kestrelpaw slowed her pace, her gaze briefly flickering to Pearlight.
She had almost forgotten that battles were a common nonoccurence among the Clans. She knew that MountainClan was especially being sour and hostile towards them; Pearlight had mentioned the chance of battle arising from them.
But... She forgot that cats could die in battles.
She didn't want to lose anyone...
She swallowed as the same sour thoughts built up in her mind, only to feel Nettlepelt's tail wrap around her comfortingly as he guided her towards the others.
"It's alright," he mewed in a low tone, too low for the others to hear. "Remember; we're trained to fight, and we have an incredible medicine cat to heal the injuries. Cats may be lost, but no where near as many as you might think."
She looks up at him with glowing eyes, before nodding.
That's right.
They were being trained to fight.
So, as long as she did what she could, she could make sure no one died, right?
Right.
"Let us through," Andy spat through gritted teeth, his simmering gaze boring into Mumblebee's pelt. "I want to speak to Eelstar."
Mumblebee stood in front of the leader's den, his gaze dark and weary.
"No," he mewed softly. "Eelstar has told me that no one must disturb him. He's trying to figure out his next plan."
"Plan-shlan," the tom hisses, fur bristling. "I want to an escort out of this place to the nearest two-leg den there is; for me, Silver, Leila, and the kit—"
"That will not be happening," Mumblebee growled gruffly. "Those kits are far too young to make a journey like that, and it's not safe for any of you out there. You'll have to wait this out, I'm sorry."
"We don't want to be here, though," Silver piped up, from where she stood beside Andy. The she-cat had been silent for a moment, her gaze quiet as she watched Mumblebee thoroughly. "You can't keep us here against our will."
"No, I can't," he agreed. "You and Andy are free to go. But Leila will have to stay, because she has kits that need to be cared for. And from the way I've seen her looking at them, I doubt she'll be willing to up and abandon them here. Those kits cannot go. They're too young and would die immediately, and I won't stand for that. Not to mention your putting your own lives at risk. There may be an unaccounted for threat out there that could harm you."
"Sounds like you're just manipulating us to keep us here!" Andy snarled, fangs bared. "I won't let—"
"Andy, that's enough," Silver growls quietly. "Look, we're free to go after all this is settled, right? After you figure out what happened and end it?"
"Yes," Mumblebee agreed.
"And how long do you think it'll be?"
"We should be able to resolve this come the full moon, but it may be a lot longer than that."
"We can last till the full moon," Silver agreed. "Hopefully Eelstar will be available by then?"
"He should be," Mumblebee agreed.
Andy huffed with anger, as Silver butted his shoulder with her head.
"C'mon, flea-pelt. Let's get something to eat instead of bothering him." She snaps. The tom groaned, before nodding, and the two padded off to the fresh-kill pile, Mumblebee's eyes following them.
His gaze flashed briefly to the medicine cat den, only for his pelt to frost over.
Hollypetal sat outside of the den, grooming her white face with her paw.
But he didn't miss the way her eyes glared down Andy and Silver, unlike the two cats heading to retrieve prey. She stared them down, her gaze hungry and dark.
Mumblebee swallowed, dropping his gaze as he glanced back at Eelstar's den.
Now would be the perfect time to tell him what Mumblebee thought... But...
His ears pin to his head.
No. Eelstar wanted privacy... I won't interrupt him.
And so the medicine cat rose to his paws and headed to the den, greeting Hollypetal gently and offering more bindings for her wounds.
Inside of Eelstar's den, however, the small tom was deep in sleep, his ears low to his head as his paws twitched in dream.
In his mind, the leader stood before a sleek tom with black and white fur, his green eyes dark and sullen.
"Please..." Eelstar begged softly before the tom, his ears low and his gaze pleading as he looked to his old friend. "Ashwater... You're the only one who can help me right now... What do I do? I'm not equipped for this... The wolves I can handle, but one of our own? Turning against us during times such as these? Why would they do this? How can I protect my Clan? How can I keep them—"
He was cut off as Ashwater stepped forward, resting his muzzle on the top of the tom's head.
"Hush," he murmurs softly, his voice wafting down and filling Eelstar with a strange sense of warmth and peace. "You recall the life that Jaggedstar gave you, do you not...?" He murmurs gently.
"The life..." Eelstar swallowed. "The life of confidence... I think I lost that during leafbare when the flash freeze struck..." Ashwater chuckled softly at the small jab, before gently sliding his tail around the small tom.
"No, Eelstar," he purred, amused. "Despite the fact that your life count has dropped to five, you've not lost any of the abilities that each life presented to you. They're there, and they always will be, until you breathe your final breath. You can do this, Eelstar, I have faith in you."
"I can do this for my Clan," he agreed softly. "I know I can, but..." His eyes glittered as he met Ashwater's green gaze. "But can I do this for myself? I'd give everything for my Clan, but I don't... I don't desire to go insane and drive MoonClan into darkness... A leader needs to be stalwart at all times; strong and presentable... I fear that I cannot do that."
"But you can," Ashwater purrs. "Every leader has struggles of their own, but you have a sign of true leadership, Eelstar. You're loyal to your Clan, and you want only the best for it. MoonClan can depend on you; you can depend on you."
Eelstar opened his jaws to respond, only to fall silent as Ashwater pulled away from the comforting embrace, his graceful tail sweeping over the grass.
"Listen," the tom mewed softly. "There is no doubt in my mind for you, Eelstar. Let there be none in yours as well. I must go, old friend... May we speak again."
"May we speak again," Eelstar mewed the soft farewell, watching as the tom slowly disappeared, and his eyes opened to the stony walls of his den.
I can't have doubt, the tom thought quietly. My Clan needs me... And I have cats who have faith in me.