A/N: Fanfiction is being dumb and I don't know how everyone is doing with reading these chapters. This may happen if problems continue.
In the face of darkness, the light of the stars will be your guide. In the deafness of silence, our words will carry you. Heed our words and listen, for although life here is mortal… yours will be near eternal.
A plump, round bellied gray tom sat strewn across his fence, humming to himself as the lazy day dragged on. When a strange scent caught his attention and his gaze was drawn to the quickly approaching large group of cats. Skinny and frame in some aspects, while their leader was large and burly. Looming over the other cats like a cat from far above, the tom turned his dark and unblinking eyes to the kittypet who sat up now.
"Clans…" it growled.
"I- I don't know what you want here stranger, but I can assure you that I won't be giving up my food for anything."
The large tom took a menacing step forward, large claws unsheathing. "Clans!" it snarled louder.
A look of realization dawned on the kittypet, before he wobbly raised a paw to point to his left. "I- I have never seen them, but I have heard stories of such from others…"
The other cats took a step forward with pelt bushing, before the leader spoke. "Show us."
"Of course I was freaked out, jumping up high out of the water. Remember that Leafnose?"
Jaypaw carefully kneaded the moss over the ginger she-cat's white spotted pelt, the foul mouse bile chasing off the ticks on the elder's back. Her tired eyes closed as she wandered back and forth between here and back then. "Oh StarClan I remember rolling around as we both tried to shake off the water, the clan was wondering what happened to us as soon as we returned." She purred.
"No, no… you are getting it wrong. You had fallen into the river right when the gush of water came, I heaved you out of the way as the river flooded and we sat on the bank of the river." Leafnose commented.
Jaypaw flicked an ear, attempting to suppress a laugh as Flamepetal responded. "I distinctly remember us having this conversation; it was more fun when I remember it."
"Oh yes, and I remember you saying that the day after you were pregnant immediately."
"No I didn't, well maybe once as a joke… but that all happened before we got together."
"Oh I remember, I just thought you could keep your story straight."
Flamepetal flicked her tail, before her gaze turned back to Jaypaw. "Anyway, after that I could not leave his side for a moon, Gorsestar practically had to pry me off of him.
"After countless attempts from Silvermoon." Murmured Leafnose, a gleam of humor glittering behind his eyes as Flamepetal whipped around her head.
Flamepetal flicked his muzzle with her tail, and the tom gently nudged her from behind her. Both elders laughed it off as Jaypaw finally was done with his job and left the she-cat's side and Flamepetal moved her shoulder. "Ah that feels much better young'n, would you like to stick around and hear one more story?"
Jaypaw shook his head as he gathered the still soaked moss, rolling it all in a ball to dispose later. "Sorry, I would love to, but Ravenfeather assigned me to camp duties that I have to attend to." he meowed, as he rose up onto his paws.
"Ah of course, always the busy bodies these apprentices, well off you go." Flamepetal meowed, as she nudged the young silver gray tom towards the entrance to the elders den
Jaypaw pushed through as he trotted along down towards the stream, he noticed Howlpaw entering camp with her usual bubbliness with a large rabbit in her jaws. Both apprentices jogged alongside eachother, before the other apprentice dropped down the rabbit and they Jaypaw slipped through to the path to the river.
The warm sun contrasting the cold winds that blew down from the looming mountains in the distance, he took a sniff at the edge of the river. Everything was stale here except for his own scent and the scents of the border patrol.
He washed his paws, making sure to get every nook. Letting the river chase the mouse bile away from him and further downstream, his fur bushing out slightly as he looked across the border. There was no life on the other side, where the rogues of the forest dare not tread. Stories long since lost telling of why the trees remain empty, opposition to the other borders surrounding the clan.
Jaypaw flicked the water off of his paws and turned back deeper into the forest, his whiskers getting tickled by the grass blades that parted in his way.
As he returned to camp his gaze turned towards the sky, a dark cloud was approaching the sun as the day went on. It looked like claws threatening to take away the light.