And I'm back!
Songmistle/Larchwish: OMG LOL Did I actually misread that review? In any case, I thought Violetkit read Volekit and decided that I wanted to include her in the story. So, the name's different, but yeah everything else (including the personality, which is most important) was your idea, so I have to give you a HUGE thankyou!
Cactopus: Thanks for all the lovely names! Also, great prediction again! You're about to see what's going to happen…
The dark ginger tom smiled sheepishly. "It's Appleblossom, now." Rowanpaw had to choke back laughter at the she-cat like name. He's your enemy, and intruding on your territory,she reminded herself.You don't laugh at enemies' jokes.
"Why in the name of StarClan are you on LightClan territory?" She snarled, trying to muster up as much anger as she could. Applepaw–no, blossom eyed her warily.
"Is coming to visit an old friend a good excuse?" He asked. Rowanpaw's eyes answered the question for her. "Well, I heard how your Clan was going to have a warrior ceremony tonight, and I needed to come to see. I needed to see if your ceremonies really are different from ours."
"You're saying you were in our camp the whole night?!" She shrieked. The warrior tensed, his eyes darting back and forth, before he cut her off.
"Ssh, not so loud. We don't want the others to come and hear."
"Why don't I?" Rowanpaw challenged him.
"Because, by my impression of how your Clan works, I'm not sure they would let you off so easily either," he said, effectively shutting her up. "Now, hear me out."
Rowanpaw glared, but still didn't say anything, so Appleblossom continued. "You remember what we talked about last gathering? How your Clan says the Warrior Code says you had to be perfect, and mine didn't?"
"Oh, I remember all right, how you tried to make a fool out of me," She hissed, finally showing true anger. Appleblossom had the outrageousness to look hurt.
"I wasn't fooling you," he said, green eyes wide. "I've been trying to show you the truth. Ever since that gathering, I've been asking everyone I could about the Warrior Code, and not one cat has ever repeated what you said. Then when I asked about your Clan, they were all silent. Finally, at the most recent gathering, some mouse-brain let loose that after a surprise assessment this night, there would be a warrior ceremony. I knew that something was wrong in your Clan, and things had been changed, but I didn't know what. I swear by StarClan I had no intention of causing trouble or interfering. But I needed to see how a sacred ceremony went in your Clan."
"So what?" Rowanpaw asked, rolling her eyes.
"It was everything," he countered. "I listened to the warrior ceremony for those cats, Swanbreeze and Blue_ and whatever. But everything was so wrong, so different from how ours went. Your leader talked about your Clan customs, and cats being perfect, things that our ceremony has never had. Warriors are supposed to uphold the warrior code and StarClan's will, not the way a foolish Clan leader has decided for you to live."
Rowanpaw finally snapped. "LightClan isn't foolish," She told him, deathly still. "In LightClan we are perfect. You aren't foolish if you're perfect."
Appleblossom's dark ginger fur bristled in the moonlight. "I thought you were different," he accused. "I thought you knew better, that you weren't all hung up on the perfect motto like the rest of them. I guess I was wrong."
Rowanpaw stared him down. "Get. Out. Of. My. Clan." She hissed. Appleblossom started right back.
"Fine," he called back as he turned away, "I'm going for now, but I will be back. I can promise that, my friend."
"You're no friend of mine," she told him, yellow eyes blazing with fury. With that, he bounded away into the black.
Slowly, Rowanpaw sat down, her eyes glazing over with nothingness. What had she done? What just happened? Had she really treated her friend like that?
Not a friend, she reminded herself. He's not your friend anymore.
After all, friend's didn't break the warrior code and barge into your territory. They didn't sneak into your Clan. They didn't try to lie and break her faith to the one thing she was positive was real in her Clan. None of those acts were something a true friend would've done.
She stood back up again, and stretched, then headed into a clump of bush's hoping to wash away the StormClan sent that was wafting nearby. Once she deemed herself presentable, she attempted to reorient herself. That proved a more difficult task than expected, but she managed to make it through the night and ended up once again at the Perfect Pathway.
The moon was now low in the sky, and past the tree's she could see the slightest light as the sun slowly moved up the sky. It wasn't enough for the dawn patrol to be out, and Rowanpaw breathed a sigh of relief.
She turned to look at the entrance again, and suddenly a shimmering white figure stepped out of the shadows, a bright contrast to the red flowers nearby. The figure was spotted, those small areas blending into the black.
Not another one, Rowanpaw thought disparagingly, before seeing familiar icy blue eyes.
"Volekit?"
She really had to stop doing this.
"What are you doing out of camp?" Rowanpaw demanded, russet tail swishing back and forth. Volekit glared.
"Oh please, like a few fox-tails even qualifies. Though I could ask the same question to you." The icy blue stare of the young kit was baring into Rowanpaw, making her thoroughly nervous.
"I-I-I went for a walk," she spluttered. The kit didn't buy any of it.
"Oh, so going for a walk explains the StormClan scent all around you."
Foxdung, Rowanpaw cursed. She thought she had covered it up better than that. Volekit seemed to know what she was thinking, so she pressed the matter. "Really, rolling a few bush's doesn't change a scent that strong. You should've known better if you were going to be making trouble.
"I'm not making trouble," Rowanpaw said angrily. "What I said was true. I went for a walk, and then all of the sudden this idiot StormClan warrior starts running around, on our territory I might add, so I chase him away, but all he does is want to talk about ridiculous and unfaithful things." As soon as she finished, the apprentice realized she had said too much, but it was already too late.
"Oh, Rowanpaw," the silver-white she-kit sighed. "I thought that you would've understood by now. All the things that the warrior said were probably true. I don't get how you haven't seen it."
"Volekit," she said, trying to be patient. "I get that you're young and you haven't learned a lot, but in the warrior code, we don't question our Clan or our leaders. As long as we follow all the rules StarClan set out for us-"
"But we aren't," the kit interrupted, "and although you deny it, it's true. Anyways, I wasn't here to get into this argument, it's a waste of time. I need your help."
"First let's get back to camp." Rowanpaw a step forward, but the kit held her ground.
"No, this happens here, right now, unless you want me to tell Flashstar what you've been doing." Rowanpaw sighed, but sat down. She obviously wasn't going to get her way. "Now," Volekit declared, "I want you to teach me how to fight."
"Maybe when you're older," Rowanpaw tried desperately, but the kit was having none of it.
"No, starting tomorrow night you are going to come and teach me how to fight. I need to know every move a warrior would know by the end of this next moon."
"And what if I don't?"
"Then I'll tell Flashstar all about what happened tonight, and you'll be ruined."
Rowanpaw gaped. She had never, ever in her life, expected to be blackmailed by a kit, no less one that was barely a few moons old.
"Oh, I would," Volekit reassured her, seeing her expression. "So, I'll see you here tomorrow night?" Rowanpaw continued to stare, before sighing.
"I suppose you will," she said, and turned to walk down the perfect pathway. About half-way down, she looked back, but Volekit was already gone, having slunk back into camp some way or another. I'll have to find that, she thought, before continuing back.
At camp, all the cats had gone back to their dens for the little sleep they could get, except for the five new warriors keeping watch. Rowanpaw tried to make her steps quiet, but it was no use, and quickly all eyes turned to her.
"What are you doing?" Said Bluestrike, marching up to her. Rowanpaw shied away, her brain working miles for a minute, trying to come up with an excuse.
"I was just out on a walk," she said, hoping they believed her. "It was too noisy in camp and I couldn't sleep."
"Is that true?" Swanbreeze asked, cocking her head, her blue eyes giving a silent challenge. Rowanpaw didn't waiver.
"Yeah," she said, "with all of the drama of the gathering, and then your ceremony, it was hard to get some peace." She paused for a moment, and then added, "Congratulations, by the way."
The two she-cats blue stares were still cold, but surprisingly, it was Sageheart of the other three who spoke.
"Oh, come on, you two," the gray tom said. "She obviously just needed a break. I would've too if I was woken up in the middle of the night like that."
Rowanpaw tensed, wondering if they would buy it, and thankfully, she saw the two agressors relax. Rainwillow and Riverwing simply looked relieved to not be involved in the argument, whereas Swanbreeze and Bluestrike looked mad that they hadn't gotten a chance to report her.
Too late, mousebrains, Rowanpaw thought gleefully, and made her way through the sleeping camp to the apprentice den, and curled up in a nest. She was going to get as much sleep as she could after that night of many interruptions.
How was the chapter? Which of the three encounters (Rowanpaw vs. Appleblossom, Rownapaw vs. Volekit, and Rowanpaw vs. new warriors) did you like best? Please review to give me suggestions, I always like to know what the readers want to happen next!
I hope everyone is having a great break and has had an amazing year, despite all the COVID issues going on. So, without further ado, this chapter is concluded, and Happy New Year!