Chapter Nine : For Once Again it is July

Rabbitleap woke up in a bad mood.

Which was kind of petty considering his brother had returned home with Birdflight just the night before, and Leafstar had ordered a celebration in said brother's honor for demonstrating such determination and bravery, and it was exactly what the entire Clan needed to lift the cloud that hung over them.

Said brother ignored Rabbitleap all night. Even when Rabbitleap sucked up his pride and tried to talk to him, said brother didn't have the decency to even glance at Rabbitleap.

Stop that, his brain ordered. Training has been tense enough without your bad attitude.

As determined as Rabbitleap was to get along with Mintfur, she seemed equally determined to make their training sessions a living nightmare. She undermined his orders, she critiqued his critiques. Rabbitleap realized that the tension was starting to affect the girls, but if they could just push through it for a few more moons-

Halfway to the Apprentice Den, Rabbitleap froze. Mintfur sat in the middle of the path, waiting for him.

"We need to talk," she said, voice grim.

Rabbitleap stared at Mintfur. "Do they understand that they can't just refuse to train?"

"Firepaw said that they want to talk to Leafstar and Billystorm about it."

He stiffened. "What do they think that will accomplish?" He asked, slowly. "Do they… do they want new mentors?"

Mintfur huffed. "No, they want us to get along. I don't think they realize that if they go to Leafstar, she won't take it lightly."

"Then we need to convince them not to go to Leafstar. We need to show them that we can," the words almost caught in his throat, "get along."

Mintfur wrinkled her nose. "I almost want to take my chances with Leafstar."

"It's not like I think you're a ray of sunshine, either," Rabbitleap bit back. "But we don't need to suddenly become best friends, we just need to stop making our apprentices miserable."

Mintfur narrowed her eyes, but she didn't come back with a fierce retort. Rabbitleap decided to push his luck and said, "Look, we both want to be deputy, right? To do that we have to train an apprentice, and I don't want to miss my chance because Leafstar took Stormpaw away from me. I don't think you want that, either."

After another bout of silence, Mintfur blew out a breath. "No, I don't want to lose Firepaw. I love that stubborn scrap of fur."

"She reminds me of you," Rabbitleap said, before he could think better of it. Mintfur scoffed. "Not just because she's stubborn. She's- she's quick, picks up on things that you've only explained once. Leafstar paired you well."

Now Mintfur was staring at him as if he'd grown a second head. Finally she said, "Yeah, I'm not ready to compliment you yet."

"Are you ready to stop insulting my training methods, the way I walk, and the way I talk?"

Mintfur made a face, but she didn't say 'no'.

"I'll take what I can get. Let's go wake the girls."

Birdflight sighed, loud and heavy. "I'm bored."

Nettlesplash didn't look up from the sparrow he was plucking. "You've only said it twenty times this morning."

"I'm not going to survive the next half-moon. This punishment is finally going to be the death of me."

"It's not even a proper punishment, your shoulder just needs time to heal."

"Entertain me," Birdflight demanded.

Nettlesplash from two days ago would have scoffed in her face; Nettlesplash from that morning, the one who knew of a secret rainbow cave, considered her demand. He tossed a feather into the air and then blew it at Birdflight.

"Blow it back to me," Nettlesplash said.

Birdflight cracked a grin. "How old are you, four moons?"

"You're the one who wants to be entertained."

"I actually had something else in mind," she trailed off, and Nettlesplash felt his muscles tense.

Frecklewish beamed. "I actually think this is a brilliant idea, as long as you take it easy. Just lay in the shallow part, no actual swimming."

"No swimming, just soaking," Birdflight agreed.

"In a few days, though, I think it would be a good idea for you to start wading around," Frecklewish added. "It'll be good exercise for your shoulder."

Birdflight and Frecklewish went back and forth like that, talking easily. Nettlesplash stared at the river. His insides were twisted into knots.

Birdflight nudged him, then, and murmured, "You know you don't have to get in the water with me, right? Just help me down and I'll be fine."

"Obviously," he retorted, his voice not betraying his nerves.

Birdflight smiled at him. "Thanks, Nettlesplash."

Originally the girls were going to keep working on their ground hunting; they were behind schedule thanks to Rabbitleap and Mintfur's bickering. But they decided to give the girls something to look forward to and go ahead and begin their tree-climbing lessons.

"Look at me!" Stormpaw exclaimed from her perch. "I'm taller than you, Rabbitleap!"

"Well, I'm taller than you," Firepaw crowd, on the one above her.

"Not for much longer!"

"Don't climb too high," Rabbitleap called, a twinge in his voice. "Remember, don't go higher than-"

"The twisted branch," Stormpaw and Firepaw finished in unison. "We remember!"

Mintfur shot him a look. "They clearly aren't afraid of heights."

"A little fear is healthy. Shrewtooth has the most self-preservation out of anyone in the Clan."

"Unless you want them to go to Leafstar and Billystorm and complain about how miserable you're making them, I would stop talking."

Rabbitleap clamped his mouth shut, a little resentfully. She had a point, he could be a little less overbearing, but Rabbitleap felt like Mintfur wasn't trying very hard to be amicable. She was just finding ways around her insults to still make him feel bird-brained.

He thought about voicing his frustration, after all, communication was the most important part of teamwork, when Mintfur grumbled, "Sorry."

Rabbitleap turned to her. "Come again?"

"You're not getting me to say it twice."

"No, seriously, I didn't hear you. It sounded like an apology, but-"

"Rabbitleap."

Rabbitleap stopped pressing her, but he couldn't wipe the little smile off his face. Maybe there's hope for us after all.

The sun beamed down on Nettlesplash, the green-leaf heat making him feel sluggish and slow. He watched Birdflight lay in the shallows through half-lidded eyes. She flicked her tail and splashed a few droplets on his muzzle, but he couldn't be bothered to care.

"The water is nice," Birdflight finally remarked, breaking their comfortable silence. "It's not too cold."

"Mhm. I'm still not getting in with you."

"I know, I was just saying."

Not too many SkyClan cats cared for the river. The only other cats who liked to soak in it were Clovertail and Rockshade, Birdflight's kin. Nettlesplash mentioned as much to her.

"Back when Firestar was rebuilding SkyClan, he told Clovertail that she might have, uh… RiverClan blood in her? Yeah, RiverClan. He said that they're the only Clan in the forest who likes to fish and swim."

"So you might have RiverClan blood too, then."

"Maybe. I think it's hard to know for sure without ever meeting a real RiverClan warrior." Birdflight sighed. "I wish I could. That would be so cool. Maybe I would even meet Firestar, too!"

Nettlesplash closed his eyes, letting the heat crawl in-between his shoulder blades and bleed the tension from his body. "You think he's still alive?"

"Of course! I mean, Clovertail said he looked like a young leader, so he's probably not much older than Leafstar, right? Plus he has nine lives… maybe only like, five, now." Birdflight craned her neck around to look at him. "What about you? Is there anywhere you would like to see? Anyone you'd like to meet?"

"No. What would I even… I don't even know where to start thinking about that."

"Exactly!" Birdflight chirped. "There's an entire world outside of our territory that we know nothing about! Barely even stories!" She sighed. "I wish I could explore it all…"

Nettlesplash opened an eye to look at her. She had a wistful look on her face as she stared down the river, beyond the cliffs and the treetops, searching for something only she could see. It occurred to Nettlesplash, then, that Birdflight wasn't a very good warrior; she wasn't even much better than he was, what with the way that the unknown tugged at her.

"Hello, kitsitters!" A voice interrupted, and Nettlesplash didn't have to open both eyes to recognize Creekfeather. "I'm glad you're swimming, Birdflight, I've been wanting to teach Shadowkit."

"She's soaking, not swimming," Nettlesplash said, gruffly. "Isn't he too young to learn how to swim?"

"He's not too young to splash around in the shallows," Creekfeather retorted. "Clovertail has been busy with Cherrytail and, yeah, so I didn't want to pester her, but I don't have a problem pestering the two of you."

Nettlesplash was watching him now. Creekfeather sat Shadowkit down a safe distance from the edge, near Birdflight. Shadowkit looked from Creekfeather to Birdflight to the river, uncertain.

"Touch it," Creekfeather encouraged, in a voice Nettlesplash had never heard him use before. "It's just cold."

Shadowkit hesitated, then leaned forward and dipped his tiny paw in the pool. He yanked it back just as quickly and shivered. "Cold!" he repeated.

"Not so cold once you get used to it," Birdflight told him. Shadowkit eyed her dubiously.

Nettlesplash debated keeping his mouth shut, but he remembered being three moons old and he remembered just a few days ago, so he finally broke his silence. "You're just going to make him interested in the river, and what are you going to do when he's old enough to play, and he falls in?"

"He'll swim," Creekfeather replied simply. "That's why I want to teach him while he's young. Remember when you and Plumwillow-"

"Obviously I remember being pushed in."

"Pushed?" Creekfeather thought about that. "I'm pretty sure you tripped and dragged her in with you."

Nettlesplash's jaw dropped.

Birdflight smacked the water gently, splashing droplets at Shadowkit. The kit squeaked and jumped backward, suspicious. "Cold!" He huffed.

"Well, we won't swim today, then," Creekfeather said. "But if you're going to be soaking for the next few days, Birdflight-"

"I'll be here!"

"Then we can work up to it," Creekfeather finished, bending to lick the top of Shadowkit's head. Shadowkit purred and rubbed against Creekfeather's leg.

Nettlesplash watched the scene in front of him, feeling dumbfounded.

Silverpelt was showing off that night; her sleek pelt glistened with too many stars to count and there wasn't a cloud in sight. Creekfeather was reassured by the fact that even though the days were gray and dreary, the nights were still warm and pretty.

And what a night for it, the full moon Gathering!

Creekfeather remembered being a kit and begging Fallowfern to let him go to the Gathering with her, but being stuck in the Nursery. He was tempted to sneak Shadowkit out with him but he was napping with Cherrytail, and Creekfeather didn't have the heart to pull them apart. Cherrytail hadn't returned to her usual perky self, but Shadowkit seemed to give her a reason, a purpose, despite her grief. They were a bonded pair.

So Creekfeather was on his own tonight. Usually he sat with his group of friends but they were still angry with him and he was still angry with them, kinda. Sorta. Creekfeather really wasn't all that angry anymore, actually.

He approached the Rockpile and immediately zeroed in on Swiftleap, Tinycloud, and Honeyflower on one side; all the way on the other side, Plumwillow spoke quietly with Sagefoot. Almost simultaneously they all paused to glance at him, before eventually returning to their conversations; no one invited him to join them.

Creekfeather wasn't angry anymore, but that didn't seem to matter.

He shifted his gaze to a ginger tabby pelt and made his way over. "Make some room?" Creekfeather chirped, already settling.

"Gracing us with your presence?" Bouncefire asked, moving over. "I figured you would have made up with everyone by now."

"What makes you think I haven't? Maybe I just want to hang out with you all tonight."

Ebonyclaw snorted. "Whatever you say, Creekfeather." She turned towards Rockshade and said, "So."

"So."

"So, you aren't interested in me."

Creekfeather's eyes widened. He looked between Ebonyclaw and Rockshade.

"Oh, absolutely not. I'm repulsed by you." Rockshade was smirking.

"You know what, I respect your honesty. Thank you for that, I'll just go find Shrewtooth and see if he wants to snuggle during Leafstar's report-"

As Ebonyclaw moved to make good on her word, Rockshade wrapped his tail around her leg and pulled her back beside him. To be fair, Ebonyclaw wasn't trying all that hard to get away from Rockshade. Creekfeather realized they were flirting.

Bouncefire caught Creekfeather's eye and made a face. "Yeah, I'm actually glad you've decided to sit with us tonight; I can only handle so much of their courting before I start to barf honeysuckles."

"Won't be long until they're sharing a nest," Creekfeather murmured, watching as Rockshade and Ebonyclaw went back and forth. They reminded him of another pair, but he couldn't quite place it…

"Their nests are already so close that they might as well be." Bouncefire shook his head. "I don't get it, Creekfeather. I'm so handsome that I thought for sure that I would have a mate before Rockshade! But at least I won't be the last."

"Is Tinycloud still fighting with Sparrowpelt?"

"Nah, you have to talk to someone to fight with them. They're done for good."

Creekfeather's gaze fell on Tinycloud. Frecklewish had just joined their group and Tinycloud was purring at something she said, but Creekfeather remembered the last Gathering; Tinycloud hadn't sat with them, she sat off to the side with Sparrowpelt, murmuring to each other all night long. He remembered how Tinycloud seemed to glow underneath the full moon, her happiness evident to everyone.

Creekfeather remembered a half-moon ago, when Sparrowpelt and Rabbitleap came to their rescue and Sparrowpelt was hurt, and angry, and he took that out on Tinycloud, even though going to the Twolegplace was never her idea.

"Frecklewish is pretty," Bouncefire said, snapping Creekfeather out of his thoughts. "Maybe I'll contest that whole 'medicine cat can't have a mate' law."

Creekfeather considered telling Bouncefire that Frecklewish wasn't interested in him, or any tom for that matter, but his eye was caught by Leafstar scaling the Rockpile. She yowled to gather her Clanmates' attention, and the few cats who weren't ready scrambled to join the crowd.

Leafstar smiled down upon her Clanmates. "Well, it's been quite the moon, hasn't it?" Agreement was murmured into the crisp, cold air. "There have been highs and lows, but SkyClan continues to stand tall and strong against everything else. Despite the incident at the Twolegplace and Sparrowpelt's injury, it looks like he is going to make a full recovery."

"As long as he continues listening to his medicine cat," Echosong spoke up, playfully shouldering Sparrowpelt. Everyone chuckled at that, excluding Tinycloud, Creekfeather noticed.

"And of course, Rabbitleap received his first apprentice after that daring rescue," Leafstar went on, and Creekfeather had to roll his eyes as Rabbitleap puffed out his chest, Stormpaw beside him. "Mintfur remains Firepaw's mentor, and I've heard good things about both of their training. We weathered the first storm of green-leaf and now we have a new Warriors' Den, thanks to it. Waspwhisker, Patchfoot, and Petalnose did a wonderful job of securing that second den and getting it ready for the newer warriors. And Birdflight, who went missing in that storm, was rescued and brought home by Nettlesplash."

Birdflight sat with Sandytail, Clovertail, and Patchfoot, but at the mention of Nettlesplash she turned and flashed him a blinding smile. Creekfeather followed her gaze all the way to the back of the crowd; Nettlesplash yawned at the recognition, looking impossibly bored.

"The Nursery has a new occupant: Shadowkit is growing every day, and I think we can all agree that fatherhood is truly shaping Creekfeather."

It wasn't often that Creekfeather felt embarrassed by attention, but he ducked his head as his Clanmates shouted their agreement and Rockshade nudged him playfully. Suddenly he felt warm, as if just for a moment the moon was replaced by the sun.

Leafstar formally announced Honeyflower was moved into the Nursery and that was met with a round of congratulations sans Plumwillow (Birdflight moved to lick her sister's shoulder, but Creekfeather noticed that instead of rejoining her kin, she joined Nettlesplash in the back).

And that was that. Leafstar concluded her report and asked if anyone else had anything they wanted to share.

Clovertail spoke up and said that Cherrytail, while stuck in the Nursery with Shadowkit, wanted to thank her Clanmates for their kindness and support and that the Nursery was eager to welcome Honeyflower to their ranks.

Sandytail said… something. No one was quite sure what he said thanks to his swollen tongue, but everyone tapped their paws uncertainly against the sandstone anyway.

Leafstar was ready to formally end the Gathering and release her Clanmates when Rockshade suddenly spoke up.

"Ebonyclaw and I noticed some new scents by one of the borders about a half-moon ago. We didn't say anything because, well, it's the Twolegplace border so we assumed it was a new kittypet, but there's something.. off about them."

"There's a pattern," Ebonyclaw added. "The scents aren't fresh everyday, almost like someone else is patrolling our border."

"Why would the kittypets be patrolling our borders?" Shrewtooth asked, eyes wide.

"It wouldn't be the first time it's happened," Petalnose said. "Remember that kittypet who was in love with Creekfeather? She would wait on her fence every dusk, just in case he was on patrol."

"Lucy!" Creekfeather chirped. "Yeah, she was sweet."

"But it's not just one scent," Rockshade pressed. "There's three or four."

Cats exchanged glances with each other. The air shifted, now.

"Didn't Harveymoon tell you that he reinstated the daylight warriors?" Waspwhisker asked Rabbitleap. "Maybe they've been patrolling with their new warriors."

"They shouldn't be," Sharpclaw cut in, voice stern. "I don't care what Harveymoon and his 'warriors' do, but there's no reason for them to patrol our borders."

"Unless there is," Leafstar murmured, her eyes narrowed thoughtfully.

Why would the daylight warriors need to patrol our border? Creekfeather wondered.

Everyone began to toss out their opinions, confused and wanting to be heard. Their voices began to sound far away; Creekfeather shook out his pelt, suddenly feeling anxious. He craned his neck to lick his shoulder.

"You okay?" Bouncefire asked, noticing his unease.

"Yeah, I just… something doesn't feel right."

Suddenly he wanted to check on Shadowkit. He knew that Cherrytail would keep Shadowkit safe but he itched to see him, just to be certain he was okay. The Gathering wasn't over yet and Creekfeather was usually one of the last cats to leave, but-

His ears perked. He heard voices. As soon as Creekfeather picked up on it so did his Clanmates, and unease rippled through the crowd.

Leafstar narrowed her eyes and jumped down from the Rockpile, and the crowd parted for her as she strode into the shadows, Sharpclaw on her tail.

"Who goes there?" She called. The fur along her back bristled, making her look twice her size, and with Sharpclaw beside her, they gave life to the 'ferocious Clan cats' stories that the kittypets spread.

For a moment there was silence, and then a familiar voice called, "Leafstar, it's Harveymoon. I'm sorry for coming by so late but I know it's a full moon, and I- I found someone you need to meet."

From the shadows out stepped a she-cat, and Creekfeather quickly decided that she was the most beautiful cat he'd ever laid eyes on. She seemed to glow underneath the moonlight, positively otherworldly.

She turned her eyes, her amber eyes on him, and Creekfeather swallowed. Then she narrowed those eyes and suddenly any discomfort she felt at walking into the Clan's camp vanished. She pushed past Leafstar and Sharpclaw and strode towards him, him, and Creekfeather didn't know where this was heading but anything that brought this she-cat closer to him had to be a good thing-

She stopped when she was practically nose-to-nose with Creekfeather, and then she growled, "You. Where is my son."

alternate title: in which Rabbitleap has hope, Nettlespash starts to change, and Creekfeather finds a problem.

The title comes from the poem "A Magic Mountain" by Czeslaw Milosz.

Find me on Tumblr under the same user for chapter trivia and other content! Cross-posted to AO3 if you prefer the format.