Dawn came and Ravenflight woke in the warriors den. Fireheart was sleeping on his left. Graystripe wasn't there. He got up and padded into the apprentice den. "Thornpaw, you awake?" The golden brown tom looked up and nodded. "Come on then, we'll take a patrol around the borders first."
He almost jumped when another voice sounded beside him until his brain filed through it and recalled the cat who spoke. "Brightpaw, come on, time for training." Sandstorm.
The two apprentices scampered out side by side. Brackenfur wasn't in the den. Cinderpaw was still asleep. Thornpaw tackled his sister and they rolled around in the early dawn light. Ravenflight watched for a bit, then broke them up. "So…" Sandstorm meowed quietly. "You want to, um, take them on a patrol together?"
They both turned and gazed at Ravenflight. "Can we please, Ravenflight?" Thornpaw begged. Ravenflight shuffled his paws a bit, desperately trying to remember Spottedleaf's words, nodded.
After letting Bluestar know, the four cats took off. Ravenflight stopped by the RiverClan border. "What do you guys smell?"
"I smell…" Brightpaw breathed in deeply, "I smell.. it's hard to explain… wait, no… it's not…" Thornpaw laughed and she glared, "It smells like fish." She meowed at last.
"Good! That's RiverClan's scent, for the most part," Sandstorm meowed. She pricked her ears and breathed in. "Who do you guys smell now?"
"Fireheart!" Thornpaw meowed.
"Cinderpaw!" Brightpaw mewed at the same time.
Then the two cats popped out from behind them. "Hi Sandstorm," Fireheart meowed, "how are you?"
Ravenflight lashed his tail angrily and waited for the Smalltalk to end.
"Oh, fine, just training Brightpaw. She's doing great," Sandstorm meowed. She was obviously full of pride in her first apprentice.
Fireheart pulled in close and whispered something in her ears. The only words Ravenflight could make out were, "Want…secret…you." He couldn't quite understand what it meant, but Fireheart obviously didn't care to clue his 'best friend' in. Ravenflight cleared his throat to remind Fireheart he was there.
"Oh," Fireheart meowed, turning his gaze over to the tom. "Hi Ravenpaw. Oh! Err… Ravenflight, I mean… sorry…"
Ravenflight grimaced. "No problem," he lied.
"So," meowed Fireheart, turning back to the ginger she-cat. "What do you say?"
"What about them?" She gestured with her tail to the apprentices.
"Guys," Fireheart meowed, raising his voice, "I know we haven't trained you with this, but it's a pretest. Catch as much prey as you can, but stay close to the camp." The three apprentices nodded and eagerly dashed off. "Well?"
Sandstorm butted him playfully. "Okay, then, let's go."
"Bye then," Ravenflight meowed angrily.
"Ravenflight! I totally forgot… oh… that's not what I mean…" Sandstorm sighed. "Sorry… I'll catch up with you later?"
Ravenflight flicked his tail and padded away, only to stop in the bushes a bit behind them.
"Come on then," Fireheart meowed. Without waiting at all, he sped off, leaving Sandstorm a bit confused behind him. Then she raised her hackles, and surged after him. She was leaner and more agile, and could easily keep pace with him. Ravenflight hurried after them, just fast enough to follow, and just slow enough not to be heard, scented, or seen.
After a bit of tiring running, Fireheart stopped. Sandstorm padded beside him, then froze. Ravenflight could see her fur bristle. "Fireheart, where are we?"
"I want you to meet a friend of mine," he replied, and padded on. Sandstorm followed more slowly. Ravenflight took a moment to observe, and shared Sandstorm's alarm. He'd brought them to a rural part of Twolegplace.
"Princess! Princess!" he called. Silence greeted him. He sat and flicked his tail impatiently. Sandstorm sat and waited too, just farther back, forcing Ravenflight to hardly be able to hear what Fireheart had said.
After a moment, a brown tabby appeared on the fence post and looked down at Fireheart. "Rusty! Oh, oopies, I mean, Fireheart!" She jumped off the fence and over to her brother, touching her nose to his in greeting. "And you brought a friend?"
"This is Sandstorm," Fireheart meowed. He flicked his tail for her to come. She did not.
"Oh, come on now, no need to be scared, I don't bite." Princess mewed, watching closely and suspiciously.
"I'm not scared of a kittypet," Sandstorm meowed, and padded up. "Fireheart, who's she?"
He nudged her gently. "Calm down, Sandstorm, this is my sister, Princess."
"Fireheart," she meowed, "I had my kits. You know, remember, I was expecting them? Well, I had six, and my housefolk are looking for homes for them. But I don't want to loose them all. I want you to take one or two of them, so they can be brave warriors, like you are," she meowed, staring into his green eyes.
He looked at Sandstorm, then back at his sister. "If that's what you want."
"Great!" She purred. "I'll go get them." She entered the house. As soon as she was gone, Sandstorm and Fireheart spoke, but their voices were hushed, and Ravenflight couldn't hear what they said.
Princess came back out and dropped the kits. One boy, one girl. The boy was a long-haired white tom, blue eyes. The she-cat was a bright ginger color, not fiery, like Fireheart, but just bright, almost yellowy bright. Her stomach and paws were a darker shade of ginger. Her eyes were ice blue. "This one's name is Sparkle. He doesn't have a name, my housefolk haven't seen him yet. Will you two take them back? And tell them about me, and come visit me? With them?"
Sandstorm curled her lip at the suggestion of going back, but Fireheart nodded. "Promise."
"Ma, where we goin'?" mewed the white tom.
"Yeah, where's we goin'?"
"With Uncle Fireheart. You're going to be warriors!" She purred. "Visit me, Sparkle, and you two." She nudged both the kits, and then looked at Fireheart. "Thank you."
"Anything." Fireheart responded. He grabbed the white tom by the scruff, and padded off. Sandstorm quickly grabbed Sparkle, and followed the flame-colored tom. They took a different route. Ravenflight hurried after them, careful not to be seen by Twolegs or Princess.
Fireheart stopped at a small pond and gently dropped the white tom. He began to groom his pelt and mix in the pond water. Sandstorm dropped Sparkle, and looked confused. "What are you doing?"
"Washing away the kittypet scent, so Bluestar won't know. We've got to keep their true identity a secret, okay?"
"Why did she do that? Did you know she would?" Sandstorm asked.
"Think of how you would feel if your Twolegs got rid of all your children. You don't know where they'll end up, you might never see them again."
Sandstorm was quiet for a moment, then stopped to lick Sparkle. After a while, she stopped. "You know, I've been thinking about kits a lot lately."
Ravenflight felt his blood boil. Played like a fool…
"Really?" Fireheart asked. "What do you mean?"
"About the future, about eventually becoming a queen," Sandstorm stared hard into her reflection as if searching for something.
"Oh… Like… uh… like, with who?" Fireheart managed to meow after a bit of silence.
"I don't know yet. I like more than one guy," Sandstorm went back to grooming the kit.
Ravenflight felt energy partly be restored with delight. Was he the other guy? It might be Dustpelt. Or it might be all of them. He shrugged, watched and waited.
But nothing more was said.
Fireheart seemed a bit edgy as he washed the white tom, and Sandstorm seemed contemplative, placing each lick with care as she though things over. Finally, Fireheart sniffed, the kits. "They smell fine. Nothing like kittypets at all."
"It's as if we just found them right here. Got that guys? We found you by the pond," Sandstorm meowed.
The kits nodded. "By te pon," they spoke in unison. Sandstorm picked up Sparkle again, Fireheart grabbed the white tom. Then they headed back towards the camp, walking slowly and thoughtfully. Ravenflight stayed behind, wrapped up in his own thoughts. Who were the cats Sandstorm had spoken off?
