Chapter 17

Sunpaw

Sunpaw was jolted awake, the only remnants of her rapidly fading dream a loud, wailing yowl.

Something felt very, very wrong, but Sunpaw reasoned it must just have been the dream.

She looked up, and the sky she could see through the small gaps in the den roof was still black. Silverpelt seemed to be fading, though, and a very faint orange glow tinted the dark. She dipped out of the den, and already, a few warriors seemed to be stirring and milling about the camp.

"Morning, Sunpaw. You're up early," came a tired voice from behind her.

Sunpaw turned her head, blinking, and saw Honeypaw standing there, yawning and shaking the bits of moss out of her pelt.

"I guess I had a bad dream," Sunpaw replied with a shrug. She couldn't remember the dream itself, but the awful, earsplitting yowl was still fresh in her mind. The young golden she-cat repressed a shudder at the memory.

"I'm sorry to hear that," Honeypaw said sympathetically. "I hope you're not tired— I'm pretty sure Ospreyflight's got a big plan for you today."

"Oh no…" Sunpaw sighed. "I sure hope I'm at least less tired by the time he calls me over."

Honeypaw chuckled. "Speaking of training, I should go find Feathersky," she said, looking around the camp. "I'll see you later, Sunpaw!"

Sunpaw watched the other apprentice bound away, sitting back on her haunches and closing her eyes. The least she could do was get a little more rest.

"Sunpaw!"

The golden she-cat looked up, sighing and getting to her paws to walk over to her mentor. She wouldn't have time to rest after all.

"Ah, there you are," Ospreyflight said as she approached. "I've got something very important planned for you today."

"Honeypaw said you did," Sunpaw said. She tilted her head, intrigued. "What are we doing?"

Ospreyflight smiled. "You'll be doing a hunting assesment today. It's your f—"

Sunpaw cut him off, eyes shining, thinking back to what Bristlewind had said.

"Like, a warrior assessment?!"

"No, Sunpaw, it isn't your warrior assessment," Ospreyflight chuckled, his whiskers twitching in amusement. "This is just an assessment to see how much you've learned so far. But don't worry!" He added upon seeing his apprentice's ears droop. "Your warrior assessment will be in a few moons. You won't have to wait long."

Sunpaw frowned. "Okay… how does an assesment work, exactly?"

Her mentor seemed more than happy to explain, flicking his brown tail and walking towards the camp entrance.

"You'll be hunting while I watch, but I'll be hidden and you're not allowed to ask me for help. This is all just to see the progress you've made since your apprentice ceremony."

A new feeling started to wade through Sunpaw's disappointment— the confusing but strong need to make her mentor proud, even if this assessment didn't really mean anything in the end.

Sunpaw shook out her pelt, trying to seem more enthusiastic. "Okay!" She said again, her voice lighter as she took on a smile. "Where do we start?"

Ospreyflight nodded to the tunnel leading out of the camp. "We'll get to the territory and you can take over from there."

The young golden she-cat picked up the pace and padded through the tunnel, squeezing through the bushes and shaking herself on the other side.

"Do I start now?" Sunpaw asked, tilting her head.

Ospreyflight nodded. "I'll be nearby."

With that, Sunpaw's mentor dipped into the undergrowth and disappeared from sight, making the apprentice blink in surprise.

Padding forwards a few mouse-lengths, Sunpaw raised her muzzle to the air and parted her jaws, taking a deep breath to look for any prey-scents.

Her ears pricked as she scented shrew on the wind, padding eagerly into the forest brush to find the source. Eventually, she came across a small family of shrews, snuffling around the forest floor to look for food.

Sunpaw instinctively went down into her hunters' crouch, stalking through the bushes. Closer and closer, until…

One of the shrew's noses twitched. It squeaked a warning, it and its family scurrying back to their burrow.

Sunpaw bounded after them, but she couldn't catch up to them in time. Her ears flattened, pelt hot in embarrassment as she realized she had been upwind of the small prey-creatures.

"Mouse-dung…" she grumbled, her tail lashing in frustration. She realized too late that she had whacked a bush and had most likely scared off all the prey in the area.

Fox-dung! Ospreyflight will think I'm the worst apprentice he's ever had at this rate! I have to show him how much I've learned since joining the clan!

She tasted the air again, singling out the scent of an animal she didn't recognize. Curiously, she followed the scent trail and peered through some brambles to see the source of it.

A long, thin, scaly creature was moving silently through the undergrowth— and it didn't even have paws! Sunpaw was bewildered by the odd thing. How is it moving if it doesn't have paws? She wondered, before shrugging and quietly padding after it. Maybe it tasted really good, and she would get a lot of praise.

Suddenly, the creature reared up and its oddly-shaped head snapped towards her, making a hissing sound as its tongue flicked in and out of its mouth. Sunpaw was alarmed, and a bit disturbed if she was honest. She froze, the sudden movement startling her.

"Sunpaw!" She heard Ospreyflight yowl.

Just as the creature opened its jaws impossibly wide to reveal two large, sharp fangs and leapt towards her with incredible speed, a brown blur appeared at the edge of Sunpaw's vision and she could see her mentor's jaws clamp down on the creature's lithe body as its jaws snapped shut less than a mouse-length from her muzzle, making her gasp.

Ospreyflight slammed a paw down on its head so it couldn't move, sinking his teeth into its neck. Sunpaw's hackles only lowered when the creature fell limp, dead.

"Great StarClan, Sunpaw, what in the clans were you thinking?!" The brown tom demanded, dropping the creature and turning to her. "That was an adder! One bite from that snake and it could have killed you!"

Sunpaw shuddered, her eyes growing wide. She hadn't realized she had been a mere mouse-length from death. "I— I didn't know what it was! I thought I could just hunt it and take it back to camp!"

Ospreyflight shook his head. "I shouldn't have taken you out here," he sighed. "You're still young, you're not ready for an assessment yet. Stay away from adders in the future, they're dangerous. Come on, we should get back to camp. At least this adder will feed anyone who's willing to eat it."

Sunpaw's tail drooped, her lingering excitement about discovering her sister was alive completely leaving her. She had failed. Badly. Even if this wasn't a proper warrior assessment, she couldn't help but feel like she had failed Ospreyflight, like she always did.

Maybe it's because I don't have any warrior blood, she thought miserably. Maybe I can't do anything because I wasn't born in ThunderClan. Oh, Moon, I wish you were here so I could at least have someone who's in the same situation with me…

The walk back to camp felt like it took moons, especially in the growing heat of the newleaf sun. Sunpaw and Ospreyflight walked in silence, but Sunpaw could tell her mentor was disappointed. It's not fair! she thought. I've only been an apprentice for two moons! And I was never even told what an adder was— how was I supposed to know to stay away from them?!

It wasn't just the sun that made Sunpaw's thin golden fur hot, it was the embarrassment and anger. She thought she was nothing better than incompetent for failing her unnoficcial assessment, but she also felt mad at Ospreyflight for thinking it was her fault. If Sunpaw was being honest, even she couldn't decide whether she was at fault for the adder incident and flopping in her assessment or not.

"Oh my, Ospreyflight!" Feathersky said as the pair of cats stepped into camp. "What a catch! We haven't had a cat catch an adder in moons! Very impressive, if I do say so myself."

"Yes," Sharpclaw agreed from beside him. "You really are one of our clan's best hunters."

This only made Sunpaw even more angry. Ospreyflight had literally only caught the adder because of her! Sure, it was because she was being a mouse-brain for approaching it in the first place, but still, he never would have caught it otherwise!"

"Thank you," Ospreyflight said curtly, entering a discussion with the other warriors about something trivial that the young golden she-cat had no interest in listening to. She trudged dejectedly over to the apprentice den, flopping down in her nest to sulk.

"What's got you so down?" A voice asked suddenly. Sunpaw looked up to see Honeypaw standing at the entrance to the den with a wad of moss in her fur. "I didn't think anyone could be more miserable than me right now and I'm stuck doing apprentice duties with Thrushpaw!"

"I failed a test," Sunpaw groaned. "Badly. Like, almost got killed by an adder for being a mouse-brain kind of badly."

"Yikes," Honeypaw said. "That sounds really rough. Would you like to join me? I'd like a helping paw that isn't my annoying furball of a brother and I'm sure cleaning out old, smelly bedding will cheer you right up," she joked.

"Honestly? Anything would be better than moping in my nest and replaying what happened over and over again. I seriously need a distraction." She sighed and got to her paws, walking over to her foster sister. "If that means I have to clean out old cats' bedding, so be it."

"Perfect!" Honeypaw said, beaming. "I was just going to leave camp to throw this bedding somewhere, then head to the riverbank to collect fresh moss and leaves."

"Maybe some fresh air somewhere that isn't near Ospreyflight will do me some good," Sunpaw grumbled lightheartedly, making Honeypaw laugh. Hearing her foster sister's laugh lightened Sunpaw's mood a bit, and she allowed a smile to cross her own muzzle. She desperately needed someone to talk to, whether she decided she wanted to rant about the assessment or not, and Honeypaw was the best cat to talk to about anything. She was an amazing listener.

"I've decided I'm a much better chore partner than Thrushpaw," Sunpaw added as the two apprentices padded out of camp. "I'll save you from having to spend time with him, don't worry."

"Oh, thank StarClan!" Honeypaw said. "You should hear him go on and on about the most boring things. Honestly, I don't know how Asterbloom gave birth to me and him at the same time," she groaned.

Sunpaw chuckled. "I've got to get at least ten fox-lengths away from him just to make his voice any quieter!"

Honeypaw nodded in agreement, leading Sunpaw down to the riverbank to scrape up some moss off of a few large rocks. "Honestly, I just needed someone to talk to. Hazelpaw is nice and all, but she doesn't seem like the type to make small talk. Oh— and in other news, did you hear? Opalshine is moving to the nursery soon! I hear she's carrying Doecloud's kits. It'll be so exciting to have more young cats like us to play with! Thrushpaw's gonna need a new mentor, though."

"Yeah," Sunpaw agreed, but it was only halfhearted. She didn't really know Opalshine at all, but Sunpaw supposed she was happy for her. However, the thought of someone having kits still reminded her of her of her mother and father. And Moon…

Her claws worked at the moss but her mind was elsewhere, thinking of the few memories she still had of her biological family. At the thought of her sister, however, she brightened up. She would get to see Moon at the next gathering and they would finally be united!

Now all Sunpaw had to do was wait.