"Firepaw? Come on Firepaw wake up!"
Soryn snuggled deeper into his nest. Who's Firepaw? Hope he gets up so they'll go away. He started to drift back off to sleep when something prodded him sharply in his side. He hissed, swiping in the direction of the poke and sat up to snickering. Soryn forced his eyes to open and stared blearily up at a mess of blue directly in front of him. He blinked slowly.
"Good, you're awake."
"Bluestar?" he asked with confusion. Then the events from earlier slammed into him in full force. His muscles twitched from residual soreness and the new cuts on his skin from the fight with Longtail. He arched his back stretching and yawned hard before following Bluestar from the den as she backed out of the apprentice's den. He blinked at the dark blue color of the sky and the chilly dampness in the air. It was dawn- he'd been more tired than he thought he was. Firepaw shook out his fur and stepped forward to stretch his hindlegs.
Bluestar led him over to the tunnel where there was already a group of cats waiting. As they got closer he recognized Graypaw, Ravenpaw and Lionheart.
"Finally," Graypaw said. "We thought you'd died."
"Graypaw," Lionheart sighed. His apprentice smirked, merely shaking out his fluffy coat.
"He was sleeping like Riversoul was holding him," Bluestar remarked.
Firepaw ignored the chuckles around him instead focusing on the distinct lack of birdsong. He tried to shake the sleep from his muscles as Bluestar finally addressed why she'd woken him before Rayushu had put the sun in the sky.
"Protecting and guarding the borders of our territory is important to ensuring we always have enough resources to survive," she lectured. "Dawn patrol is one of three regular border patrols you may be selected to join as a member of ThunderClan. You will always be selected for at least one patrol- the other patrols are the sunhigh patrol and the sundown patrol."
"But why did my first patrol have to be a dawn patrol," Firepaw huffed.
"Tradition," Graypaw informed. "All apprentices get dawn patrol as their first patrol. It's a mentor thing."
"It's fun to see new apprentices who were very excited the day before to be so exhausted," Lionheart chuckled. "I almost clawed Swiftbreeze's ears off when I was woken for my first dawn patrol."
"Firepaw nearly did the same," Bluestar purred.
"I'm not a morning cat," he said with a little shrug.
"Sorry I'm late!"
Firepaw turned his head to a brown tabby tom sprinting over as fast as his legs could carry him.
"About time, Larkwing," remarked Lionheart. "You're as butterfly headed as your apprentice."
Ravenpaw ducked his head with a shy smile but approached his mentor purring. Larkwing touched noses with the lanky tom and turned to Bluestar, "Sorry I overslept. It won't happen again."
Bluestar just shook her head fondly and led them towards the gorse tunnel. Firepaw followed dutifully as they marched through the cool and slightly damp forest. He resisted the urge to sit and clean the water from his paws and made do with walking around the damper spots. He clambered a bit more efficiently over the log he'd struggled over the morning before and went around larger obstacles that would've slowed him down.
"I smell outsiders," Graypaw announced.
"Me too," agreed Ravenpaw.
I don't smell anything, Firepaw thought to himself and sniffed the air.
"You may not notice," Bluestar commented, glancing at Firepaw. "Their scent likely still smells of home to you."
Smells of home, he blinked and then sniffed again, this time paying attention to every scent that touched his nose. It didn't take him long to pick up a trace of ash and the strong scent of smoke. Directly after, he was close enough to see clawed trees and made out the sound of cats talking.
"This is the Neutral Stretch. As Sandpaw and Dustpaw found out, this is territory belonging to the Shining Sun; however, a previous agreement between Doestar and the sun queen, Alal granted ThunderClan hunting rights to the stretch. So long as we continue to acknowledge the Sun's rights to it as a training ground."
Firepaw flicked his ear in acknowledgement and observed the cats that he could now see clearly. A triad of adult cats sat watching a trio of kits wrestle, toss each other and dodge blows. A group of Guardians and their Little Fangs, he presumed. Graypaw was practically bouncing with excitement watching the Little Fangs practice with each other and Ravenpaw stared wide-eyed with awe. One cat looked up and Firepaw instantly identified her as Biketi who instantly leaped to her paws upon spotting him.
Biketi quickly trotted over, drawing the attention of the other cats.
"Oreyeyasi Arassi," she greeted, bowing her head to him. "What did we do to earn the privilege of your audience?"
"Privilege of your audience?" muttered Graypaw in confusion.
"Are all of you conspiring against me to be as formal as possible?" Firepaw asked, laughing.
"Sorry Eko, it's a reflex," Biketi apologized.
"Anyway," Firepaw said casually, flicking his ear. "I'm here because I've joined the wildcats- I'm on a dawn patrol."
He waved his tail towards the rest of the patrol who were watching with curiosity.
"Ah, I won't bother you any further then," Biketi said, dipping her head.
"You weren't bothering me but I'll let you return to training, asheyeyi," he told her.
Biketi smiled at his dismissal, "Asheyeyasi arassio."
Firepaw watched the brown molly leave before returning fully to the patrol doing his best to ignore the curious looks they were sending him.
"Where are we going next?" he asked.
"Privilege of your audience?" Graypaw prompted. "Why was she talking like that?"
"Huh? Oh every cat is like that in the kingdom," Firepaw dismissed. "Even though I told them 'Soryn' was okay."
"Why? Isn't it annoying?"
"Yeah but kokina might've told her she was being rude and impolite."
Larkwing coughed, drawing attention to himself. The tom looked nervous and alarmed, as if he was just putting some pieces together. "Er, Firepaw? What's your mother's name?"
Firepaw blinked.
"Akire."
"The queen?!" Bluestar blurted out in horror. "You're a prince?"
"Dustpaw and Sandpaw attacked the prince?!" Ravenpaw said, looking horrified.
"A prince," Firepaw corrected. "And toms don't inherit until our sisters are gone. There wasn't any harm done and kokina wasn't even too mad."
"...Larkwing, make sure to bring the best cuts to the next peacemaker from The Sun," Bluestar commanded. "And let the queen know we formally apologize for attacking her kits."
"We could've caused a war," Larkwing murmured, his tail bushed out and ears flat against his head.
"It's fine," Firepaw insisted. "My sister forgave you and I'm in your clan now- kokina wouldn't declare war over a misunderstanding."
"It still looks very bad on our part," Bluestar said grimly as she led them away. "As your sister pointed out, we haven't shown ourselves to be very reasonable lately. If we keep up with this behavior, we may be placed on the same list as Havoc's pack."
Firepaw winced. She had a point- he'd even heard his mother discussing with Ahiti about possibly placing a ban against trading with the clans for the spring season in light of their aggressive behavior. It sounded like ThunderClan was struggling as it was and if they got placed on the list, they'd be banned from all trades and would lose access to rare herbs and emergency rations.
"Thank you for your kindness Firepaw, er your highness," Larkwing said.
"Just Firepaw," the apprentice corrected. "I'm not a prince here- I'm just another apprentice."
"Are you sure?" Ravenpaw asked, his tail tip twitching.
"Of course- I was trying to convince them to just call me Soryn until I joined the clan," Firepaw said. "So just treat me like another clanmate."
"Okay," Ravenpaw said with a slight smile. "What's it like being a prince?"
"Busy- I can tell you more when we're done patrolling."
Ravenpaw nodded and fell back with Larkwing who was bringing up the rear of the party so Firepaw moved up where Bluestar was leading. They followed the line of scratched trees until they disappeared. The damp leaves slowly turned muddy ground and Firepaw quickly fell behind. The mud welled up between his toes and got stuck in his claws- revulsion rolled through him and he shook his paw in a disgusted manner.
"Ew," he said disdainfully.
Graypaw grunted his agreement following Bluestar further from the river and thankfully away from the mud. Firepaw resisted the urge to sit down and thoroughly clean his paws and forced himself to follow Bluestar until they stopped on a dry patch. Bluestar motioned to a pile of smooth rocks in the center of the land.
"Those are Sunningrocks," Bluestar informed. "And beyond them is RiverClan territory. Remember this place and this scent- RiverClan is always trying to steal Sunningrocks."
"Why? Do they not have other rocks?" Firepaw asked.
"Only The Souls know," Larkwing said. "But we need the land around Sunningrocks for prey so always report strong RiverClan scent on the rocks- keeping it could mean the difference between us surviving the winter and starving."
Firepaw nodded, taking the words to heart. He shuddered a bit, if he missed a RiverClan warrior, he could be responsible for an apprentice going hungry. Or a kit dying because it's mother was too weak to make milk.
Bluestar nodded at him, pleased he seemed to understand the weight of border patrol now and led them onward. He was less than thrilled when she continued to lead them along the river and therefore, through the mud. He stoically followed her trying to ignore the mud that was seeping through the fur on his legs.
Lionheart took up most of the marking as Bluestar and Larkwing kept a close eye on the border. With the way they were acting, Firepaw became nervous- it was like they were expecting RiverClan cats to leap from no-where in an ambush. He was sure he could defend himself if he had to but he was worried about the number of warriors that would show up.
He stayed on edge the entire time, waiting until Bluestar began to relax. Bluestar turned away from the river and moved deeper into the trees much to his relief. Bluestar led them up to a ridge and nodded to a large tree.
"Down there in that direction is Fourtrees. The day of a full moon, at sunhigh is a day for peace. We play games, compete in competitions and hunt as if we were one clan. When the moon rises and reaches its peak, we share news about our clans like the birth of kits, new apprentices, new warriors and threats- like the location of Havoc's Pack."
Soryn titled his head, "It was a half moon last night. It should be full in just a few days."
"Correct," said Bluestar with an approving nod. "All new apprentices attend the soonest Gathering to be announced so you, Sandpaw, Graypaw, Ravenpaw and Dustpaw will all be going."
Ravenpaw grinned as Graypaw cheered.
"I can't wait!" said Graypaw. "I wanna see Raggedstar for myself!"
"I wanna see Stormstar," Ravenpaw grinned. "Longtail says he's like a mountain come to life."
Lionheart chuckled before announcing, "Beyond Fourtrees is WindClan-"
"And Talltail!" Firepaw interrupted perking up.
"...Tallstar. Did you know him before?" Lionheart asked.
"No, my father told us stories of WindClan before," Firepaw said. "He said that their entire territory is almost completely flat."
"That is true- WindClan lives on the plains," Bluestar agrees. "We've never had much trouble with them- WindClan has always been civil to the other clans and willing to assist when we need them."
"So WindClan is good?"
"As good as any other clan could be," Larkwing said as Bluestar started walking again.
Firepaw walked slowly trying to process what was happening. It didn't sound like the clans trusted each other very much. Or at all really. Even though WindClan was on the other side of the Fourtress, Lionheart, Larkwing and Bluestar acted like they'd raid ThunderClan at any moment. He glanced over to Ravenpaw and Graypaw who didn't seem very surprised or confused by this train of thought- it was just how the world worked for them he supposed. As normal The Sun and The Stars having diplomatic disagreements over whether adhering to oaths or always learning should be a higher priority in life.
He shook his head, attention recaptured the resurgence of muddy terrain. Firepaw sighed, resigned to the fact that he'd just be spending a significant amount of time cleaning mud from his coat. He felt consoled when Graypaw had a similar look of disgust on his face as mud seeped into his thick fur. Bluestar stopped at a pathway- the grass and leaves had been worn away, rocks kicked to the side or pressed deep into the earth creating a walkway through the woods.
"This is the Deer Path," Bluestar explained. "It was made by the herds of deer and boar that trample here. The deer created it first but then other creatures began using it- it's now the border between ShadowClan and ThunderClan. Always be on alert when crossing this trail, while deer can be scared off, boar have been known to attack lone cats here."
"That's why it's also called the Path of Blood," Graypaw said with a menacing grin. Ravenpaw yelped and backed away from the trail, ears flat and fur bristled.
"Graypaw!" snapped Lionheart. "Calm down young Ravenpaw- it's not called that."
"I still think I'll stay back," the lanky apprentice murmured.
"ShadowClan cats are very fierce," Larkwing informed. "Always stop at the trail or they won't hesitate to rip you to shreds and throw you back over."
Ravenpaw shuddered and Graypaw nudged him, "Don't worry Ravenpaw, I'll protect you from those flea bags."
"I feel so safe," Ravenpaw said, staring at him with a blank expression.
"Ouch," remarked Firepaw and Graypaw leapt backwards, falling onto the ground dramatically.
"I pledged to protect you, how could you wound me so."
Bluestar chuckled, "You'll see more than your fair share of ShadowClan cats. Sometimes, we patrol the border at the same time- maybe you'll even make some friends."
"Friends?" Graypaw asked. "In other clans?"
"So long as your loyalty remains to ThunderClan, you may have relations with any cat from any clan," Larkwing explained. "All clans will one day be one clan in the stars."
"So yes," Bluestar remarked. "You may make friends in ShadowClan or WindClan or RiverClan."
"As long as you remember that you could one day be fighting on opposite sides, you have any relationship you want with other cats," Lionheart finished.
With that, Bluestar began leading them back to camp. Firepaw was grateful, the sun was now at its highest and his stomach was reminding him that he hadn't eaten even once the day before nor had he eaten before they left. Hunger clawed and tore through his stomach. The trek was much easier than the first trip. Now, Lionheart, Bluestar and Larkwing were taking the time to make sure that he and the others were keeping up. The older warriors led them through some smaller worn trails with less tangled brambles and large rocks.
By the time they made it back to the camp, Firepaw was willing to eat an entire sheep by himself. He darted by the rest of his patrol and straight to the fresh kill pile and snagged the largest kill from it- which in this case was a rabbit. Ravenpaw and Graypaw were right behind him grabbing a mouse and a robin respectively.
"Head to the elder's den," Bluestar told them. "Take your prey with you if you'd like."
"Yes Bluestar," Ravenpaw chirped as the leader walked away.
Graypaw took the lead and walked towards the elder's den. Firepaw followed dutifully, grateful he wouldn't have to guess where the elder's den was as Graypaw aimed straight for a large fallen branch jutting up in the clearing. The gray tom shoved the ferns and twigs out of the way revealing a gap at the bottom, sliding inside easily followed by Ravenpaw. Firepaw dropped his rabbit in first to keep it from getting stuck- he scrambled inside and slid down the shallow slope to the bottom. He picked up his rabbit and darted after his friends who were sitting towards the left side of the den in the front.
Firepaw spotted some older cats curled up near the back of the den talking as he took a spot between Graypaw and Ravenpaw. He doesn't hesitate to begin licking his pelt clean, furiously dragging his tongue over the mud that had caked itself on his paws and chewing furiously at the mud caught between his toes. He'd finished his first paw when two cats from the elder's group near the back of the den came walking towards them.
One a broad shouldered calico molly with intimidating yellow eyes and large patchy furred brown tom with a short tail.
"Hello apprentices," greeted the molly.
"Hi Dappletail!" Ravenpaw said brightly.
"Here for lessons?"
"Bluestar sent us."
"Hah, well then, I suppose we should catch Firepaw up on some of the more common clan legends," she mused.
"What about Fleetfoot?" suggested the tom.
"I like hearing about Fleetfoot!" Graypaw said fur bushed out with excitement. "She's awesome!"
"Fleetfoot it is then, wanna start the story Halftail?"
Firepaw ate his rabbit while listening attentively to the story of the brave RiverClan warrior Fleetfoot who'd managed to track down and kill the dangerous boar Rage, who'd killed a ThunderClan apprentice and trampled through the ShadowClan camp. She was surprised by the boar's mate- Fury who was even fiercer than Rage had been. With the aid of Slysoul, who whispered in her ears, after three days and three nights, she finally tricked the boar into trying to cross the river on stepping stones. The stones, slick and wet weren't made for a boar's hooves and Fury slipped, falling into the river and was instantly swept away. Fleetfoot followed it downiver to find that Fury had drowned. Goldenstar, ThunderClan's leader at the time, was ashamed that he hadn't told Fleetfoot of Fury, thinking it wouldn't be a threat and in return, gave up the river behind Sunningrocks as RiverClan territory for as long as RiverClan remained.
Graypaw and Ravenpaw were happy to listen to the old tale but Firepaw was lightening focused. He'd almost forgotten to keep eating midway through the tale in awe as Dappletail and Halftail finished wrapping up the story.
"And that's how RiverClan gained the land behind the river," Dappletail concluded. "To this day, it's said that any RiverClan warrior with leopard spots like Fleetfoot once possessed are being watched by Slysoul herself to see of they can live up to their ancestor."
"Oh like Leopardfur?" Graypaw asked. "She's a RiverClan warrior with those kinds of spots."
"Yes," agreed Dappletail. "She was named for her spots in the hopes that she will be as amazing as Fleetfoot once was."
"...is that why Lionheart is named that way?" Firepaw asked. "Another great warrior in clan history?"
"One of the first leaders of ThunderClan," Halftail remarked. "Lionstar had a massive mane around his neck that's said to be a gift from Bravesoul so he never has to worry about a cat tearing through his throat."
"Lionheart used to be named Sunpaw before his mane came in," Dappletail agreed. "That's all for today now- run along."
Firepaw stood and stretched, yelping as Graypaw almost bowled him over darting from the den. Ravenpaw snickered and followed him, calling a goodbye as he went. Firepaw dipped his head, "Thank you," he said to the elders and then quickly followed his friends to keep from being left behind.
He glanced up at the sun when he was back in the clearing. It was a bit lower than before, it wouldn't be long before it started getting dark. He darted over to Graypaw and Ravenpaw waiting in the center of the clearing.
"What's next?" he asked.
"Lionheart says we have a hunting lesson and then we're done," Graypaw explained. "We're waiting for him to come back with Bluestar and Larkwing."
Firepaw grinned, "What are we hunting?"
"We don't know yet," Ravenpaw said.
"I hope it's squirrels," Graypaw announced. "I love squirrels."
"I like crows," Ravenpaw remarked. "What's your favorite prey, Firepaw?"
"Sheep," he said.
"What's a sheep?" Graypaw asked.
"They look like deer but with fluffier coats and curved long horns," Firepaw explained. "The Sun keeps a lot of them specially for their fur. The wild ones are huge- one of the packs brought one in. Three cats could've rode on its back!"
"Woah," Graypaw and Ravenpaw said in awe.
"I hope I see a sheep with Larkwing," Ravenpaw purred. "Only the small ones."
"Yeah," Firepaw shivered. "I don't ever want to meet a live wild sheep."
"They can be very intimidating."
The apprentices glanced up as their mentors approached. Only Larkwing and Lionheart had come this time- Firepaw wasn't surprised. Bluestar was the leader and had her own tasks to attend to and she's spent the entire day patrolling with Firepaw.
"You've seen one?" Graypaw asked in awe.
"Some of them roam near the Mothermouth in new-leaf," he explained. "They don't go in but sometimes they block the entrance."
"Cool!" said Graypaw enthusiastically.
"You'll see one eventually," agreed Lionheart. "As for prey; we're starting on your hunting forms. Usually we head to the Sandy Hollow but it's late and you've been up since dawn so this lesson will be short and then you'll be free."
"Okay," they agreed. Firepaw was relieved. As excited as he was to learn to hunt properly, he was bone tired and ready to sleep on his paws.
The lesson was as short as promised. They displayed their hunting crouches to their mentors who critiqued them and helped improve their stances.
"Put your tail down- any prey would see you coming from across a clearing."
"You need to step carefully and pay attention to your surroundings- while you're hunting prey, something else could be hunting you."
When they finally had an even stalk, Lionheart and Larkwing dismissed them to do as they wanted. They all agreed that sleeping was what was on all of their minds. The apprentices all clambered into their nests, relieved that the den was empty and got comfortable.
"Ashara, guide my family's paws and may you not lead them home anytime soon," Firepaw murmured tiredly.
He rested his head on his paws and was out in seconds.
