As they approach the river together Gingerpaw is careful to keep a little distance from Silentpaw. The walk there was peaceful, but leaving the medicine cat den was full of tension. She got the feeling that Cloudfang and Nightstar disagreed on a few things. The pair of them slid down the sandy bank, controlling their descent with careful pawsteps. Gingerpaw laughed as she slipped, sliding down on her stomach.

Silentpaw did one of his soundless laughs, his face beaming back at his friend. "I'm gonna take as long as possible to get these reeds, I don't fancy going back to camp with the current vibes" Gingerpaw told him as he approached a clump of strong tall reeds topped with a brown cylindrical head, sitting down on his hind legs in preparation for collecting them.

She watched him reach up with his paws and grapple with the reed. It wasn't snapping that easily. "Just grab it with your mouth," Gingerpaw advised. He paused and looked at her questionably. She huffed, walked towards him and gently nudged him out the way.

Reaching up she clasped the woody stem in her jaws, using her bodyweight to pull it back. She thought it would be easy. With a grunt she kept taking steps back, tension in the stem evident but refusing to snap. Another step, and another, just one more. The noise of ripping fiber accompanied Gingerpaw and she tumbled head over heels. She didn't need to look or even hear anything but she knew he was laughing at her.

Nonetheless she had a reed bagged, he didn't. "Sthee ith workths" She spoke through the reed before spitting it out and grimacing at the bitter taste of the stem. "I'd like to see you try!" She retorted as Silentpaw covered his mouth, but his eyes were still doing that crease thing eyes do when someone smiles.

Picking up the reed with her mouth she thwacked him with the tip playfully. Silentpaw looked surprised and hopped away, Gingerpaw began to chase him. Unfortunately for her his long legs gave him an easy time of running away from her. She saw him hide himself behind a clump of reeds a little ahead. Dropping down into a hunter's crouch she carefully stepped towards the clump, reed held ready in her jaws to get him.

She wasn't expecting a cascade of reeds to be pulled back and hurled at her. Each one hit her side in succession. Silentpaw's dirty scheming face popped out from behind the reeds as they wobbled back into place. "Alright Mr clever kit, you win" She laughed, dropping the reed and punching him in the shoulder. The tom flicked her ear with a well aimed claw, small and sharp.

He'd always done it, like a ear tweak. He did it a lot when she was getting too boisterous or too much as a kit.

Gosh, being kits felt like so many moons ago. It was probably closer to a moon now. She sighed loudly. "It's like it used to be" Silentpaw made eye contact so she knew he had her full attention. "Everything used to be fun and carefree. It's like we became apprentices and then everything went a bit downhill"

Her friend sighed and looked at his paws. She frowned, he looked guilty for some reason…

"I mean Leopardheart went a bit cuckoo, then she got killed, THEN her kits disappeared. They're probably dead, lets face it" Gingerpaw flicked some sand in an agitated fashion. "The gathering, Troutfin-"

Silentpaw rapped her leg and looked around like all of Duneclan was about to descend upon her and then proceed to ignore her and not feed her. "Fine, I'll codename him mackerel face" Silentpaw seemed to ease up a little, but his eyes continued to look around with paranoia.

"Nightstar didn't even mention what he did! I'm assuming it was because of the gathering, but it wasn't made clear. Also wasn't made clear why it's okay to let an elder potentially starve for half a moon" A pause.

"Actually, coming to think of it, no cats with authority questioned it, my mum didn't question it! It took Glowpaw, an apprentice with the sense of humour of a kit!" It was sort of a whisper rant. Silentpaw nodded in agreement. "It's terrible, I hate him as well, miserable old sod, but he doesn't deserve this"

Silentpaw dipped his head in agreement before leaving her side to try and collect reeds against. It felt like he'd purposely put an end to the conversation. "Is this conversation over?" She asked, a little irritated. He simply nodded.

By the time it was late afternoon the sun had become a little stronger as the clouds dispersed. It was lucky for Gingerpaw, a sun made fur slightly easier to dry. Peachy rays of sun tinted the surface of the training pool as Crabfang sploshed about as a warmup for the lesson. The reeds to the back of the pond rattled gently as small waves rippled in the wake of Cloudfang.

Gingerpaw sat by the waters edge feeling like she had rocks in her stomach. After how Brambledip had treated her she felt like she was hopeless, she'd never learn, She'd never be a 'real' Duneclan cat. The last part was nonsense but it nibbled away at her consciousness. Crabfang did his final lap before pulling himself out of the water, water dropped off his thick fur and pooled into the sand.

"Righty then! I'm all warmed up and no complaints from the leg. If you could just do a lap to show me what you can do and we'll go from there" Her mentor sounded so faithful in her ability to actually swim. Gingerpaw looked out across the pool. It looked anything but inviting.

She dipped a paw in, already hating the sensation of water clogging up her thick fur. Another paw was forced in, then her back paws. She waded in, not wanting to push off. Crabfang was still watching intently sadly, so she forced herself to swim. Her paws couldn't seem to pummel the water quick enough, her head went under, resurfacing a few seconds later. This cycle of not being able to breath and then being able to breath again continued until she did her lap.

She was greeted by Crabfang looking a little confused, but still smiling at her. "Good, well done!" He told her, sliding into the water once again. "I noticed you struggle with keeping your head up, do you not feel as confident with swimming as you do fighting and hunting?" Gingerpaw was almost surprised he'd ask. "Um. Yeah" She mumbled meekly.

"What do you find difficult?" The large tom inquired.

"All of it. Can't keep above water" She told him meekly. He seemed to pause a moment to think. He waded out a little further. "Let's get your legs moving, get you above that water" With a flick of his soggy tail he motioned for her to come over.

"If you stand by my side, I can hold you up. Just start moving those legs and we'll go from there" He seemed to say 'we'll go from there' a lot.

She did as he said, feeling his paws support her belly and chest, just lifting her paws off the bottom of the pond. She began to flail her limbs around in the usual style or panicked swimming. "I want you to try and keep those paws straight in front and behind you, line them up with the rest of your body"

She took his advice, beginning to feel a little less nervous as his paws ensured she wouldn't sink. He chirped with approval, "Good good! Keep those toes together, as soon as they splay you stop pushing the water away as effectively".

She was already feeling a little bit better. Brambledip never did this. He'd just forced her to half swim half drown in circles whilst making humiliating comments and Shadedpaw watched. He wasn't a good teacher, to her at least. He'd never liked her, not that she'd ever really given him a reason to hate her as much as he did. He seemed fine with Shadedpaw, just stern.

She was so lost in thought about the injustice of it all she didn't realise she was moving forwards. The movement came to her attention, she looked behind her to see Crabfang had let her go and she was a fox step away from him. She also realised her feet couldn't touch the bottom anymore.

It was like her brain went into panic mode, her paws reverting back to a messy stroke, paws splaying. "Crabfang!" She gurgled as she dipped under the water. Water filled her ears but she could still hear the sound of her paws cutting through water. She felt jaws grab firmly onto her scruff, pulling her out the water.

Keening over, she spluttered, a pool of wet sand forming around her body. "Well done! That first part was excellent, already an improvement" The tom seemed genuinely proud of her measly fox step of water before drowning again. She started laughing "I didn't get far!"

"Well you're learning and it takes time, swimming is hard. We all learn at different paces. I believe 100% that you'll get there with more training" Crabfang said comfortingly. The sun had dipped a little bit further, turning the sky a dazzling pink colour. A sunnier and warmer tomorrow hopefully. The clearing the pond sat in was no longer doused in sunlight, causing Gingerpaw to shiver.

"Let's get back now so you don't freeze" Her mentor nudged her up onto her feet again. "Good training today Gingerpaw, I'm proud"

She smiled through her chattering teeth. At least someone was impressed.

Reviewer responses!:

Succulentsofa: Glowpaw wants justice as well as being the FuNnY GuY

Mintflight0245: Thank you for reviewing! I like writing dark stuff, I'm told I'm good at it (I hope I am)

ReadingEevee: Nightstar's behaviour i...interesting to say the least. She does have good reason (In her opinion) to behave in that manner

We made it to Chapter 17! This is the chapter where the original stopped. I've already progressed the story so much compared to the original (nothing much happened) and fleshed out characters. I'm still enjoying writing it and I think I'll try writing non-warriors stuff for fun sometime. Thank you for reading, your reviews are appreciated!