Chapter 12

"Burning Hollies."

5/8/18 - 5/16/18 - 5/17/18 - 3/4/19 - 11/6/19 - 12/4/19

~ Hollyflame ~

Hollyflame keeps her head low to the ground, she can see Twigpaw's fur through the ferns as the light gray apprentice stalks a distracted squirrel. Twigpaw is only three rabbit lengths from her catch.

Come on. Hollyflame wills the apprentice. Just a little more, you almost got it.

Twigpaw flattens herself on the ground, and Hollyflame's stomach clutches with apprehension. No, don't!

Her apprentice leaps to the squirrel - while at the same time alarming it, Twigpaw's claws clip the squirrel's tail as it runs into the plants. Hollyflame growls in annoyance as she leaves her hiding spot.

"Why did you rush into it?" She questions Twigpaw. "You were too far to pounce on it, you should have waited before making a move!"

"Then it would have gotten away!" Twigpaw snaps.

Hollyflame bristles her fur and narrows her blue eyes.

"Twigpaw, you're forgetting who you're raising your voice at."

The light grey she-cat blinks and lowers her head. "I'm sorry."

Hollyflame says nothing but uses her tail to move Twigpaw away from the hunting spot and guide her back to camp. The black she-cat feels stinging burns in between her toes, wincing with each step.

"Hollyflame?" Twigpaw squeaks.

Her mentor didn't seem to hear her, Twigpaw lowers her head again, thinking that she upset Hollyflame. Twigpaw, however, notices small blue sparks flying around Hollyflame's paws.

"How was hunting?" Poppyflower asks her sister.

Hollyflame snorts, running her paw on a wood pigeon.

"Twigpaw rushed to catch a squirrel, she lost the squirrel and her mind. She actually snapped at me."

Poppyflower blinks, sympathetic.

"We're under a lot of stress right now, I'm not surprised that the apprentices are feeling it, too."

"I still don't like it."

If Twigpaw was becoming rebellious, Hollyflame wanted to break the habit before it becomes a problem.

What if those rogues come back, and Twigpaw rushes into it like a headless pigeon?

Hollyflame notices the faint, blue glow on her paw and tucks it under her chest.

"Hollyflame?"

The black furred, blue-eyed she-cat glances to Suncloud as she pads to her.

"Can you see me in the medicine den?"

Hollyflame sighs, excusing herself to Poppyflower before following Suncloud inside the medicine cat den. Suncloud makes the black she-cat rest on her side and hold out her front paws, much to her quiet distress.

There's nothing wrong. You are fine. She tells herself.

Suncloud delicately holds Hollyflame's paw, acutely aware of the black furred warrior's stare on her. She feels a hint warmth radiating from Hollyflame's paw. Suncloud uses her claw tip to poke Hollyflame's paw pad, and flickers of blue appear from her toes.

"Ouch!" Hollyflame takes her paw back, glaring at the medicine cat apprentice. "Are we done here? I need to get something to eat!"

"I'll get someone to bring you prey." Suncloud offers, standing up. "I just need to clean out the elders nests, be right back!"

With that, the bright ginger she-cat leaves the den. Hollyflame huffs, laying on her stomach with her front paws tucked under her chest self consciously.

The bramble screen rustles and gains Hollyflame's attention. Windstorm pads in with a finch and Rosefoot following behind him. Windstorm gives Hollyflame the finch, much to her surprise.

"How are you feeling, Hollyflame?" Windstorm asks gently.

"... Fine, thanks."

Hollyflame is slightly wary of the two senior warriors, even though they were close friends of her mother. What could they want?

"You don't sound fine." Rosefoot snorts, fixing her mint green eyes on the black she-cat. Windstorm gives his mate a stern look, but Rosefoot takes no mind to it. Hollyflame doesn't know if it's due to her blindness, but chances are is that Rosefoot simply nonchalant to the expression that her mate is giving her.

Nonetheless, Windstorm returns his attention to Hollyflame.

"Suncloud told us that you weren't feeling too good."

"I don't know what gave her the idea." Hollyflame retorts, looking at the wall.

"Twigpaw told her."

The mention of her apprentice made Hollyflame roll her eyes.

"She didn't need to do that."

"... Hollyflame, we know." Windstorm says, his amber eyes gleam ominously.

"We know."

The black she-cat feels her body temperature drop, and the heat rush to her paws as a stinging pain hits her chest. Hollyflame jumps up and to find cobalt blue embers bouncing off her front paws and lighting up her nest.

"No!" Hollyflame wails in fright. Rosefoot rushes to the nest with clump of earth attached to her paws, slamming them on the embers and putting them out.

Windstorm gently brushes his paw on Hollyflame's ears in an attempt to calm her down. "Deep breathes, you can't let your emotions take control like that."

"I'm sorry!" Hollyflame weeps, crouching down and burying her head in her paws.

Rosefoot pokes Hollyflame on her crown. "The embers barely started, Hollyflame. You're still weak, which is good. Goldflame made a whirlwind of fire the size of a tree when she was just a kit, from what I was told."

Windstorm tucks his paw under Hollyflame's chin, making her look up from her paws.

"Hey, you must know why we're here right now. You don't have to go through this alone. Me, Rosefoot, Graystream and Goldflame, we all worked together to get a better control over our powers, we can do the same for you."

"H-How?" Hollyflame hiccups. "I burned a rogue during the fight, and if Twigpaw saw the glow from my paws, what does it mean for afterwards?! What if I lose it and burn her?"

Hollyflame gasps. "Oh, StarClan, Acornfall would kill me if I harmed Twigpaw! Littlestar might exile me, then what?"

"Wow." Rosefoot says, flatly. "I've heard so many 'what if's' scenarios from first time queens, but this needs to stop."

"I just wish Mom was here." Hollyflame whimpers, resting her head on Windstorm's shoulder. "She would help me…"

"She would." Windstorm agrees, fondly remembering his foster sister. "She would pull you up by the scruff before she'd offer to help. But Rosefoot and I are still here, and we're going to give you the proper help to control your fire."

Rosefoot quickly raises her paw when Hollyflame prepares to call their bluff.

"And before you doubt us, keep in mind that the four of us trained together in a clearing every night, and we still remember the techniques of how Goldflame controlled her powers."

"We're here for you, Hollyflame." Windstorm says. "We'll talk to Littlestar - privately - and we'll take you to the clearing to start your training."

"What about Twigpaw?" Hollyflame asks. "I don't want her to get left behind in her training."

"Can Twigpaw keep her muzzle shut?" Rosefoot questions.

"I… believe she has good judgment."

"I didn't hear a yes." Rosefoot sniffs. "If someone finds out about your fire while you don't have control, it will throw our Clan into a panic. And trust me, if they freaked out about us having powers, they'll do it again."

Hollyflame sniffs, wiping a stray tear with her tail tip.

"Okay… I'll do it."

Hollyflame knows she's being hasty in her decision, but she didn't want to take a chance and hurt someone unintentionally, especially her own apprentice or littermates.

StarClan, please let this work.

A/N: Hiii to anyone who has the patience of a saint… It's been, like, what, two years officially?

*takes in deep breath* Where do I begin with this one? I'll just start with the fact that I've avoided posting stuff because - the last time I posted - there was a concern I had when on one of the stories I read mentioned bots/spammers flooding their reviews. I decided to hold off because there was no way I wanted that while I was inactive or caught up in something.

Then, I wanted to post my chapter, I really, really did, but there was always that concern about the situation and held off on it.

Next up is the Vision of Shadows. Oh, and SPOILER ALERT for VoS and Broken Code!

I honestly didn't expect SkyClan to be canon and while I loved that they were able to make it to the lake, however, being the ever perfectionist I am I looked back and realized how my books were, in my opinion, not canon with the current books and found myself in a dilemma.

And with that, ho boy. I'm my own harshest critic when it comes to stuff like this, and I just stepped away from writing A New Dawn afterwards after I started stressing over it. That, and I feel as though the story has been a boat load of nonsense and have been reluctant to touch it.

Plus, I've been dabbing in other fandoms such as The Dragon Prince, Miraculous Ladybug, And am currently in love with/obsessed with My Hero Academia, lol.

But I was going on my profile when I saw a new message in my PM, and it was from Troutflop (I have a weird feeling that I got their name wrong, my memory is horrible these days).

The message they left me… it was the sweet thing, and I felt utterly guilty for spending so long in self pity. I feel like I owe everyone an apology and a thank you for being incredibly patient, and if you lost interest in Moon River because of my long absence I honestly don't blame ya. It's been a very rough, long year and I hope to at least post this chapter to make up for lost time.

In my opinion, I'd rather have this out and let you know that I am thinking about you guys and Moon River - as much as I feel that the plot has become ridiculously convoluted (like seriously, why did I include Hawkfrost?)

Oh well. That's basically the cards I picked, I just need to figure out how to make it work!

Again, thank you all and my sincerest. Have a good evening. ~ Kyubi

Edit: OMG I FINALLY FIGURED OUT HOW TO MAKE THE EDITS WORK! Was it always this weird or am i really out of touch? ~ Kyubi