Okay, here we are! Chapter 13! I don't know how many chapters are left, but hey, we made it to chapter thirteen!
Aaand thank you SO MUCH Trinity, for reviewing! I appreciate your review so much!
Also... new POV!
Please review? I would appreciate it soooo much!
Mothpaw sat up in her bed. Tigerpaw was asleep on her right, his chest rising and falling with each breath. His nose was twitching; she suspected it was because he was having a pleasant dream.
She turned her head over to Stoatpaw, who was a completely different story. Her eyes widened as she looked at him. His face was contorted into a deep grimace, and his body was rigid. Just as she was about to leave the den, his body relaxed, and she watched him fall into a much calmer state.
She sighed, setting her head on her paws. "I miss home..." she whispered, burrowing her nose into her nest. "I miss Daisykit... who's probably Daisypaw, anyway... and Sugarberry! But... at least I have Kestrelwind..."
The Hailclan camp had been all she'd known for six moons. She had been Daisykit- no, Daisypaw's sister, living within the comfort of Sugarberry's flank and Kestrelwind's love. The whole clan believed they loved each other, until Kestrelwind's lie slipped and she was now in an unknown clan amongst unknown cats.
She didn't let anyone see her true feelings about Steamclan. The cats were nice, sure, but... Deerheart didn't seem like her mother. It had always been Sugarberry, who loved her and cleaned her as a kit. And cute Daisypaw, with her black and white patched pelt and glowing amber eyes. She had told Daisypaw they'd grow up to become amazing warriors and maybe even leader, but now... she sighed, closing her eyes.
"... Mothpaw?" the golden apprentice sat up, her each perking. Looking to the entrance of the den, she saw the form of a cat. Upon closer inspection, it was Deerheart.
"... Oh. Hi." Mothpaw mumbled, flicking an ear. She gingerly got up from her nest to join her mother by the entrance to the den. "Er, hi, Deerheart. Why're you up so late?"
The cream she-cat sighed. "Can't sleep," she muttered.
"Me neither."
"Do you want to walk with me?" Deerheart asked, looking at Mothpaw expectantly. She then shied away, a dejected expression taking over her face. "It's ok if you don't want to, I understand."
"No, Deerheart, I-I'll walk with you." Mothpaw meowed, stepping towards her mother. Deerheart turned around and nodded her head, and the two she-cats stepped out of the den and into the cavity that was their camp.
Mothpaw would never get used to it. The Hailclan camp was in a beautiful valley filled with prey and fir trees, and the leader, Beetlestar, had always been so kind to her. It might be because Kestrelwind is his sister's son, so I am his kin. Mothpaw had reasoned when she was a kit.
Thinking about her life as a kit made her wonder: who was Daisypaw's father? Everyone had assumed that she and Daisypaw were siblings, but... why hadn't Daisypaw come with her?
The two she-cats crawled out of the cave, and Mothpaw followed her mother to a beautiful clearing. Only by studying the claw scratches in the dirt and the obvious scratches on the trees did she realize that it was their training field.
Deerheart sat down, staring at the moon. "Mothpaw, I will tell you a story. Once upon a time," she said quietly, turning her gaze to her daughter, "there was an apprentice. She had a brother and a sister who were both kits, and loved them dearly, despite being older. She was an apprentice alongside two others, a handsome white tom and a pretty brown she-cat. She loved the white tom, until she went on her first border patrol.
"She patroled the Hailclan border and met a young tom much like her: an only child, somewhat of a third wheel. They met at a gathering and became fast friends. When they were warriors, they met on their own, and had a young kit.
"This kit was what they loved most in the world. She was tiny and cute, and loved to play. But they had nowhere to take her. So, her father took her to his clan while her mother went to hers. The little kit grew up alongside another little kit, who was born only days before and had no siblings. The secret was kept safe... until her father became lonely.
"So now, her, her father, and her mother lie happily in her mother's clan, where she made new friends and soon forgot the old ones." Deerheart sat up, and turned to her kit. "That kit was you, Mothpaw. I want you and Tigerpaw to become friends, and I want you to help Stoatpaw. He's a good tom, both of them are."
Mothpaw was at a loss for words. She hadn't expected her mother to tell her her coming-into-existence story quite like that. Deerheart whispered, "Mothpaw, Kestrelwind and I love you. I want you to know that."
Mothpaw pressed into her mother's fur, welcoming the warm tongue that pressed into her temple. The more she thought about it, the more distant Daisypaw and Sugarberry seemed. She was content right there, sitting in her mother's arms beneath the silvery light of the moon.
Mothpaw woke up to find Stoatpaw asleep in his bed, and Tigerpaw gone. She turned around quickly to go find the tom, but was stopped by a barage of kits.
Two of them were she-kits, and were obviously playing a game. They quickly became annoying to her, but the tomkit just stared at her in wonder. She wondered why.
"Mothpaw! Come play with us!" it was the small brown kit, Larkkit, she thought. Larkkit bounded up to her, her big, green eyes shining from the sunlight that came into the cave. "Or, if you're too busy, can Stoatpaw play with us?"
"Stoatpaw's... busy," she lied, and sending the kits off to play on their own. She spotted Brambleoak, and was quick to ask where Tigerpaw was.
"Oh, I think he's cleaning out the elder's pelts!" she told her, and Mothpaw thanked her, heading to the elder's den. She passed Deerheart, who was sharing tongues with Kestrelwind, a half-eaten thrush laying nearby. She wondered if her parents would have any more kits; since her talk with her mother last night, younger siblings didn't seem too bad.
Then, she spotted him. Her heartbeat quickened as she caught sight of his surprisingly muscular pelt, and his gleaming white fur. Even as he cleaned ticks out of the elder's pelts, which were dripping wet from the nearby pool, he gave off somewhat of an air of dominance and nobility.
"Uh, h-hey, Tigerpaw!" she called, padding up to him. She swallowed, her throat going dry. "Do you think I could help?" she asked, gesturing to the mouse bile that lay sitting on a leaf. Tigerpaw shrugged, and she got to work on one of the elders- Kalethroat, she believed.
"... That was some fight yesterday." Mothpaw breathed when the tension became thick, "Stoatpaw didn't stand a chance against you. He's just so... fat, and pudgy. I don't see how he can be a good warrior."
"Be careful watchyu say, young'un," Kalethroat snapped when Mothpaw finished. "Our own Wheatstar was as puny an' pudgy as dear ol' Stoatpaw ova there!" he gestured to the apprentice's den. Mothpaw watched Stoatpaw exit and become bombarded with the kits. "'E's good wit the kits, too! If 'e was a medicine cat, he'd be every bit as good as Hazelface!"
Tigerpaw winced, and Mothpaw blinked. The two apprentices sat in silence until they were finished, and the elders left them. Mothpaw went to fetch themselves a mouse and a vole respectively. As Mothpaw dug into her mouse, Tigerpaw began shaking his head.
"Don't listen to Kalethroat. Stoatpaw's just on the chubbier side of things. I don't think he was meant to be a warrior apprentice, but it's too late now." Tigerpaw said, his fur bristling. Mothpaw nodded in agreement, swallowing her bite. "I mean, look at him! Rolling on the ground with a bunch of kits. I don't need to feel guilty for a tom like that! That move he pulled yesterday was a dirty one."
Mothpaw blinked, finishing her mouse. She licked her lips and reclined on her side; she was starting to get used to the feel of the smooth rock against her fur. It was soothing.
The day passed quickly, and soon, Mothpaw went to bed wondering if training Stoatpaw was even worth it.
This chapter was more of a filler chapter, but it does bring to light a little about Mothpaw and how she acts.
Pleease review! Still trying to get to my goal of 10 reviews!