Larkpaw woke to a hazy, gray dawn. A few cats were awake and lurking about the camp, and it seemed as if a couple of them were leaving for a morning patrol. Moonpaw was nowhere to be seen, but Berrystep was still snoring away in the corner. Larkpaw rose to her feet slowly, testing each one before putting weight on it. Her left front leg had been hurt the worst, and it tingled a little when she stood on it, but nothing was as bad as she had thought it might be. Suddenly Larkpaw remembered why she was even here in the first place.
"I've got to warn everyone!" she murmured to herself, and took a step. Her paws twinged, but nothing serious. She took another, and another. Larkpaw stiffly made her way out of the medicine cat's den and into the full glory of the swirling fog. Little rays of pale sunlight shone through the mist, and she could clearly see the curly-cue eddies where cats had walked; it was so thick. She continued walking through the camp, hoping to run into either Moonpaw or Aspenstar. She was in luck.
"Ah, Larkpaw, the little invalid!" he purred slyly, sauntering up to her. Larkpaw smiled innocently.
"Aspenstar! I have some news for you, from my…ah…travels," she meowed. Aspenstar sat down.
"Okay, inform me," he demanded shortly, looking blandly into her eyes.
"Well…" Larkpaw didn't know where to start. Aspenstar coughed purposefully, and Larkpaw twitched her tail impatiently.
"Well, I met a group of cats from the north of the mountains, and they…um…they told me…"
"Spit it out, apprentice."
"They said that they were going to come and drive the Lake Clans out of the valley, so they could have it for themselves." Larkpaw blurted, and almost laughed at herself. The idea was preposterous…unless you had heard it with your own ears, like Larkpaw had. Obviously, Aspenstar hadn't.
"And we're all going to die?" Aspenstar snorted. "Nice story, FireClan. Next time I'd like to hear about how StoneClan helped RainClan in their time of need!" He trotted away, laughing hysterically. Larkpaw sighed. She hadn't expected him to believe her, but at least now, if she died in the battle, StarClan couldn't blame her for not telling anyone.
"Larkpaw! Your awake!" It was Moonpaw's welcome meow.
"Moonpaw!" she purred, turning to him. The white apprentice was striding towards her, his tail held high.
"How are your legs, any better?" he asked kindly, licking her swiftly on the ear.
"Yes. They were very stiff this morning, but I've warmed them up a bit, and I can walk just fine. The only wound that still hurts is this one on my flank," she meowed, indicating the torn flesh on her side.
"Hm…" Moonpaw looked at the cut quickly, then turned back to Larkpaw. His eyes were filled with something…something Larkpaw couldn't quite place. She shifted uncomfortably. No cat had ever looked at her like that before.
"I think it will be fine in another day or so," Moonpaw said. He pressed his muzzle behind her ear. "Just don't lick it too hard," he murmured. Larkpaw let out a soft purr.
They wandered off to another part of the camp, chatting casually about the weather, and the quality of the prey. Finally, when they were sitting next to each other, staring out across the moor n the half-light of dawn, Larkpaw said timidly,
"You know, Moonpaw, I've been thinking…" she turned to face him. He looked at her, his eyes suddenly worried and uneasy. "Well, it's just that…I should get back to my Clan. I've got to tell my father something, and let him know I'm alright," mewed Larkpaw, giving him a reassuring lick on his shoulder.
Moonpaw relaxed slightly. "I understand. Your right, he's probably sick with worry," replied the apprentice. "I only wish…"
"What?" asked Larkpaw peering at him, questioning.
"Well…we're from different Clans, and I'm a medicine cat…we can't ever be together, not without disobeying StarClan and the warrior code," said Moonpaw softly, turning to face her, his blue eyes now pools of anguish.
"It's true. But…" Larkpaw pressed against him. "How can it be that way? How could StarClan wish for us to always be apart? That can't be their way," Larkpaw mewed.
Moonpaw only nodded, and they said no more on the subject.
"About you going back to your Clan, I think you should, as soon as possible. How soon do you think you can travel?" asked Moonpaw, brushing her legs with his tail.
Larkpaw flexed her paws. "I'm not quite sure. I don't feel bad taking a couple steps and walking around the camp, but I'm not sure how traveling would treat me. It's not that far, I suppose," she said.
"No, it's not," agreed Moonpaw. They talked about it for a while, but neither of there hearts were in it.
"Moonpaw? Moonpaw?" mewed Larkpaw. It was the morning of the day that Larkpaw was to travel back to her Clan. They had agreed with Aspenstar that she should stay with LeafClan until she was fully healed, and able to travel comfortably.
"Moonpaw? Are you awake?" she whispered into the den. Moonpaw's glowing blue eyes opened, and it took him a moment to register who was calling his name.
"Oh, Larkpaw. Your leaving today," he said sadly, getting up.
"Yes, I am. Aspenstar says that you're to accompany me to FireClan. Oh, Moonpaw, I'm so excited to be returning!" meowed Larkpaw cheerfully. She had stayed with LeafClan for a whole moon, and finally she was ready to leave.
"It's wonderful for you, I'm sure," said the medicine cat, brushing past her into the crisp morning air.
"Oh please, don't be like that! You know I'm not happy about leaving you!" mewed Larkpaw trotting beside him on his way to the fresh kill pile.
"You certainly seem very happy to be going,"
"Oh stop! I never want to be apart from you, it's just that I've missed my father and my mother and Gustpaw and Huntingpaw so much…"
"Huntingpaw!" growled Moonpaw, whirling about to face her. "You miss him so much do you? Then go ahead, go!" snarled the apprentice. Larkpaw stopped short.
"What's gotten into you?" she cried, her eyes pleading. "What's wrong?" she mewed, backing away from him.
Moonpaw's face softened, and he turned back to his fresh kill, his expression now a tired, forlorn one.
"Moonpaw?" purred Larkpaw carefully, coming to sit beside him. "You know that I…I…I love you so much. Really I do," She pressed her pelt against his.
"I'm just sad to see you go, that's all," said the white apprentice.
"I understand. But you'll escort me back to the camp, right?" Larkpaw asked.
"Of course I will," said Moonpaw quietly, pressing his muzzle against hers. "Of course I will,"
The two cats made their way to the edge of the camp, where Aspenstar sat waiting with a few other warriors.
"We will walk with you to the LeafClan border," he said, and then his eyes narrowed. "So don't try anything,"
With that last, chilling comment, the party was on their way. Larkpaw bounced with joy on the soft grass, stretching luxuriously, and shaking her fur all over. She danced around Moonpaw, laughing, her blue eyes sparkling. But as soon as the scent markers at the border could be detected, she stopped, and her head began to hang.
"This is where we leave you," declared Aspenstar sharply, and without even a goodbye he sprang away, flanked by his clan mates.
"Well, I'm glad we don' have to ay goodbye to each other yet," said Larkpaw softly as she and Moonpaw crossed over into FireClan territory.
"Yes. I'm-I'm going to miss you so much!" cried Moonpaw, pressing against her. Larkpaw was silent for a few moments.
"We won't ever be together again, will we?" she said slowly, as more of a statement than a question.
"No," was Moonpaw's only reply. They both were quiet, than Larkpaw broke into the frosty stillness, "Well, I'll be glad to see my father!"
She immediately knew it wasn't the right thing to say.
"Of course you will," said Moonpaw soberly, taking a step farther away from her.
"Why did you do that?" asked Larkpaw, her heart suddenly clenching.
"You won't miss me, if you have your father," murmured Moonpaw.
"How can you say that?" But Moonpaw had no chance to reply, because a FireClan patrol had just come sprinting through the trees, and stopped next to Larkpaw. They didn't see the thin white apprentice slipping away into the trees.
"Larkpaw?!" cried one of the cats in a mix of fascination and horror. "Your-your alive?"
"Yes, Tabbytail, I am. Plainly and simply. I have returned,"
"You sound different. You look different. You're older, much older! It's been three moons!"
Larkpaw's eyes sparked. "No it hasn't. It's only been one and a half!" she meowed suspiciously.
Tabbytail opened his mouth to reply, but Darkpool stepped quickly in front of him.
"Your father will want to see you. Everybody thought you were dead," said the she-cat without emotion, turning back into the forest.
"Dead?" whispered Larkpaw, following the group.
"Well, when you didn't come back, we assumed…you hadn't had any training, we could only guess…" said Tabbytail, falling in beside her.
"I suppose so. But dead? I most certainly was not," Larkpaw remembered with a twitch of pain how alive and wonderful she had felt with Moonpaw in the LeafClan camp.
"So it seems." Tabbytail raced ahead, leaving Larkpaw alone at the back of the group.
At first, when they emerged in the FireClan camp, so one seemed to notice her, then suddenly, Quicktail, the deputy, cried out, "Look! It's Larkpaw!" The loud screech cut through the chill air, and Larkpaw cringed. Every cat's head shot up, and yowls of surprise erupted among the Clan. Immediately, a brown shape hurled itself from the den above the Highledge, and Larkpaw found herself being smothered by her father.
"Larkpaw, my Larkpaw! Your alive!" he screamed, pressing his muzzle into her shoulder.
Larkpaw rolled her eyes. She had just about had enough of this whole, 'we thought you were dead' business.
"Yes. That is rather obvious Daddy," she muttered under her breath.
"Aren't you happy to be home?" cried her father, pulling back and looking lovingly into her eyes. For a moment, Larkpaw almost answered, 'But Daddy, I was so at home in LeafClan! With Moonpaw!', but she realized what it meant just in time, and answered instead, "Of course Daddy! I've missed you so much!"
"So have I, Larkpaw, so have I," whispered her father, looking her up and down.
"You seem…different, though. You carry yourself higher. What happened to you?"
Larkpaw halted, her heart pounding. 'What do I say?',she thought frantically, her claws sheathing and unsheathing with panic.
"I…ran into a group of rogues, and they clawed me up very badly," began Larkpaw. It was half the truth. Suddenly, she had an idea. "And, and they said that their whole Clan – yes, a whole Clan of them – was coming to destroy the Lake Clans! I had to stay with a loner for a while and heal. We've got to do something about the rogues, Daddy! They weren't kidding!" Larkpaw cried, ending with a bang.
Brackenstar's eyes softened. "Okay, Larkpaw, we'll deal with the rouges, don't you worry your little head about it! Now go get some sleep!" he said kindly, licking her ear. Larkpaw saw the laughing glance her father shot to her mother. In that instant, something changed in Larkpaw. The feeling welled up inside, like a frantic beast pushing to be released from it's cage.
"I'M NOY A LITTLE GIRL ANYMORE, BRACKENSTAR!" she screeched, leaping to her feet. Brackenstar jumped back, his eyes wild, and then he realized that it was his daughter who was screaming.
"WHY DO YOU TREAT ME LIKE I DON'T KNOW WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT! I'M NOT JUST PRETENDING! THESE CATS WILL STOP AT NOTHING TO GAIN A HOLD OF OUR TERRITORY! THEY TRIED TO MURDER ME, FATHER!" cried Larkpaw, glaring at Brackenstar harshly. The usage of his name instead of Daddy, seemed to be what had truly hit the leader hardest.
"If this is the welcome you give me," said Larkpaw, turning her intense stare on every cat in the camp, "Then maybe this is not where I belong after all," she hissed coldly, and slipped quietly out of camp once more. Brackenstar stared after her, realizing what a grave mistake he had made.
"Moonpaw?" Larkpaw had just flown headlong into the chest of the white cat, and she was picking her self up, puzzled. "What are you doing here?" she asked.
"I heard you screaming, so I came back. What happened?"
Larkpaw hissed. "My father." It was the only explanation Moonpaw needed.
"Stay here with me tonight. We'll wait until tomorrow to see what your father thinks," said Moonpaw laying his tail comfortingly across her shoulder.
"But, Aspenstar-"
"I will deal with him when the time comes." Larkpaw nodded.
"Okay. Thank you," she murmured, dropping down onto the forest floor. They were quite near the Moonpool, and both cats felt safe. Moonpaw watched as the stars rose in the pitch sky, and his heart began to thud, realizing what this could mean for his future. He was putting his life as a medicine cat, and a part of LeafClan, on the line. Aspenstar wasn't a cat prone to forgiveness.
Larkpaw's thoughts were mostly on her father, Snowfoot, and her future as well. Despite the fact that she hadn't had a mentor, she had learned so much during the past few days. She had even learned a few fighting moves from the LeafClan apprentices, and her near death experience with Blackclaw had certainly inspired her with the courage to face anything. Maybe when I get back to FireClan, father will make me a warrior, thought Larkpaw, but she soon dismissed the idea.
The moon was full and emitting a throbbing glow that night, but soon, it's face was sliding back down behind the trees.