AN: I am seriously late with this update! Sorry! I've done some thinking and I believe I'm ready to continue on with the story…
Let's get to it!
I tried to breath, but found it much harder than usual. I wasn't shocked, I was frozen with fear. The she-cat watched me for a moment before letting a soft giggle trickle out of her mouth as though she wasn't at all surprised by my reaction. "There is no need to worry, little one, you have nothing to fear here; you are perfectly safe," she purred, her eyes shimmering in the moonlight overhead.
That didn't help, not one bit. "What do you mean 'don't worry'? Where am I? Why am I here? Who are you?" I managed to squeak out as I suddenly remembered how to breathe. My fur was standing straight, bristled to the point where I looked twice my size. Instincts took over and my body crouched into the simple pouncing position Blossompaw had taught me. It wasn't much, but it would do in a pinch.
The StarClan she-cat giggled again, light and soft like my namesake. She gave me a small smile before she took a seat and wrapped her tail around her paws. "I will try to answer your questions to the best of my abilities, but I can tell you now, you are not in StarClan," her mew was calming, "it isn't your time to join our ranks yet."
My body relaxed immediately with relief. Thank StarClan, I whispered inwardly before turning my full attention to the starry she-cat. She was beautiful; even more so then my mother whom I believed was the most beautiful of the clan. Her fur was long yet smooth with a very pale gray coloring and faded tabby stripes. Her eyes, a beautiful orange, looked like the full moon as they gazed at me. I had no idea who she was, but something told me that I could trust her. I followed that something and took a seat so that I faced her.
She nodded approvingly and flicked an ear as if to begin a training session. "Since I've already answered your first question, why don't we move on to the second; where you are?" She raised her tail and waved it across the landscape. It was lush and green with fresh dew clinging to the blades of grass that shimmered in the moonlight like stars. I didn't recognize it from the camp, but I still hadn't seen the forest yet. "We are sitting in a place I like to call the Starlit Fields; it is a place that sits between StarClan and the other clans. Every cat that dies meets their late kin and friends here then are brought to StarClan where they join the ranks. I have greeted many old friends here as they passed into StarClan; I was also greeted by my parents and littermates when I came to StarClan." She looked across the fields as though she was remembering all the friends and clanmates she had greeted on their journey to StarClan. I watched her as she remembered, but she soon turned her attention back to me.
"The third question is a bit harder to answer; why are you here? To be honest, I can only tell you a little bit on that subject." I peered at her curiously. Why can't she tell me? Is someone making her not tell me? I pushed the questions to the back of my head as she began to speak again. "StarClan has chosen you to save your clan. They want you to-"
"Wait, save the clan?!" I squeaked, shocked. "I'm an apprentice! How am I supposed to save the clan? I haven't even learned how to climb a tree correctly yet, much less know how to hunt at night! I can't do it!" She glared at me, obviously annoyed by my interruption and flicked her tail dismissively. I quieted down quickly and brought my ears back, ashamed at my own outburst. "I'm sorry. It's just… I'm young, inexperienced and I haven't even decided if I can be a warrior, much less save the clan."
She still glared at me, but her annoyance wavered as though she could understand my reluctance to believe her. Slowly, she let her tail fall back around her paws and shifted her hind paws ever so slightly. "I know that it seems… well, flea-brained, but StarClan believes that, given time, you will prove that you can save the clan and your clanmates alike. Every cat in every clan has a destiny that they must follow, but how they follow it is completely up to them." She paused, raising her head to look at the Claw-moon and glittering stars overhead. "We of StarClan try to steer them to the right path, but it is their choice." Slowly, I followed her lead and raised my eyes to meet the Claw-moon and stars above us. My ears flicked back to how they usually sat and my eyes widened; never before had I seen so many stars in one sky.
I wanted to stare at it for a long time, but the starry she-cat seemed to think that we had little time. "You may think it's impossible, but you will have friends to help you along the way, a few of whom you've already met. Some you will meet soon enough." She cocked her head as her eyes smiled at me with a knowing look. I think I knew who she meant, but I wasn't going to chance it.
Suddenly, the stars began to vanish, and the light along with it. I shot to my paws in surprise. The moon started to fade and the starry she-cat began to fade along with it. "Wait! I have more questions!" I tried to run to her, but with every pawstep, she seemed to be fox-lengths away. She faded to the point where she was like the mist that flowed into the fields. "Who are you?" I yowled, desperate for an answer.
Her fur glowed as she faded into nothing, but her voice still reached my ears. "Next time, I will tell you much more. But now, you must wake up…"
My eyes flew open and I leapt to my paws, fur standing on end. I looked around, trying to find her, but found that I was no longer in the field and she was no longer in front of me, fading into the mist. Sunlight rained through the opening of the Apprentice den as I slowly came to realize that I had been dreaming. "A dream, yeah, that's what it was, a dream. It was all a dream," I mewed quietly as I sat myself down on my haunches. I tried to convince myself that it was just a dream, but it was too unbelievably to be only a dream.
"Hey, mouse-brain, get your tail out of my mouth!"
I turned to find myself facing a very annoyed Blossompaw. I blinked and quickly whisked my tail out of her nest. "Sorry if I woke you up, Blossompaw, I didn't mean to." I tried to sound cheerful as I tapped her on the shoulder with my tail tip. "I was just waking up, so I'll be out of your way."
She watched me before nodding and curling back onto her nest. I sighed, and stood again. May as well see who else is up. Maybe I'll see the dawn patrol as they head out, I purred as I made my way out of the den. The light struck me hard and I had to blink a few times in order to adjust them to the brightness. I had never woken up so early before, so it somewhat interesting.
My paws led me towards the fresh-kill pile where a small group of warriors were already eating. Sparrowkink, Lilyfur, Spottedwing and Ravenfeather were gathered around sharing a squirrel before the rest of the clan woke up. Ravenfeather was the first to notice me, raising his head in surprise. "I guess my apprentice is an early raiser," he meowed as he straightened himself to greet me as I approached. The others perked in surprise as I took a seat beside the black tom. "I'm surprised you woke up so early, most new apprentices sleep in the first night," Lilyfur purred.
My fur warmed as I nodded understandingly. "I guess I wanted to see what goes on in the clan so early in the morning, I've never been up so early so I was curious." I shrugged and glanced around. The little group I sat with wasn't the only one. Featherstar and Rockflower sat together at High Oak with their heads bent close together; Frailwhisker and the other elders were already sunning themselves beside the small stream that ran through camp; Firewhisker and Hollypetal were just exiting the medicine cats' den with a few bundles of leaves in their mouths. I was somewhat surprised to see the clan so busy so early.
Ravenfeather nudged me and nodded towards a mouse. "You should eat up; Rockflower told us that we would be on the dawn patrol." He smiled as he stood and stretched himself out. He began to walk away when he turned and smirked. "I told you I'd show you the forest today, didn't I?"
For a moment I was confused but then I remembered and my face lit up as I nodded. He continued to smirk lightly as he walked towards another group of warriors. I could hear Lilyfur and Sparrowkink chuckle as I dove for a mouse and devoured it. "Careful, furball, you don't want to swallow a bone or something do you?" Lilyfur mused jokingly.
Soon enough, a patrol of Rockflower, Lionstripe, Ravenfeather and I assembled at the entrance to the camp. Rockflower looked over us with her calm amber eyes as she nodded and began to lead us out of the camp. I was excited, but nervous at the same time; I had never left the camp before, I'd never been anywhere without my brothers before. It was so frightening that it was exciting. Ravenfeather seemed to sense my emotions and nudged me encouragingly.
"Alright, it's all clear out here. Come on through one at a time," Rockflower called from the other side of the brambles. Ravenfeather nudged me forward. I glanced at him, took a breath and walked through the opening and out to the forest beyond. As thrilling as it was supposed to be, my fur had to be stubborn and get tangled in some of the thorns. Since my mentor was right behind me, he was able to claw me loose to the point where I could move again. After a while we managed to get outside. Lionstripe glanced at the stray tuffs of my fur in the thorns and tried to hide a smirk.
"I guess I should have warned you about how well done that tunnel of brambles are, huh?" Ravenfeather almost looked ashamed. I smiled and shook my head. "Its fine, my fur has always been high maintenance, so it's nothing new to me." He seemed to perk up and nodded to Rockflower, giving her the signal to continue on with the patrol.
We padded along, Ravenfeather pointing out things like the training grounds, hunting spots and the like, until we reached a river with willow trees hanging low over it. "Why are we stopping here?" I looked to Rockflower and Ravenfeather questioningly. Rockflower answered my question, "This is the border between RiverClan and ShadowClan. We may just see a patrol on their side if we stay here long enough, but that would make us look a bit suspicious." Just as she finished speaking, a small patrol of cats emerged from the willow trees tendrils and looked at us inquisitively.
The largest of them, a dark gray tom with sharp blue eyes, stepped up to the opposite bank, looking directly at Rockflower. "I didn't expect to see a patrol so early, I thought ShadowClan stuck to the shadows," he hollered across the river.
My fur bristled in anger, but I flattened it immediately. If he was trying to pick a fight, he was making a bad move. Rockflower pulled her lips back to reveal sharp white teeth. "We walk where we want whether there be shadows or not, as long as we are on our territory," she sneered.
The gray tom knitted his brows, thinking of a comeback when a pretty pale gray cat stepped up to his side and nudged him away from the bank. She glared at him and whispered something under her breath before turning to us. "I'm sorry for our rudeness; it's just odd to see you all out by the border to early." She was kind, yet careful with her words. She was trying to halt any fighting, not start it. A tiny blue-gray cat beside the she-cat, her apprentice I guessed, meowed in agreement.
Rockflower let her lips fall back over her teeth and glanced towards the she-cat and nodded. "We decided to show one of our new apprentices around." She flicked her ears towards me and the she-cat's amber eyes followed. She smiled lightly and nodded.
"Well, it was nice to see you all again." The she-cat and the patrol turned to walk back through the willow tendrils when the she-cat halted and turned to look at Rockflower over her shoulder. "By the way, Rockflower, we saw a fox wandering around your territory up river a little ways. We would have scared it off but we didn't want you to get the wrong idea."
Rockflower stiffened at the mention of the fox but nodded. "Thank you for telling us, Lavenderwhisker. We will take care of it and drive it away from the clans as soon as possible." I looked up at the deputy curiously. She almost sounds… Afraid? I shook my head, Featherstar and Mintleaf had told them stories of the warriors of ShadowClan scaring away numerous foxes without any trouble, one more meant nothing.
They watched the RiverClan patrol vanish between the swaying tendrils of leaves and until they stopped shaking; Rockflower released a long sigh that she must have been holding since the mention of the fox. Lionstripe glanced at his former mentor before looking down at me. "We should probably get moving; make sure that the fox isn't far into our territory. If it makes a den, it will be a lot more trouble to get rid of." He tried to coax his former mentor into continuing the patrol, which she, reluctantly, did.
As they passed me, I glanced upriver where Lavenderwhisker had said they'd seen the fox. I saw nothing, but something made the fur on my back prickle uneasily. This fox could scare the deputy just by mentioning it, which was no easy feat. I looked towards my retreating clanmates before I slowly began to move away from the river.
Mistpaw glances back once then was gone. Miststar watched on silently from the willow tree and smiled; this kit was definitely interesting. She was, however, worried for Rockflower. It seemed that her last encounter with a fox still haunted her, just as this one would if anything went wrong. Still, the starry she-cat purred, Mistpaw will have her first trial soon enough. She glanced over her old territory before fading into the mist in order to watch the events that would soon unfold.
I really liked how this chapter came out, the next one may be interesting and yes, it is mainly from Mistpaw's POV, but will switch occasionally between Miststar, Frailwhisker and a character that I will introduce next chapter.
Also, I have looked over your reviews and changed some things around in the story. Originally, it was going to be Lionstripe and Mistpaw as a couple, but seeing how many people liked LionXBlossom and MistXWolf, I've decided to go with that because it seemed to make a lot more sense.
Look forward to the next chapter; it should come in a few days.
Make sure to review to show your support,
Ouka-noir