Rainpaw made sure to crouch low, her tail still and her eyed focused. The apprentice's paws twitched in nervous anticipation, but she obediently stayed put, remembering her training. She could smell Runningspirit nearby, and her fur prickled; he was watching her.
The mouse she had targeted shuffled through the leaves quietly, sitting up on its haunches to investigate a tiny object it held in its forepaws.
Rainpaw held her breath, as though even the slight sound would ruin her hunt, and bunched the muscles in her back legs, tensing to spring. Another moment and she pounced, landing with splayed claws squarely on the little creature. Dazed, it didn't fight to escape as she leaned in, dispatching it with sharp teeth to the neck.
She heard the leaves crunch behind her, and Runningspirit purred softly in pride.
"You're already much better at hunting," he praised, and her chest swelled with emotion. The whole Clan seemed to marvel at the newest apprentices, who were only eight moons old. The five were eager to please their mentors, and Firepaw claimed to have overheard Willowspot talking about an early warrior's ceremony for them. Icepaw was doing just as well, thriving under Berryshine's careful (read boring) guidance.
Runningspirit instructed his young apprentice to grab her prey, which she readily obeyed, the scent of fresh mouse making her mouth water. Greenleaf was truly as fantastic as she'd always heard the warriors say, and it had only just begun. Prey ran well, and Sunspot's kits were fat and healthy, as were the rest of the Clan.
Though, the thought sobered when she spotted Nightfoot and Brackenblaze on patrol together and passing by them, Ashpaw padding solemnly beside her mentor and waving her tail at Rainpaw as she walked by. She craned her head, watching them go with an odd sense of sadness in her chest.
Owlstorm had abandoned the Clan out of the blue, with Willowspot and Cloudfrost tracking her scent all the way to the GoldClan border. Rainpaw had heard that she'd been spotted at the last Gathering, cowering amidst her new Clanmates and lingering close to a big tabby tom, but no one knew why she'd left. Rainpaw just hoped she was happy in GoldClan, though she had no idea why anyone would want to leave FrostClan in the first place.
Her attention was drawn away from the depressing thoughts when she nearly ran into Thornpaw; the bigger tabby puffed up, glaring at her defensively as she stammered out an apology. Runningspirit wasn't far behind, and mrrowed in amusement at the sight of the apprentices, who were now trying to squish together all the moss that Rainpaw had scattered.
"Thornpaw? What are you doing?" he asked, and the tom grunted, shooing Rainpaw to get her out of his way and turning to the roots of the tree he had been clawing at moments before.
"Cloudfrost wants me to collect new bedding for Brick, 'cause he doesn't know how to do it," he muttered, obviously irritated, and Rainpaw almost said something in her father's defense. Runningspirit just gave her a careful glance before flicking the bigger tabby's ear.
"Cloudfrost knows what he's doing. If he thinks you need to fetch bedding for Brick, it's probably important," he said, and she could see Thornpaw struggling not to snort in disbelief that she echoed silently. How could gathering moss possibly amount to anything?
They left the disgruntled tom with his duties, passing by Robinflight and Appleheart, training Rowanpaw and Firepaw, respectively. The formerly-rogue tom's stare lingered on Rainpaw's pelt, and she felt warmth bubble through her and settle into her paw pads, not looking at him and chuckling in amusement when she heard him get tackled by his sparring partner.
The dark tabby had appeared at the border three moons before with his elderly father, Brick, in tow. They had both been starving and surely would have died had Stormstar turned them away. Brick was far too old to hunt efficiently and Rowanpaw (Rowan, at the time) too young and naïve. The smaller tom had become an apprentice with Rainpaw and the rest of her peers, taking Robinflight as his mentor. According to her mother, Rowanpaw was a very hard worker. It was encouraging to know that he wanted to work hard to be a FrostClan warrior, even though he wasn't a true Clan cat…
They padded into camp, Rainpaw's chin tilted up with a bit, Rainpaw's chin tilted up with a bit of pride as she went to set her mouse down on the freshkill pile. Runningspirit looked amused for a moment, flicking her nose with his tail before trotting off to speak with Minnowflight.
"You actually caught something this time?" Rainpaw's ears flattened at the joking tone of her sister's voice, turning to see that the silvery tabby had padded out of the apprentice's den to join her. Her fur burned with embarrassment, and she snorted. "Of course I did. I'm not entirely useless," she challenged, receiving one of Snowpaw's infamous eye rolls.
Though she didn't appreciate her sister's comment, she understood where it came from. She had picked up on hunting the slowest of all the apprentices, and usually brought back less prey compared to the others. She was getting much better, in her own opinion.
"That's the smallest mouse I've ever seen," Snowpaw sniffed in reply, turning to look at her with piercing blue eyes. Rainpaw bristled slightly. "It's fat!" she countered, tail tip twitching and anxiety settling in her gut despite not wanting it to.
"Besides, that's not the only thing I'm gonna catch today! That's just the warm up!"
The silver she-cat looked at her again, whiskers quivering in amusement.
"Then I challenge you to bring back more prey than me by sunrise tomorrow," she announced, competition shimmering in her eyes. Rainpaw's anxiety fluttered but she refused to back down.
"Deal!" she shot back, exhilaration joining the sickening nervousness in her veins.
"What are the stakes?"
Snowpaw blinked, looking a bit contemplative before she meowed, "The loser has to fetch the winner's moss for an entire moon."
Rainpaw set her mouth to keep from backing out, the boring task sounding daunting. But she could do it. She'd been practicing and she would surely beat her sister.
At least, that was what she'd thought.
Three missed birds later and Rainpaw was starting to grow depressed, her heart heavy. Would she catch anything?
She sighed as she plodded along, close to FrostClan's northern border. The earth was sloped under her paws but she didn't have trouble climbing it; it was in her blood to climb, after all. She parted her jaws, taking in the scents of the forest. The air was much clearer nearer the top of the mountain, and she could vaguely make out the shape of a bird, flying high overhead in the cloudless sky. She followed one lazy circle before lowering her gaze to the ground.
She scented the air again and felt nervous relief flood her as she smelled vole.
Her whiskers twitched slightly as she moved, making sure the little creature couldn't smell her as she drew steadily near it.
After a moment Rainpaw was able to hear it, the slight sound of its tiny paws on stone when it moved and its restless gnawing on fresh green foliage. She couldn't see it but she crouched anyway, slowly creeping towards it. She made sure to not step on any twigs or dry leaves, hyperconscious of her last mistakes. She spotted brown fur and fell lower, eyes focused on the little scrap of fur as she wiggled her haunches, getting ready to pounce.
The moment she had sprung forward, she heard a loud screech, and her eyes widened in confusion when her claws sank into soft feathers instead of fur. There was another screech and she was almost wrenched off the giant bird's back, fear spiking through her. The hawk from earlier!
Rainpaw yelped, ducking as a sharp beak jabbed at her, and she looked up into cruel yellow eyes. She gasped, squeezing her own eyes shut. She had to kill it…! She'd made it angry and if she let it go it would kill her instead!
She hesitantly cracked open her eyes, leaning forward to sink her teeth into the feathers at the bird's neck. Another shriek assaulted her hearing and she struggled not to flinch away. She was battled by strong wings but didn't dare let go, repeating her panicky mantra over and over in her head to try to steady herself.
After several long, terrifying moments, she felt the hawk go still. Even then, she didn't let go, frozen with fear. What if it was just playing dead?
It eventually started to grow cold and she let out a breath she hadn't known she'd been holding. The warmth of the Greenleaf sun was fading from the sky and she shivered, looking down at the big bird. Its wings, when spread across, were easily longer than her…
An odd feeling of triumph rose in her, and the feeling bubbled in her throat. She let out a victorious howl, excitement shattering her former fear. Yes! She had caught a hawk! There was no way that Snowpaw could do that!
The only problem now was getting the huge thing back to camp, and Rainpaw could almost hear Cloudfrost's praise. She sniffed at the hawk cautiously, and almost laughed when she saw the little vole she'd been hunting, held in the dead bird's talons. Two in one go!
She tried to drag the hawk by its neck, but its dragging wings tripped her up and she decided to grab one wing tip, trying to make it easier on herself. She managed to get it about six foxleaps down the mountain before she had to stop for a break, panting harshly. The Clan would eat for moons off this thing…
Rainpaw eventually ran into a patrol, and Rowanpaw gaped at her, covered in twigs and mud and dragging a bedraggled hawk. Robinflight helped her carry the thing back to camp, her gray eyes shining with warm love and pride for her daughter. When they entered camp, there was an uproar.
Rainpaw had never had so much attention on her, and purred proudly as she recounted the harrowing tale of how she'd caught the hawk to her fellow apprentices. Ashpaw looked so excited, Rainpaw thought she might go out that instant in pursuit of her own bird of prey. Snowpaw's eyes had widened slightly, but she didn't give any other indicator of surprise. She had to be impressed, but she was hiding it and it almost made the brown tabby want to claw her own fur out in frustration.
Rowanpaw looked so impressed and kept staring at her, and she ducked her head, licking her chest fur in embarrassment. Thornpaw and Firepaw were bombarding her with questions, and Icepaw was just staring at her former denmate fondly, with maybe a hint of jealousy in her eyes.
As predicted, Cloudfrost complimented her, his eyes wide with surprise and pride. She squirmed out of the throng of cats to meet him, where he was sitting with Snowpaw, who'd disengaged moments before. Rainpaw's chin was held high, and she sneered at her sister.
"Bet you didn't catch something as awesome as that!" Cloudfrost gave her a warning look and it confused her. Snowpaw was always insulting her, why…?
"Yeah, but I caught more than you, so you still lost the bet," her sister said decisively, and Rainpaw felt outrage spark in her fur.
"What?! B-but I caught a hawk and a vole-"
"And I caught three mice and a thrush," Snowpaw mewed dismissively, and the smaller tabby wanted to cry. "But that's… not fair!" she gasped, and she was met with a cynical blue gaze.
"You lost the bet, Rainpaw," Cloudfrost reminded, sweeping his fluffy tail over his daughter's shoulders.
"You have to honor your agreement." Snowpaw just glared at her contemptuously, and Rainpaw's tail drooped.
"Fine…" she mumbled, storming past her father and sister and struggling not to run out of camp. Instead she stalked into the apprentice den, too angry and upset to even eat for the night. She covered her nose with a paw to stop herself from sniffling, angry tears pricking her eyes. It wasn't fair in the least.
She wanted to claw at her nest but refrained, trying to get to sleep.
She almost snapped at whoever was entering the den next, realizing it was Ashpaw after a second. She sniffed and turned her head, bristling in shock when the gray she-cat laid beside her, so close their fur touched.
"Sorry you lost the contest," she mewed, and Rainpaw felt her fur burn. Everyone must have seen her confrontation with her sister… She wanted to crawl under a rock. She must have looked like a kit.
"Yeah... I just wish that she wasn't such a jerk about it…" She shrugged, her anger melting away slowly. "I didn't want Cloudfrost to know about it either, because he would have made her the winner even if I'd caught a hundred mice!"
Ashpaw sniffed, trying not to laugh, and Rainpaw glared at her. Her father's obvious favoritism was no laughing matter.
She shook off her amusement, giving the brown tabby a soothing lick to the cheek.
"He was just upholding the agreement," she reminded, and Rainpaw huffed, but knew she was right. The elder tom didn't have to be rude about it, though.
Ashpaw pressed closer, and Rainpaw unwittingly felt soothed by her friend's presence. She sighed.
"Thanks Ashpaw… I'm sorry I was acting like a kit. It just made me mad, is all." Ashpaw just nodded, lips curling up in a little smile. She mewed a few more words of encouragement before they settled in to share tongues, Rainpaw's anger now fully dissolved.
"That hawk you brought in is really awesome. I wish I had the luck to share prey with a big, dumb bird like that!" Ashpaw teased after a few moments, and Rainpaw grunted, rolling her eyes. "It was scary," she said, much to her friend's amusement.
They shared a few more words before collapsing into comfortable silence. Rainpaw appreciated it. With anyone else, silence was mostly awkward. Thornpaw and Firepaw talked too much, and Snowpaw and Icepaw far too little. It was nice.
She didn't remember falling asleep, but when she woke at sunrise, she felt two bodies curled closely to her and blinked in shock. Ashpaw was still lying beside her and Rowanpaw was curled loosely around her, breath soft against her fur. She flushed, laying her head back down on her paws to try to go back to sleep.
Upon finding out that she wouldn't be able to and feeling slightly claustrophobic between her two friends, she carefully got up and tiptoed around the rest of her denmates, the clearing cool from the night. Robinflight was standing guard, and gave Rainpaw a look of sympathy when the tabby crossed to the freshkill pile, looking discouraged again when she saw her ginormous kill stretched across the smaller prey items.
Rainpaw almost hissed in aggravation when Snowpaw followed her out, turning her head so that she could avoid her sister. The silvery tabby sat beside her, lifting a paw to lick and swipe over her face.
"I never said I wasn't impressed with this," she mewed after several moments of silence. Rainpaw blinked in shock.
"You're a lousy hunter and you can't fight for mouse dung, but you caught a hawk and that's kind of hard to ignore," she went on, and the smaller tabby reluctantly turned to her. Snowpaw sat looking over the hawk, her expression still cool and passive. She waited for more words, but it seemed her sister was done.
Still reeling from the confusing words, Rainpaw could only blinked after her sister abruptly stood, trailing her tail briefly over her shoulders before trotting across the clearing to their father, who'd just emerged from the warrior's den.
Rainpaw didn't think she'd ever understand her sister, and chalked it up to their mother's naming. Snowpaw was such a fitting name, and she absently wondered how Stormstar could change it. Maybe Snowslush?