Ooohgoshohgoshohgosh busy weekend. So this chapter is another gimpy/rushed one. Only, I don't really feel so bad since I gave you guys two chapters this week. And that's pretty dang good.
So, onto the story!
In a way, she's everything I expected. And in a way, she's not. I never tried to picture her—really picture her—in my head, but when I imagined seeing her, I guess I expected her to share my dark brown tabby coat, or my yellow eyes. The shape of our faces are similar, and I see now from where I inherited my long legs, but everything else looks so different. Her fur is longer, more sleek from her time spent in and around water, than mine. She lacks the light step of any WindClan cat, but moves with a grace that looks like it belongs underwater rather than on this island.
"Owlpaw," she says, the words finally coming out. She licks her paw as she tries to calm herself, looking anywhere but at me. "What are you doing here? You didn't sneak across the border, did you?"
"No," I answer, also looking away from her. "I've joined RiverClan—for at least a moon, anyways. Hopefully longer."
"But why?" Briarclaw asks. It's clear from the tone of her voice that she knows exactly why, but she probably doesn't know yet about Rockfur's death. She wouldn't have any way to.
"Everyone return to your duties," Crookedstar says loudly to the crowd of cats still gathered around us. "Leave them alone—and if I hear of anyone causing trouble, I will personally find a fitting task for you to do in your apparently overwhelming amount of free time."
RiverClan instantly disperses, heading back to a nap or padding over to the fresh-kill pile in the corner. Crookedstar nods to Briarclaw, who returns the gesture thankfully, before disappearing under the roots of the large willow at the head of the camp. She turns back to me. "Let's find a more...private place."
I nod, but not knowing RiverClan's territory at all, I just follow Briarclaw to the wall of reeds. She stops, struck with a sudden idea, and says, "Wait here," before loping off and disappearing into one of the dens on the other side of the camp. A few moments later, she reappears with a jet black she-cat trailing sleepily after her, her paws fumbling over one another. Her green eyes are luminescent when she looks up.
"Briarclaw, where are we going?" the apprentice asks through a yawn. She freezes, her jaws still open, as she catches sight and scent of me. She must have slept through my entrance. The fur along her back bristles, and Briarclaw traces her tail along the young cat's side reassuringly before leading the way out of camp.
The apprentice doesn't speak, but follows Briarclaw. She eyes me suspiciously as she passes, but offers up nothing in the way of conversation, warning or otherwise.
After a repeat of my poor attempt at swimming and a long walk through the fields, we arrive at a stubbly little patch of trees. Briarclaw slips under their cover and waves her tail for the apprentice and me to join her. By now, I've got a pretty good idea who the apprentice is—and for that reason, I can't look at her directly. I'll steal a few glances at her every now and then, trying to see any similarities, but nothing jumps out. Just looking at us, you'd never know we came from the same litter.
"Nightpaw, this is Owlpaw," Briarclaw says, her words soft like she doesn't want to scare the apprentice off. I wonder if she knows about Rockfur and me; that half of her family is from another Clan. "Owlpaw, this is Nightpaw. You'll be Clanmates from now on."
"He's obviously WindClan," Nightpaw says, her lips jerking into a scowl. "What do you mean he's going to be a Clanmate?"
"I joined RiverClan today," I say when Briarclaw doesn't venture forth an answer. I still can't look at Nightpaw, even though I can feel her bright eyes burning into my pelt, so I focus instead on my paws. "If, after a moon, Crookedstar decides I can stay, then I will be a permanent RiverClan cat."
A shiver goes down my spine at the words. It's one thing to think about being in RiverClan, but quite another to say it out loud. It feels as though speaking it somehow solidifies it and makes it real, turning it into a binding promise I'm obligated to uphold. In a way, I am. I have nothing left if RiverClan turns me away.
"Why would you leave your Clan?" Nightpaw asks, and now she's looking between Briarclaw and me, knowing that she's out of the loop in something that we're both well aware of. She just doesn't know who to ask. I look to Briarclaw as well; I'm not about to be the one to say it.
Briarclaw finally sighs when it's apparent I won't answer. "He's your brother, Nightpaw."
"What?" Nightpaw demands, jumping to her paws. Her tail lashes behind her, hitting the branches of the low trees and sending down a spiral of leaves that catch and stick in her fur. "What do you mean I have a brother? A brother from WindClan, no less! When were you going to tell me? If he hadn't showed up, would you have ever?"
"It didn't seem necessary to trouble the both of you," Briarclaw says, retaining her calm. Her eyes flick to me and narrow. "We both agreed not to tell either of you. What happened to make Rockfur change his mind?"
"He died," I say very quietly. The rustling of the leaves in the late afternoon breeze seems absurdly loud. I would have said even comically so if not for the circumstances. It's just the leaves and the wind and two very large pairs of eyes staring at me.
"Was Rockfur my—our father?" Nightpaw asks. Her tone is a little less harsh and accusing now, replaced instead with curiosity and quiet melancholy. She sits down again.
"Yeah," I say, the image of his blank eyes looking up at the sky mingling with the eyes of Briarclaw staring at me now, filled with shock and belated pain. "Yeah."
Briarclaw stands abruptly, and Nightpaw and I both look up at her. "I'm going back to camp," she says, her voice a little tight. "I'm sorry. We can talk more later."
"Okay," I reply, and watch her run away. I'm almost sure she's not going back to camp. Maybe she'll return to one of her and Rockfur's old haunts, where they would meet in secret and say all the things they had wanted to over the past weeks.
"So…you're in RiverClan now?"
I turn to Nightpaw, who's watching me with more than a little uncertainty. She shifts awkwardly from paw to paw, and I wonder when it was that she stood up.
"Um, yeah."
A brief pause. "Who's your mentor?" Nightpaw asks, looking pleased for having come up with an appropriate topic. Her eyes are bright in the late noon sun, and even though they're a different color than Rockfur's, something about them reminds me of his. A weight presses down on the inside of my chest.
"Rainstep," I answer. She scrunches her nose up, and I ask, partly alarmed, "Why, is something wrong with her?"
"She's just a little…strange," Nightpaw says hesitantly. "She's never accepted an apprentice before now because she said they weren't interesting enough. I don't know what exactly she means by interesting, but…" She shakes her head. "She's sort of eccentric. I don't think there's any harm in that, but, well, just be careful."
"Careful?" I echo.
"Sometimes she goes a little mad," Nightpaw says, twisting the tip of her tail by her head. "If you know what I mean."
"And that's who Crookedstar chose to mentor me?" I ask, feeling my initial enthusiasm at being able to hang on for a moon sinking bit by bit. "He must not like me very much."
"Oh, don't get me wrong," Nightpaw says. "Rainstep is a fantastic warrior. One of RiverClan's best. Crookedstar was probably thinking that now was the best chance he'd get to have her take an apprentice, and that you need a good warrior if you want to stay here."
"Do you think so?" I ask, still uncertain.
"Yes," Nightpaw answers solemnly, and then she starts laughing. A moment later, I've joined her.
XXX
"This is the edge of RiverClan's territory," Rainstep says. Her tail flicks back and forth behind her as she stares out across the river towards a large pile of rocks on the other side. "Over there is Sunningrocks. It belongs to us, but is temporarily in ThunderClan's possession."
"Why is that?" I ask carefully. Throughout my tour of RiverClan, I've learned to ask questions with caution, and to think them through before I ask them. This one seems reasonable enough.
"Don't be stupid," Rainstep scoffs. "ThunderClan took it from us. Why else?"
I hold back a sigh deep inside my stomach. It's been like this the entire day, and we still have to circle back around to cover the other half of RiverClan's territory. Rainstep is certainly knowledgeable enough; she's pointed out every kind of landmark that could help me find my way, and even though she complains, she'll answer all my questions. Albeit, sometimes it's with another question.
It's just that she doesn't seem very into it. Whereas Redclaw had been practically tripping over his paws his head was held so high the first time he showed me around WindClan's territory, with Rainstep, it just feels as though I'm annoying her.
We're still watching Sunningrocks when a strange smell washes over me. It takes a moment for me to identify the woodsy scent, and by the time I do, the ThunderClan patrol has already appeared on the opposite bank.
Rainstep stiffens, her eyes narrowing. "Hello over there!" she calls. "Fine day to be hunting, isn't it?"
A blue-gray she-cat steps forward and nods, waving with her tail for her other three Clanmates to stay back. "Greetings, Rainstep."
"Bluefur."
Bluefur's ear flicks toward me, and even though I'm nearly certain she doesn't look at me, I get the feeling that she's focusing on me rather than Rainstep. "The prey is running well, I hope?" Bluefur asks, her tone and expression politely unreadable.
"Swimming well, yes," Rainstep answers. "It would be quite amusing to see a fish running. Then again, it would make them much easier to catch."
"I suppose it would," Bluefur agrees. She gives me a single glance before turning over her shoulder and waving her tail for the other cats to follow. "Farewell, Rainstep. Until the Gathering."
"Until the Gathering," Rainstep murmurs, but it sounds more like a threat than a promise.
When the ThunderClan cats are gone, Rainstep turns and leads me in a different direction than the one we took to get here. "What was that all about?" I ask.
"Be more specific," Rainstep says testily. "What was what about?"
"You and Bluefur," I clarify. "It looked like you don't like her very much."
"Nonsense," Rainstep says dismissively. "It is nothing more than the usual Clan rivalry. I would treat every non-RiverClan cat as such."
"Oh," I say. "I see."
"No you don't," Rainstep says. "But that's alright. It doesn't much matter one way or another."
"Maybe I would understand if you actually bothered to explained," I say. I don't even know what we're talking about anymore, but I do know that Rainstep is starting to get on my nerves with her superior attitude. I might just be an apprentice who came from another Clan, but that doesn't mean I'm stupid. Nor does she have to treat me as such.
Rainstep looks surprised as she says, "I did explain. Were you not paying attention?"
It occurs to me that Rainstep might act this way with every cat she speaks with. I sigh. This is going to be a long moon.
So starting from here, I have four straight weeks of finals. Two this week, one the next, two after that, and then one more. –dies– So, uh, wish me luck. I'm gonna need it.
Pleeease please please review! I want to know what I'm doing right or wrong and if you like it. =3