SEAPAW

Sea-blue eyes flickered open slowly, the strong sunlight creaking into her eyelids from the entrance of the small cave. The cave had been created over countless moons, the wind slowly eroding a hollow in the rock. The cerulean eyes belonged to a small silver tabby she-cat, who slowly rose to her paws, shaking the scraps of moss from her fur. She jumped, tail bristling, at the sound of a loud snore next to her, but relaxed as she gazed down at a big ginger tabby tomcat. The silver queen let a small smile cross her muzzle as she looked fondly at her brother, Duskpaw. They had been assigned trainers only the night before, and she was looking forward to their first day of training. The dark ginger tom looked peacefully content, obviously in the middle of a good dream. The young female saw two cats, one a dark brown tabby and the other with longer, light gray fur, further back in the learners' den, curled up together in a deep sleep, and recognized Mudpaw and Typhoonpaw, the sons of Dovefeather and Tornadostorm.

The silver she-cat turned her attention back to her dozing brother and swept her long tail, on which the stripes grew lighter and lighter until they appeared almost white at the tip, along her brother's flank soothingly, trying to wake her brother in a friendly way. Duskpaw blinked open his soft amber eyes, confusion clouding them.

"Duskpaw," The silver tabby mewed gently, her voice barely able to contain her excitement, "It's our first day as learners! We should go find our trainers!"

The ginger tom's golden eyes lit up with excitement, and he sprang to his paws, shaking the scraps of moss from his fur like his sister had just moments ago. He let out a purr that rivaled that of an IslandClan cat, and his red tabby tail swished with anticipation.

"I thought it was a dream, Seapaw," Duskpaw purred happily, his chin held high in pride, "It feels too good to be true! I can't believe that we're going to be protectors soon!" The silver tabby, Seapaw, let out a soft purr of amusement, closing her blue eyes for which she was named in happiness.

"Don't get ahead of yourself, Duskpaw," A new voice, lower and more mature, sounded from farther back in the learners' den. Both siblings turned to see a pair of friendly blue eyes staring at them, "It's only your first day as a learner, and you must devote many moons of loyal service as a learner before you will become a protector of MeadowClan."

"Hello, Typhoonpaw," Seapaw meowed politely, dipping her head to the much elder learner. Typhoonpaw and his brother, Mudpaw, were the sons of two very respected protectors of the Clan; Dovefeather, who was the fastest cat in MeadowClan, and Tornadostorm, who was the delegate and would take over as ruler when Sandstar passed on into IslandClan. "I thought you were asleep."

"I was, but you two were mewling loud enough to wake all the prey in the forest!" Seapaw felt a jolt of guilt in her stomach, until she noticed that Typhoonpaw's dark blue eyes were friendly. The long-haired light-gray tom prodded his brother, Mudpaw, with a front paw, meowing, "Come on, you're being lazier than Bluefire, and she just got over whitecough." Mudpaw murmured something inaudible, but rose to his paws, too.

Seapaw dipped her silver head politely to the two brothers, and padded out of the learner's den, her pawsteps quick and soundless. She squinted her ocean-blue eyes as the sun streamed down, making her silver pelt shine even more. She noticed three cats slipping through a small tunnel in the thick brambles that surrounded the camp, and recognized Tornadostorm, the delegate of MeadowClan, who had a very dark gray tabby pelt with neatly groomed white paws, returning with the dawn patrol. His yellow eyes had a worried expression as he exchanged a few words with Falconclaw, Seapaw's father, who was about to leave on the sunhigh patrol with Snailstripe and Nighthawk. Seapaw tilted her head to the side, puzzled as to what could worry the young delegate so much this early in the morning, but was distracted a moment later by the arrival of Sandstar.

He was a powerful looking cat, despite his rather small size, for his muscles were lean and rippled under his white pelt, which had several ginger tabby stripes. His green eyes blazed with a certain confidence, and Seapaw always felt like a mewling kit next to her ruler. She had been very puzzled when Sandstar had announced yesterday evening that he would be her trainer. Rulers hardly ever trained learners that were not kits of the deputies or their own, so she had been wondering what she did to deserve such an excellent trainer.

"Good morning, Seapaw," The light tabby meowed in his low voice. Seapaw felt her stomach twist in slight discomfort; she was not quite used to making small talk with her ruler, who played such an important part in the history of her Clan. "How was the learners' den?"

"I-It was quite comfortable, thank you, Sandstar," The silver tabby stammered, silently cursing herself for stumbling on her words. You sound like a mousebrain! She yowled at herself inwardly. Sandstar, however, let out a light purr, his sand-colored tail curling up in amusement.

"Relax, Seapaw, you'll be fine," The light-colored tomcat briefly touched his tail to the learner's pelt. "Today, I'm going to show you the boundaries and the key parts of our territory. Does that sound all right?"

"Does that sound all right?" Seapaw repeated, her voice squeaking like a kit's in her excitement. "That sounds better than all right!" Sandstar gave her a brief nod of approval, and took off in a quick jog towards the bramble tunnel. Seapaw had not been expecting to leave so soon, and she found she had to run to keep up with her trainer. Sandstar glanced over his shoulder several times to see if she could keep up as they ran through the undergrowth. Seapaw gazed all around her as she sprinted through the forests that gave their Clan its name. The trees stretched high into the skies towards IslandClan, their warrior ancestors. She could not help but feel a sense of awe as she realized that her warrior ancestors had once run through this same forest. The two MeadowClan cats continued to run past the trees and into the meadows, where, Seapaw had heard from the elders, most of their favored prey, voles, were found. Seapaw felt her muscles begin to ache, for she had never been allowed to run like this in the camp as a kit. Sandstar came to a sudden halt along a meadow, and Seapaw noticed how tense he was, every hair on his pelt alert for danger. For a moment, she thought she saw a flash of fear in his emerald eyes, but she thought she must have imagined it, for he seemed to appear braver than ever now, padding confidently towards the edge of the tall grasses.

"Come here, Seapaw, and sniff the air," Her ruler mewed very quietly, and she approached him with silent pawsteps. The silver tabby parted her jaw and let the scent drift in, and was surprised that it smelled so unforgiving and harsh. The smell was vaguely familiar, obviously a Clan cat, but the scent seemed to carry more of a salty, sea-like taste to it.

She scrunched up her nose at the unfamiliar scent, and Sandstar added, "This is the border with CoralClan. Once, CoralClan and MeadowClan were allied closely, but then the delegate, Runningstream, was killed in a battle against us. We were fighting to keep the small pond, called Fishingpond, that is further down along this border. Fishingpond has always belong to MeadowClan, but CoralClan has always desired to expand their territory to find another fishing place. CoralClan hunts mostly for fish in the huge pond near their camp, or so I'm told. Anyways, Twilightstar never quite forgave us for the way Runningstream died, and her new delegate, Cliffstorm, is much more violent, and determined to avenge Runningstream by claiming the Fishingpond. Twilighstar has declared war on us until we give up the Fishingpond, and they've been fishing here if we don't send constant patrols to watch the Fishingpond."

Suddenly, the worried look on Tornadostorm's face and the tense, nervous way that all of the protectors of MeadowClan seemed to carry themselves became clear. Seapaw gazed at Sandstar with a puzzled expression in her sea-blue eyes, her own silver pelt now prickling with apprehension.

"But why? How could Cliffstorm ignore the code of tooth, claw, and compassion, and even begin to think that IslandClan would approve of war?" Seapaw mewed, tilting her head questioningly as she noticed a gleam of surprise in Sandstar's green eyes.

"Well, quite frankly, I don't care if IslandClan approves," Seapaw spun around, her hackles raised and her silver pelt bristling as she gazed into a pair of unfriendly amber eyes. She hissed angrily as she recognized the brown pelt with smoky black tabby stripes, but inside her heart sank as she recognized Cliffstorm, the delegate of CoralClan. And he was leaping right at her, claws unsheathed, ready to rip at her silver tabby fur.

A/N: So, what do you think? Should I continue? R&R, please!