Sandycloud opened her mouth, yawned, and stood up. Her head bumped against the rocky roof. "Ow!" she hissed, rubbing her head with a paw. The roof of the apprentice den must have sunken overnight. And then it hit her again. She wasn't in the apprentices den. She was in the warriors den. And she was a warrior! Sandycloud could have whooped with joy. After a long time of waiting and waiting, she had finally achieved her goal. She was a warrior, just like all her friends. She stretched and padded out of the den.
Stiff cold hit her as she padded outside. She did her best not to shiver. At least six moons had passed since she had become a warrior, and now it was almost leafbare. She spotted Frecklecloud laying down near the entrance to the nursery, watching her kits playfight. Birdkit, Peachkit, and Sparkkit would be apprentices soon, probably today. Next to Frecklecloud, Swirlstream rested in the shade of some withering ferns. Frailwing was curled up next to her. Both of their stomachs bulged. They would be giving birth this moon, that was what Webclaw had said.
Near the apprentices den, Streampaw, Pigeonpaw, and Crystalpaw shared a large rabbit. Close by them, Leopardpaw and Flowerpaw dozed off. Flowerpaw seemed to have gotten over Tabbypelt's death, although her eyes watered every time his name was mentioned.
Sandycloud's thoughts shifted to the Gathering after she had been made a warrior. When Flamestar had announced the new warriors of FireClan, there had been cheering and chanting. Until Flamestar said Sandycloud's name. Only FireClan chanted her name. Shellstar just stared at Sandycloud, and Pinestar hissed and stuck out his tongue. Patchstar stayed silent. Only a few cats from the other Clans came to congratulate her. Applepool had been one of the first from CloudClan to cheer for her. Sandycloud smiled. Applepool was a loyal friend.
Sandycloud gazed around. Where was Duskwing? And then Sandycloud spotted her, right next to Bloodfeather. A broad grin sprouted on Sandycloud's face. Duskwing and Bloodfeather had gotten veeeerrryy close over the moons. Sandycloud wouldn't be surprised if she woke up one morning and heard Duskwing yell, 'Sandycloud, Bloodfeather and I are having kits, YAY US!!'. The thought made Sandycloud fall over laughing even at the most serious of times.
She walked over to the pair, still smiling. Duskwing turned to face her and frowned. "What are you grinning at? You like Fogpelt when he wakes up every morning."
Sandycloud had seen Fogpelt when he woke up in the morning. And it wasn't that pretty. "Is that an insult?"
"No," Duskwing meowed quickly. "I couldn't think of anything else to compare you with, that's all."
"Ah." Sandycloud plopped down by them. "Soooooo... What'cha doin'?"
"Oh, we were just discussing how much rabbits look ugly in mustaches," Bloodfeather meowed in a solemn voice. "They really should look at their reflection in a puddle. Once they saw how ugly they looked, they'd die and we wouldn't have to kill them ourselves."
Sandycloud stared at him. "I lost you the minute you started talking about mustaches, whatever that is."
"A mustache is a curly thing that grows on the bottom of one's nose," Bloodfeather responded. "It looks like a furry worm."
Sandycloud glanced at Duskwing. "Could you translate for me please?"
"How can I? I don't know what the heck he's saying!"
"Forget it," Bloodfeather interrupted. "Listen, if you didn't know what I was saying, try talking to an Indian."
"What's an Indian?"
"Don't you guys watch TV!?"
"Erm... no..." Sandycoud mumbled.
"What's a TV?" Duskwing asked.
"Never mind." Bloodfeather rolled his eyes.
"Bloodfeather," Sandycloud began, realizing something. "Have you been sneaking into Twoleg nests again?"
"What? Me? No way!" The guilty look on Bloodfeather's face gave him away. "All right, fine! I confess!" Bloodfeather sobbed in Duskwing's fur. "Please don't behead me! Anything but the beheading!!"
Duskwing rolled her eyes. "He must have learned that from his "TV"."
Sandycloud nodded.
A yowl from the HighBoulder made them all turn around. Flamestar stood facing the cats, his fur blowing wildly in the cold wind.
"Cats of FireClan!" Flamestar yowled, raising his voice as the wind began to become high pitched. "Frecklecloud's three kits are ready to become apprentices. Birdkit, Peachkit, and Sparkkit, come here."
The three kits bounced up to meet him. Peachkit had an excited look in her eye, Birdkit was bouncing up and down, and Sparkkit was... just standing there. Looking bored.
"Birdkit, from this moment on you shall be known as Birdpaw," Flamestar meowed to the excited Birdpaw. "Your mentor will be Duskwing. Duskwing, teach Birdpaw your skill and knowledge."
"Oh, I will," Duskwing meowed eagerly. She kneaded her paws against the ground and raced up to touch noses with Birdpaw.
"Sparkkit, from this moment forth you are now Sparkpaw. Your mentor will be Silverclaw. Silverclaw, pass on your good humor and energy to Sparkpaw."
"You can count on me, dude!" Silverclaw meowed, touching noses with Sparkpaw, who still looked bored. Flamestar looked confused at the mention of the word 'dude'. He opened his mouth, then closed it again and shook his head. "Peachkit, from now on you shall be known as Peachpaw. Your mentor will be Ravenwhisker. Ravenwhisker, I trust you to pass on your fighting skills and strength to Peachpaw."
Ravenwhisker merely nodded and touched noses with Peachpaw.
"There is nothing else to report," Flamestar meowed. "Lightningfur, organize the patrols."
Lightningfur jumped up onto the HighBoulder. While he talked to the Clan, Sandycloud padded into the nursery to visit the queens. By now the queens had gone into the nursery to stay out of the freezing cold.
"So glad you could drop by, Sandycloud," Frailwing murmured drowsily. Beside her, Swirlstream yawned and fluttered open her eyes. "The cold makes me sleepy."
"I can see that," Sandycloud meowed as the two she-cats yawned.
"Look," Swilstream meowed. "I'll be having kits soon. Webclaw says it'll be any day now."
"Same with me," Frailwing replied. "I wonder what it's like being a mother?"
"I'm sure it'll be something wonderful," Swirlstream mewed.
Sandycloud felt a pang. She was in love with her leader, who already had a mate. It wouldn't work out. Sandycloud had sworn that she wouldn't take any other mate. She would probably never experience the joy of having kits.
"Anything wrong, Sandycloud?" Swirlstream's voice jogged Sandycloud out of her thoughts. She shook her head quickly. Swirlstream settled down in her mossy nest. "Oh, ok then. Hey, maybe when I have kits you can mentor one of them. You deserve it, you know."
"Thank you, Swirlstream," Sandycloud meowed, dipping her head. A few moons ago, there had been a battle between WaterClan and FireClan. Sandycloud had ended the battle by taking away one of the WaterClan leader, Shellstar's, lives in order to save Flamestar. After that, she wasn't the cat that everyone teased and spat at. Now she was respected among almost all the cats of FireClan. Almost, anyway. Snowyfeather made sure of that.
"I'll let you rest now," Sandycloud meowed to them, seeing their eyes starting to close. They nodded and curled up in a tight ball. Sandycloud left the den slowly, then raced quickly to the warmest spot in the camp, the medicine den. She took cover there, shivering.
"You sick?"
Sandycloud looked up and saw her friend, Grayflower, standing nearby her with some herbs next to her paw.
"No, just shivering." Sandycloud's teeth chattered as she said this. She gritted them together, making the chattering stop.
"Oh, good, because Lightningfur called you to go on hunting patrol and they already left without you."
"Hunting patrol?" Sandycloud groaned. She forced herself to stand, meowed good bye, and padded out of the camp. A cold breeze blew towards her face. She closed her eyes and pushed forward. She could smell the hunting patrol faintly by a rock, so she passed through there and let her nose guide her. Soon she had found the patrol hunting by a rabbit hole.
"So you finally got here, huh?" Scrawnyfur glared at Sandycloud. Sandycloud brushed past him, ignoring his threatening voice. Scrawnyfur sounded tough, but he was really gentle.
"At least she came," Glaciercloud shot back at Scrawnyfur. She gave her former apprentice a warm look and meowed, "Carry on."
The other cats on the patrol were Rosecloud, Blazefur, and and Thrushpelt. They continued on hunting without any other exchange of words. Sandycloud saw a sparrow flutter by and instinctively leapt into the air. She stretched and caught the bird by the wing, giving it a swift blow while in mid air. She dropped to the ground lightly with the bird in her mouth. Glaciercloud nodded approvingly. Rosecloud smiled at Sandycloud.
They hunted in the cold until Glaciercloud called them to a stop. "We have all the prey we need. Let's go back."
Everyone agreed instantly. The cold was starting to get to them. They all rushed forward, eager to get back to the camp. So they were, of course, all shocked when a fox stepped in their path. They screeched to a halt, bumping into one another as Scrawnyfur, who had been in the lead, slid forward on his back and came to a stop, his nose inches away from the fox's.
The fox grinned at them. "Hello."
The cats went in an uproar. "A talking fox? No way!"
Only Sandycloud was silent. She had met this fox before, on her way to Rose and Night's barn. She knew how to deal with it. But she had her doubts. The fox could have learned from his mistake by now.
"Hey, you!" Sandycloud meowed, stepping forward. The fox turned at her voice, and his grin broadened. "Ah, yes, I remember you. You've grown quite a bit since our last encounter, hm?"
"Sandycloud, what's he talking about?" Glaciercloud whispered.
"Long story," Sandycloud mewed softly. "Glaciercloud, you have to get some more warriors. I'll hold up the fox."
Glaciercloud nodded and raced away. The fox watched her go, then turned back to Sandycloud. "You made a fool out of me the last time we met, cat. That won't happen again!" He leapt at Sandycloud, bowling her down. Sandycloud screeched and bit his ear. The others stepped forward to help, but Sandycloud shook her head at them. She had seen the fox's strength before. She couldn't let the others get hurt too until backup came.
The fox scuffled with Sandycloud, until Sandycloud cried out, "There's a spider on your back!"
"Spider? Where!?" The fox sprang up and danced around, trying to reach over to his back and kill the spider. The other cats stared with their mouths open. Then the fox suddenly stopped and turned to glare at Sandycloud. "There's no spider, is there? You know I don't like dirty fur!! So you were trying to distract me! Again! You're gonna get it now!"
Sandycloud closed her eyes, waiting for him to land on her, but nothing happened. Opening one eye, she saw Flamestar clawing fiercely at the russet colored animal. Then she saw Duskwing, Glaciercloud, and Bloodfeather rushing forward. Sandycloud jumped up and fought with them. The rest of the patrol joined in the fight. The fox was outnumbered. He glared at the cats, then raced off, but not before Sandycloud had raked her claws across his tail.
"Thanks, Glaciercloud," Sandycloud panted. "You came just in time." Then she looked at Flamestar, the cat she loved so much. "Lucky you jumped on that fox," she purred. "It would've killed me if you hadn't."
Flamestar flicked her lightly with his tail. "Well, you did save me from Shellstar. I had to return the favor sometime, right?"
Sandycloud giggled and looked up into his eyes, so bright and shining, like beautiful green stones. She felt instantly mesmerized, and could feel her fur growing hot. "Yes, I guess so," she murmured.
Flamestar seemed frozen also, staring at her face, his nose inches aay from hers. Then he shook his head and tore his gaze away. "Come on, everyone. Let's get back to camp so we can tell the others about that fox."
As they padded along the trail that led back to camp, Sandycloud, lost in her own little world, shivered, not at the cold, but at the fact that she had been so, so close to the cat that she loved...