Dawn patrol was one of Grasstail's least favourite things. He was not a morning cat, and the stiff, awkward silence that floated between him, Barkstripe, and Runningfoot as they trekked through the dewy fields did nothing to improve on his mood. Coarse strands of long grass brushed against his underbelly as they crossed a marshy patch. There had been a rainy spell recently, and getting his paws wet was only something Grasstail would happily put up with when it meant he was going to see Watersplash. Having to tromp through the reeds at the border between WindClan and RiverClan was annoying, but being greeted by the melodic meow of the cat he loved made it worth it. This, meanwhile, had nothing to make it worth it, other than the possibility of stopping to hunt on the way back.
"So, Runningfoot," Barkstripe mewed stiffly to break the past several minutes of silence. "It's pretty cool that you're a father now."
Runningfoot grunted in reply, keeping his gaze trained wearily ahead. Barkstripe drew in a breath as though she was going to say something more, but then she simply exhaled in a sigh, her shoulders slumping. Grasstail studied the tabby warrior as she walked in front of him- the slight sway of her hips as she moved, the intricate pattern of her darker brown stripes, the way her tail sort of tapered off at the end. If he squinted, he could almost make out why Appleshine was so attracted to her, and sometimes he wished he could be as well. But the only she-cat Grasstail had ever been interested in was the one he wasn't supposed to be with.
The patrol approached the ThunderClan border, and on the other side of the little stream separating the two territories, Grasstail could see the line of trees with their red, orange, and yellow leaves. There were no trees to speak of on WindClan territory, other than the occasional scraggly bush that was almost tall enough to count as a tree, so Grasstail hadn't had the changing colours of the leaves to alert him to how quickly greenleaf was becoming leaf-fall. It was almost startling to think that he was over a year old now- it felt like just the other day that he'd ventured outside of camp for the first time.
Some of his earliest memories were of leaf-fall- or more specifically, hiding in the nursery, huddled up against Owlwing's cozy fur, as the temperature steadily dropped. He hadn't understood at the time why it was getting colder with each passing day, and his Clanmates' nonchalance at the (to him) startling phenomenon had been somewhat upsetting to him. All the pretty grass was turning brown and getting covered up by that white stuff falling from the sky… why wasn't any cat doing anything to stop it?! Grasstail understood now that there was nothing any cat could do to slow down time, but he felt that his kithood distress on the matter had been part of what had cultivated the still-present disgust he harboured for his Clan as a whole.
After confirming that there had been no unsolicited border crossings and renewing the scent markers, the patrol headed toward the RiverClan border. Grasstail perked up a little as they approached; although the chances of encountering Watersplash were next to nonexistent, striding through the now-familiar stretch of reeds between WindClan and RiverClan brought back pleasant memories.
No sooner had they renewed the scent markers than an enthusiastic squeak broke through the air, followed by a round bundle of orange and black tumbling out of the reeds and scrambling up on top of the rotting log that served as the official boundary between territories. Barkstripe jumped back, hissing, and Runningfoot arched his back. Grasstail simply blinked, dumbfounded, at the RiverClan kit- because she clearly was a kit- or more likely, a very young apprentice.
"Hi," she mewed, waving her short black tail in greeting. "You guys smell weird," she continued, wrinkling her little pink nose. "Are you WindClan warriors?"
"Er, yes," Runningfoot muttered, staring down the apprentice with a probably unwarranted amount of suspicion. "What business do you have with us?"
Grasstail suppressed a snort at the senior warrior's serious, wary tone. Did he seriously think that if RiverClan was going to invade they'd send a new apprentice in first? Chances were that this was just some rabbit-brained 'paw excited about their first time out of camp and too stupid to know better than to cross borders.
Sure enough, a concerned yowl rang out in the distance. "Emberpaw, where did you go?! Get back here this instant!" Grasstail stiffened; he knew that voice.
Apparently the apprentice recognized it too. "Uh-oh," she whimpered, swiveling around to look behind her.
She hopped off the boundary log, and Runningfoot slid his claws out when he landed on the WindClan side. Barkstripe moved forward as if she was going to attack the RiverClan apprentice. "Don't be stupid," Grasstail hissed, earning him a warning look from Runningfoot. "Do you want to start a fight? The little furball obviously doesn't know any better."
A few moments later, Watersplash shoved through the clump of reeds, looking beautiful even as her shoulders heaved in exhaustion. After taking a while to catch her breath, she reached over the log and hoisted Emberpaw by the scruff back onto the RiverClan side before starting in on her with a fierceness characteristic to the passionate warrior.
"What in the name of StarClan, Emberpaw?!" Watersplash snapped, causing Emberpaw to shrink back, ears pressed against her head. "Running off on me like that- and then crossing the WindClan border! Do you have bees in your brain?!"
"I'm no expert, but I'd say that she does," Grasstail commented dryly before he could stop himself. Runningfoot gave him a sideways look; Watersplash's head jerked up from Emberpaw and her gaze met Grasstail's. She bit back a curse as soon as she saw him- she must not have even realized he was among the patrol. Grasstail bit his tongue. Why couldn't he have just kept his mouth shut?
"G-Grasstail," Watersplash sputtered, giving her ruffled fur a couple of hasty licks. "F-fancy meeting you here." She must have noticed the awkward looks Runningfoot and Barkstripe were giving her, because she gulped and dipped her head to each of them in turn. "…Hey, Barkstripe," she meowed. "Uh, how are things going with Appleshine?"
Barkstripe shot Grasstail an inquisitive glance and he suppressed a shudder. Then she turned to Watersplash, dipping her head in a mechanical manner. "Appleshine is fine," she meowed. "And what about that missing warrior of yours? Did they find him, or what?"
Watersplash didn't reply, instead grumbling to herself, clearly as mortified as Grasstail was. She turned around and left in a hurry, shoving Emberpaw along until the confused apprentice ran ahead again, this time dashing toward a frog sitting on a lilypad. Grasstail chuckled quietly to himself as he watched her run after the young cat, letting his mind wander to a fantasy of her chasing after a kit of her own one day- their kit. It was pointless to imagine, of course, because it would never happen. Even so, it was nice to just imagine it for a moment.
Grasstail wished they had the possibility of such a future, but wishing wouldn't make it happen.
Although only a few days ago Watersplash had hoped that the eager young she-cat would be assigned to her rather than one of the three toms, she was now beginning to regret that wish. She had never been so humiliated in her life, and her ears had burned for hours afterward. She had no idea how she'd be able to look Grasstail in the eyes again. With any luck, today wouldn't be as bad- there would be no borders to run across this time, just them, the river, and hopefully a few fish.
Watersplash had been happy to get an apprentice at first. She was so proud of herself- her own apprentice! Minnowleap had given her a congratulatory smile, telling her she was positive Watersplash would be the best mentor possible to Emberpaw. Besides, an apprentice had seemed like a great distraction from the whole ordeal with Patchfur.
Watersplash had ended up turning down his offer to run away with him- of course she had! She had duties to attend to in RiverClan, and what about the prophecy? Her cousin hadn't returned since, not having looked very happy about her refusal to join him. Afterwards, she'd thought about telling somebody that Patchfur was alive so they wouldn't worry anymore, but she felt as though she'd be betraying him if she did, and she didn't want him to be even angrier with him.
While Emberpaw certainly had been serving as a distraction, she was more problematic than Watersplash had been prepared for. She would have thought any apprentice of hers would be well-mannered and obedient, but Emberpaw was anything but. Crossing the WindClan border on her very first day of training? And it had just had to be right when a WindClan patrol had been coming- and Grasstail among them, no less!
Now it was a new day, and Miststar had asked Watersplash to take Emberpaw fishing. It didn't seem like that would be too much trouble at first, but Watersplash was quickly proven wrong. As soon as they left the camp, Emberpaw bolted ahead of Watersplash, who had to run to catch up. She found the apprentice sitting down in the middle of the stream, eyes trained on the water and looking side to side. She looked up with a happy grin when Watersplash appeared next to her. "Look what I caught!" she announced, holding up her front paw so Watersplash could see the minnow she'd skewered onto one of her claws.
"You're in the wrong place," Watersplash told her, pointing her tail in the direction of the river. "That's where we want to go to fish. You won't catch anything good in this stream."
"I caught this," Emberpaw mewed, shoving the minnow in Watersplash's face. Because it was still hooked onto her claw, it almost poked her eye out. Watersplash batted it away in irritation, yanking off Emberpaw's paw and tossing it into the bushes. "No fair; I was gonna eat it," Emberpaw whined, scampering off after the miniscule fish.
Watersplash took deep breaths, telling herself to be patient with the apprentice. The world seemed a whole lot bigger to a cat that young, and it really was quite understandable how she'd mistaken the tiny creek for a river. When all a cat had ever seen were puddles, a pond looked like a lake. The territories around the lake in their entirety must have seemed too vast to comprehend.
Once Emberpaw had taken much longer than necessary to eat her minnow- reportedly it "was smaller than I normally like but still pretty good", a remark at which Watersplash had to stifle a snort- and Watersplash had collected herself, they set off for the river.
As soon as Emberpaw laid eyes on the current, she shrunk back, and Watersplash, as odd as it may have sounded, was glad. Maybe it was mean to be happy her apprentice was scared, but it was better than rushing into the swirling rapids, right? Besides, it seemed like it would be a good opportunity for a classic mentor-apprentice bonding moment. Watersplash would tell Emberpaw that there was no need to be frightened, and demonstrate how to stand on the rocks to avoid falling in, and then-
Wait, was that twoleg scent?! With a jolt, Watersplash realized that she'd been so focused on Emberpaw, making sure that the rambunctious apprentice didn't get into trouble, that she'd been totally ignoring her surroundings. But as soon as she saw the cluster of twolegs around the river, all thoughts of reassuring Emberpaw vanished, replaced by fear and panic. What were they doing here?! She knew that they sometimes came from the greenleaf twolegplace to fish, which they did by casting thin silver lines attached to shiny sticks into the water, but they'd never come this close to the RiverClan camp before!
"What are those things?" Emberpaw whimpered. "They're so big!"
"Quiet," Waterpaw hissed, pulling her apprentice into the undergrowth. She held her breath, praying none of the twolegs had seen or heard them. Emberpaw struggled against her grip, but Watersplash held her to her chest, where the apprentice hopefully couldn't feel how hard her heart was hammering. She didn't want her apprentice to know how terrified she was. "Change of plans," she whispered once she was sure none of the twolegs could hear. "We're not going fishing here. We're going to get away from here- quietly- and we'll fish further up the river instead. Understood?"
Emberpaw nodded, eyes wide. Watersplash nudged her to her paws and crouched in the undergrowth for a moment, making sure the twolegs weren't watching, before slowly beginning to slink away. She planned on breaking into a sprint if she was spotted, and she just hoped Emberpaw could keep up if it came to that.
As she stepped backward, a twig snapped beneath her paw, and one of the twolegs jerked its head up. It mumbled something to one of its friends, pointing at Watersplash and Emberpaw, who had frozen in terror. Intrigued, a couple of the other twolegs got up and walked over to them. Watersplash ducked behind a bush, but Emberpaw lingered in the open, exposed just enough for a glimpse of her orange-and-black pelt to be visible, starkly contrasting the scrubby greens and browns of the undergrowth. Muttering curses under her breath, Watersplash leaped out of hiding to shove Emberpaw out of sight just as the twolegs reached them.
The bigger one, a male that wasn't wearing a twoleg pelt on his upper body, reached for Watersplash with its giant, ugly paw. She hissed, swiping at it, and it wisely drew back. The other twoleg that had wandered over was female, and looked like it was still a kit. It reached for Watersplash as well, although the bigger one held out a paw as though to protest, and followed after her as she began to run away. Emberpaw scrambled out of the hiding place Watersplash had shoved her into and snarled at the twolegs and jumping up to bite the smaller one's leg. The little twoleg cried, kicking Emberpaw off, and the older one shouted at them as Waterpaw helped Emberpaw to her paws. They both turned tail and ran away as fast as they could, not daring to look back until Watersplash couldn't hear the twoleg shouting anymore.
She leaned against a tree, panting, and tried to get her fur to lie flat. Emberpaw was clearly just as shaken as Watersplash was by the encounter, although she fortunately didn't seem to be hurt. "That was scary," she mewed quietly. "You didn't tell me those things were going to be there."
"I had no clue they'd be there," Watersplash sighed. "I'd never have taken you there if I had."
It was hard to tell if Emberpaw fully understood, but Watersplash decided to drop the subject and move on.
"So," she asked, forcing her voice into a more cheerful tone, "do you still want to go fishing somewhere else, then?"
Emberpaw perked right up at the offer. "I do!" she squealed, running off in the wrong direction again. With a sigh, Watersplash hurried after her apprentice, wondering if she'd ever get used to being a mentor.
"So your pretty little RiverClan mate has an apprentice now, huh?" Appleshine mumbled around a mouthful of partridge. "That's nice. I wonder if the 'paw will grow up to be as perfect and special as her mentor."
Grasstail's pelt prickled in irritation. "Shut up," he hissed, his cheeks burning. "First of all, she's not my mate, and second of all, she's not like that anymore!"
Berryheart glanced up from the vole she'd been sniffing at for the last five minutes. She still hadn't taken a single bite out of it. "What isn't she like?"
"Y'know, all stuck-up and stuff," he muttered. "Watersplash is a lovely cat if you actually take the time to get to know her." He tore off a chunk of the partridge he and Appleshine were sharing just as she reached for it, glaring as he gulped it down. She gave him an indignant huff. Serves you right, Grasstail thought. How dare she be so disrespectful to Watersplash!
"Yeah, Appleshine, you know she can't be his mate," Berryheart chimed in. "She's not from WindClan, so it wouldn't be allowed."
"Thank you, Berryheart," Grasstail meowed dramatically, directing it at Appleshine rather than Berryheart herself, who looked pleased to have contributed. "I know I can be a rabbit-brain sometimes-"
"Understatement," Appleshine broke in.
"-But surely you wouldn't accuse me of breaking the warrior code," he continued, pointedly ignoring Appleshine's little comment. He narrowed his eyes at her when she didn't respond. "Would you?"
"I don't think he would," Berryheart offered- either she was just too nice for her own good, or Grasstail had done something he wasn't aware of that had won her over. He strongly suspected it was the former. "Grasstail is a loyal warrior, right?"
Appleshine muttered something under her breath, her tail lashing. She yanked the partridge away from Grasstail and tore off a wing, spitting out feathers as she chewed it. Although Grasstail was still hungry, he stood up and stalked away, shutting out Berryheart's meow of protest.
Guilt wormed in Grasstail's belly as he flopped down in his nest, sending up stay bits of heather into the air. He blew them away in annoyance. If he kept going the way he did, he and his littermates' relationship would soon become unsalvageable. Was a romantic bond really worth sacrificing the love of his kin?
Sure it was, Grasstail decided bitterly. It wasn't his fault Appleshine was acting like a mange-pelt, or that Berryheart had the mindset of a kit. If his littermates wanted to be stupid furballs, so be it. He wasn't going to give Watersplash up for their sake.