In the Land Chapter 1: Beneath Silverpelt, a warriors fanfic

Beneath Silverpelt

From the moment she was born, Sweetpaw was told WindClan had a special connection to StarClan. With no trees to obstruct the stars' view of the moorland, WindClan was StarClan's favorite and graced its most beloved clan with the close proximity to the Moonpool. The cats even slept directly in the view of the stars, allowing the light of their ancestors to bathe their pelts in their brilliant shine all night long. WindClan was a holy clan which Sweetpaw couldn't be any prouder to call her own.

Sweetpaw walked behind her mentor, Hillheart, and beside Dawnpaw, her sister. Her brother Redpaw was up ahead with Foxpaw and Dewpaw, two other WindClan apprentices, happily trotting towards the trees without a care. Dawnpaw appeared calm and collected, not bothered by the thick cover against their ancestors' view of them in the near distance. It wouldn't be long before Sweetpaw left StarClan's sights for the first time in her life and it made her tail twitch in nervousness. Sweetpaw knew gatherings were the will of StarClan and it would be insulting to her ancestors to refuse to attend, but it was still difficult. Dawnpaw had assured her that nothing bad would come of it, as she, having been an apprentice for a moon longer than Sweetpaw, had been to a gathering before and made it back without incident.

"Other clans beside WindClan travel to StarClan after their deaths, tree-cover doesn't harm their judgement of you, Sweetpaw," Dawnpaw had told her before they'd left.

The words offered her little comfort, but logically Sweetpaw told herself it was okay; all of her clanmates and ancestors went to gatherings and were still StarClan's favorites. The sleek brown she-cat figured once she began talking on the island her worries would wane.

Sweetpaw hoped her leader, Boulderstar, wouldn't introduce her as Dawnpaw's and Redpaw's sister, it would be terribly embarrassing for her. She had been a very sickly kit, stricken with green-cough and struggling to recover enough to start training since she was two moons old. Even now, Sweetpaw had a lingering cough that stirred whenever she ran too hard. Cloudheart said she didn't have high hopes for the cough ever leaving Sweetpaw, but that it would come under control enough for her to become a warrior.

Sweetpaw hoped to StarClan that Cloudheart was right, having to retire with the elders at such a young age sounded miserable.

The trees came faster than Sweetpaw wanted them to, the starlight above becoming dimmer and filtered almost instantly upon entry. Dawnpaw looked to Sweetpaw, her lovely pale-green eyes glowing in the limited light, "Don't worry, we get to the lake pretty quickly from here, there won't be a lot of trees near its edge."

Sweetpaw purred in appreciation for her sister's concerns, "Okay, it's actually not all that bad."

Dawnpaw brightened at her response, her tail curling at the tip. The dusky gray and white she-cat's whiskers twitched as the trees quickly began thinning, glancing encouragingly at Sweetpaw. "See?" She asked, "Almost out already. WindClan hardly controls any forest."

Sweetpaw merely flicked her ears in acknowledgement, still on edge over. In an attempt to calm her nerves, she asked Dawnpaw, "What are the other clans like?"

"Well, last time, I only got to talk to a SkyClan apprentice and a RiverClan apprentice, but I can tell you a bit more about the clans. ThunderClan's leader is Clawstar and its deputy is Softwing, ShadowClan's leader is Robinstar and its deputy is Brownfern, SkyClan's leader is Petalstar and its deputy is Snowdrift, and RiverClan's leader is Ripplestar and its deputy is Primrosefur.

"Personally, I liked the SkyClan apprentice better, his name was Hawkpaw and he was so sweet and so much fun to be around! I hope he'll be here again tonight, you just have to meet him! The RiverClan apprentice though, I forget her name now. I just remember she was pure-black and kind of snooty, don't think you'd care for her." Dawnpaw told her eagerly, her pace increasing just at the memory of her last gathering. The WindClan apprentice was more than happy to go again, especially since it was her sister's very first gathering! Dawnpaw had missed Sweetpaw's company dearly the last time, even when she was engrossed in conversation with Hawkpaw and that RiverClan apprentice. She'd felt guilty going last moon and remembered the sad, longing look on poor Sweetpaw's face from the medicine cat's den as the chosen WindClan cats left for the last gathering nearly compelled her to stay behind with her sickly sister. But now, that was a distant memory and her beloved littermate was reluctantly trailing behind her on the way to the island.

Sweetpaw wasn't as excited to meet the foreign clans. No other clan resided on open moorland, most hiding away in forests and reeds and feasting on prey with feathers and scales rather than the furry hares Sweetpaw usually ate. They were different, however, from what she'd heard from her clanmates, the other clans all believed in StarClan and followed the warrior code (some supposedly more strictly than others). She knew the five clans had the same values, but meeting them tonight had her tail quivering and her heart racing.

The feeling of mud lodging in between her toes was foreign and Sweetpaw couldn't decide if she liked it or not. The moorland was always dry and tough underpaw and it had her wondering what the other clan territories would feel like to walk on. Sweetpaw thought RiverClan's whole territory probably felt like the mud did to walk on, ShadowClan's and maybe even SkyClan's too. ThunderClan probably was somewhere in between the extreme wet, soft ground Sweetpaw was on then and the dry, sun-bleached moorland that her clan resided on. She'd have to try to work that into conversation when she braved up enough to talk to a stranger.

Sweetpaw's head jerked up at the sound of deputy Brokenleaf jumping onto the log bridge that ran to the gathering island. Boulderstar hopped on behind his deputy, followed closely by Cloudheart and her apprentice Crowpaw. Sweetpaw looked to Dawnpaw for reassurance and asked, "Is it slippery?"

"Not really," Dawnpaw responded, "Just keep your claws out if you're nervous."

"Okay." Sweetpaw murmured.

Hillheart went first and when Sweetpaw asked Dawnpaw to go first, the warrior told her apprentice to go before her sister and follow her movements closely. Sweetpaw did as told, copying Hillheart's form the best she could while moving across the log at a reasonable pace. She tried to ignore the daunting dark water swishing beneath them.

Sweetpaw's tail quivered with nervousness and excitement as the log came to an end, more than happy to be back on sturdy land again. Dawnpaw hopped off right after her sister. She purred at Sweetpaw, "See? You did great!"

Sweetpaw looked at her gratefully, nudging her shoulder affectionately. "So where now?"

Before the dusky gray she-cat could respond, Hillheart spoke. "Why don't you go meet some other apprentices until the leaders are ready to speak? I'm sure you'll be a lot less nervous once you start making some new acquaintances."

She took a deep breath. "Okay, Hillheart."

Hillheart purred at her apprentice, blinking kindly at her before heading towards a clump of ShadowClan warriors. A ginger and white tabby in the group visibly brightened as she recognized Sweetpaw's mentor and called out to her, "Hillheart! You made it!"

Hillheart raised her tail in greeting as she sauntered over, "Hi Starlingfeather!"

Sweetpaw looked oddly at her sister, "Isn't it a little weird, thinking our clanmates have friends in other clans?"

Dawnpaw shrugged, "Not really. We're all just cats, Sweetpaw, it's not that weird being friends with each other. I bet you'll have made a new friend or two by the end of tonight! Now come on, let's go see if Hawkpaw's here tonight."

Her sister moved confidently into the growing crowd of foreign cats, Sweetpaw following timidly behind. The way Dawnpaw walked made Sweetpaw's pelt burn with envy, she'd only been to a gathering once before but she acted as though she did this every night.

Dawnpaw abruptly stopped and Sweetpaw, who was right behind her, ran straight into her. Her sister hardly noticed Sweetpaw's clumsiness, her tail tip twitching wildly. "Look!" She hissed, "There, see that fluffy white tom?"

"Huh?" Sweetpaw said, scanning the cats in front of her before landing on a large, long-furred white tom sitting beside a dark brown and white she-cat. "Uh yeah, why?"

Dawnpaw nudged Sweetpaw impatiently, "That's Snowdrift! The deputy of SkyClan!"

Sweetpaw's viridian eyes widened, her pelt fluffing up as her nervousness intensified. She could tell Dawnpaw was tempted to go up to the powerful tom, which was the last thing the WindClan apprentice wanted to do. She tried to distract Dawnpaw. "Wow, um, do you see Hawkpaw anywhere?"

The dark mottled she-cat jumped when a young tortoiseshell she-cat spoke from behind her and Dawnpaw. "Hawkpaw's not here tonight," She said, "He ate some prey he caught before the elders had eaten two days ago so Petalstar said he had to stay back as punishment."

Dawnpaw's expression fell, "Oh." She breathed in the tortoiseshell's scent, she smelled strongly of pine, but missed the sour element that would cause her to label the stranger as a ShadowClan cat. She was SkyClan.

When Sweetpaw and Dawnpaw failed to say anything more, the SkyClan cat spoke. "My name's Turtlepaw, Hawkpaw's my brother." Just as Dawnpaw had done to her, Turtlepaw parted her jaws to scent the two sisters. "You're WindClan right? What are your names?"

Sweetpaw surprised herself by answering first, "I'm Sweetpaw, her name's Dawnpaw."

Turtlepaw purred warmly, but had a look of curiosity about her. "Nice to meet you two! Did you meet Hawkpaw at the last gathering?"

This time, Sweetpaw stayed silent and chose to let Dawnpaw talk to the SkyClan apprentice while she examined her appearance. Her face was odd, Turtlepaw had a small, narrow muzzle and her eyes were further apart than normal on the cats Sweetpaw knew. Her legs were like short tree trunks, obviously muscular like SkyClan cats were described to be, but too short for the rest of her and made her seem younger than Sweetpaw and Dawnpaw. Sweetpaw glanced at deputy Snowdrift again to compare him to Turtlepaw. Were all SkyClan cats short and stumpy with thin muzzles? Upon inspection, Sweetpaw didn't see any strange features in the fluffy white tom that Turtlepaw possessed and deemed Hawkpaw's sister to just be odd-looking.

Dawnpaw's whiskers twitched in affirmation. "I met him, yes, but Sweetpaw wasn't there. I was hoping he'd be here so she could meet him…"

"He might be here next gathering, but there's no telling," Turtlepaw said nonchalantly, "Hawkpaw kind of gets in trouble a lot and Petalstar is getting less and less patient with him so you might not be seeing him for a long, long time."

Sweetpaw looked to Dawnpaw, "It's not a big deal, Dawnpaw. I'll just meet him later."

Dawnpaw flicked her tail in acknowledgement, but still looked disheartened by Hawkpaw's absence. She looked at Turtlepaw with the same scrutiny that Sweetpaw had, but was more conspicuous about it than her sister. It was hard to believe the tortoiseshell's claim of being Hawkpaw's sister and Dawnpaw had little interest in continuing the conversation.

"Okay," Dawnpaw replied, "Let's go find, uh, Waterpaw then."

Sweetpaw looked confused, "Waterpaw?"

Dawnpaw gave her a stern look before turning back to Turtlepaw, who watched their exchange with a knowing gaze. The SkyClan apprentice shifted uncomfortably and told them, "I guess I'll be going then. I think my mentor's probably looking for me."

A downcast Turtlepaw gave one last friendly flick of the tail before heading back towards Snowdrift and the other SkyClan cats. A pang of guilt settled in Dawnpaw's stomach for not-so-subtly sending her away, but she was still grateful that the odd-looking apprentice was gone. Sweetpaw still looked a little lost by the whole exchange and looked to Dawnpaw. "So, what now? We find your friend Waterpaw?"

"There is no Waterpaw, I just wanted to get away from Turtlepaw. She's too weird to be your first friend outside of WindClan." Dawnpaw muttered, guiding her sister towards a new group of cats. "Here, let's go try ThunderClan. They're really bossy, but surely some of them have to be tolerable, right?"

Sweetpaw felt torn, feeling somewhat compelled to run after poor Turtlepaw and apologize, but her sister ultimately won out. Any WindClan cat for that matter would matter more than a SkyClan cat's feelings. Determined to impress Dawnpaw, Sweetpaw said nothing more about Turtlepaw.

"Okay," She said simply.

Dawnpaw purred in excitement and guided her sister towards a group of young cats, some of which were ThunderClan, but also contained ShadowClan and RiverClan cats. A light brown and white she-cat, a light blue-gray she-cat, a black and white she-cat, and a red tom were gathered around one another, eyes bright as they socialized. Dawnpaw glowed at the sight, "Yes! Perfect, let's go!"

Dawnpaw quickly tracked down the two ThunderClan apprentices present at the gathering, Tallpaw, who was a white she-cat with black patches, and Applepaw, who was a dark ginger tom. They smelled of oak and had an overall woodsier scent than Turtlepaw and the other SkyClan cats. Tallpaw was far more talkative and outgoing than her denmate, but Applepaw had whit that made Sweetpaw purr in amusement several times in their conversation. It turned out that Sweetpaw was worrying too much over meeting peacefully with non-WindClan cats and the apprentices of other clans were a lot like her and her fellow WindClan apprentices.

She eased into conversation easily and became so engrossed in the discussion that she missed the large dark form that briefly blocked out StarClan's view of the gathering from the sky. The creature glided inconspicuously into the forests dividing ThunderClan and WindClan territory to lie in wait.

However great the conversation between the ThunderClan apprentices and WindClan apprentices was, Sweetpaw was grateful when Clawstar, Petalstar, Boulderstar, Robinstar, and Ripplestar took their places in the sturdy branches to begin the gathering. The tell-tale tickle in her chest was beginning to stir from the excitement of the new cats so the distraction was welcomed by Sweetpaw.

Clawstar of ThunderClan spoke first. "Prey has been running well in ThunderClan and one of our apprentices, Flaxpaw, has become a warrior and is now Flaxblossom."

Sweetpaw briefly glanced around in search of the new warrior, but doesn't see her as the rest of the cats erupted in congratulations. Dawnpaw nudged Sweetpaw when she realized her sister wasn't cheering yet, prompting the dark mottled she-cat to blink in embarrassment before joining in.

"Flaxblossom!"

She wasn't sure if Clawstar had finished after announcing Flaxblossom's warrior name, but Robinstar began speaking shortly after the old cat's announcement. The reddish-brown leader spoke, "ShadowClan has had a prosperous moon, Lightmask has given birth to Larchkit and Coldkit, and Pineheart chased a fox out of its burrow two nights ago out of ShadowClan territory." Robinstar looked to Petalstar, "The fox ran towards SkyClan territory, so watch out for that."

Petalstar gave Robinstar a look of irritation. "Thank you for placing a disgruntled fox onto SkyClan territory, Robinstar, SkyClan will be forever in your debt," She spat, fighting the urge to snarl at the ShadowClan leader.

Robinstar hissed quietly at her remark, "At least I had the decency to tell inform you, Petalstar. I'm sure if the fox had been on your territory, your warriors would have chased it into ShadowClan or ThunderClan territory in a heartbeat."

As Robinstar and Petalstar growled and stared each other down, Sweetpaw felt herself press her body into Dawnpaw's out of nervousness. Although Dawnpaw didn't look as fearful as Sweetpaw, she could feel how tense she was at the leaders' exchange. Dawnpaw glanced at the sky and murmured to Sweetpaw, "StarClan's going to get angry."

Sweetpaw's pelt bristled and she looked up at the stars too, but was relieved to find the moon in full view. "So far it doesn't seem like StarClan is angry, hopefully it stops soon so they don't get mad."

As though Sweetpaw had spoken directly to Petalstar, she made a more passive retort. "I understand where you are coming from, Robinstar, you are correct in your assumptions. Thank you for your considerate warning." The she-cat's posture was still somewhat aggressive, but she didn't pursue further conflict with SkyClan's neighbor. Robinstar didn't seem bothered by Petalstar's anger and puffed his chest out subtly, having won the short argument between the two.

Boulderstar looked at Petalstar and Robinstar and decided to cut them off. "Prey runs well in WindClan, we have a new litter of kits born to Feathershine and Kestrelstrike and a new apprentice, Sweetpaw."

Some in the clearing, mostly ShadowClan, appeared annoyed at Boulderstar for interrupting Robinstar, however, just as the rest of the cats had done for Flaxblossom, the clearing erupted in cheer for Sweetpaw. Sweetpaw's pelt flushed and she gave her chest a few embarrassed licks.

"Sweetpaw!"

Dawnpaw looked amusedly at her sister, purring encouragingly and licking her ears in congratulation. The dusky she-cat watched her sister squirm under all the attention even after the cheering died down, satisfied with her recognition at the gathering. Though she had no obligation to make sure Sweetpaw's first gathering went well, Dawnpaw felt responsible in a way to make this gathering perfect since she didn't get to go last moon.

Ripplestar finished the gathering with his report. "RiverClan has done well this moon, fish have been plentiful, twolegs have yet to show up around our territory, and our cats are thriving." He said simply, which was unsurprising to the rest of the clans. Ripplestar was the quietest of the leaders, preferring to listen than potentially give out information to the other clans. His speeches were known for being short and somewhat uninspiring.

The other leaders nodded at Ripplestar, and the gathering disbanded shortly afterwards with cats sauntering over to rejoin their respective clans. Sweetpaw was grateful to return to WindClan territory, the island had too many trees for her to be comfortable; she didn't understand how the other clans could stand being hidden from StarClan all the time.

The journey back brought Sweetpaw some relief. Though she'd gotten along with Applepaw and Tallpaw, being around other clan cats unnerved her and she was more than happy to go back to camp. Besides, Sweetpaw was sure her mother, Heathertail, would be thrilled to listen about her first gathering; Heathertail was ecstatic when Cloudheart deemed her daughter healthy enough to train and had been talking about her training and how her first gathering would be the whole moon.

Things went smoothly until the WindClan cats reached the start of the moorlands. The tickle in Sweetpaw's chest that had been nagging at her throughout the gathering had grown into something too big to contain. She about fell over when her coughing fit started, her body convulsing as she gasped for air. Dawnpaw was there straight away, resting her tail on Sweetpaw's flank to offer what little support she could.

The dark brown she-cat's body rattled, her breaths coming out in ragged wheezes and her legs trembled, constantly threatening to drop her on the ground. Dawnpaw was tense as she tried to talk her ailing sister through her cough-attack.

"Sit down, Sweetpaw," Dawnpaw told her, noticing her sister's instability, "It'll pass, you're doing great."

With a struggle, Sweetpaw managed to lower herself to a sitting position, her head bowed lowly near her chest. Cloudheart padded forward, eyes narrowed in concentration as she listened to Sweetpaw's ragged breathing intently.

"She's okay, right, Cloudheart?" Dawnpaw asked, a flicker of worry rippling through her eyes.

Cloudheart dipped her head, "Sweetpaw will be fine." She moved her attention to the struggling apprentice. "Try to take some deep breaths, okay?"

In an attempt to follow the WindClan medicine cat's orders, Sweetpaw managed to somewhat slow her cough for a few breaths, and eventually was able to stop. Her head was bowed in exhaustion and her breaths were long and slow as the coughing subsided.

"How do you feel?" Dawnpaw questioned.

Sweetpaw took another deep breath and exhaled, "I'm okay."

Cloudheart looked satisfied with the dark mottled apprentice's response, gently giving Sweetpaw's ears a lick before stepping away. "Good, now you know this already, but just take it slow on the rest of the walk and don't hesitate to stop and rest if you need to, alright?"

"Yes, Cloudheart." Sweetpaw murmured, her eyes fixated on her paws in shame. Though she knew it wasn't her fault, she felt like a burden and an embarrassment to WindClan's name when she had those coughing fits and feared being forced to retire to the Elders' Den over it. What kind of warrior couldn't even walk back from the gathering without coughing like that?

Dawnpaw purred gently beside her, pressing comfortingly against her fur as though she could read her sister's thoughts. "I'll walk with you," she said quietly when the rest of the WindClan patrol began to continue the journey back to camp.

"Thanks," Sweetpaw responded gratefully, getting to her paws and slowly trailing behind her clanmates with Dawnpaw ever patiently by her side.

"You don't have to feel badly, you know," Dawnpaw spoke, "WindClan knows it's not your fault, as long as you try your best, no one will be mad at you." Sweetpaw stayed quiet, Dawnpaw's words sinking in as she walked.

It didn't take long for Sweetpaw to fall unreasonably far behind the WindClan patrol, and even Dawnpaw seemed antsy about being out of her clan's eyesight. The dark brown apprentice was exhausted, the journey down to the island and the coughing fit after a long day of training had drained her. Each step she took got more and more difficult, and finally Sweetpaw had to give in and take a break. In her impatient state, Dawnpaw was a few paces ahead of her sister when she stopped.

"Dawnpaw," Sweetpaw panted, "I need to stop for a bit. You can go, though, if you'd like. Really, I don't mind. I know the rest of the way to camp."

Dawnpaw halted and looked over her shoulder at Sweetpaw, conflict in her eyes. "Are you sure?"

Sweetpaw sat down again, debating whether or not to lie all the way down beneath Silverpelt in hopes of being able to continue forward sooner. "Yes, positive. I won't be offended if you leave."

Some guilt wrote its way into Dawnpaw's features, but she dipped her head anyway and padded away from her ailing sister with a more vigorous pace. Sweetpaw watched Dawnpaw's retreating figure break into an impressive sprint, her paws hardly touching the dry earth under-paw as she hurried to catch up to their clanmates. The sight made her pelt burn with envy. Had Sweetpaw tried to do what Dawnpaw had done with ease, she would've most definitely had to stop and cough and it frustrated her to no end. What kind of WindClan cat couldn't run? Why did StarClan give her such a fate?

With a defeated sigh, Sweetpaw laid down, ears flat and eyes clouded. She listened glumly to the sound of the persistent breeze ruffling the grasses around her and watched said grasses sway methodically in the milky light of the full moon. Her eyes closed slightly in relaxation and let out a yawn.

Then, it all went dark. No moonlight. Sweetpaw opened her eyes and lifted her head in confusion. A fierce, unexpected whirl of wind slammed the young apprentice, and the last thing she remembered seeing was the flash of white fangs and a glint of violet.

Finally decided to update this story! Sorry about how slow and boring this first chapter was, I promise things will start picking up in the next chapter here when the 'fairy tale' actually begins! Thanks for reading everyone and have a great day!

~Blondie