Chapter 3.
Thornpaw stretched in her warm nest, her paws skimming Brackenpaw's dark ginger fur. She blinked the sleep from her eyes, getting used to the shafts of moonlight streaming through the brambles and into the den. She lied there for awhile, staring blankly at Brackenpaw as he slept soundly. Once she thought she had woken him, but he was just turning over. He faced her nose, his whiskers twitched, must've been dreaming.
"Brackenpaw?" Blackclaw put his head inside the apprentices den, searching for the lump of ginger fur at the back. "We're on the dawn patrol, quick!"
He shook his head, heaving himself to his strong paws. He glanced at her, snorting. "You kicked me last night."
She flushed with embarrassment. "I'm so sorry. It's a habit."
"Right. A bad habit. Try to control yourself." He snapped, lumbering outside.
'What was his problem?'
Even though it wasn't time for to get up, she decided to eat something, she'd never be able to fall back asleep now. Emerging into the clearing, she spotted Brackenpaw gulping down a rabbit, which he was sharing with Rainpaw. You could barely see Rainpaw, her pelt blended in with the stone.
"Thornpaw?" She swivelled her head around to see Lionfur, standing with the other cats that were going on the dawn patrol. "What are you doing up? I figured I would go on the dawn patrol and let you sleep in, since it's your second day.'
"Oh. I can't sleep." She explained sheepishly, crawling toward her mentor.
"Well, since your up, you can come with us." He pointed his tail toward Blackclaw, and Whitewhisker who stood impatiently by the camp entrance.
"Sure, can I eat first?"
"Quickly," Lionfur meowed. "We have to get going, before the whole clan is awake."
She nodded, scrambling toward the fresh-kill pile, she picked out a small shrew, sitting down beside Brackenpaw she quickly gulped it down.
Thornpaw pricked her ears at the sound of Dawnstar's paw pads trotting down from the Highledge, the pretty she-cat touched noses with Lionfur. "Be careful, sweet one." She purred, nuzzling his neck.
"I always am, why are you up so early?" He licked her head gently.
Thornpaw didn't listen to the rest of the conversation, she didn't want to be nosey.
"So, you're on dawn patrol? Huh? You're starting early." Brackenpaw rasped. "I didn't go on my first patrol for a moon after becoming an apprentice."
"Really? I had my first patrol the third day after being apprenticed. Maybe, it's all about when you're ready." Rainpaw mewed, resting her tail on his shoulder.
Thornpaw licked the remains of the shrew from her muzzle and followed Brackenpaw and Rainpaw outside. The fresh air felt good, and smelled good.
Blackclaw led the patrol to the WindClan border, the cats left their mark and returned back to the forest for some hunting, Thornpaw was excited for this, she could prove her skills to the other cats.
"Okay, Thornpaw. What do you smell?" Lionfur asked her. Doing as he said, she scented the air, instantly picking up a mouse nearby.
"Mouse!" She replied.
"Good, where?"
"Over there." She pointed with her striped tail to a boulder by a tall oak tree shadowing over it.
"Very good, now… go get it!" She heard Lionfur holding his breath.
'Please catch it, please catch it!'
She crouched, leaped, pounced, and grasp… nothing.
"I did everything right." She explained sadly.
"You didn't check the wind, it was blowing away from you, the mouse smelled you and was gone before you ever left the ground."
"Really?" Thornpaw frowned. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because I was testing you," Lionfur grumbled. "I told you to check the wind before catching anything, why didn't you listen?"
"I forgot, there's so much to remember." Thornpaw replied embarrassed.
"Once you get the hang of it, you'll be catching prey in no time at all. As for today, you can watch me and practice back at the camp with your den mates." Her mentor meowed more friendly this time.
"I'll practice every heartbeat if I have too, I'd just like to catch something!" She promised.
"Don't hurt yourself trying." Brackenpaw snorted a laugh as he emerged into the tiny clearing with a plump rabbit in his jaws.
"Wow, how did you catch that?" She said in awe, ignoring his harsh comment.
"… practice… perfecting?" He said sarcastically, burying his prey.
"Very good, Brackenpaw." Blackclaw brushed past the gorse bush, a squirrel in his mouth. "Did you catch anything, Thornpaw?"
"… No." she said shyly, staring at her paws which were digging up earth.
"You'll get it, just wait." Lionfur reassured her, resting his tail on her shoulder.
"Lionfur is right, don't be so hard on yourself, it's only your second day." Blackclaw added comfortingly. "Tell her Brackenpaw, you didn't catch your first prey until you were 6 and a half moons old."
She looked up at the ginger apprentice, he was licking his chest to hide his embarrassment, "Really?" She has to milk the moment, he was being so rude to her anyways.
"Tell her, Brackenpaw." Blackclaw nudged him.
"I don't remember." He rasped, clawing at the ground. "Can I go catch more prey?"
Before Blackclaw nodded, he was gone. "Sure…" Her father trailed off.
"I think he's a little embarrassed." Thornpaw meowed, trying not to laugh.
"A little?" Lionfur shrugged unsure. "That was a little harsh, Blackclaw. I think we can all see, Brackenpaw was trying to show off to Thornpaw."
"He was?" Blackclaw replied surprised. "I didn't hear him say a thing to her. I'll talk to him, reassure him he's a great hunter, he'll be fine. It's true, he's an exceptionally great tracker and hunter, I've never seen anything like it before."
"You weren't here," Lionfur remarked. "he was bragging about his catch."
"Lionfur? Can we hunt now?" Thornpaw couldn't help but interject.
"Oh, of course. I'm sorry, come along."
"Bye, Blackclaw." She purred, running to catch up with her mentor.
After her hunting session, Thornpaw thought it best to go talk with Brackenpaw, to assure him not to be embarrassed, but he was no where in camp.
"Blackclaw, where is Brackenpaw?"
"Collecting moss for the elders."
She nodded, running out of the camp entrance. She headed straight for the place where the cats collected their moss. Sure enough, there was Brackenpaw. He looked angry, the way he was tearing the moss up by it's roots, was he trying to kill it?
"Brackenpaw?" She meowed shyly, the tom jumped a mouse-tail in the air, facing her with wide eyes.
"Don't sneak up on me like that!" He snapped.
"Sorry. I just wanted to talk to you, alone." She cautiously stepped toward him, he backed up.
"Why?" He growled, still tearing away at the moss.
"Because, I don't care if you didn't catch your fist prey until your six and a half moons. I still think you're the best hunter in ThunderClan." Okay, so that wasn't completely true, but from the look on his face, it was working.
He turned to her, shocked. "What?" He chocked with confusion.
"Well… that rabbit you caught, that's amazing. You must be really fast, like a WindClan warrior. I… I admire you for it. Maybe… you could… help me practice my hunting skills?"
He stopped tearing at the moss and stepped toward her , his eyes now warm instead of hostile. "If you want." He meowed still shocked.
"Great!" She purred, turning to help him gather some moss. "Here, I'll help you."
"Thanks." He replied, not shredding the moss anymore.
'This went pretty well. Hopefully now me and Brackenpaw can be friends, instead of worst enemies…'
Thornpaw and Brackenpaw returned to camp, both carrying a load of moss. She followed the older apprentice to the elders den, lying it down neatly in the shape of a nest. Littleleap and Grassclaw were outside resting in the sunlight, she and Brackenpaw had to work fast before Littleleap woke up, she wouldn't be too happy if she came back and her nest wasn't ready..
"All done." Brackenpaw sighed, flopping down on his side.
"Me too." She replied, lying down beside him on the cool stone floor.
"Well," He meowed, heaving back up to his paws. "better get back to work."
Sunlight lit up his pelt so it looked like a flame of fire, she had to blink to make sure she wasn't dreaming. "Firestar…" she whispered.
"What?" He meowed puzzled. "Firestar? The old ThunderClan leader?"
"Err-yeah. You just… looked like him the way the sun was hitting you, like a flame of fire." She meowed sheepishly.
"Oh… well, he was my fathers grandfather." Brackenpaw said proudly.
"I remember… Grassclaw told me." She nodded, emerging into the clearing.
"He did? Yeah… I guess he would've known my father, I wish I had have…" He trailed off, closing his eyes.
"He's watching over you now." She tried to comfort him.
"I know, I just wish I could've met him, that's all."
Thornpaw couldn't relate to how he felt, she had never lost any of her parents, and she was born a single kit. But she still felt his sorrow, she wanted to cheer him up some how.
"Come on, lets have something to eat." She encouraged, leading him away from the elders den.
"I have to let Littleleap and Grassclaw know their nests are den, and get them fresh-kill first." He murmured.
"I'll help!" She offered.
"No!" He snapped.
She pinned her ears back, standing still where she was. He walked away, tail drooping. 'I thought we were getting along?'