I followed the direction that Jaspershade and Jessie went in and saw the former shyly looking away from Jessie.
"Well, am I wrong?" Jessie asked him. Wrong about what?
"She's been through a lot Jessie, I'm pretty sure telling her I like her isn't going to help?" Jaspershade replied. "What if she's not over Briarpool?"
"I doubt that, she's friends with his mate now and she visited their kits." Jessie reassured him.
"Why would she ever want to be with me though? She's truly amazing and she's done so much and I just-"
"Jaspershade."
"I know, beating myself up won't get anywhere. I just don't think I should tell her yet." Jaspershade sighed.
"It's been four moons Jaspershade!" Jessie exclaimed before her ears perked. "Did you hear that?"
I realized they were looking in my direction where I was in the bushes and I bolted where they couldn't see. I think.
Briarpool? Friends with his mate?
Jaspershade was referring to me?! He likes me?
"Starlingmask? Are you alright?"
"Oh I'm sorry Kellypaw! I should be giving you a tour of our forest." I told her. "Let's go and-"
"What about Roypaw? I wanted him to go with us too." Kellypaw pouted.
"Um...well his mentor is-"
"Right here!" Jaspershade purred, walking back into camp like nothing happened. "Roypaw! We're going to tour the territories now with your sister and her mentor!"
Oh my StarClan this was going to be awkward! I silently hoped Roypaw would go down with Whitecough or something so I me and Kellypaw can go ourselves but luck wasn't on my side.
Roypaw came dashing out of the apprentice's den and joined us.
"Shall we get going?" Jaspershade asked me with big green eyes. Sigh.
"Yes." I replied. "Let's go."
Me and Jaspershade took off with our apprentices and I felt my pelt burn like never before convinced Jaspershade was staring me down every moment.
"Um...this is the r-river." I stuttered. What? I never stutter!
"You alright Starlingmask? I don't think it's leaf-bare quite yet." Kellypaw pointed out.
"No I mean yes!" I stammered. Bloody hell! "Across the river is the Moon-Den. Me and my siblings went there before I left to Twolegplace."
"Um...what is Moon-Den for?" Roypaw asked shyly.
"It's for the medicine cats to receive wisdom from StarClan and for apprentices to visit once in their training." Jaspershade explained proudly.
"Yes, Jaspershade is right." I admitted. "Behind that is a field of bat orchids to remind us of all the cursed kits that died."
Which reminded me that I explained the truth of AngelClan and LoveClan three moons ago. Fortunately Stoneheart has been dead for a while now and Myrtleflower has made a much better successor.
"But now AngelClan has changed for the better." I added. "We've let in cats of many different backgrounds, and I really think it'll make AngelClan the strong Clan it truly aspires to be."
"I'm so proud to be part of it." Roypaw smiled.
"Me too." Kellypaw purred.
I realized that was all of the territory we needed to show. I'd teach Kellypaw how to hunt later.
"Alright you two, head back to camp." Jaspershade told both apprentices, making my heart lurch. He was trying to get me alone!
"Okay, thank you Jaspershade!" Roypaw meowed as he and his sister headed back to camp.
"I guess we should head back too huh." I told Jaspershade.
"Why the hurry? It's sunset, and a little walk wouldn't hurt." Jaspershade explained. Ugh, he was going to be the death of me!
"Fine, let's just steer clear of the hunting patrols." I sighed as I followed him. He lead the way and I thought I might as well enjoy the scenery.
Of course my mind had other plans, I started remembering how he acted around me all this time. We shared tongues when we used to be kittypets, and he's looked at me with big green eyes then and he does now.
Suddenly I felt like if he told me now I'd explode into a million pieces.
"Are you excited to have an apprentice now?" Jaspershade asked me.
"Of course, what about you?" I asked back.
"Well y'know I'm nervous." Jaspershade responded. "This Clan concept is still relatively new to me. Um, Starlingmask I wanted to say-"
Suddenly we heard shuffling in the bushes.
"I wonder if we're going to catch cats 'doing the do' as Marquis would say." Jaspershade muttered, clearly annoyed that our conversation was cut short.
I went ahead of Jaspershade and pushed aside the bushes to see...Cupcake and Ebony?!
"Ah! It isn't w-w-what it looks like!" Cupcake squeaked, pulling away from what appeared to be cuddling.
"It's exactly what it looks like." Ebony contradicted the flustered tom.
"Why are you doing this in private? Cats are fine with that kind of intimacy in the Clan." I asked the two toms.
"They're fine with a tom and a she-cat doing that." Ebony corrected me. "Not two of the same."
"How do you know if that's the case?" I questioned again.
"If cats didn't l-like it in Twolegplace, they'd definitely n-not like it here." Cupcake explained.
"They're probably right Starlingmask, Vixenstar would probably flip." Jaspershade agreed.
"There's no way in hell I'm letting these two have to hide their love just because they're both the same sex!" I growled. "Something needs to be done about this!"
"Starlingmask, we'll reveal it on our own time ok?" Ebony meowed.
"Fine." I sighed, after all I shouldn't force them to do anything they weren't ready for. "But take care for me okay?"
"Of course." Ebony replied.
"T-Th-Thank you." Cupcake stammered, looking up at me with grateful honey yellow eyes.
So that was that, today me and Jaspershade got apprentices, I may or may not have learned that Jaspershade has feelings for me, and we learned Cupcake and Ebony are mates but not publicly.
We went into the warrior's den to sleep and to no surprise, Jaspershade slept beside me and gave a tiny smile that made my heart flutter.
Dangit.
