Fireheart was still awake when the sun started to climb above the horizon, a burning orange glow in the cherry blossom sky, he was in absolute awe of it and wondered why he didn't get up to see it more often.
A load grunt from Graystripe snapped him out of his trance; he rushed over to his friend. A burst of concern bolted through Fireheart's body and he realised how much Graystripe really meant to him. "Are you okay Graystripe?" He asked in a gentle yet clearly anxious mew. "Yes, don't worry," reassured Graystripe, "I'm just sore, could you ask Yellowfang for some poppy seeds or something?" Graystripe pleaded. Fireheart groaned at the prospect of having another conversation with the grumpy she-cat. "Please." Mewed Graystripe and Fireheart gave in with another loud groan.
"Some cats are trying to sleep!" Meowed Yellowfang irritably from a corner on the other side of the bracken shelter. Now she's in a bad mood as well! I'd better get this over with, thought Fireheart. He padded over to Yellowfang, stepping carefully over his sleeping clan mates. "Ouch!" Cried the owner of the tail Fireheart had stepped on. "Oof!" Exclaimed Dustpelt, who Fireheart had somehow fallen completely on top of. "Sorry!" He mewed, knowing he would pay for this later on.
Eventually, he reached Yellowfang. "Graystripe wants poppy seeds." Fireheart mewed bluntly, trying to be confident and mimicking Yellowfang's usual tone. "No, he'll sleep all day." She replied just as bluntly. "Well, what can you give him? He's in pain!" Fireheart meowed in exasperation. "Don't raise you voice with me! You're meant to respect your elders!" Yellowfang yowled, waking up the whole group of cats. "Now look what you've done, you stupid furball!" She yowled even louder when she saw that the group were starting to stir. The other cats turned to glare at her drowsily but she turned a blind-eye on them, turned over and went back to sleep!
Fireheart's clan mates decided to get up, they couldn't sleep anyway because Yellowfang was snoring away in the corner. Soon the clearing, outside of the bracken, was crowded with Thunderclan cats stretching, yawning and sharing tongues. Sandstorm and Fireheart offered to hunt for the group and Whitestorm was grateful for the offer but warned them to keep a look out for badgers.
Fireheart felt a surge of mixed strong emotions whenever he saw Sandstorm now and was struggling to keep them at bay as the she-cat padded swiftly over to meet him. She had just been sharing tongues with Dustpelt which had made Fireheart feel a burning envy before he realised that he was being a mouse-brain; Sandstorm and Dustpelt had been close ever since they were kits, of course they were sharing tongues! Fireheart noticed that when Sandstorm passed under the bright, dappled sunlight, her fur glowed like the sun had that very morning and found himself stuck in a trance of awe once again.
"Why do you keep looking at me like that?" She mewed with amusement glistening in her leaf green eyes. "Like what?" Fireheart retorted.
"Hey, no need to be like that." Sandstorm mewed with a flick of her tail, her expression shifting to hurt.
"I-I didn't-"Started Fireheart.
"Forget it." Meowed Sandstorm, "Let's go hunting!" She leapt into the bushes. Fireheart stood thinking about her and sorting out his confusing feelings for a moment. "Are you coming or what?" Mewed Sandstorm suddenly, her face popping up over a bush and shocking Fireheart. She snickered at his reaction and leapt away again, this time with Fireheart following close behind.