Chapter 13

I was stiff the next morning. The clan gathered around the elders as they took Fishcreek away to be buried. I sighed. Sandclaw bounded up to me, announcing, "Time for training." I narrowed my eyes but had no choice. I followed her to the river. Shinewhisker was there. She looked lost. "I loved him." She was unquestionably talking about Fishcreek. I repeated what Oakstorm told me after Mosskit died, "Starclan gives each kit a one when they are born. Sometimes it hurts the cat, and those who love him. But they don't do it to be cruel. They have every cat's best interest in mind."

"Do… do you mean that?"

I nodded and said, "I miss him too. He was a great mentor."

She nodded. "Silverpaw, come. I want to see which battle moves you already know." That was Sandclaw, calling to me from across the river. I nodded and gave Shinewhisker a lick before catching up to my new mentor.

The training session was just awkward. I couldn't think of Sandclaw as my mentor. She seemed too impatient. She spoke to me like I was a kit. Sandclaw didn't understand me or what I have been through, what I was going through. But how could I expect her to when I didn't understand either?

"Why don't you just go hunting? I'll work with you on your battle moves later." I narrowed my eyes at her tone. I would show her just like I showed Oakstorm!

"I want to show you one more thing though."

Her eyes narrowed too and she scolded me, "When your mentor tells you to do something, you do it, no complaints! Great Starclan, did you always complain to Fishcreek this much?"

I snapped back., "He didn't give me anything to complain about! He treated me with respect; he was always kind and patient with me! You treat me like I'm too dumb to understand."

Her eyes flashed blue fire and she spat, "Don't talk to me like that. I'll show you respect when you earn it. Now go hunt!"

I rolled my eyes, but had the sense not to keep arguing. I bounded off toward the river, and found a shady spot to sit. I looked into the water, scanning my eyes for the sight of fish. There was definitely a lot more out now than before. I scooped one out and clawed it fiercely. I scowled at it before returning my gaze to the river. I scooped out a few more fish before I returned to camp. Sandclaw was talking to Oakstorm. His reproaching glaze slid over to me before he nuzzled Sandclaw. I growled and put all but one of my fish on the pile. It was obvious Sandclaw told him about our argument.

I missed fishcreek even more than I thought possible. Hopefully he had some good memories of training 'cause I did. I remembered the day he showed me how to sneak up on our enemies. I had come up with a game for it. One of us would disappear from view while the other stayed put. It was my turn to disappear and so I waited silently for a long time. Just when he let his guard I pounced from the left and he went flying into a tree. He was laughing the whole time and I had too, once I knew he was ok. Even now, I was purring at the memory

He had gotten me back a few days later. We were fishing, not at the river that was our boundary with Thunderclan, but at a spot that was closer to camp. I leaned in to scoop one out, and he pushed me in. He laughed loud enough to scare any remaining fish away. I shook my fur out and glared at him, but couldn't resist laughing with him. Oakstorm had been concerned when I got back, but I assured him I was ok. "I went for a swim." He purred and looked at me with a warmth that I missed bitterly.

I sighed happily, all Sandclaw's criticism gone just like that. "Let all cats old enough to swim gather around the Mossrock for a clan meeting." I sat in the middle of Rosedrop and Fernpaw, and Shadepaw was on Fernpaw's other side. Rosedrop and I exchanged a greeting. I watched the clan gather, wondering what the reason was for the meeting. "I wish to welcome three new kits to the clan. Graymist and Reedpelt emerged from the knot of cats, with their three little kits in the middle of them. Graymist pushed Thrushkit forward, and Smallflower gave him a lick and a nod before sending him to Rainstar. "This is Thrushkit." He meowed before giving him a nod.

The little gray she kit bounded up to Smallflower before Reedpelt could tell her to. I purred at her entusaium. Smallflower licked her and gave her a nod before passing her to Rainstar, just as he had with Thrushkit. Rainstar nodded at her and said, "This is Icekit, named after her deep blue eyes." I though the name suited her, the shade of blue being the exact shade of ice. I had never seen another cat with eyes that color. Cloudkit came up to me and said, "Hey Silverpaw!"

The clan laughed as she gazed at me, with awe in her eyes. I meowed quickly, "This is Cloudkit."

The tiny kit grinned and said, "Yeah last time I checked that was me." My clanmates laughed harder. I placed my tail over her shoulders and pulled her over to Smallflower. Could this get more embarrassing? I retreated to my spot. Smallflower licked her and gave her a nod. Cloudkit padded up to Rainstar. Rainstar nodded in turn and pronounced, "As Silverpaw said, this is Cloudkit."

My little fan meowed, "Yay Silverpaw! Can she mentor me?" Apparently it could. Someone stop this madness! Reedpelt came and escorted his kits back to the circle of cats. Thank you Reedpelt! I thought.

"We wish the three of them a long happy life full of good hunting and friendship." Rainstar said. The clan cheered in approval. Rosedrop and my sister teased me as Rainstar brought the meeting to a close. "Silverpaw's the best!" Rosedrop exclaimed.

"I want her to be my mentor!" Shadepaw said.

Fernpaw meowed, "No I want her! You're a medicine cat anyway."

Rosedrop jumped onto Fernpaw in a play fight and growled, "I'll fight you for her."

I laughed. "Ok guys break it up." Rosedrop got off Fernpaw and helped her to her paws.

It had been a long day, and I was tired to the tip of my claws. I settled into my nest and drifted into a deep slumber.

The next day was bright and sunny. I rolled over and tried to fall back asleep. I even placed my tail over my eyes. It was quiet for a few minutes; Fernpaw must be out training with Smallflower. "Silverpaw!" I groaned. Sandclaw sounded really annoyed. I wished I could get away from her. I wasn't looking forward to another afternoon of training with her. She didn't even have much warrior experience compared to some of the senior warriors Rainstar could have chosen for me.

I groaned again as I stretched my legs and walked over to her. "What do you think you are, a dormouse? It's time for training. Stop being lazy." With that she ran out of camp. Great. She didn't even say what we were doing. Fishcreek would have been kind enough to say where to meet him.

I walked over to the camp's entrance when Cloudkit appeared from nowhere. She squeaked, "Where are you going? Can I come?"

I said, "Training. And no sorry. Stay in camp where it's safe."

She looked so downcast so I reached over and gave her a lick on her head. "If it's ok with your mother, I'll take you for a walk in the forest when I get back." She cheered up right away.

"Ok Silverpaw! Have fun!" She bounding off to the nursery calling, "Graymist!" I stifled a laugh and left camp.

My amusement didn't last long. It took way too long to find Sandclaw. She was furious with me, but I tuned out what she said. If she told me where to meet her I wouldn't have had to search the whole territory and be late.

I watched her demonstrate a battle move. When it was my turn, I jumped on her like I was supposed to and bit her neck and pulled up. She screeched and threw me off. She sprang at me and I tried to jump out of the way but she grabbed my leg as I jumped. She threw me hard to the ground and clawed at my stomach. her unsheathed paws, drew blood. "That is how you handle surprise? You'll be killed in the next battle." She snorted.

Anger flowed through me and I caught her off guard. While she was trying to scramble to her paws, I bit her tail and pulled until she fell again. I pounced on her and swiped at her ear. I had the decency to keep my claws in. "Satisfied?" I growled.

She narrowed her eyes and said, "Better, I have been teaching you well." Oh please, this was her first day teaching me battle moves. Fishcreek showed me that display of moves.

Fishcreek. He would be so proud of me. Doing my best in a hostile situation and trying to be respectful, on the outside at least. Sandclaw must have noticed my lack of attention cause she tried to throw me off. I planted my paws on either side of her and dug my claws into the ground. She clawed my belly some more, making it sting but I held my ground growling. "Good strategy huh? I made it so you can't escape," I asked taking care to sound non threatening. She nodded and then I let her up. We worked for the rest of the day, somewhat better than we had yesterday. At least there was no unnecessary scolding.

I had to hand it to her, when she wasn't being mean, she was a good mentor. She helped me sort out a problem I had with the front paw swipe and when we worked on the scruff shake, she came up with a better way to inflict more damage. And she let me put some of my own twist into things. I had to modify some of the new moves she showed me, to accommodate my short legs.

I wondered where all her anger came from. I was pretty sure it wasn't about the Oakstorm thing; after all she was really friendly to me in the first stages of their relationship. What had changed since then? I vowed silently to figure it out and talk to her about, see if we could smooth things over.

When we returned to camp, Smallflower was setting the patrols for tommarow. Cloudkit ran up to me, her gray eyes sparkling. "She said yes! Graymist said it was ok!" I purred at her happiness just like I had this morning.

I nodded, "Very good, let's go then."