Thanks for all the feedback! Enjoy this chapter :D (and happy new year!)
"You'll be out of here beforeyou know it," Morningpaw assured her father, though the statement was tasteless compared to the extravagant reassurances she came up with a moon ago.
Bumblestripe nodded, hanging his head over the edge of his nest. "Thank you," he rasped. "For coming here, committing yourself to me." He lifted his head again and smiled at her weakly. "You're leaving camp for the first time today, aren't you?"
"Yeah," Morningpaw mewed, glancing over her shoulder to watch the dawn light filtering into the den gradually grow stronger. "It was scary."
Her father shifted a bit in his nest and winced. "What was scary?"
Morningpaw turned back around and frowned solemnly at the silver-and-black tom. He was so handsome, but now so scarred. The foxes had really taken the energy out of him, and for two moons straight Bumblestripe had been unable to move. Now he could stand and walk a few steps, but he still hadn't seen the camp clearing since he started being under Jayfeather's stern care. The deepest gashes were still poking through his fur, though most of the remaining scratches were now healed. His ears were shredded just like Ivypool's, now totally hiding the original lone tear. Morningpaw gulped; at first the sight of her heavily injured father had frightened her, but since Dovewing and Beepaw seemed to not visit that much, she had taken charge and now spent time with him every day. She had only become an apprentice yesterday, in the morning accompanied by torrential rain. But now, for the first time in a long while, the rain had eased up, and was now just a dainty sprinkle. There was no doubt that Morningpaw would have her first tour of ThunderClan territory— or at least, what wasn't stolen of it— today.
"Sleeping in the apprentices' den," she finally answered. "I mean, Beepaw and my other kin were there, but it still wasn't the same as cuddling up to Dovewing in the nursery…" Morningpaw trailed off and hesitated. "Not that she ever notices Beepaw or I anymore."
Bumblestripe frowned, and for a moment a pained look crossed over his face. However, it quickly subsided and he replied softly, "I know things are difficult right now, Morningpaw."
Guilt clawed at Morningpaw's heart, and for a moment she couldn't breathe and look at her father at the same time without feeling pain. She couldn't stop thinking about the conversation she and Beepaw had overheard three moons ago. Our mother had a relationship with Tigerheart, some kind of connection that she can't let go of. She stared into her father's endless blue eyes. Dovewing still loves another tom. And if she loved Bumblestripe at the same time, Morningpaw didn't know.
A little while later, Morningpaw was setting paw out of camp for the first time ever. Excitement tingled up her legs as she landed on a cushion of moss past the thorn barrier. She glanced at Beepaw, who beamed at her, sky-colored eyes twinkling. Lakepaw was bouncing ahead, tail waving like a dog's, and Fogpaw was strolling at Morningpaw's shoulder, face lifted to the treetops.
Morningpaw joined him, gazing upward. Patches of sky and cloud were visible through the leaf-decorated branches. It was the time of season when the leaves were just starting to turn the color of rust, and it made for a beautiful collage high above.
Seedspeck, Morningpaw's mentor, veered immediately to the left, and Morningpaw's belly lurched: she had totally forgotten about the foxes! Wasn't FoxClan territory sandwiched between theirs and WindClan's?
"S- Snowtail?" Fogpaw piped up, eyeing his mentor as if there were bees in his brain. Morningpaw was wondering the same thing.
The broad-shouldered tom turned and grinned at his apprentice. "Yes, Fogpaw?"
Fogpaw licked his chest fur and was almost sent sprawling by a twig. Straightening himself, he mumbled sheepishly, "Aren't we going in the direction of the foxes?"
Morningpaw sneaked a peek at her sister. Beepaw's eyes were no longer glittering gleefully; now they flashed with what Morningpaw could only take to be resentment. Well, of course. She hates the foxes because they injured our father.
Snowtail dipped his head and opened his mouth to speak, but Lilyfern meowed instead, "There's a thin strip of territory right by the lake that's not, er, occupied by FoxClan. It's right by the lake, so we're going to squeeze through there and mark what little of the WindClan border we can reach."
Lakepaw let slip a snort. Everybody blinked at him, and he looked disgruntled as he mewed, "Well, what's the point of marking the border if—"
"If we don't place a drop of ThunderClan scent on that fox-length of safe boundary, WindClan could take it that we don't care if they roam our territory as they please," explained Seedspeck briskly. The trees were thinning out, and Morningpaw realized that there was a strange material besides earth under her paws. It was grainy and quite uncomfortable when it got stuck between her pads.
"We don't need FoxClan and WindClan breathing down our necks," Amberear added. Morningpaw was blatantly aware of how close in size the gray warrior was to the biggest apprentice, Lakepaw. They're still so young, it's like we're just a big group of apprentices with two warriors…
With a curt nod of agreement, Lilyfern took the lead next to her sister, and eventually the group emerged from the forest. Having lived all her life in the heart of the woods, Morningpaw was shocked by this breathtaking view.
"Is this the whole word?" Lakepaw breathed, astonished. He pounced forward and one paw splashed into the lake. Intrigued, the black-and-white apprentice flicked water out of his namesake and onto the shore.
Morningpaw scuffed her paws against the sand, and the stuff built up against her paws. Smirking stupidly, she craned her neck and stood on her toes to observe the land around her.
To the left was a very thin strip of sand that wasn't marked up with fox prints and dung. Beyond that, she could barely see rolling hills: WindClan's moor. She twisted so she could see all the way across the lake. Squinting around the sun glare, she was able to see some sparse trees that could only be RiverClan's turf. Finally, she leaned forward and lifted her nose to the right to catch the scent of ShadowClan's shadowy pine forest on the air.
"It's just so big!" Beepaw gasped, a glowing smile once again present on her youthful features.
Amberear laughed. "That's exactly what Dewclaw said when he first saw—" She stopped herself midsentence, tail drooping. "Oh. Right. He isn't here."
Snowtail sneered good-humoredly. "Yeah, our ol' brother's pretty upset he didn't get an apprentice too." He scanned the four younger cats staring in awe over the lake. "There should've been one more of you."
"Okay, okay, apprentices are not feathers in your nest," Lilyfern mewed tersely. "We should all get going!" she continued more audibly. "We might as well get this WindClan border thing over with so we can explore safer territory."
Seedspeck flicked her tail thoughtfully and bounded after her littermate. "I wouldn't exactly call our territory closer to ShadowClan safe!"
Morningpaw's heart hammered in her chest a little. Then I suppose ThunderClan is doomed either way?
They slipped through the narrow sandy area, Morningpaw's pelt prickling the entire time. Several times, she or one of her fellows had to skirt a pile of fox dung. They made it, however, to barely a fox-length of a stream, which apparently served as the boundary.
Lilyfern demonstrated how to mark the border, but for once Morningpaw didn't entirely listen and allowed her sister's mentor's voice revert to a buzz in the back of her mind.
"Oh, look, your first glimpse of WindClan cats," Snowtail announced, jerking his head in the direction of four cats who had suddenly appeared at the crest of the nearest hill. They scraped their way down the slope, and a brown-and-white tom, dark tabby tom, and smaller cats who were most likely their apprentices came into view.
Lilyfern bravely walked to the edge of ThunderClan's bank and bowed her head to the WindClan warriors. "Harespring, Leaftail," she meowed calmly.
Apprehensively, Morningpaw got a good look at the apprentices. A tom and a she-cat, and obviously siblings due to their brown pelts. Only the she-cat had a tinge of gray to her coat. They were also much older, probably only a moon away from being named warriors. She accidentally caught the tom's eye; twin glaring amber orbs. Suppressing a shudder, she nearly spun herself silly by glancing away.
"Lilyfern, is it?" Harespring meowed, his optics, which matched the color of the moor grasses, brimming with irritation.
"Yes. This is my sister, Seedspeck, and Amberear and Snowtail. Our apprentices are Beepaw, Morningpaw, Lakepaw, and Fogpaw."
The WindClan cats— they're so skinny! Do they eat one rabbit a moon? — appeared to be extremely bored during Lilyfern's introduction, and when she was done Leaftail exhaled obnoxiously and nodded toward FoxClan territory. "When do you plan on getting rid of the mongrels here?"
Snowtail dared a step forward so that his claws curled into the stream water. "You could take care of them, too—"
"I'm afraid not, rookie," Harespring said icily. "The foxes are on your side of the stream, see."
The solid brown apprentice's face contorted with laughter. "It's not really your stream anymore, is it?" he taunted, leaning forward into the younger cats' noses. "Bramblestar doesn't seem to care who his territory is shared with." He nudged his sister, a simper on his face that only showed how proud he was of himself. "Just wait, there'll be badgers moving in next."
The ThunderClan cats bristled but said nothing. Lakepaw had to be restrained by his brother. One decent comeback came to Morningpaw: How's the prey running, fox-hearts? You all look like twigs, is everything alright? Seedspeck thought of something better though.
The ginger she-cat unsheathed her claws, but stayed rooted to the spot, trembling so much that even her torn ears were shaking. "How's the traitor settling in?" she hissed.
Everyone at the scene jumped. At first Morningpaw was confused, but then Leaftail snarled, "Breezepelt has always been loyal to WindClan!"
"Has he?" Seedspeck mewed stonily. "Has he really? Because last time I remember, he was crying goodbye to his Dark Forest buddies and ran away with his dear mother after deeming his Clan of birth weak."
The brown apprentice rolled his eyes. "You were just a kit then, surely."
Seedspeck sniggered at him. "You weren't even alive then, surely."
Harespring flung himself forward so that he stood mouse-tail-lengths away from slipping into the stream. "He has changed." He spoke firmly, but Seedspeck opened her mouth to argue again when there was a great splash and a strangled cry for help.
Once again, everyone whirled around as one and the brown tom howled in shock. His sister had fallen into the lake. A large gap in the grasses exposed a muddy field, which the gray-brown she-cat had clearly slid down while everyone else was distracted.
"I'll save you!" shouted the she-cat's brother, but Harespring threw himself forward in front of his apprentice.
"Antpaw, no," Harespring voiced, though he was obviously struggling to stay chill. "Leaftail will get her."
"I can get help—" Lilyfern offered, shoving aside Seedspeck.
"We don't need help from drypaws like you," Leaftail called before plunging into the lake.
Amberear scoffed. "As if you swim daily!"
Leaftail was paddling terribly in the lake, his strokes getting weaker by the heartbeat. The she-cat, in her desperation to swim to safety, had managed to thrash her way deeper into the enormous murky pool.
The ThunderClan cats watched dejectedly as the dark tabby disappeared under the water at the same time as the she-cat. They all waited, Antpaw still straining against Harespring, when Leaftail abruptly emerged in the middle of the lake, gasping and splashing clumsily back toward the shore. It was difficult to tell if the she-cat was with him.
Leaftail finally slipped out of the water, but then collapsed onto his belly and coughed up mouthfuls of swirling liquid. Harespring forgot holding back Antpaw and scrambled over to his Clanmate. "Um, where is she?"
"She's gone," Leaftail wretched. "I swam as deep as I could, but there was no sign… she- she's gone." He raised his head in a wail. "I let my apprentice die!"
Devastation wracked Morningpaw's body, and she swayed a little on her paws. The argument with WindClan earlier was totally forgotten as ThunderClan let out murmurs of sympathy.
The last thing Morningpaw saw before she was ushered back toward the forest was Antpaw at the water's edge, yowling, "Dewpaw, no!"
There was a Dew in ThunderClan, a Dew in ShadowClan, and one in WindClan, so I had to kill one of 'em off. Plus it makes their first time out of camp all the more dramatic :C