So, I didn't get ten reviews, but I did get one review, and a story alert from (or however it's meant to be written, and I can't remember, sorry), so huge thanks to those awesome people. If I were in to giving out plushies (which I'm not 0.o) they'd get Icepaw and Stonepelt plushies for sure. Anywho, onto the story, which will hopefully develop some sort of plot…sooner or later.
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A loud sneeze jerked Icepaw out of her restless sleep. When another sneeze sounded, seeming to come from somewhere very close, Icepaw realized that it was her. She shook her head and blinked rapidly, trying to clear the sleep from her eyes. With a start, she realized that it was already light outside the den. Her stomach dropping to her paws, the apprentice leaped to her feet and streaked out of her nest, leaving bits of moss fluttering to the ground in her wake.
But, instead of bright morning sunlight, Icepaw found that it was barely dawn, and only a few weak rays managed to penetrate the covering of clouds that blanketed the forest. She looked down at her paws, confused, and then stifled a yowl of dismay. A thin dusting of snow covered every inch of the clearing and speckled the leaves of the trees above her. Every snowflake cast its own tiny rainbow, tripling the amount of light given off by the rising sun. Groaning to herself, Icepaw trudged back and forth before the den, her whiskers quivering. Wasn't leafbare supposed to be over? Since when did it snow in the middle of newleaf?
"What's the matter? Too cold for you, kittypet?" came a bitter snarl. Icepaw's gaze flashed up to meet the piercing amber stare of Mossfur, the elder who had spoken against her before her apprentice ceremony. He stood, legs rigid, a few paces away, his tail tip twitching.
Icepaw considered lunging forward and taking a swipe at his nose, but decided against it. As an alternative, she composed her face into a mask of stone and locked her gaze with his, determined not to back down. Mossfur's eyes narrowed as he saw the resolve form in her green eyes.
"I bet you're not even used to getting your paws wet!" Mossfur taunted, taking Icepaw's silence as an invitation. Icepaw's pelt prickled and her ear twitched with annoyance, but she refused to move a muscle. Mossfur leaned forward, the spark of a challenge igniting in his yellow eyes.
"Your wretched kittypet blood must be freezing already! I can see you shivering! A warrior would keep his paws warm by hunting and fighting for his Clan, but I can see that you're a coward." Mossfur spat. "You'd love to sit back and let real cats do the work for you, eh? Bet the only reason you left your Twolegs is because they made you walk to your food bowl!" He finished his rant with a wheezing cackle.
Suddenly, another voice cut the elder off just as he was taking a deep breath to begin another tirade. "Icepaw! I see you standing over there! Come out hunting with us!"
Mossfur glared over Icepaw's shoulder, and she followed his gaze to find Robinpaw standing by the bramble tunnel with Oakshadow and Stonepelt beside her. She hadn't even noticed her friend wake up while Mossfur was hissing at her. She turned back to the bad-tempered elder with a condescending smile and mewed a curt reply. "I'm sorry, Mossfur. I have to go hunt for my Clan now. I'll make sure to bring you back something, if I get the chance."
Then she turned tail and trotted away, picturing his sour frown as he watched her leave.
"What was he spitting about now?" Robinpaw whispered as Icepaw reached them.
"It was nothing," she replied, but inside Mossfur's stinging insults were still smarting.
Robinpaw squinted at her for a moment, her red-ginger tail twitching, then shrugged and turned to her mentor. Oakshadow was licking one of his paws calmly, waiting for the apprentices.
"What are we going to do today?" Robinpaw questioned eagerly, pacing back and forth in front of the tunnel.
The pale brown warrior paused in his grooming and glanced serenely at his apprentice. "I already said we were going hunting about four times, Robinpaw. Please, calm down – you're giving me a headache."
With a huff, Robinpaw dropped to her haunches, only to spring up a second later when Stonepelt took a step toward the tunnel. "Keep your fur on," murmured the dark tabby tom, loping past her into the tunnel. Robinpaw waited for Oakshadow to plod slowly after his fellow warrior before she darted into the brambles with Icepaw at her heels.
Snow made the stones of the ravine more slippery than usual, but today Icepaw managed to stay on her feet. The four cats ran silently between the frosted trunks of trees, their paws making little sound as they padded through the snow. As the sun rose above the dark treetops, its warming rays finally began to chase the thick fog away, and the drip, drip of melting ice became the only sound in the forest, aside from the rare call of a bird.
Oakshadow waved his tail for the hunting party to stop once they had reached the Owl Tree, its leaves tinged gold. A breeze made the branches swing gently, sending shadows dancing across Icepaw's pale fur.
"We can hunt here. Icepaw and Stonepelt, try down by the stream, there's sure to be something down there." Stonepelt dipped his head to Oakshadow and beckoned to Icepaw.
"Come one – let's teach you how to hunt. Did Robinpaw show you any techniques?" Stonepelt meowed as they picked their way through the undergrowth toward the muddy bank of the creek that formed the border between RiverClan and ThunderClan territory.
Guiltily, Icepaw replied, "No."
"Alright. Since we're down here, I'll teach you the best way to stalk a vole."
Stonepelt and Icepaw spent the better part of the day practicing different hunting techniques on a myriad of creatures that they nosed up around the half-full stream. Icepaw was delighted to find that her muscles had strengthened in the few days she'd spent in the forest, and she was now able to keep up with the ThunderClan-born cats as easily as if she'd grown up with them.
The hunting party turned a little after sunhigh, footsore and hungry. Icepaw was frustrated that she hadn't yet made a catch, but she'd learned more from Stonepelt that day then she'd learned in her entire lifetime combined, aside from how to deal with Twolegs, but that kind of knowledge wouldn't help her here.
As soon as Icepaw dropped Robinpaw's third mouse onto the fresh kill pile, she hurried toward the apprentice den, desperate to pass under Mossfur's notice, just in case the petulant elder remembered their earlier conversation.
"Aren't you hungry?" Robinpaw called after her as she slunk through the shadows towards the safety of the den.
"Not really," Icepaw lied over her shoulder. Her stomach grumbled as if it was trying to betray her.
As soon as she reached the mouth of the den, her relief was replaced with disappointment. When she peered into the darkness, she recognized Tansypaw's crouched form. The small she-cat's eyes flashed open as Icepaw entered, glowing ominously.
"What are you doing, kittypet? Slinking off to hide from your duties, I bet. Ashpaw and I were just discussing how Cinderstar hasn't even given you a mentor yet. He's probably just waiting for you to run away."
Icepaw blinked. She hadn't realized that Ashpaw was there, he camouflaged so well with the darkness inside the den. She scolded herself inwardly – she should have been able to recognize his scent by now.
"Yeah – kittypet," Ashpaw chimed in, his high-pitched voice especially needling.
Once again, Icepaw pulled her grimace into a smooth, emotionless mask. Despite how she appeared on the outside though, inside, the she-cat was hissing back. If I get called kittypet one more time, I swear I'm gonna claw someone's ears off. I'm not a kittypet anymore, and I never wanted to be!
Once Tansypaw realized that she wasn't going to squeeze a reaction out of her new denmate, the she-cat rose to her feet and flicked a piece of moss off her shoulder. "Come on, Ashpaw. I think Cinderstar wanted us to go on patrol." She threw up her nose and stalked away, Ashpaw trailing eagerly by her flank. As they disappeared, Icepaw heard him mew, "Cinderstar never asked us to go on patrol." She snorted and laid her head in her paws.
Before she'd even gotten comfortable in her nest, a yowl split the chilled air. "May all cats old enough to catch their own prey gather here beneath the Highrock!" came Cinderstar's smooth, deep voice. Icepaw sighed and rose to her feet again, padding out of the den. She watched warily as Mossfur emerged from the soft patch of grass by the log where the elders slept and trotted to the scuffed area at the base of the tall boulder.
Sticking to the shadows so as to escape his notice, the white she-cat made her way to the Highrock, where she saw Robinpaw seated next to Specklefoot, a gray and white queen, and her kit, Sparrowkit. Confused, the white she-cat darted to her friend's side.
"Why is Sparrowkit here? I thought kits and queens weren't supposed to come to Clan meetings." She stole a glance at the tortoiseshell kit, who was squirming in her seat.
"It's her apprentice ceremony! Isn't that exciting? We won't be the youngest apprentices anymore!" Robinpaw mewed delightedly, and shot a glowing grin at the she-kit, who smiled tentatively back.
"When were you apprenticed?" Icepaw asked, curious.
Robinpaw flicked her ears, thinking. "One moon or so before you got here. So we're pretty much the same age, I bet. Sparrowkit's only two or three moons younger than me, anyway. I think Cinderstar let her have her apprentice ceremony at five and a half moons instead of six because so many cats died during leafbare. The lucky furball."
Icepaw glanced again at Sparrowkit, noticing how she seemed smaller than the other apprentices. "Any idea who her mentor will be?" Icepaw asked to make conversation as the rest of ThunderClan assembled. She was really thinking of herself, but was too shy to ask that question when she wasn't sure if what Tansypaw had said was true.
"No, but –" Robinpaw paused and narrowed her eyes, her gaze trained on the Highrock. Cinderstar was sitting calmly with his tail tucked over his paws, but beside him was an old, grizzled gray tom who Icepaw had only seen once or twice before.
"Isn't that…the medicine cat?" Icepaw mewed. His name escaped her, but Robinpaw quickly supplied it.
"Shortwhisker. He's practically the oldest cat in the Clan. I wonder…" but she didn't have a chance to finish her sentence as Cinderstar waved his tail for silence.
"Cats of ThunderClan! Today we are fortunate to welcome a new apprentice! Sparrowkit, please step forward."
The tortoiseshell she-cat padded to the base of the Highrock, gazing up at Cinderstar in wonder.
"Sparrowkit, from this day forth, you will be known as Sparrowpaw."
The Clan cheered her name as the ThunderClan leader nodded to the she-cat, who grinned back at her mother. "Sparrowpaw! Sparrowpaw!" Icepaw joined in cheerfully.
"Sparrowpaw, your mentor will be Shortwhisker."
A collection of gasps rose from the gathered cats as the old gray tom dropped from the Highrock to touch noses with his new apprentice. Sparrowpaw looked wildly excited, as if she'd just been presented with the juiciest piece of prey in the entire forest, and she'd been dreaming about it for her entire life.
"I knew it!" Robinpaw hissed, smiling. Then her face fell. "But that means she won't be training with us."
"Cheer up, that doesn't mean she can't be our friend," Icepaw mewed, nudging her friend's shoulder. Robinpaw nodded, shrugging, her ginger ears flickering back and forth as cats padded up to congratulate Sparrowpaw.
"We'll be the only apprentices in our den in a moon's time," Robinpaw mewed with a sigh, as the cats settled back into their seats. Cinderstar was still on the Highrock, indicating that the meeting wasn't over.
"What? Why?" Icepaw mewed, startled.
"Ashpaw and Tansypaw will be warriors soon," the ginger she-cat replied matter of factly.
"Huh. I didn't think Tansypaw was that old," Icepaw murmured under her breath. She didn't seem very mature for her age, at the very least.
"I have one more announcement to make before you can return to your duties," Cinderstar called. A few cats gave mutters of impatience, which Cinderstar ignored.
"Icepaw, you've been without a proper mentor for too long, and its time Oakshadow return to mentoring his own apprentice."
Amidst her excitement, Icepaw thought to herself that Oakshadow hadn't really taught her much – it was Stonepelt who spent the most time worrying about her warrior education.
"Stonepelt! You learned excellent warrior skills from Tanglethorn – it's time you had an apprentice of your own. I would like you to mentor Icepaw. I expect you to pass on all your courage and bravery to this apprentice." The long-legged tom nodded to Stonepelt, indicating that he should step forward.
"Thank you, Cinderstar," mewed the dark tabby. He padded forward and gently touched Icepaw's nose with his. Icepaw gazed up into his dark amber eyes with a sense of awe. He stood a few mouse-lengths higher than her, and the way his muscles rippled beneath his sleek pelt, he could probably pin her down before she could twitch a whisker.
When Icepaw returned to Robinpaw's side and Cinderstar declared the meeting over, Robinpaw turned and hissed, "Do you really think he heard us…you know, talking about -?"
She was interrupted by a yowl from behind them. "Icepaw! Come on, why don't we do some more hunting before sunset!"
"Sorry, Robinpaw. See you later!" Icepaw mewled, trotting away from her friend. Before the white she-cat slipped out of the tunnel after her mentor, she located Tansypaw by the fresh kill pile and caught the she-cat's eye, casting her a scorching glare. Tansypaw stuck out her tongue and turned away.
"Icepaw! We don't have all day!" Stonepelt meowed. Chuckling, Icepaw darted out of the camp.
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Yay! It starts out all happy, but oh no, you just wait… :D
-ASTER