In the days following the battle with WindClan, a feeling of normality settled over ShadowClan once more. After their firm defeat on their own territory, WindClan stopped pushing their luck on the border, and Frostpaw spent her days training, and hunting, and patrolling, the trouble with WindClan forgotten, for now at least.
A few sunrises after the battle, Mosspaw and Murmurpaw were made apprentices, and given to Dappledpelt and Thornheart, respectively. And, the apprentice den was full once more, made especially lively by the talkative Mosspaw. Frostpaw was on a dawn patrol with Mosspaw, Swoopstrike, Dappledpelt, and Dewleaf now. And, Frostpaw nodded patiently along as Mosspaw went on and on, leaving Frostpaw idly wondering how the she-cat managed to speak for so long without seemingly taking a breath.
"This is only my second patrol," Mosspaw was saying now to her. "I went on the first one to tour our territory, of course. But, I've only done hunting training and moss duty since then, so this is my first proper border patrol! Oh! Do you think we'll see any WindClan cats? Ha, although I don't think WindClan will want to show their faces around us after we beat them so bad not that long ago. What about ThunderClan? Are they actually as big as the elders say they are? I always thought that must be an exaggeration—"
"We won't be seeing any enemy warriors if you keep pattering on like that," Swoopstrike snapped, whipping his head around from where he was walking in front of the two apprentices to lock Mosspaw in his scorching green gaze. "I swear, every cat in the forest much be able to hear you from here to Highstones!"
Mosspaw's ears flattened, her jaws snapping shut against her stream of words, and the golden-furred apprentice seemed to somewhat deflate. Frostpaw gave Mosspaw a sympathetic look.
"Don't talk to my apprentice that way!" Dappledpelt snapped back to Swoopstrike from his side, the gaze she raked over him as sharp as thorns.
Swoopstrike's ears flattened at her rebuke, his tail tip twitching.
Frostpaw thought the dappled tortoiseshell warrior seemed very defensive of Mosspaw, her first apprentice. Frostpaw's brow furrowed slightly as she noted that she and Swoopstrike were close in age, and must have been den-mates in the nursery and apprentice den together.
I wonder if that's why she's not afraid to put Swoopstrike in his place—she's been dealing up with his grumpy mood her entire life!
Swoopstrike rolled his eyes at Dappledpelt.
"I'm just saying, ShadowClan is known for being silent, right?" Swoopstrike said. "The best stalkers in the forest? Ever heard of that? Being loud is just un-ShadowClan."
"Oh, shut up, frog-brain," Dappledpelt said, with an eye roll in response. "She's just excited. I know the concept of happiness is hard to grasp for a cat who's heart is as barren and frigid as yours, but try to imagine."
"If my heart is cold and dead, it's only because you made it that way," Swoopstrike retorted hotly, but Frostpaw thought she could defect a hint of playfulness in his voice that was unusual for him. "StarClan, you drain the life out of everything you touch. You know, Sedgestar was actually going to give you the warrior name 'Deathtouch,' but I thought it was too mean, so I convinced him to just go with 'Dappledpelt' instead."
"No, I think you've gotten me confused with yourself," Dappledpelt said haughtily, sticking her muzzle up in the air. "Ask anyone in the clan. Especially your poor sister. You're so unbearable, it's a miracle Snakeeyes didn't do us all a favor and strangle you when you two were only kits."
Dappledpelt flicked Swoopstrike's flank with a lash of her tail, and Swoopstrike sprung away from her touch like it was burning fire.
"Ack! Stay away from me, Deathtouch! My heart will give out, and I'm too young to die!" Swoopstrike yowled, recoiling from her.
Dappledpelt huffed offendedly.
"Come on, Mosspaw! Let's run ahead to the ThunderClan border before this noisy, un-ShadowClan frog-brain scares away all the cats 'from here to Highstones!'" Dappledpelt shouted the final jab over her shoulder, and she opened her stride, eating up the ground.
Mosspaw followed her into the trees, as did Dewleaf, who was purring loudly with amusement from their whole interaction. Frostpaw hung back with Swoopstrike, figuring that he wouldn't be pleased if his own apprentice abandoned him too.
Frostpaw studied Swoopstrike's face as he watched Dappledpelt run away with a green gaze that shimmered like a pool of water in the sunlight. But, Swoopstrike seemed to sense Frostpaw's eyes on him, and his gaze flickered to her.
"What?" he snapped, his eyes narrowing, the spark of warmth that was in them only a heartbeat ago vanishing as quickly as it appeared.
Frostpaw just looked away, and shrugged.
Not saying anything was probably the best course of action here, but she couldn't stop her whiskers from twitching in smug amusement. Swoopstrike huffed, giving himself a shake.
"Let's head to the border," he said in his normal curt tones, taking off at a sprint.
Frostpaw followed.
They caught up with the rest of their patrol at the edge of the thunderpath. Dappledpelt's ear twitched when Swoopstrike and Frostpaw approached but besides that didn't say anything. The ShadowClan patrol prowled down the edge of the thunderpath, remarking their borders in the shade of the trees as monsters roared past. Mosspaw, still not accustomed to the loud beasts, jumped at every passing. The thunderpath quieted down for a bit, and as the sharp tang of monster scent faded, Frostpaw's nose twitched as it picked up a new scent—cat scent.
"ThunderClan," Swoopstrike hissed the warning, catching the same scent Frostpaw had.
The ShadowClan patrol instinctively crouched down in the darkness beneath the pines, and turned to gaze across the thunderpath, their sharp eyes scanning the dark undergrowth on the other side to search for any movement. It wasn't long before some bushes on the ThunderClan side of the border rustled and a patrol of four cats pushed their way through. Frostpaw recognized one brown tom as Acornear, the ThunderClan deputy, but the other warriors, a tortoiseshell she-cat, a ginger she-cat, and a grey-and-white tom, were unfamiliar to her. The ThunderClan warriors hadn't seemed to notice the ShadowClan patrol hidden in the shadows across the thunderpath, and they continued on their way down the edge of their tree line undisturbed. Acornear split away from the rest of his patrol to pad out from under the trees and approach the edge of the thunderpath.
Frostpaw noticed Swoopstrike tense beside her, like he was afraid that the ThunderClan deputy would try to cross the thunderpath and into their territory. But, Acornear stopped right at the edge of the black, sticky stone of the thunderpath and bent his head to sniff at some crowfood lying there. Frostpaw squinted, trying to make out the shape. She thought it might be a squirrel, but it was hard to tell because its body was rather mangled by the monster that had killed it. Frostpaw's eyes widened in shock as Acornear opened his jaws to pick up the crowfood, which was exactly when Swoopstrike moved out from under the shadows of the trees to stride out towards the thunderpath.
"Has ThunderClan gotten so weak that it needs monsters to do their hunting for them?" Swoopstrike sneered, his voice ringing across the thunderpath.
Acornear's head snapped up in surprise, dropping the crowfood back on the ground. The rest of the ThunderClan patrol turned to face the sound of Swoopstrike's voice, their pelts bristling.
"I hear that crowfood that sits on the side of the thunderpath for sunrises acquires a very unique flavor," Dappledpelt added, padding out to stand at Swoopstrike's side. "ThunderClan must like that."
Swoopstrike nodded at Dappledpelt's words, his face mockingly thoughtful. Frostpaw thought he and Dappledpelt made a frightening team when their biting words were working in tandem instead of battling against each other.
"You sure do talk a lot for a Clan that eats rats and two-leg trash at the Carrionplace," the ginger ThunderClan she-cat snarled in reply, dashing up to their side of the thunderpath with a bristling pelt.
"Tell me, Acornear," Swoopstrike continued, ignoring the ginger she-cat. "Does ThunderClan let all of their freshkill sit out until it starts rotting or is crowfood like this a treat for special occasions?"
"Enough," Acornear snarled, and Frostpaw saw a gleaming flash of claws as he dug them into the ground in fury. "I won't tolerate these insults on my own territory!"
"Your territory?" Dewleaf echoed, her eyes wide in mock surprise, as she padded up to join Swoopstrike and Dappledpelt.
Frostpaw hesitantly crept out behind them, her belly tight with nerves as she waited to see if the tenseness between the patrols would break out into a full-out fight. Mosspaw was at her side, and the younger apprentice's eyes were wide and her fur all bushed out, looking equal parts frightened and excited.
"Yes. I'm sorry, but I think you must be confused," Dappledpelt said, her lip curled up slightly. "We are over here on the ShadowClan side of the thunderpath, having a conversation among ourselves on our territory. Whatever you happen to overhear is not our fault."
"Yes, it's absurd to even think that we would want to talk to ThunderClan," Swoopstrike sniffed, turning to Dappledpelt. "I've met smarter squirrels. They would hold a conversation better."
The ThunderClan patrol let out a few loud growls and angry yowls.
"Hey!" Dappledpelt snapped, whipping her head around to shoot a scorching look at the ThunderClan cats. "We are having a private conversation over here! Eavesdropping is very rude!"
"I've had enough of this mockery!" Acornear snarled, his brown fur bristling out. "Get them!"
The ThunderClan patrol went charging across the thunderpath, yowling battlecries.
"Drive the intruders back!" Swoopstrike yowled just as the ThunderClan patrol made their final bounds across the thunderpath and into ShadowClan territory.
The cats clashed together. Frostpaw barely had time to think before she threw herself at the ginger she-cat, hissing. The scuffle was close-quarters, trapped right at the edge of the thunderpath, and very heated. Unlike the battle against WindClan, there was no plan, no grand strategy, just cat versus cat—scratching, hissing, biting. Frostpaw growled as the ginger she-cat cut her shoulder with her claws, and she retaliated by springing on to the ginger cat's back, digging her claws into her flanks and biting at her scruff. Before the fight could even truly begin though, a loud voice came ringing across the thunderpath.
"What is the meaning of this!" The voice thundered.
The ThunderClan cats scrambled away from the ShadowClan cats in shock, retreating towards the thunderpath, and turning their heads towards the voice. Swoopstrike made to follow them with a growl, but Dappledpelt halted him with a twitch of her tail, her cautious, yet curious gaze telling the ShadowClan patrol to hold.
Over in ThunderClan territory, a tall pale grey tom stood at the edge of the thunderpath with bristling fur, two other ThunderClan cats at his side. Frostpaw realized with a jolt that the grey tom was Morningstar, ThunderClan's leader.
"Morningstar, we—" Acornear began.
"Why in StarClan's name is my deputy on ShadowClan territory?" Morningstar snarled furiously, and Frostpaw saw spittle flying from his lips. "Don't we have enough to deal with, with WindClan and SkyClan without you turning ShadowClan against us too? What's next? Are you going to go fishing on RiverClan territory and tell them we own the river now?"
Acornear's ears flattened, and he looked like he wanted to crawl out of his own skin rather than continue to be shamed by his leader in front of a ShadowClan patrol.
"They were mocking us, Morningstar!" Acornear protested. "I couldn't let what they were saying stand—"
"The health of my clan is more important to me, than your fragile pride, Acornear," Morningstar cut him off, each word growled out through clenched fangs. "I've dragged my name through the mud for ThunderClan, and I would do much worse if it means our clan's survival. Now. Get. Back. Over. Here."
"Let them go," Dappledpelt muttered to their patrol.
With flattened ears and drooped tails, the ThunderClan patrol went ashamedly running back across the thunderpath.
"Ha, mouse-hearts," Swoopstrike spat under his breath as they retreated.
Once all of the ThunderClan warriors were safely back on their side of the thunderpath, Morningstar turned to address the ShadowClan warriors.
"Give Sedgestar my sincerest apologies," Morningstar meowed, his chin raised, and his deep voice more composed. "My warriors were acting out of turn, against my wishes. And, I will ensure that it will not happen again."
"We will see what Sedgestar has to say about this," Swoopstrike responded hauntingly, striding towards the edge of the thunderpath with his tail kinked and bushed out behind him. "But, we will pass on your message."
Morningstar nodded, then with a flick of his tail, indicating for his cats to follow, he turned and vanished into the undergrowth. Swoopstrike relaxed his aggressive posturing as the ThunderClan scent faded, lowering his tail to swish it thoughtfully behind him.
"Interesting," Dewleaf said.
"Very," Dappledpelt mused before turning to look at Mosspaw and Frostpaw.
"Is anyone hurt?" she asked.
Frostpaw shook her head. The cut on her shoulder stung a little, but it was only a scratch. Frostpaw turned to give the scratch a quick rasping with her tongue to clean it. Mosspaw also shook her head; her pelt was still bristled out, but it looked unmarked.
"Let's finish this border then then head back to camp," Swoopstrike said, turning to lead the patrol down the tree-line, remarking bushes and trunks to drown out any remnants of ThunderClan scent.
"No, if no one is really hurt, we can finish the patrol and do the WindClan border too," Dappledpelt protested, following him. "You saw how cowed they all were by Morningstar, there's no need to rush back to Sedgestar about this."
"What if it was a ploy?" Swoopstrike growled from over his shoulder. "To make us lower our guard and think that they aren't planning to attack?"
"You think ThunderClan is able to plan that much ahead?" Dewleaf said with a scoff, padding over to them. "You said it yourself, most squirrels are smarter."
"Still they're up to something," Swoopstrike muttered.
"Acornear was picking up crowfood," Frostpaw added.
Swoopstrike locked her in his intense gaze, and Frostpaw swallowed nervously.
"So?" he asked.
"So… he was doing that before he saw us, which means that they were actually planning on eating it right?" Frostpaw murmured quietly.
"They are short on prey," Dappledpelt agreed, nodding approvingly at Frostpaw. "And, therefore weak and not a threat."
"Or, desperate and a threat," Swoopstrike argued, his chin jutting out stubbornly.
"Morningstar seemed genuine to me when he said that he didn't want to provoke us," Dappledpelt said with a shrug. "But, really its Sedgestar's opinion on it that really matters. Which is why we'll tell him about this. After we finish our patrol."
Swoopstrike huffed.
"Fine," he grumbled, relenting.
"ThunderClan doesn't seem to be doing well," Mosspaw meowed to Frostpaw as the patrol continued down the border.
"Prey ran poorly for ThunderClan during leaf-bare," Frostpaw said. "And, it doesn't sound like they've recovered yet."
"Why?" Mosspaw asked, tilting her head inquisitively. "It's green-leaf now. Their forest should be filled with prey."
Frostpaw shrugged, unable to answer her.
Prey was running well in ShadowClan at least, and after the group finished the uneventful patrol down the WindClan border, Swoopstrike and Dappledpelt allowed their apprentices to hunt a bit on their way back to camp. Frostpaw caught a mouse and Mosspaw caught a frog. Dappledpelt seemed as delighted as Mosspaw at her apprentice's catch, although Swoopstrike hissed something about frogs being the slowest and stupidest prey, making them the easiest to get and a newborn kitten could probably catch one.
"How do you put up with him being like this all the time?" Mosspaw muttered quietly to Frostpaw around the frog in her mouth as the patrol made their way back to camp, shooting Swoopstrike's back a fierce look.
Frostpaw's fur prickled slightly, and she felt an odd urge to defend her mentor. Swoopstrike was prickly and difficult and even mean sometimes, yes. But, he had come to her rescue more than one time, and Frostpaw sensed his heart was good, underneath all of the thorns he cloaked it with.
"The ThunderClan thing is putting him on edge," Frostpaw whispered back. "He's normally not this bad."
Mosspaw just shrugged, her expression looking like she didn't entirely believe Frostpaw.
Soon the patrol reached the thorny barrier that surrounded the camp, and pushed their way through the tunnel to go inside. Frostpaw winced as a thorn caught a tangle of her long fur and she lost a clump of it to the plant. The patrol dropped off the few pieces of prey that they brought back at the fresh-kill pile before Dappledpelt and Swoopstrike turned to search the camp for Sedgestar. Frostpaw spotted their leader near the entrance to the medicine cat's den at the base of Clanrock, chatting with Clearstream and Grovepelt as the three of them lounged in a pool of mid-day sunlight.
"How convenient. The medicine cat and the deputy are already here too," Dappledpelt said as she motioned for Swoopstrike to follow her towards Sedgestar.
"You two take care of that," Dewleaf said with a yawn. "I'm going to take a nap."
"Are we supposed to wait here?" Mosspaw whispered to Frostpaw as their mentors padded off towards their leader.
Frostpaw shrugged and crept forward to follow Swoopstrike, overcome by curiosity about what they would talk about. Mosspaw shadowed her. The apprentices hung back a tail-length from the group as Dappledpelt and Swoopstrike walked right up to Sedgestar.
"Sedgestar, Grovepelt," Swoopstrike said.
Grovepelt's half-closed eyes blinked open and he turned a gaze bleary with sleep onto Swoopstrike. Sedgestar halted his conversation with Clearstream, blinking an inquisitive gaze at the warrior. Swoopstrike took this look as an invitation to continue.
"There was a confrontation with ThunderClan at the border today," Swoopstrike growled.
"Is anyone hurt?" Clearstream asked, sweeping her sharp gaze over the pelts of Dappledpelt and Swoopstrike before gazing over at Mosspaw and Frostpaw.
"Only shallow scratches. We're all fine," Dappledpelt replied.
"What happened?" Sedgestar said in his deep voice.
"We saw ThunderClan, led by Acornear, sniffing around really closely to their side of the thunderpath. It looked like they were collecting crow-food to eat. We engaged them in conversation, which annoyed them, and they crossed the thunderpath to attack," Swoopstrike said. "But, they were quickly ordered back to their territory by Morningstar, who appeared with a different patrol, although they weren't happy to retreat. And, he apologized for their behavior, saying that it went against his wishes."
"They were planning on eating crow-food, you said?" Grovepelt reiterated, his brow furrowed in confusion.
"That's what it looked like, yes," Dappledpelt confirmed.
"Hm," Grovepelt said, exchanging a look with Sedgestar.
Frostpaw saw thoughts flickering in their gazes like minnows, as if the leader and deputy were having a silent conversation.
"I believe Morningstar when he says he doesn't not intend to attack us," Sedgestar said after the thoughtful silence, turning to look back at Swoopstrike.
"So you don't think they are a threat?" Swoopstrike asked, his green gaze intense.
One of Sedgestar's ears flicked back.
"…I didn't say that," Sedgestar continued slowly. "Morningstar is a very candid cat. That doesn't mean that he doesn't keep secrets, but when he says something, he means it. Do you remember when he admitted ThunderClan was starving, and asked for territory to hunt in last leaf-bare? Can you imagine any other leader saying that?"
Swoopstrike and Dappledpelt shook their heads.
"So, what are you saying, Sedgestar?" Dappledpelt asked.
"I think ThunderClan is having some sort of problem," Sedgestar said. "And, they don't want to add us to the list."
Sedgestar turned to look at Clearstream.
"Has StarClan sent you any sort of warning?" he asked her.
The medicine cat shook her head.
"No, Sedgestar. They haven't delivered any prophecies since I saw the vision of the owl during leaf-bare," Clearstream said.
Sedgestar nodded thoughtfully.
"If the situation was dire for us, I think that our ancestors would warn us," he said. "So, the question then becomes: will ThunderClan's problem become our problem, or will they think that attacking us will solve their problem?"
"Morningstar mentioned something about 'dealing with' SkyClan and WindClan," Swoopstrike added his tail jutting up in excitement.
"Ah, Fennelstar and Rabbitstar. I should have suspected," Sedgestar said, his ears flattening.
"I think Rabbitstar will calm down with time," Grovepelt spoke up. "He is inexperienced and hot-headed, but not stupid. After we defeated him in battle, I'm sure he will have been knocked down from his high perch. Green-leaf has only just begun—the moors will be full of rabbits, and he will realize that he has nothing to gain by antagonizing ThunderClan. Or, us for that matter. They don't even like being on territory under trees anyway."
Sedgestar nodded along in agreement.
"Fennelstar, on the other paw, has always been territory hungry since the moment he became leader," Grovepelt said. "And, it doesn't help that SkyClan territory and ThunderClan territory are so closely matched; they feel right home in it. Leaf-bare hit ThunderClan hard, and if SkyClan has not relented with pushing at their border, it is no surprise to me that ThunderClan is still struggling to find food."
"Yes, as difficult as it might be for poor Morningstar, I have always been grateful to have ThunderClan as a buffer between us and Fennelstar," Sedgestar said with a soft growl. "I don't think for a moment that he wouldn't try to sink his teeth into our pines, if he was close enough to reach."
"So, what should we do?" Dappledpelt asked, her tail twitching anxiously.
"We watch and wait for now," Sedgestar said. "In the meanwhile, I will shift our focus from the WindClan border to the ThunderClan. I believe Morningstar when he says that he doesn't want to attack us. But, if this skirmish is any indiction, his warriors, and deputy, seem restless and angry. It wouldn't be unthinkable that they go behind their leader's back to find prey in our territory."
Frostpaw's eyes flew wide at the idea. She couldn't imagine for one heartbeat any cat in ShadowClan so blatantly disobeying their leader's orders. Every ShadowClan cat held Sedgestar with the highest regard.
But, it sounds like other clans don't have as good of a leader as we do…
"The next gathering will be coming up in only a few sunrises," Sedgestar continued. "We should be able to get a better sense of the state of ThunderClan, and SkyClan, then."
Sedgestar flicked his tail to dismiss Dappledpelt and Swoopstrike. Swoopstrike turned around and his eyes went wide when he saw Frostpaw and Mosspaw standing so closely nearby.
"Were you two here the whole time?" Swoopstrike demanded.
"Relax Swoopstrike," Grovepelt said with a rumbling purr, his eyes already half-lidded with sleep again. "The apprentices are only curious, and this wasn't a private meeting."
Swoopstrike huffed, but didn't reply to the deputy.
"Go get something to eat," he said to Frostpaw. "And, relax for a bit. We'll continue training after sun-high is over."
"Same thing goes for you," Dappledpelt said to Mosspaw.
Frostpaw nodded. She padded over to the fresh-kill pile with Mosspaw. It was full of prey, and Frostpaw's belly rumbled when she spotted a juicy looking startling on the pile. But, as she sniffed at the pile of prey, she noticed Mosspaw watching her out of the corner of her eye, a hopeful expression on the younger apprentice's face. Frostpaw diverted away from the startling and picked up the frog Mosspaw had caught earlier.
"Mmm this looks great," Frostpaw said, blinking affectionately at Mosspaw.
Mosspaw's tail stuck up in delight, a purr rumbling in her throat. Mosspaw chose a shrew for herself and the two apprentices took their prey to a patch of sunlight on the ground to eat. As Frostpaw took the first bite of fresh-kill, she felt a little pang that she hadn't picked the startling, but as the days passed, the taste of frog was growing on her at least. As they ate, Frostpaw saw Autumnpaw returning from training with Beeclaw. Frostpaw waved her tail to get his attention, and Autumnpaw headed over to them after grabbing a piece of prey off the pile for himself.
"Hey Frostpaw, hey Mosspaw," he said after dropping his prey and plopping down next to Frostpaw. "How was your dawn patrol?"
"So exciting!" Mosspaw exclaimed. "We got into a fight with ThunderClan!"
"Woah really?" Autumnpaw asked, around a mouthful of meat, his eyes wide.
He nudged Frostpaw's shoulder.
"Why do you manage to always get in trouble without me there?" he teased.
"It was barely a fight," Frostpaw added. "Morningstar called them back right away. He wasn't happy with his warriors."
"Then we talked to Sedgestar about it!" Mosspaw continued, her words spilling out of her mouth rapidly. "He thinks SkyClan and ThunderClan are fighting and that's why ThunderClan is being so weird. And, that the gathering is soon, and we'll try to figure out more then. It's so exciting! I hope I get to go! I'll try to talk to as many ThunderClan and SkyClan cats as possible. It'll be like being a spy!"
"That does sound interesting," Autumnpaw said, his tail-tip twitching thoughtfully. "I hope I'm chosen to go this next gathering."
"Me too," Frostpaw added. "I'd like to see what happens."
But, as Frostpaw spoke she felt her thoughts turning away from the ThunderClan and SkyClan mystery and drifting towards another mystery surrounding just one cat— Paledusk, the SkyClan deputy. In her mind, she saw the white tom's wide-eyed gaze as he looked at her, the horrified recognition sweeping across his face like a wave.
Frostpaw's pelt prickled. Her thoughts had mostly been distracted by training for this past moon, but she hadn't forgotten about him. She couldn't shake the feeling that he knew something about her or her mother, something more than he was letting on at least.
I'll talk to him next gathering.
Frostpaw felt her belly go tight with nerves at the thought, but she knew she had to do it. It would bother her forever like a thorn in her side if she was too much of a coward to talk to Paledusk.
"What are you thinking about?" Autumnpaw asked as he finished his fresh-kill, nudging her side as she stared emptily out into space.
Frostpaw shook her head like she was trying to shake off her thoughts.
"SkyClan," she meowed, semi-truthfully. "I just… want to know what's going on."
"Well, they are pretty far away from ShadowClan. So, hopefully whatever it is, it won't matter to us," Autumnpaw said with a yawn, lowering his head onto his paws.
Frostpaw sighed quietly as she thought of Paledusk.
She hoped Autumnpaw was right.
Frostpaw glanced over at him and watched as Autumnpaw was lulled to sleep by the warm sunlight. Even Mosspaw had grown quiet after she had filled her belly with food, and the soporific effect of sun-high crept over her. Soon Frostpaw was the only one left awake.
Author's Note: Hey guys! Good to be back, sorry I'm being so bad at posting on a regular schedule right now.
Also, I've had more than one person ask me about Autumnpaw's name, so I'm going to try to clear it up here. Honestly when I picked that name, I thought it was pretty sounding and nature-y, but I totally forgot that the cats probably don't know that word since they use the term "leaf-fall" instead. Once this was pointed out to me, I already had a lot written and it seemed like too much work/and I liked to name too much to change it. So, his name is staying "Autumn."
Slightly tangental, but related: the terms "leaf-bare, leaf-fall, new-leaf, and green-leaf" have always struck me as odd anyway. Like, the cats having their own words for human related things (two-legs, monsters, thunder-path etc) makes sense. But, I don't get why the cats would use "human" terms for all season related things like the sun, moon, weather, temperature, prey, forests, etc yet they don't use the "human" words for the name of the season. Like if their vocabulary concerning nature also included words like (I don't know, this is just off the top of my head) "falling-water" for rain, or squirrels as "bushy-tails" or mice as "squeakers," then the terms "green-leaf, leaf-fall, leaf-bare, new-leaf" wouldn't feel out of place. But, as it stands, they do.
Reviews:
Kitty-Guardian Dorothy: Dewleaf is a lot more chill than Dampfang haha. She doesn't care much either way.
Fadingspirit: Hey thanks so much! Glad you're enjoying it!
Th3DoomSlay3r: Thank you! I'm glad you like it!
The Guardian of The Sky: Thank you! It's really nice to have you reading! This chapter has more Swoopstrike for you haha. As for Paledusk and Frostpaw… I'm still building to what's going to happen with them so I can't say much!