Frostmask's tail flicked with nervousness as she sought out Autumnleap later that evening. Her gaze scanned across the camp, searching for his auburn pelt, but instead, her eyes first found two black pelts eating prey close to the fresh-kill pile. Dampfang lifted his head from the mouse he was sharing with Pineshade like he had felt Frostmask's gaze brush over him. He shot her a sour look, and the fur on the back of Frostmask's neck prickled. She wasn't exactly sure what Sedgestar told Dampfang when they talked earlier about the Carrionplace incident. But if Dampfang's acrid look was any indication, he must have been harshly scolded in the very least.
Frostmask glanced away, breaking the eye contact first as to not provoke him. Knowing Dampfang, he probably blamed Frostmask for whatever trouble he got in with Sedgestar. And, Frostmask and Pineshade just made up… so she should try not to be hostile.
Her eyes then finished their patrol around the camp, finally spotting Autumnleap hidden in the long shadows cast from Clanrock.
Her feud with Dampfang immediately forgotten, Frostmask's heart began to thump in her ears. A powerful urge to avoid him tugged at her paws, but Frostmask took a deep breath to steady herself and then made her feet walk in his direction.
Her paws squelched in the cold slush as she crossed the camp. After the snowfall had stopped earlier that day, it had warmed up enough to start melting the top layer of snow. But, now that the sun hung low in the sky, the temperature was dropping again, and Frostmask knew the slush would be frozen over and slick ice under her paws soon enough.
When she made it to the base of Clanrock, Frostmask stopped a few tail-lengths away from Autumnleap and waited for him to glance over at her.
"Er— hey," Frostmask said, her voice an awkward high-pitched squeak when he looked at her.
Autumnleap's gaze flickered away.
"Hey," he said quietly.
"I'm taking Lizardpaw to the Burnt Sycamore for some battle training, do you want to come with me?" Frostmask asked, forcing the words out quickly.
Autumnleap's brow furrowed slightly.
"Shouldn't you ask someone who also has an apprentice?" he said after a pause. "Like Pineshade?"
Frostmask flicked her tail with nervous energy.
"But, I want you to come," she murmured. "I'm sure Lizardpaw would be happy to show you his progress. And, besides… I want to talk to you."
After another moment of hesitation, Autumnleap nodded slowly, and he rose to his paws.
"Thanks," Frostmask breathed. "Let me just go get Lizardpaw."
Frostmask fetched Lizardpaw from the apprentice's den, and when she emerged from the holly bush, she saw Autumnleap already waiting for them by the thorn tunnel. Frostmask padded over to him, before signaling for Lizardpaw to take the lead as the three of them headed into the forest.
Frostmask was silent for the first part of the walk to the Burnt Sycamore, working up the nerve to talk to Autumnleap. Lizardpaw trotted along a few tail-lengths in front of her, but he clearly sensed something was up because he kept casting curious glances back at them from over his shoulder.
Frostmask tilted her chin up to study the intricate network of pine needles in the canopy overhead for a moment before glancing back down and watching a stray, withered sycamore leaf scurry across the snowy slush, content at looking anywhere else but at Autumnleap's face. A part of Frostmask wished that he would start the conversation so that she didn't have to. But, she knew that she was the one that invited him here, so it made sense that she was the one that started the talk…
Frostmask released a tense breath slowly.
"I want to talk about what happened with the two of us…" Frostmask's voice was quiet even though she knew Lizardpaw couldn't hear her either way. "Out in the woods, I mean."
Autumnleap was silent, and Frostmask couldn't make herself look at him to see his expression.
"I know I've already apologized about running away from you," she murmured to the ground. "But, I feel like it wasn't enough. I'm not just sorry for running away, but I'm also sorry for how that must've hurt you. And, for avoiding you for the past few days. I should've talked with you about it then. It wasn't right of me. To be such a mouse-heart…"
An edge of anger entered her voice for a moment as she lashed her tail, staring out into the quickly darkening trees as they padded along. But, she stilled herself again before continuing.
"You were being vulnerable with me, and I- I- I couldn't handle it." Frostmask's chin bobbed down to her chest as she dipped her head in shame. "I'm sorry."
Autumnleap still said nothing— just a silent shadow walking at her shoulder. As the moments stretched on, worry mounted in Frostmask's chest that he wouldn't respond at all, but then a sigh whispered from him.
"I'm sorry too," he murmured. "I shouldn't've sprung that on you like that…"
Frostmask was finally able to look at him, and she saw him staring out into the trees and working his jaw as if he wasn't sure what to say.
"I was impatient, but that wasn't fair," he continued finally. "I think I knew, deep down, that you weren't ready. Or…"
He hadn't really been looking at her, but he still turned his face away from her direction to gaze down at the ground.
"Or, you don't feel the same," he murmured. "But, I still told you. I shouldn't've forced it onto you like that."
A small look of bitter humor twisted onto his face.
"I'm not sure what other reaction I expected, honestly," he said.
Frostmask twitched her tail guiltily at those words as she gazed at him. A beat of silence hung in the air between them.
"I've missed you," she whispered, finally drawing his amber eyes over to hers. "I've been miserable without having you around and knowing that I hurt you… But, you're right."
She swallowed, her mouth dry.
"I don't want a mate right now… but I do want my friend," she murmured.
Frostmask blinked hard and looked away from him.
" …If you still want to be my friend," she rasped to the snow under her feet.
"Of course!" Autumnleap exclaimed in a shocked voice, bringing her gaze back over to him.
Their eyes met and his gaze seemed to soften like honey left out in a pool of sunshine.
"You'll always be my friend," he said.
"You're not mad?" Frostmask meowed hoarsely, her voice quiet but incredulous.
Autumnleap shook his head.
"Maybe a bit disappointed," he admitted. "That things didn't turn out exactly as I hoped… But, I'm not mad at you."
Frostmask felt a stab of guilt.
"I'm sorry that I'm not ready…" she murmured. "I don't want to hurt you."
He gave his head a sharp shake.
"Don't apologize for that," he said. "You have every right to feel the way you do."
Frostmask's tail twitched.
"It might be easier if we lived in a world where I didn't," she pointed out.
He shrugged, some of his easy nature returning as the tension between them slowly melted away.
"But, in that case, would you still be you?" he said. "Would I even feel the same way then?"
Autumnleap's whiskers twitched in faint amusement.
"I've doomed myself to misery," he said drily.
Frostmask purred softly and bumped her shoulder gently against his. She felt herself relaxing as well. As easy as lying down and falling into sleep on a well-worn nest, their natural patterns of interactions started to slip back into place.
"Don't say that!" she scolded.
Autumnleap purred.
"It's alright," he meowed. "I've accepted that this is my lot in life. Unrequited pining."
Frostmask looked away from him as nervousness suddenly swirled around her again.
"You know, it doesn't have anything to do with you, really," she whispered. "It's me. I just… can't. Not right now at least. I… I—"
Frostmask glanced back over to see him patiently watching her. Frostmask's tail-twitched as her frustration grew at the fact she couldn't figure out a better way of explaining her feelings beyond I can't.
Autumnleap studied her carefully as if he noticed the growing desperation in her eyes. He bumped her shoulder back with his gently.
"It's okay," he meowed. "I was just teasing."
Autumnleap's expression grew more serious.
"But… if I don't have a chance," he said in a soft voice, barely above a breath. "Honestly, it would be easier for me if you just tell me now. So I can try to move on."
A small bit of his humor reappeared in his eyes.
"Put me out of some of my misery," he added. "But, if I do…"
He glanced away from her, his ears twisting back in a hint of shyness.
"Then I'll wait for you. However long you need," he whispered.
Frostmask felt her heart thumping in her ears. She bent her head to rasp her tongue down her chest fur self-consciously, feeling her heart tighten from nervousness and some other faceless emotion.
"You know how after Swoopstrike died, I told you that I didn't know what I'd do if I lost you too?" Frostmask murmured. "Well, I meant it, you know. And, that's kinda the problem."
Frostmask could feel the heat of his eyes on her even though she didn't look at him.
"I don't know how to…" Her voice trailed off as she struggled to find the words. "If I truly loved you, then losing you would be devastating, even more than it already would be now. I can't open my heart to that kind of pain. I can't do it…"
She blinked her eyes hard.
"I'm sorry," she rasped, her voice wavering. "I feel like there's something broken in me. Grovepelt says that connections are the only things that make life worth living, but the pain feels like it would be too much. You are still my friend. Truly. My best friend… But, we can't be anything more, at least not right now. It's not even that I don't want to. It's that I can't."
Frostmask felt the fur on her side stir as Autumnleap gently brushed his pelt against hers.
"It's alright, Frostmask," he murmured. "And, I don't think you're broken."
Frostmask glanced over at him, and he gave a soft, gentle purr, his amber eyes warm.
"'Broken' is permanent," he continued. "You're just hurt… but that's okay. Everyone gets hurt sometimes. And, you can heal from that."
Frostmask lowered her eyes, sighing quietly and wishing she had Autumnleap's optimism.
"You don't believe me?" Autumnleap said, reading her thoughts on her face.
She glanced back up at him.
"I want to," she murmured. "But, it seems like a big thing to heal from… It feels permanent. Or, at least, it feels like something that I've carried with me for a very long time."
Autumnleap lightly chuckled, and Frostmask shot him a sharp glance of surprise.
"What's so funny?" she said.
He half-shrugged.
"It's just that…" he meowed. "Weren't you the one who told me that nothing stays? One day we'll all die and even the stars themselves will burn out, or something like that?"
Frostmask's tail twitched.
"I don't think I said it quite that dramatically," she said drily. "But, I recall that conversation. Although I still don't understand your point?"
Autumnleap pointed his muzzle up into the air to indicate the first few stars of Silverpelt that had appeared in the darkening sky, twinkling down at them through the pine branches.
"Well if change is so inevitable that one day even the stars'll be gone, what makes you think that this isn't something that can change?" he asked. "Why does everything only change for the worse, not for the better?"
Frostmask followed his gaze upwards.
"Because death is the conclusion of everything," she said softly as the starlight reflected in her eyes. "So, in the end, that's all that's left, right? That's just how the world works."
Frostmask caught a flicker of movement in the corner of her eye, and she glanced over to see Autumnleap shaking his head.
"I don't think that's right," Autumnleap meowed. "I don't think change is good or bad. It's just different."
"Even death?" Frostmask said, raising a brow at him.
Autumnleap shrugged.
"Sure," he agreed. "I mean, there's StarClan waiting for us then. And, for the creatures that don't have our StarClan… who can say that there's not a sky out there that's all their own? Or, maybe they have something else entirely. Maybe they're reborn into something new."
"Maybe…" Frostmask echoed, although her tail still swished skeptically.
Autumnleap flashed her a warm look.
"Besides, in the end, death isn't the conclusion of everything," Autumnleap said. "If it was, how's the world been going on for so long? Why isn't everything dead yet? I think there's just as much life and happiness out here as death and sadness."
Autumnleap nudged her shoulder with his muzzle.
"If you weren't so doom and gloom all the time, you'd be able to see that," he teased.
A small purr rumbled in Frostmask's throat, and she glanced away from him for a moment.
"Funny," she murmured. "Grovepelt told me something similar just earlier."
A loud purr burst from Autumnleap.
"He called you 'doom and gloom' too?" he asked, his amber eyes twinkling. "I wish I'd heard that."
Frostmask swatted a paw at him, trying to cuff him around his ears, but Autumnleap swiftly ducked it and playfully bounded away, out of her reach.
"You know that's not what I meant, frog-brain," Frostmask huffed in mock annoyance, but a warm flame kindled in her chest.
Lizardpaw glanced back at them then, his attention attracted from the small vibrations in the icy ground made by their little scuffle. He cocked his head at them in a curious manner, his gaze asking them what was going on.
Autumnleap purred as he bounded up to walk close to Lizardpaw's side.
Let's do something fun. Let's have a race, Autumnleap signed, and Lizardpaw's large ears pricked up in interest.
Frostmask padded up to Autumnleap's other side so she could more easily make out what he was signing. Autumnleap slackened his pace, slowing the the patrol so he could better use his paws.
First one to the Burnt Sycamore wins? Autumnleap suggested, hardly able to keep his tail from flicking with eagerness, even as he used it in his signs.
Lizardpaw's tail began to flick too. He nodded in agreement, before glancing at Frostmask to see what she'd say. Autumnleap followed his gaze over to her as well. A purr began to build in Frostmask's throat, a familiar feeling of contentedness wrapping around her like a warm pelt.
She had missed this. Not just Autumnleap's playfulness or his teasing. But, the gentle ease she felt only with him; a sense that if all else failed, he'd still be there for her. Her world had been upended for the past few days when she feared she'd lost that. But, now everything seemed right again.
"Why would you challenge me to a race that you know you're going to lose?"Frostmask spoke and signed because she knew Autumnleap wasn't as fluent in paw-sign as her.
Lizardpaw began to purr in amusement, and a competitive gleam entered Autumnleap's eyes.
"Don't count me out yet," Autumnleap meowed, doing his best to sign along.
Then Frostmask shot forward without warning. With each step, her paws crunched through the newly frozen thin layer of ice that coated the snowy ground as she tore through the trees in the direction of the Burnt Sycamore.
Frostmask could hear Lizardpaw's paw-steps right behind her, but Autumnleap's voice echoed up from further back.
"Snake-heart!" he shouted, trailing after them. "You didn't even say 'go!'"
Frostmask just purred, enjoying her lead. The victory was short-lived, however, because it was only a matter of moments before Lizardpaw overtook Frostmask, his longer legs easily eating up the ground in large, loping strides.
Frostmask continued to purr as he passed her, and she slowed her pace. There was no way she'd catch Lizardpaw— he had her beat with both stride-length and energy level— so it was difficult for her to urge herself to push on quicker. And, although she knew she was faster than Autumnleap, it seemed like it'd be more enjoyable to run at his side, simply appreciating the brisk sprint through the forest. Like they'd often done when they were younger.
Autumnleap angled an ear towards her in surprise as she dropped back beside him.
"Don't feel like making me eat dust today?" he meowed between pants.
Frostmask purred.
"I figured I'd give you this win, slow-tail," Frostmask said.
It wasn't long before the lone twisted figure of the Burnt Sycamore appeared between the gaps of the trees in front of them, illuminated by the light of the waxing moon. Frostmask slowed as she noticed Lizardpaw waiting for them at the edge of the clearing surrounding the Sycamore, instead of at the tree's base, where she expected him to be. Lizardpaw was gazing out at the clearing with a furrowed brow, but he glanced over as Autumnleap and Frostmask trotted up to him.
What's wrong? Frostmask asked him.
Lizardpaw just looked back towards the snowy clearing and gestured to it with a nod in answer. Frostmask followed his gaze over. Autumnleap took a few steps into the clearing and immediately cursed as he went sliding, his legs slipping out from under him, and he fell on his side.
"This top part of the snow is pure ice," Autumnleap reported as he carefully lifted himself back to his paws.
Frostmask reached a hesitant paw out tested the surface herself, and sure enough, she felt a layer of slick ice under her pad. Frostmask pressed down on it, but unlike the whisker-width thin ice that coated the snow in the forest, this patch of ice refused to break under her foot. It didn't even crack or complain a bit under Autumnleap's weight as he now stood, a bit wobbly, on top of it. Frostmask surveyed the Burnt Sycamore clearing with a furrowed brow. It was a shallow indent in the land, lying at a slightly lower level than the forest surrounding it.
"The snow in the forest must have melted earlier, and then the water collected here before it froze over again," Frostmask said, accompanying her words with signs. "But, that means we can't do any training here tonight."
"No kidding," Autumnleap said as he slid slowly across the ice, although it seemed deliberate this time. "You'd break your jaw if you fell on your face."
Lizardpaw glanced at her, waiting to see what Frostmask wanted them to do instead. Her ears twitched.
"Then what should we do?" she wondered out loud.
"You tell me, oh wise mentor," Autumnleap purred.
He was several fox-lengths away from her now, still sliding slowly as he drew closer to the center of the clearing. Frostmask tried to shoot him a stern glare, but she couldn't stop her whiskers from twitching with amusement at the sight of him gliding around. The movement seemed very odd since he was simply standing upright— from that appearance, it felt like he should be completely stationary.
"Would you come back here?" Frostmask meowed. "I'm trying to think, but you're distracting me with your sliding around."
"It's kind of fun actually," Autumnleap said with a loud purr, glancing back at her from over his shoulder. "You both should try it."
"But, we're supposed to be doing real training with Lizardpaw!" Frostmask reminded him.
"This is training!" Autumnleap protested through his purrs. "I'm training myself how to move around on ice! I think I'm getting the hang of it now."
Frostmask rolled her eyes, about to reprimand him again, but when she glanced back towards Autumnleap, she blinked in surprise to see Lizardpaw now on the ice with him.
"Lizardpaw!" Frostmask gasped at the betrayal.
Lizardpaw was purring and slipping and sliding all over the clearing, his lanky legs sometimes splaying out from around him as he slid around, going much faster than Autumnleap was. Lizardpaw glanced back over at Frostmask, his blue eyes shimmering as a clear invitation for her to join them.
"Now you have to come too, Frostmask!" Autumnleap purred, calling from nearly the other side of the clearing now. "If it helps, you can think of it as battle training in case we need to fight on icy ground!"
Frostmask purred and shook her head.
"You're insufferable!" Frostmask shouted at him, although there was no real anger in her voice.
She hesitantly lay a paw on the ice.
"It's part of my charm!" Autumnleap's voice echoed back at her.
After reaching the other side of the clearing, he had changed direction, and he was heading back towards Frostmask now. Frostmask carefully placed all four paws on the ice, her legs wobbling, struggling to keep her upright as she tried to take a step.
"No, no," Autumnleap's voice said, much clearer now as he drew closer to her. "Don't try to walk on it. Just push off of something more solid and let yourself glide around."
Frostmask shot him a look.
"Oh so you're the expert on ice-walking now?" she teased.
Autumnleap appeared thoughtful as he slid closer to her. He was only a few fox-lengths away now.
"I wouldn't call it ice-walking, since, as I said, you don't actually want to walk on the ice," he meowed. "But, yes. I am the expert."
"What should we call it then?" Frostmask asked.
She followed Autumnleap's instruction and pushed off the less icy ground behind her with a hind paw, then just let herself glide forward. However, she did still have to wave her tail for balance, or else she would fall off her feet. Autumnleap glided next to her, silently offering his side for her to steady herself against.
"Ice-fighting? It is 'battle training' after all," Autumnleap said with a mischievous gleam in his eyes.
Frostmask huffed out air, partly in amusement and partly in exasperation with Autumnleap, but she allowed herself to lean against his side for support anyway. Her gaze flickered over to Lizardpaw, and she tracked him as he went spinning across the clearing, looking almost breathless with laughter. A quiet purr rumbled in Frostmask's throat. She did love that Lizardpaw was having so much fun, and that at least made Autumnleap's ridiculous endeavor here worth it.
"The worst part of all this is that you've turned my own apprentice against me," Frostmask complained, twitching her tail playfully. "Now he's never gonna listen to me if you're around."
Autumnleap purred.
"Oh I don't know about that," he said. "You're his mentor. He'll always be fanatically loyal to you. I'm sure he'll remember this not as the time that Autumnleap had a fantastic idea about the ice, but as the time that Frostmask, his mentor, let him play on the ice."
Frostmask gave a triumphant swish of her tail.
"A-ha! So you admit that it's play!" she said.
"Did I say play?" Autumnleap said, widening his amber eyes in his most innocent expression. "I meant super-serious battle training."
Before Frostmask could retort, Lizardpaw went sliding over to them, just narrowly missing colliding with her side before he stopped himself a few tail-lengths away. Autumnleap and Frostmask came to a stop as well.
Watch this, Lizardpaw managed to sign without losing his balance on the ice.
Then he spun in a dizzying circle for a few long moments, nothing but a white-furred blur. When he came out of it, he looked a bit unsteady on his paws, but he was purring quite loudly.
"Very impressive," Autumnleap said with a sage nod. "I think you've mastered the technique of ice-fighting, young apprentice."
Frostmask interpreted Autumnleap for Lizardpaw, leaning against Autumnleap to keep her balance as she did so. When she finished Lizardpaw gave Autumnleap an exaggerated, deep bow of his head, and slid backwards on the ice. Purrs rumbled from both Autumnleap's and Frostmask's throats.
They spent a while like that, chasing each other around the ice, slipping and sliding in circles, sometimes on purpose and sometimes not. Frostmask tried to stick close to Autumnleap the whole time. She couldn't seem to find her balance on the ice as easily as Lizardpaw and Autumnleap did and appreciated Autumnleap's support.
After they had played for a bit, Autumnleap cast a glance upwards to study the moon's position in the sky for a few moments.
"Well this was fun, but we should probably start some real training or we'll be out all night," Autumnleap meowed, causing Frostmask's ears to prick upwards in surprise.
"Autumnleap suggesting training over playing?" Frostmask gasped in mock shock. "I thought you were supposed to be the fun one."
They were now beginning to slide back towards the edge of the clearing. Autumnleap chuckled lightly.
"You're being too hard on yourself," he said teasingly. "You can be fun sometimes too."
Once Frostmask stepped off the slick surface of the ice, she called Lizardpaw back to her with a wave of her tail.
"Let's just hunt then for a bit, then head back to camp," Frostmask meowed and paw-signed as Lizardpaw came gliding over to her. "We'll make up battle training another day."
They set back out into the forest, heading back in the direction of camp. Frostmask had Lizardpaw lead the way again, so he could use his keen nose to sniff out the prey hiding deep in their cozy burrows.
Lizardpaw's ears pricked in attention when he caught a scent, and he led Frostmask and Autumnleap a ways through the trees. Lizardpaw then stopped, flicking his ears to indicate a small mound of snow at the roots of a tree a few fox-lengths ahead of them. Frostmask opened her mouth, feeling the nip of the icy air on her tongue, but there was also a faint hint of the warm scent of mice. Frostmask ears twitched as she picked up the muffled sound of little scampering paws coming from under the snow. It seemed like there was a whole den of mice under there, running around in small caves and tunnels that the rodents had dug out of the snow.
"You hang back and catch any that get past us," Frostmask breathed to Autumnleap before signaling to Lizardpaw, and the two of them glided up to the mound, putting their paws down as light as feathers on the snowy ground.
When they were close to the tree's trunk Lizardpaw glanced up at Frostmask, looking at her for guidance as she circled the little mound of snow by the roots, her ears twitching and rotating as she did her best to pin-point the sound of scuffling. Frostmask stopped at what she felt like was the right spot, and nodded towards the ground. Without even a heartbeat of hesitation, Lizardpaw exploded into motion, slamming his paws onto the snow to shatter its hard, icy shell before shoving his face into the softer powder beneath, sniffing and snapping for the prey.
Frostmask heard several squeaks of panic from the mice as she also lunged down only a moment after Lizardpaw. Frostmask swiped blindly with her paw and let out a hiss of satisfaction when her claws hit something furry and warm. Lizardpaw reared his head up, a fat mouse wiggling in his jaws, as Frostmask hooked her mouse out of the snow. Lizardpaw went back to digging in the snow once he killed his first mouse, and Frostmask heard the sound of Autumnleap pouncing behind her as he shot after the mice which tried to escape the attack through their exit tunnels.
Lizardpaw's snow covered face lifted with a second mouse in his mouth. This mouse looked as if it had been killed when they collapsed the snowy tunnels on top of it instead of from Lizardpaw's fangs. Frostmask gave the churned up snow a careful sniff to make sure that they hadn't missed any more prey as Autumnleap came trotting over to them with his own mouse in his jaws.
"Four mice isn't bad for the middle of leaf-bare!" Autumnleap said, lifting his tail happily.
He nudged Lizardpaw's shoulder with his muzzle.
Great find! he signed as he purred.
Lizardpaw's eyes gleamed.
Autumnleap turned towards Frostmask.
"Did you see me go after those mice that tried to escape?" Autumnleap asked.
"No. Unfortunately I was too busy catching my own," Frostmask said lightly, with a good-natured flick of her tail.
"They were in such a rush, once they came tumbling out of their tunnel, they ran right into each other! It was so funny, their little feet slipping all over the ice…"
Lizardpaw lifted his muzzle to the breeze, a quiet look of concentration on his face as he tasted the air. Frostmask kept a half an eye on him, idly wondering what new prey scent he caught, while most of her attention remained fixed on Autumnleap's animated story.
Frostmask's brow furrowed, and suddenly, all of her focus snapped to Lizardpaw as the expression of concentration on his face shattered to be replace with wide-eyed panic. The fur on Frostmask's shoulders rose, and Autumnleap abruptly cut off mid-sentence when he also caught sight of Lizardpaw's face.
Lizardpaw whirled towards the two of them, his paws, ears, and tail flying in frantic signs, moving so quickly Frostmask could hardly understand him. But, from his motions one word rang out clearly:
Blood.
Author's Note: Uh-oh, a cliffhanger. I hope you guys enjoyed the light-hearted fluff in this chapter because, oh boy, are things about to pick up.
Sorry this chapter ended up being posted later than I intended… I had a few minor emergencies come up in my life for these past couple of weeks. Everything is fine now, but I just didn't have much time to write or edit as I would've liked.
Reviews:
Brian.H.H: Aw thank you! I love how sweet Poolcloud is too; he just wants his friends to all get along and be happy haha.
Yeah, I agree that it's interesting how Pineshade and Frostmask have sort of reversed roles there. I think it all comes down to their character arcs, like Frostmask started out as very shy as a kit, keeping all her feelings/problems internalized, while Pineshade was never afraid to say what she thought haha (regardless of how mean it was.) But, Pineshade is slowly learning to better regulate her temper and be more open-minded. While, Frostmask is slowly learning how to open up and share her feelings (even though she hasn't quite mastered how to keep them from overwhelming her yet.) So, that all led up to this apparent reversal, where Frostmask was the impassioned one, while Pineshade was the more collected one! Kind of crazy how much they've both grown and developed so far haha.
Dawnshade: I miss Swoopstrike too :( And, thank you!
SavvySpirit: Yeah Pineshade and Frostmask have grown to be good influences on each other. As for Dampfang, I can't tell you whether or not he and Pineshade stay together haha, no spoilers!
jason1777717: Oooo those are the million-dollar questions about Paledusk, aren't they? Unfortunately I can't tell you the answers to them right now, but I will give you a little hint that Paledusk is going to end up playing a bigger role in the story very soon.