"So how is your training going, Larkpaw?" Tawnypaw meowed to Starlingpaw's brother as the three apprentices sat nearby the prey pile. Starlingpaw gnawed on a mouse, listening to their conversation.
"Really well, I think!" Larkpaw purred back, unable to take his eyes off of Tawnypaw. The moment he had seen the ginger apprentice head towards him he devoured his thrush in two bites to give the pretty cat his undivided attention. "I've been learning how to deal with larger opponents, you know, leaping on their back and using their size to your advantage."
Starlingpaw thought of her battle practice with Darkfeather. The fluffy black she-cat had restarted Starlingpaw's training, teaching her fighting tactics better suited to her disability. The apprentice's main issue was her lack of depth perception- she couldn't tell how far away things were. To counteract this, Darkfeather had taught her to aim further than she thought she needed to when swiping with a paw or back leg or jumping onto an enemy.
Starlingpaw sighed and dug her paws into the dirt with a heavy sigh. While Darkfeather was helping Starlingpaw with ways to improve her claw swipes and prediction, Larkpaw was helping her with battle and hunting practice. And last but not least, even though she hated to admit it, she had ver, very reluctantly accepted Tawnpaw's offer to help Starlingpaw with some more training tactics.
"... so that's how I learned to catch snakes!" Tawnypaw was saying as Starlingpaw shook herself out of her thoughts. "Hey, Larkpaw, maybe we can go hunting? I can show you those tactics I was telling you about!"
"Yes!" Larkpaw mewed immediately. "I mean. Sure. Of course. I can go," he added quickly, attempting to appear cool and reserved. He jumped to his paws and ran out of the thicket tunnel, the ginger she-cat on his heels. Starlingpaw sighed, slightly disappointed that she was alone, but knew that her brother was just too head over paws in love with Tawnypaw to notice anything else when she was around.
She sat by herself, dejectedly finishing up her mouse, and was rising to her paws when Birchpaw walked up to her and asked, "Can I join you?"
Surprised that the timid tomcat had approached her so easily, she nodded and indicated the spot at her side with a flick of her tail.
The black-and-white apprentice picked out a plump nuthatch and laid beside Starlingpaw. As he walked, she noticed that his fur nearly hung off of his burly frame, as if he didn't quite live up to his size.
"So you've been in the medicine den a lot lately," he stated as he tore into the bluish bird. He kept a distance from her as if he expected her to attack him at any moment, and his eyes flashed from side to side as they spoke.
Starlingpaw hesitated, unsure of what to say. It had been close to a moon since she had discovered her kit-gait, but she hadn't told anyone other than her mentor or Honeypool. Even Larkpaw was kept in the dark. She wasn't sure why, but Starlingpaw decided to open up to Birchpaw. Perhaps she pitied him, being so nervous and shaky all the time, or that made him more trustworthy to her. Either way, she knew he had no cat to gossip to, and decided it was safe to tell him. Starlingpaw gave him a surface-level explanation of her disease, trying to stay light on the topic.
Birchpaw's eyes widened and he looked up from his meal. "That's horrible! I'm so sorry, it was rude of me to ask."
Starlingpaw ducked her head. "It's fine, really. I'm already learning to deal with it better. I can actually sort of hunt now. It just... I wish I didn't have a disease to overcome, you know? It's a curse on me, and nothing can get rid of it." She wasn't sure what otherworldly power had made her blurt out inner thoughts she herself hadn't even come to terms to, but before she knew it she was gushing even more to Birchpaw about her struggles.
"I know the feeling," Birchpaw replied. "But I don't want to make you sad or anything, so let's stop talking about it, okay? Maybe we can go hunting instead, and you can get some more practice."
Shocked at his friendly offer, Starlingpaw took a moment to absorb what he said. Birchpaw, the silent apprentice that barely spent time with other cats unless he needed to, who crept around camp to avoid conversation had just invited her to hunt. This was the longest conversation she had ever had with the tom, and she had to admit that he was pleasant to speak to. "Why not?" she answered, stretching her legs awkwardly due to their stiffness and waiting as Birchpaw swallowed the last bite of his fresh-kill.
Starlingpaw caught sight of Darkfeather entering camp with Sootpelt, her brother, and ran up to meet her. "Darkfeather! Can Birchpaw and I go out hunting together?"
Darkfeather looked away from her conversation with Sootpelt, who was very upset, and meowed. "Of course, Starlingpaw. Just make sure you mark the border while you're out."
Starlingpaw promised to do so and bounded back to Birchpaw, trying her hardest to hide her awkward walking pattern. "Are you ready to go?"
Birchpaw glanced up at her from his grooming and finished hastily, then said, "I just have to tell Thornflame where I'm going." Starlingpaw nodded and waited for the tom to set off to find his mentor, but he didn't move. Instead, he stared at his paws for a long moment before blurting out, "Could you do it? I think he'd be nicer to you since you're his daughter, and he isn't very lenient with me..."
The young she-cat felt a rush of sympathy for the older apprentice. Every cat knew that Thornflame, her father, was fierce and strict. He probably hated poor trembling Birchpaw and was much too hard on him. Though Starlingpaw wasn't ecstatic about seeing the sable warrior, she agreed to ask him in Birchpaw's place and padded off to the warrior's den.
As it was still morning time, Thornflame was resting under the fallen tree that was the warrior's den. It rested on top of a large rock, bringing shade to the grown cats and giving them a place to sun themselves on top of it, though sunlight was often sparse after it filtered through the canopy. The tom looked up as his daughter entered and meowed in greeting.
"Starlingpaw." he nearly growled, friendly as ever. The she-cat knew that his constant anger was from the lasting pain of losing his mate. The she-cat that had birthed Larkpaw and Starlingpaw died while she was kitting, and they had been raised alongside Birchpaw and Ravenpaw for the lack of their own mother. Thornflame never spoke to Starlingpaw or Larkpaw voluntarily but spent plenty of time with his first daughter, Poppypaw, who was nearly a warrior. Starlingpaw guessed it was because the second litter, her own, had killed her mother, where Poppypaw's had not. While his unfairly targeted bitterness annoyed her, she couldn't blame him for being upset. She did often wish, though, that Poppypaw didn't share his coldness towards them, but the wish was always in vain.
"Hi, Thornflame. Um, I was wondering if I could take Birchpaw hunting? Darkfeather said it was okay and we'll be marking the border, so... is it all right with you?" Starlingpaw mewed, rushing to finish the conversation.
"Fine," Thornflame grunted, clearly trying to get Starlingpaw out of his den, so she backed away and ran to Birchpaw. All in all, the encounter went better than she had thought, and she returned to her fellow apprentice with a happy glow.
"You're all set!" she purred, flicking the tom's side with her tail once she reached him. He had been grooming frantically, licking fur that seemed perfectly clean to her. "Let's go!"
Birchpaw's eyes shone, an entirely new sight to her. "Thank you."
Starlingpaw was fascinated by Birchpaw. He slunk through the undergrowth, his patched fur shifting on his shoulders, his furry head turned constantly side to side, his eyes searching the land around him. Birchpaw's black ears swiveled, straining to catch every noise. Once, as a mouse scurried across their path, Birchpaw was so startled that he jumped for the nearest tree and was already halfway up the trunk before Starlingpaw called out to him. He had been silent ever since, probably out of embarrassment. She wondered what could make him so skittish.
They reached the river that worked as the border between DawnClan and DuskClan just as Starlingpaw's feet began to hurt, and the apprentices set to work marking the border. The Clan was extra vigilant about keeping their border scent strong; DuskClan was known to use weak scent as an excuse to invade or attack.
With a slight shiver at the thought of ruthless DuskClan warriors pelting into their territory, Starlingpaw checked once more that no cats were hiding in the grasses surrounding the river, then turned to find Birchpaw.
The tomcat apprentice had leaped onto one of the mossy rocks on the edge of the riverbed and was staring at the water where it reached its deepest point. Judging by his crouch, lowered hindlegs that helped him keep purchase on the slippery surface, he was trying to catch a fish. The river flowed swiftly past him, meaning he had to be quick and precise with his timing.
Starlingpaw crept behind him, wishing to see the aquatic animal but staying far away from the water to avoid startling his quarry. Birchpaw's tail shook wildly, fueled by excitement. Fishing was very hard, and most cats never found a good opportunity, or, really, a good-sized fish. Starlingpaw guessed that he wanted to impress his stern mentor, and she watched as his paw shot out into the water and grabbed onto something.
Birchpaw brought his paw up, flinging the glittering fish in the air. The sunlight reflected off of its gleaming scales, and the large creature thrashed furiously, flailing around for its lack of water. But Birchpaw had not aimed his throw correctly, and as the fish began to fall back down into the river instead of onto the bank, he threw out his white and black paws and tried to save the catch. His claws latched onto the fish, but its momentum jerked him off of the rock and threw the poor cat into the water.
"Birchpaw!" Starlingpaw yowled, rushing over to the tom. "Are you okay?"
Birchpaw's head broke through the water, his paws paddling rapidly as he tried to reach the shore. Starlingpaw was frozen in place for just a fleeting second before she jumped into the shallows and tried to swim out to him, but she worried about drowning from her kit-gait and she had to return to where she could stand. The she-cat calmed down as he reached the bank, breathing heavily, but his paws slipped in the mud and he began to fall forward.
Without thinking, Starlingpaw grabbed the scruff of his neck with her teeth and tried to pull him towards dry land. The moment her fangs touched his fur, Birchpaw exploded upwards, breaking her grip and thrashing around as he was in the air. Starlingpaw landed hard on the ground, her tail in the stream but her paws in the grass. The air flew out of her lungs on impact and she laid there for a moment, dazed and unable to stand, before she struggled to her feet.
Birchpaw had disappeared, though she saw a flash of white fur off in the forest. Puzzled and in shock at the quick stream of events, Starlingpaw stumbled away from the river and tried to follow his scent, which was then mostly the reek of river-water, but it ended around the base of a great tree and she could not tell where he had gone. She sat down in resignation and quickly licked her fur dry, still sniffing around in vain for Birchpaw.
As she groomed herself, the events replayed in her head. Birchpaw had been fishing, then fell in the river. He had been fine swimming out of it, but tripped in the mud, so she tried to help him out by grabbing his scruff. Then Birchpaw had launched her off of him and ran into the woods. Had she offended him by trying to help? Perhaps he was just embarrassed at falling into the river and wished to get away from her. Either way, she was surprised and confused that Birchpaw would react so violently to what seemed to her a perfectly kind act.
She hissed softly. Why had the hunting trip gone so wrong? Starlingpaw didn't even get the chance to humiliate herself by scaring off half of the prey in the forest, and Birchpaw was already angry at her. Or at least, it seemed he was angry; she had no way of knowing how he felt, but she assumed he was.
When Starlingpaw's fur was mostly dry, helped in part by the shining Greenleaf sun, she returned to camp and went to visit Honeypool as she did every afternoon. She felt unsettled returning through the thicket tunnel without Birchpaw, but no cat seemed to notice that he was not with her.
Honeypool was waiting in her den, frantically searching through her piles for a new herb. Starlingpaw had taken pawfuls of healing herbs over the past moons in an attempt to help her disability, but it was so new and unknown to Honeypool that she had no idea what would work, or if anything even would work.
"By StarClan, you reek of fish! Did you fall in the river?" the medicine cat fretted. "The cold will be too much for your bones!"
"Relax, Honeypool. I'm not an elder," Starlingpaw replied, settling into a moss nest for a new session of treatment.
"Your bones might be like theirs, though- aching joints and the like. I don't know yet."
"We already tried herbs for aching joints, and they didn't work. What were they... daisy and ragwort? Anyway, I just got a little wet in the river. It's nothing."
Honeypool whirled around. "The river, you say? Now, there's an idea. Were you swimming?"
Unwilling to tell Honeypool about her horrible outing, she simply said, "For a little bit. But I was worried I'd drown from my kit-gait."
"No, no, I think that swimming is exactly perfect. You would say that walking is painful and tiring after a while, yes?"
"Well, sure, but every cat-"
"It's more so than usual, then. It makes sense. You have to use more energy and effort than others to move your legs and paws. But swimming is perfect. I've used the treatment before on weak-legged kits or elders. If I can raise your strength and endurance through swimming, then normal activity won't be as tiring!" Honeypool rambled, pacing excitedly around the room. "That's it! The treatment for kit-gait has got to be swimming. Come on!"
Starlingpaw jerked her head back in surprise. "We're going swimming? Now? But you can't just leave the medicine den unattended." She also worried that Birchpaw may still be at the river, and she was still so confused about what had happened that she didn't want to face him anytime soon.
"Then Vinetail will have to watch over it. She was a good mentor, after all, and it can't hurt to give her mind some exercise. I'll fetch her. Meet me at the river!"
Though worried about Birchpaw, Starlingpaw felt a granule of hope shine through. What if the treatment truly worked, and hunting and fighting would come easier to her? She wouldn't have to use her tail so much for balance, and maybe being a warrior wouldn't seem so daunting a task. She felt her dreams coming true all in one moment and hoped that nothing would happen to ruin them.