Nope, I haven't forgotten this gem. Working on some art for this fanfiction because this is just my favorite Warrior's fanfiction for art. Please R&R


CHAPTER 14

When the group got back to camp, Spiderstar was waiting for them. "How did it go?" she asked, looking to her deputy.

Beetledust's ears flicked. "It went well." His eyes flicked over each of the cats behind him. "I think we all learned important lessons today." His eyes lingered on Mothpaw as he spoke. The golden she-cat was too exhausted to even lift her head.

"That's great," Spiderstar said with a brisk nod. It seemed she trusted in her deputy wholly. "Come with me, Beetledust, we need to discuss tonight's Gathering."

They padded away together, leader and deputy, chatting quietly between the two of them. Moonpaw followed Sloebriar away with one final glance at Mothpaw's golden form.

"Rest now," Minkfur ordered. "We'll be guarding the camp tonight. Mothpaw, go see Owlmask. He'll give you some poppy seeds." Snipepaw padded away immediately to the forsythia that sheltered the apprentices while Mothpaw padded towards the thick rooted den where Owlmask kept his den. Rosepaw hesitated, shifting on her paws. She was exhausted but didn't think she could sleep a wink if she tried.

Minkfur looked at her, deep, blue eyes missing nothing. "Come hunting with me." It wasn't a question, exactly, but not an order either. Rosepaw could sense room to reject his offer if she wanted. A good hunt, just the two of them…the thought might've made her flush before, but now she couldn't summon the energy to think too deeply on it.

They left the camp together, her face even with Minkfur's shoulder. His powerful muscles rippled in the dawn light as they padded up the path towards the Blueberry Patch. Rosepaw hadn't been this way since her first time traveling to the camp. Sharp pine scent filled her lungs. The air was chilly, making her shiver.

Minkfur turned off the main path and down a smaller, forest path. Thick roots stuck out of the ground here, making traveling a bit more difficult. Further down, the path became wooden logs, made my Twolegs, most likely, over the marsh.

"You've never hunted in the water before?" His words broke the silence of the morning. Rosepaw shook her head. "I'll teach you, then."

He took her to where the wooden planks ended, a tiny patch of land rising out of the water. "Frogs and toads are both land creatures, and water creatures," he explained. "Salamanders are land creatures but will stay by the water and can swim. In order to catch either, you're going to want to be close to the water." He pointed with his nose to a tall bundle of spike grass. "Usually in a tussock, like this one."

The grass emanated a sweet, but potent odor, that made her eyes water. It would certainly disguise her own scent. Minkfur wasn't done.

"Frogs and toads don't have great eyesight, but they have excellent night-sight," he explained. "All marsh-creatures will hear you, but they are more likely to feel the vibrations of your paws before any of that. The key is to be as still as possible. You'll be able to smell if prey is nearby, but you might have to wait a bit before it comes out. Wait in the tussock, ready to pounce when it gets close enough. Like this."

He demonstrated the crouch. The position didn't look entirely comfortable to sustain. Fire broke out in her wrist as she tried to copy the stance. She hissed, immediately withdrawing her paw.

"Does your wrist still bother you?" he murmured, sniffing her paw. The care and concern radiating off him was foreign, like it didn't belong. His touch was gentle, his nose wet. Slowly Rosepaw relaxed. This was a side of her mentor she wasn't used to, but could be if she saw it more often.

Rosepaw sized her mentor up. He seemed genuinely concerned about her injury. Suddenly she wasn't shy about asking, "Why did you lie to Beetledust about my paw?"

He raised his head, fixing his blue eyes on her face. "I'm your mentor," he answered slowly. Rosepaw got the sense he was choosing his words carefully. "It's my duty to protect you."

In an instant Rosepaw felt heated. "I don't need your protection!" she snapped.

Minkfur's eyes widened in surprise at her tone. "I just don't want to see you get hurt." The words were spoken quickly, tone low. He eyed her as if afraid of how she might respond to that.

It was clear to Rosepaw that her mentor didn't trust her. He obviously thought she was too weak to handle real ShadowClan training. For a moment, her heart pounded. Was he able to sense her divergence? That she wasn't fully meant to be here? Stop. She was working herself into a panic.

If Minkfur thought she couldn't handle ShadowClan training, she'd have to prove him wrong. She crouched again, trying not to show much her wrist was paining her. Minkfur still looked unsure, as if he wasn't sure they should continue the lesson. But he didn't order her back to camp.

"You should put your weight on your haunches," he instructed softly, his nose brushing the fur along her hips. "That way you'll be ready to pounce when the time comes." She sat back, lifting her paw off the ground to dampen the pain. Balancing was harder on her back legs, but not impossible. Meanwhile, Minkfur leaned over her, his breath warming the fur behind her ear. Hyperawareness of his presence distracted her from her task, his warmth, the tingle of his fur as it just brushed against her. She could sense exactly where his paws were on the ground, could feel the vibrations as he took a step backwards.

"Good job!" His loud voice broke the quiet tension between them. The praise flushed her with warmth despite the chilly morning air. "I don't scent any marsh creatures here, so you won't get the chance to put it use today, I'm afraid."

His tone was brisk now, back to business as usual. Rosepaw frowned at the discomfort she felt when she set her paw back on the cool earth. It was stiff and swollen. When she was a kit, she'd had an infected tick bite that Goldenwhisker had instructed she clean in a nearby stream. The cool water had felt magnificent on her hot, itchy wound. What she wouldn't give to feel that sense of relief now.

Almost without thinking, she hobbled forward and stuck her paw in the marsh. "Yeoow!" The frigid water seeped through her fur, stabbing her paw like a cloud of sharp claws. She withdrew immediately, shaking free drops of frozen slush from her foot fur. By instinct she began to lick her paw, stimulating warmth back into her numb limb.

Her ears pricked a strange, rumbling sound coming from her mentor. Minkfur was laughing at her! A deep, rumbling purr escaped him. She cast him an irritated glance. "Sure," she grumbled, "Laugh at a cat while she's in pain!"

He stepped closer, his voice low. "Let me have a look."

For a moment, Rosepaw hesitated. What was he going to do? Minkfur was no medicine cat. Then sense won out. He was only trying to help. Shrugging, as if it were no matter to her, she held her paw out for him to inspect. He ran his nose along it, sniffing deeply. Again, it felt like a current ran through her at his touch, so gentle against her aching pad.

"You'll live," he grunted, stepping back. The moment was gone. "I was going to take you back to camp, to rest, but now you'll have to exercise that paw to keep it from freezing." Was that amusement glinting his eyes? Rosepaw turned her head away bitterly. "We'll go hunting. Away from the water."

They did not back-track, yet somehow Minkfur lead her along a lesser used trail that ended up in a familiar place. "The Blueberry Patch?" They were on the wrong side of it, closer to the Twoleg nest that headed the strange place.

This part of the forest had long ago been clear-cut, as Kindlelight had explained it to her. The scraggly bushes that filled the clearing now had been planted there by the Twolegs. Every year they reaped a harvest of smelly berries, which they packaged into wooden boxes and took away in the backs of strange, round-pawed monsters. Rosepaw had hardly dared to believe such a thing. Yet in front of them, mere fox-lengths away was a small ribbon of black stone, smelling ripe in the morning mist. There were no monsters on it that Rosepaw could see. Apparently, Minkfur was satisfied that they were alone, as he led her out of the trees and into the Patch proper.

"Birds like to eat the felled berries," he explained in the barest of whispers. He pointed with his nose. Sure enough, a flock of starlings were picking at the ground at various points throughout the berry patch. "Easy pickings on an injured paw."

But after a few tries, Rosepaw was not sure she believed him. Hunting under the trees, where her pelt was concealed by the environment, was much easier. The birds always seemed to have an eye on her, and the ones that didn't were clearly alerted by the ones that did. Since coming to ShadowClan, Rosepaw had had no trouble with hunting…until now. She longed to blame it on her sore paw, but the truth was that her wrist had gone numb since its wash in the cold marsh.

Finally, she managed to get a bird by itself. None of its friends sat in the next bushes to warn it of her approach. It didn't know she was there. Careful to keep her steps light, she slowly inched closer to the scrap, not so much as licking her lips, afraid that any movement at all might scare it away. She held her breath when it hopped closer.

Come on…just a little closer…Yes!

With a perfectly balanced leap, she pounced onto the bird, killing it smoothly with one bite. Thank StarClan!

"Nice catch."

Rosepaw whipped around at the growl. From the rosebushes on the ThunderClan side, a white paw stepped out of the shadows, followed by another. The slim cat they were attached to was a gray tom with darker stripes. Shock made Rosepaw drop her catch.

"Kindlelight?"

There were other cats behind him, she could see that now. Mousefoot, Tumblesnow, and Stagpaw. But what were they doing here?

Then it dawned on her. They were the morning patrol.

For a moment they stood in stalemate, eyeing each other with obvious nervousness and, to Rosepaw's chagrin, a little hostility. Tumblesnow's ears were drawn back while Stagpaw looked distinctly uncomfortable. Mousefoot hissed at her. Yet none of that could affect her as much as Kindlelight's penetrating glare.

It seemed like ages they stayed that way. Despite her discomfort, Rosepaw kept her head held high. She had done nothing wrong. It was known that no ThunderClan born cat had chosen to leave for generations. Yet that had nothing to do with her. Apprentices were allowed to choose any Clan, no matter their Clan of origin. If StarClan had told her that she could get by in ShadowClan, she wasn't about to let her former Clanmates intimidate her.

They also said you could be ThunderClan... a voice whispered in her head. Rosepaw quickly squashed it.

Kindlelight released a breath he had seemingly been holding. "It's okay," he told the others. "Go on ahead. I'll handle this."

The warriors exchanged dubious glances but didn't argue. Rosepaw didn't think they had any doubts about his ability to deal with a stray apprentice. Rather that they themselves had a few words they'd like to share with her. That was ThunderClan's way. Kindlelight was the deputy; his word was final to none but the leader.

Once the others had disappeared into the undergrowth, Kindlelight turned back to her. "Beepaw," he breathed.

"Rosepaw." The correction was second nature to her, like flicking an irksome bug off her fur. She regretted it, though, when she saw his eyes widen.

"You changed your name?"

"Why shouldn't I have?" Rosepaw hated the feeling she got defying him like that. It was too subtle to be called joy, and yet at the same time, powerful enough to make her fur tingle. This was the first time that Kindlelight got to see her for what she was: not some meek ThunderClan apprentice bobbing her head in obedience, but a headstrong, self-standing warrior in training. It was thrilling to get to finally be herself around him...and terrifying.

Kindlelight's expression was one of anger. Rosepaw knew him well enough from their brief time training together to know it concealed deep pain. "Your father named you that."

"And I named myself this."

His eyes searched hers. "Rosepaw, what are you doing?" His voice did not sound accusatory, as if she had crossed the border by accident and he needed to reprimand her. He sounded tired. "You don't belong over there, in ShadowClan."

Rosepaw narrowed her eyes at her former mentor. "StarClan told you that, did they?"

"They don't need to. I know you."

"Not well enough, apparently."

The moment the words passed her tongue she regretted them. His expression appeared as if she'd swiped him with her claws. "I know you struggled with hunting," he relented. "But I also know that you have ThunderClan spirit, ThunderClan blood. Your father-"

"My father's not here." Her words came out clipped. "And I'm tired of living in the shadow of his expectations." It wasn't until she said the words aloud that Rosepaw realized how true they were. From the day of his passing, ThunderClan had been pressing her to live up to his reputation. It was liberating to have her own personality, her own future. Not one decided for her by the memory a cat she couldn't remember.

She knew that this was highly insulting of ThunderClan culture. Even though she truly felt that way, Rosepaw was uncomfortable by the words herself. Yet Kindlelight didn't seem agitated by her response.

"Think about Morninghawk, then," he encouraged. "She's been so upset since you left."

For once, Rosepaw didn't have a witty comeback. Not for the first time she thought about how her mother must feel. Her mate, dead, and both their kits left for other Clans. She must feel utterly alone.

Kindlelight could see that he was getting to her. "Come back to ThunderClan," he murmured gently. Rosepaw shifted on her paws, highly aware that what Kindlelight was suggesting was treason. "Whatever problems you have, we'll work them out. I'll make sure you get extra training in hunting, or extra border patrols if you want. You can be with your family, where you belong."

Any response Rosepaw might have had was interrupted by the sound of an irate voice from behind her. "Kindlelight!"

They both jumped as Minkfur approached. Though his fur was down, his demeanor calm, Rosepaw could tell that he was upset. Yet his voice remained level. "Morning border patrol, are you?"

The desperate, fragile friendly air between Kindlelight and Rosepaw vanished like mist in the heat. "Of course," Kindlelight answered stiffly.

Minkfur's nose twitched, his eyes darting on either side of the ThunderClan deputy. "Where are the others?"

Did Kindlelight sense the accusation there? His striped, gray fur pricked at Minkfur's question. "They went on ahead," he said succinctly. "They knew I could handle a stray apprentice by myself."

Rosepaw felt a swoop of anxiety as his eyes gazed at her coldly. The way he looked at her was as if he hardly knew her; she was just any other disobeying apprentice. Accept she hadn't trespassed on ThunderClan land. It was that she'd crossed the border to ShadowClan that bothered Kindlelight.

Her mentor slowly turned his head, looking from Kindlelight to Rosepaw, then at her bird. His gaze lifted back to meet Kindlelight's. "An apprentice who happens to be your kin?" It was surprising to Rosepaw how well she was beginning to know her mentor. For instance, the question sounded innocent enough, but she could sense the danger lingering underneath his calm tone.

"What does that have to do with anything?" Kindlelight sniffed.

"She's a ShadowClan apprentice now."

"I know that!" Kindlelight snapped.

Minkfur stepped forward, between them. "She hasn't crossed the border or done anything wrong as far as I can tell." He left no room for argument. "You should go join your patrol, Kindlelight. Let me handle my apprentice."

For a moment they glared at one another, Kindlelight's eyes glinting in the morning sun. His look of fury and disgust pierced Rosepaw. Even though he wasn't her mentor anymore, it still gave her anxiety to see him so upset. She knew what was bothering him so much. Minkfur was so young. ThunderClan would never allow a cat like him to have an apprentice. It must pain Kindlelight to know that she was being trained by a cat as young as Minkfur.

Perhaps it was the ThunderClan passive nature, or perhaps even Kindlelight could sense the authority in Minkfur's tone. Either way, he jerked his head in a nod, turned, and slowly melted back into the undergrowth. Rosepaw's eyes followed his form, watching as his twitching tail tip disappeared into the bracken beyond. This was not how she imagined their reunion going. It brought such pain to her heart to know that she had lost some of his affection.

Carefully, Rosepaw arranged her face to hide the turmoil of her emotions. Minkfur was looking at her. She couldn't let him see how much the interaction with Kindlelight had bothered her. She forced herself to meet Minkfur's eyes with her own, hoping that he couldn't sense the guilt she felt.

His gaze, dark blue, was surprisingly gentle. "Good catch," he praised, nudging her starling. She'd nearly forgotten about it. "Shadefern will appreciate it." Rosepaw didn't reply. There was more coming, she was certain of it.

Sure enough, he went on. "That couldn't have been easy." His gaze met hers, sympathy glowing there. "You did well."

For a moment Rosepaw hesitated. Could she trust her mentor? Already he didn't think she could handle real training. She didn't want to look even weaker expressing her own doubts. Yet she could sense new respect in his words. Something pushed her to give voice to the words in her throat.

"He said Morninghawk- my mother -misses me terribly."

Minkfur frowned. "So?"

"Did I make a mistake coming here?" She bit her lip, watching his expression carefully. His brow scrunched, a look of confusion coming over him.

"I don't think so." Rosepaw breathed deeply, feeling relief fill her. Minkfur went on. "What Kindlelight said was inappropriate. It doesn't matter how he feels about it. For whatever reason, you chose ShadowClan. That means that ShadowClan is your Clan now. He needs to respect that." He paused for a moment, then added, "I should report him to Spiderstar."

"No!" Rosepaw exclaimed too quickly. "I mean, I just want to move on."

Minkfur looked at her, then nodded. "If that's what you want." This was an olive branch. He was trusting her. "Let's get back to camp. You need to rest your paw."