Chapter two: Hope from Ashes
Sandpaw paced anxiously outside the nursery. Her mother's pained yowls echoed around the ravine.
"Is there anything I can do to help?" She asked Spottedleaf as she returned from her den after grabbing some herbs.
"You could get her some wet moss, she'll be thirsty when she's done," the tortoiseshell suggested. Sandpaw darted out of the camp and went to the tree she collect moss from. She wasn't the only one.
"Firepaw," Sandpaw said coldly. "What are you doing here?"
"Gathering moss to add to Goldenflower's nest," the fiery tom replied.
"She's got plenty of cats to do that for her," Sandpaw growled. "Me, for starters. Don't you have something better to do? Like listening to your mentor, Bluestar? Or are you too good for her? Is any cat good enough to mentor the great Firepaw?"
"Bluestar has been teaching me plenty," Firepaw retorted. "I'm done with training for the day, Bluestar was impressed when I caught a squirrel and two mice."
"A squirrel?" Sandpaw gasped with fake admiration. "And two mice? I couldn't ever think of catching so much prey, in a single day!" The she-cat narrowed her eyes. "I could catch twice that in the time it takes you to find your way to fourtrees."
"What are you doing here anyways?" Firepaw tried to change the subject. "Don't you have training to do, or are you to good for Whitestorm?"
"I'm getting moss so Goldenflower can have a drink," Sandpaw replied. "Because she's my mother. Apologies if you thought you could steal my responsibilities, just like you stole my honor."
"Maybe next time you should fight better," Firepaw growled, unsheathing his claws.
"Oh, you want a rematch?" Sandpaw dropped into a crouch. "Bet, you little fox-dung! I'll shred you, and your mentor isn't here to stop me!"
"It's on, feather-brain!" Firepaw leaped for Sandpaw. He had improved since their last fight, but so had Sandpaw. She ducked and rolled, and the stupid tom stumbled as he landed. Sandpaw didn't turn to face him, instead thrusting her hindpaws into his ribs with a sharp kick. Firepaw yowled in surprise as he was flung into a nearby oak like he weighed no more than a rabbit.
"Didn't see that coming?" Sandpaw crowed as she pounced and pinned him with ease. "You may have recieved some training since the day you 'joined' us, but you don't have the will, the strength, or the true heart of a warrior to really learn the ways of a Clan cat, or the brains to fight." She dug her claws into his shoulders. "I'll let you off easy this time, so long you go running home and hold your tongue, if it fits in that big head of yours."
"Fine, fine, get off me," Firepaw muttered. Sandpaw sank her claws in deeper, and he winced.
"I mean it. Tell anyone, and next time my claws will tear your ears off your bloated ears and claw your nose until you won't be able to smell fox-dung right in front of you," Sandpaw hissed before letting him get up. Firepaw threw a resentful glance over his shoulder and disappeared behind a clump of ferns.
Feeling happier than she'd ever felt, Sandpaw quickly gathered the moss Goldenflower need and soaked it in a stream on the way back to camp, as well as washing the small amount of blood off her claws.
"Sandpaw," Goldenflower looked up as the apprentice entered the nursery. "Meet your new siblings." Sandpaw dropped her moss beside the nest and looked at the three kits suckling at her mother's belly. One was a ginger tabby tom with black spots, similar to Redtail's markings, another was a solid black tom, who was the smallest, and the she-kit greatly resembled Redtail in her tortoiseshell markings.
"Any ideas on what to name them?" Goldenflower asked.
"The she-kit looks a lot like Redtail. Maybe Redkit?" Sandpaw suggested. Goldenflower nodded and purred.
"I want the tabby and black tom to be Lynxkit," the queen said."Maybe Swiftkit for the black one? He has the build of a runner."
"He's also small, like Redtail," Sandpaw's meow caught in her throat. "What about Littlekit?"
"Lynxkit, Littlekit, and Redkit," Goldenflower meowed, her voice full of love for her kits and grief for Redtail, whose loss still felt like a moon hadn't passed since his death. Her eyes became shadowed with fear. "What if something happens to them? Riverclan took Redtail, and Shadowclan has killed Starclan knows how many Windclan cats. What if I can't protect them?"
"It isn't just your job to protect them. That's what a Clan is for," Sandpaw comforted her. "Nothing will happen to them while we're around."
Now, looking at the new lives, her brothers and sister, Sandpaw felt a bit of her grief fade, and hope began to spark a light in her chest once more.