Sparks of A Fire

Chapter 4

The two young cats peered inside, watching as Moonpaw entered, interrupting Blueclaw from her sorting work. The medicine cat was of an experienced age, and her fur was a blue-gray color that gave her her name. She noticed the black-and-white patched apprentice immediately and got to work retrieving different kinds of leafy plants to treat her.

Starlingpaw didn't hesitate in stepping into the den and rushed to Moonpaw's side. "Are you alright? What happened?" she meowed, purring softly to try to comfort her.

Moonpaw was larger than Starlingpaw, and her fur longer, but she trembled constantly and was always afraid of something. Her eyes would dart around, and she could not seem to settle her paws. However, she seemed slightly more at ease in the medicine cat's den, likely due to her regular visits. The apprentice replied in a low, shaky tone, "I'd rather not talk about it if that's alright with you."

Starlingpaw blinked in confusion, but replied, "Of course."

The apprentices stood side-by-side for a few more moments until Blueclaw turned around with a mouthful of plants. Starlingpaw identified them quickly by scent: a stem of horsetail and a few thyme leaves. She had a rather good sense of smell and excelled in remembering scents, witch made her torn between becoming a warrior or a medicine cat.

"Starlingpaw, would you mind helping pick some of these thorns out of Moonpaw's fur?" Blueclaw asked, shaking the dark-furred apprentice out of her thoughts.

"I'm fine, Blueclaw," Moonpaw meowed suddenly. "I don't need her help."

Starlingpaw stepped back in surprise and Blueclaw flattened her ears, then meowed angrily, "It's only going to take twice as long to clean your fur, but suit yourself."

Moonpaw nodded silently and turned away from the other apprentices, signaling them to leave her in peace. Starlingpaw ducked her head and backed out of the medicine den.

The she-cat apprentice padded back to the apprentices den with her sister, occasionally tripping over her paws as Shadepaw paused to pounce on the sunspots that danced around the clearing.

When they returned to the apprentices clearing, Starlingpaw felt the exhaustion of the day weigh on her and decided to nap before her practice with Shadepaw. She settled down in a pile of moss and Shadepaw sat down beside her.

"Moonpaw must have fallen into that thornbush by the training clearing, huh?" Shadepaw mewed. "I wonder if she was running from Thornflame?" she joked, twitching her whiskers.

Starlingpaw found herself offended by the stab at their father, but simply replied, "Maybe."

Shadepaw sat staring quizzically at her. After a short while of Starlingpaw awkwardly staring back at her, she meowed, "I'll just leave you to rest, then. We can train after I hunt. Nightstorm is insistent that I get enough practice."

Probably so you can get better at hunting like I have, Starlingpaw thought but did not say. She pretended to be drowsy and twitched her ears to shoo her sister away.

Her head resting on her paws, Starlingpaw ran the events of the day through her mind again and again, she was so lost in her thoughts that she barely noticed the real world before her paws. She was lost in that sea of happy thoughts when Moonpaw padded into the den, silently settling herself in the nest furthest from any other apprentice's.

She studied her quietly, her yellow eyes running over her patchy white-and-black fur. She didn't seem to mind being alone, nor did she enjoy any company. Starlingpaw wondered what would make a cat so upset that they didn't even wish to share tongues after a bad experience or training session.

Before she knew what was happening, Starlingpaw had walked over to where Moonpaw laid silently and mewed a greeting.

Moonpaw flicked her tail at her and meowed a barely audible response.

"How was training today?" she asked her, trying to start a conversation.

Moonpaw raised her head to look at her with bright green eyes that seemed oddly dull. She gazed intently at her face, making her shuffle her paws with embarrassment, before she spoke. "I fell into a thornbush."

Starlingpaw blinked in surprise at her detached tone. "Oh." She lowered herself to her level in the name of politeness.

They sat quietly for a moment before she realized that Moonpaw might be looking for comfort. Surely falling into a thornbush was not a success in her training. "Um. If it's any consolation, I kept getting distracted while hunting. I kept having to remind myself that I was supposed to be searching for prey, not for herbs," she meowed quietly, looking anywhere around the clearing but into Moonpaw's melancholy eyes.

That seemed to make Moonpaw smile a little bit and she flicked her tail at Starlingpaw. "You mouse-brained furball!" she joked, giving the other apprentice an amused look. "If you wanna be a medicine cat that badly, then why not ask Blueclaw to be her apprentice?"

The sable she-cat sighed softly and flattened her ears. "I would do that, but I think Blueclaw has her eyes set on Spottedkit, one of Brightmist's kits."

Moonpaw frowned and stared down at her paws for several seconds. She then looked up at Starlingpaw shortly afterword and meowed a quick, quiet, "Well good luck on your training, I hope it goes more smoothly than mine."

Starlingpaw felt herself brighten at the complete sentence she had pulled out of her, but Moonpaw quickly turned away and curled back up to sleep. She left her to doze and went back to her own patch of moss.

The young she-cat smiled softly to herself as she curled up in one of the mossy nests. As she laid down on the ground and nestled herself into the cushiony moss nest, her mind kept flashing back to the conversation that she had just had with Moonpaw. She only caught a few moments of sleep before it was time to train with her sister.