Daylight

Chapter 14

Graypaw only shrugged when he mentioned it, though. "Girls are weird." It seemed to be his catchphrase.

Firepaw shrugged back, padding after his friend and into the chilly forest. Runningwind had been remarking for days how it most definitely would snow soon, and Firepaw was ready for it. Even though his kit fur hadn't totally given way for his adult coat... he was ready to finally see some snow. It was about time. It was nearing the middle of leaf-bare and he was cold. He at least wanted to be cold in style. Or something.

Trotting into ThunderClan camp with the adder hanging in his jaws felt good. He was a force to be reckoned with. Spitting the vile creature out onto the fresh-kill pile felt maybe even better than it felt to have caught it at all; the thing tasted like roadkill.

From the entrance of the nursery, a startled gasp came from a queen—Goldenflower. She had somehow managed to get away from her squealing kits, whose names were Bramblekit and Tawnykit, and was sunning herself, becoming a sort of golden halo in the pale leaf-bare sunlight. "Firepaw, who caught that?" she mewed, pulling herself up to her full and fluffy height.

Firepaw gave a little purr, smile returning to his face. "I did." The she-cat blinked. He felt the need to reiterate his claim. "Me. I caught the adder."

She gave a nod of recognition, slinking forward carefully and sniffing the snake before drawing back with a little snarl. Her yellow eyes narrowed as she surveyed the body of the adder on the fresh-kill pile. "It's poisonous, Firepaw."

He nodded. "I know."

"Why is it on the fresh-kill pile, then?" she asked, not an ounce of scorn in the golden queen's gaze. Firepaw shifted a bit, shrugging. He opened his mouth to speak, but—

"I mean, it shouldn't hurt a cat, right? If it's only got its poison thingies in its mouth, we just have to avoid its head." The brown-and-white tabby who'd spoken tilted his head, a half-smile gracing his cobweb-padded face.

"Cloverpaw!" Firepaw had to resist the urge to smash into his brother, who, although his half-tail looked fine... the rest of him didn't. His brother's face glowed.

"I'm doing better, thanks for asking," he finally purred as the flame-colored apprentice just stood watching him, mouth partially agape. "How are you?"

"Great. Just—awesome."

Graypaw gave a laugh from the side, where he was (unsuccessfully) flirting with Spottedleaf. "Ha! Purr-fect."

Firepaw barely heard him and was busy looking over Cloverpaw's injuries, particularly his face. A long scratch, still unhealed fully, ran down the side of it,  and a few clumps of fur had obviously been pulled from his coat. He could only shiver at imagining how much that had hurt.

Cloverpaw scoffed at the gesture, ear flicking. "Come on, I'm fine. How are the sibs?"

The sibs. Firepaw blinked. Cloverpaw rolled his eyes, a smile creeping onto his face. "You know. Filou. Luna. Princess?"

Smacked out of his thoughts by the mention—by name—of his siblings, he straightened up, nodding quickly. "Right! Right. Very good. Yes. Very good."

"Runningwind's not happy you missed a couple days of training," the brown tabby tom remarked nonchalantly, looking over the fresh-kill pile in search of something to eat.

"Well—it's just a couple days." Firepaw felt stiff. Runningwind was mad? Mad at what? Not killing Mousefur?

Cloverpaw shrugged. "Well, still—" he was cut off by the powerful yowl of Bluestar as she leapt up onto the Highrock, icy blue eyes taking in the clearing.

Turning away from the fresh-kill pile, Cloverpaw padded over to where Spottedleaf sat at the entrance of the medicine den, probably to get more salve for his wounds. Firepaw looked up at the blue-gray she-cat who stood atop the rock, staring at the clan beneath her. "Tonight is the Gathering," she announced. Most cats knew that. "I'll be taking a large patrol—ShadowClan has been lurking at the edges of ThunderClan territory recently, they should know how powerful we are." Of course. Only made sense. "I'll be taking Redtail, Spottedleaf, Tigerclaw, Lionheart, Dustpaw, Firepaw, Halftail, Patchpelt, and Sandpaw. That is all. We leave soon."

With that, she leapt down from the Highrock. Graypaw sidled over to Firepaw, a slightly saddened look on his face. "Too bad I can't come—you'll have to fill me in!" he chirped, demeanor changing immediately, grinning at the idea of being filled in.

Firepaw was always amazed at his friend's moodswings, and this time was no different. "Sure thing. Hey, Dustpaw!" he called over to the muddy brown tom, who looked over and blinked before slowly walking towards the two. "Want to walk with me?"

Dustpaw shrugged. "I'm walking with Sandpaw," he mewed, having softened to Firepaw in the last few moons of being with ThunderClan. He paused, watching Firepaw wilt a bit. "But I'll introduce you to some cats."

The tom rocked back on his heels, ignoring Firepaw's excited look at the offer. His gaze went past the fiery tom, to the fresh-kill pile, where the adder rested on top. His gaze lingered on the snake, before he mumbled something about how "he caught one too", and was jolted out of his thoughts.

The baritone voice of Whitestorm shook both Dustpaw and Firepaw from their observations—Dustpaw of the fresh-kill pile and Firepaw of the other apprentice. "Let's go!"

Yes, Firepaw thought, let's.