Ashleap's Fall

Darkness

Owlflight and Emeraldlight first looked at each other as if I was mad, but I was determined to get the story, even if they wouldn't tell me. After a long moon plagued by constant teasing about it from Pyrewing and asking the better half of the clan, I eventually turn to Knottedstar herself.

"You seek dangerous stories, my apprentice." Knottedstar tells me. "No one's asked about the fox in a long time."
"So you won't tell me?" I say, disheartened.

"I never said that. Has it come up in your dreams? Ashleap and Lunarshine definitely heard about it within their lifetimes, so the memories-"

"No." I say, eager to deflect further suspicion. "I just... heard about it. Everyone's very cagey about it."

Knottedstar nods. "They have a right to be. Early DragonClan history is not full of nice cats, nor is it full of nice stories. Most of it is full of lies spread by the first leader and endless chains of revenge in murder."

I gulp. "Really?" I had heard before that our history wasn't a glorious one, but Knottedstar seems extremely cynical about it. Surely, a clan like ours couldn't be that terrible... could it?
"Come with me tomorrow and I'll tell you the story. We'll have a lot to cover."

I purr deep in my throat in spite of myself. I had expected a lot of things when I first put forth the question, but this wasn't one of them. As I prance back to the apprentices, who are about to go out hunting for the latter part of the day, Sparrowpaw notices my enthusiasm.

"Someone's cheerful today." he tells me teasingly.

"I got some great news from Knottedstar. We're going on a special trip tomorrow!" I purr with delight.

"Someone's quite the special snowflake, huh?" jokes Crowpaw.

"Don't let it go to your head, Rushpaw." Thistlepaw warns me. "Your ego is large enough as it is."

"It is?" I ask, baffled.

"Yeah! You've always got your head in the clouds, always smiling, but you never want to talk to any of us and you're always going on about your missions. Not to be rude or anything, but you also have this tendency to scowl at cats when they interrupt your daydreaming."

"Maybe she just feels good about herself. That's not a crime, is it?" Crowpaw points out.

"What? No! That means she's in love, silly!" Goldenpaw chimes in.

"I- what?" I ask, perplexed.

"Oh! With who?" asks Crowpaw.

"Novapaw, obviously." Goldenpaw informs her sister.

"I'm right here." Novapaw says dryly, but they don't seem to notice him.

"She's always been in love with Novapaw." Thistlepaw snickers. "Nah, this is something else."

"What if she has... a NEW love interest?" Goldenpaw exclaims.

"I would never!" I say, but Novapaw is giving me a dirty look. He can't possibly believe them, can he?

"Novapaw has some competitiooooon!" cooes Goldenpaw.

"That's enough gossip." Carbonfrost snaps, emerging with the rest of the mentors, a menagerie of brightly colored and slightly peeved warriors. He's taken over Novapaw's training since Titanfoot's death, which Novapaw has been surprisingly alright with.

"You kits need to get a move on." Scorchclaw meows. "The clan needs to eat and right now, the only thing on the fresh kill pile is a dinky shrew... and you know how much I hate shrews."
"They give you indigestion, we know, we know." Hazelwhisker sighs.