Heatherfrost's Destiny

Chapter Two

Heatherpaw padded alongside Sagestep, her ears were pricked and her eyes alert as the four cats trudged through the undergrowth, "Its Greenleaf now, so all of the plants and trees are full and plentiful. That's what entices the prey." Sagestep explained to his apprentice. Heatherpaw was awestruck as she looked about her territory. She couldn't find words to explain how beautiful it all was. The oak trees all lined up perfectly to where the sunlight could shine through, Heatherpaw could see the rays falling from the sky. the ground was warm and mossy where they were. She could hear the soft bubbling from the stream that was a few foxlengths away. She glanced at her brother, his blue eyes were almost as wide as hers. Tigerstrike and Sagestep exchanged amused glances. "It's magnificent isn't it." Tigerstrike chuckled, "This is our territory Raccoonpaw, Heatherpaw." He meowed, Sagestep nodded with his brothers words. "Follow me, the StreamClan border is close by." He meowed. 

Heatherpaw had to trot to keep up with Sagestep's longer legs. Soon, the four cats reached the stream that Heatherpaw had heard. The stream had large boulders jutting out of it, and on the sides of it. "On the opposite side of the stream is StreamClan, they got their name because of their love for water and their territory." Heatherpaw wrinkled her nose, from the few times she has seen rain she didn't like it, she wasn't a fan of getting her fur wet. Sagestep halted, causing Heatherpaw to trip and fall to avoid crashing into her mentor. 

The tom sniffed the air, his eyes widened slightly, "StreamClan patrol." He whispered to Tigerstrike. Both toms acted as though they were one cat. They both quickly stepped in a defensive line in front of the apprentices. Just then a pure white she-cat and her patrol came trotting across their clearing. She headed straight for the FlameClan cats. "Tigerstrike, Sagestep." She meowed, dipping her heads to the toms politely, but Heatherpaw could feel a deeper emotion in the she-cat's words. "Whitefire." Sagestep meowed curtly. Heatherpaw could see where the she-cat had gotten her name. 

She was a pure white color except for her chest which was a patch of ginger tabby. Whitefire's eyes caught Heatherpaw's, "I don't believe we've met. I am Whitefire, this is Pitchfur and his apprentice Darkpaw." She meowed, pointing with her tail first at Pitchfur, who was a dark brown tom with blue eyes and then to Darkpaw, he was a handsome tom, his brown tabby fur had a grayish tint to it. and his muzzle, chest and paws were all a bright white colour. Heatherpaw dipped her head to the cats. "My name is Heatherpaw and this is my brother Raccoonpaw." She meowed softly. Raccoonpaw puffed his chest out. "We just became apprentices today!" He boasted. Darkpaw smirked arrogantly. "I've been an apprentice for two moons." He meowed. Raccoonpaw narrowed his eyes at the tom. Heatherpaw rested her tail across her brothers shoulders. "Well we ought to hurry up and show our apprentices the rest of our territory." Sagestep meowed. Heatherpaw tipped her head at the toms words. Was StreamClan a threat to their territory? Whitefire seemed so nice? Heatherpaw glanced at Pitchfur and Darkpaw, the tom was staring at Raccoonpaw.

 Heatherpaw sensed that the tom was annoyed by her brother. Heatherpaw narrowed her eyes at the tom, she was rather annoyed by Darkpaw, he seemed arrogant. Raccoonpaw whipped around, almost whacking Heatherpaw with his tail. She dipped her head quickly to Whitefire and the rest of her patrol and ran after her mentor. "So where are we going next Sagestep?" Raccoonpaw asked, Heatherpaw was glad her brother was asking the questions. As curious as she was, she preferred to not ask questions unless they were absolutely necessary. A lot of times questions just gave her more questions, or the adult cats would just tell her she was too young to understand, which she hated. 

Heatherpaw heard a snap coming from the trees above her, a small twig hit the top of her head, she looked up quickly and saw a small bird sitting on a branch. "Raccoonpaw look!" she whispered, not wanting to scare the bird away. She realized that the bird was feeding her babies, Sagestep purred, "See, even the birds have to take care of their family, just like we do with our clanmates." Sagestep's eyes were warm as he looked at the bird and her young, but to Heatherpaw; his purr seemed forced. Ever since they ran into Whitefire and her patrol he seemed a lot more tense. Heatherpaw knew that the other cats didn't notice it, so she chose not to say anything. 

"Here we are! This is the Oak Clearing, its a great spot to fish and also where we train our apprentices." Tigerstrike broke the silence as the four cats reached a large clearing, it was a beautiful place Heatherpaw thought, there was one huge oak tree right in the middle of the clearing with moss hanging from its limbs, small white flowers on vines had climbed their way to the top of the tree and also hung down, intertwining with the moss. Heatherpaw breathed in the smell, "What are those little white flowers!" She asked, surprised by herself by asking the question. "I'm not sure, but i think i remember Daisypetal telling me that they were called Jasmine?" Sagestep meowed softly, his face had an odd expression, as though he were in a trance.

 "Jasmine.." Heatherpaw meowed softly, awestruck by the sights in the clearing. there was a little stream, the same one that had bordered with StreamClan, it had turned to the right and cut through the clearing, right underneath a humongous root of the oak tree, making a small little cave over the water. Heatherpaw could see little minnows swimming in the clear water and felt her mouth water. "It's nice here. I can see why you would want to train here." Heatherpaw purred quietly. She was suddenly pushed onto the ground by her brother who's eyes were wide with mischief. The two siblings tussled for a moment before Heatherpaw cuffed the tom over the ears a bit too hard. "Alright now that's enough, we still have to see the rest of the territory." Tigerstrike meowed, but Heatherpaw could hear the laughter in the toms voice. She pushed her brother off and jumped up, excited to see the rest of the territory. "So what's next?" Raccoonpaw asked.