Shade

Chapter Nineteen

"Shadepaw, wake up!"

Shadepaw cracked open an eye. "It's not even light outside, Smoketail, what do you want?"

"We're on the dawn patrol," Smoketail responded. "Come on."

"Ugh." Shadepaw stretched her legs, then stood and followed her mentor. "Who else is coming?"

"Silverstar," Smoketail said. "It's just us and her."

Shadepaw blinked. "Why? Clan leaders never go on patrol, don't they?"

Smoketail twitches his ears. "That depends on the leader. Silverstar wanted to come on this patrol, so she's here."

"Why the dawn patrol?" Shadepaw wondered. "Why not patrol at a sensible time? She's Clan leader, she can do what she wants, right?"

"Why don't you ask her?" Smoketail purred, gesturing with his tail towards Silverstar, who was waiting at the camp entrance.

"Ask me what?" she meowed.

"Why you'd join the dawn patrol, of all the patrols to join," Shadepaw said. "It's so early!"

Silverstar purred. "Follow me and you'll see."

Shadepaw had to hurry so she wouldn't get left behind by the silver she-cat. Silverstar seemed to have a specific destination in mind, because she ran to a very specific part of the ShadowClan border.

"Shadepaw, you mark the fallen tree, Smoketail, mark the rock. I'll mark the river bank," Silverstar instructed. "We want to do this quickly, or we'll miss it."

"Miss what?" Shadepaw asked, but Silverstar had already raced off to mark the part of the border she'd assigned herself to. Shadepaw sighed and set her own marker, then saw Smoketail streaking past and raced to keep up with him.

"This way, quickly!" Silverstar purred. "It's almost time."

"Almost time for what?" Shadepaw asked, but the flick of Silverstar's tail told her to wait and be patient. Shadepaw simply resigned herself to the fact that she'd have to find out when they got there.

Silverstar led them across most of the territory, pausing at intervals to actually mark the border, but travelling along towards the lake shore. Silverstar seemed to brighten as the lake came into view. "It's starting!"

Shadepaw, now knowing better than to ask what 'it' was, simply followed her leader down to the pebbly lake shore. It was a few moments before anything happened, but then, as the sky was lighting up, the first rays of the morning sun peeked up from over the trees of ThunderClan's territory. It lit up the lake water, and the gently lapping waves seemed to sparkle with the pale orange of the sky.

"It's beautiful," Shadepaw breathed.

"When I was a young warrior," Silverstar meowed, "I used to come out here every day to watch the sunrise. It reminds me that no matter what happens, there will always be one constant in the world. We could ravage our territory, turn rogue, kill each other off to the last cat. We could destroy everything we know. But no matter what, the sun will rise every morning at dawn, and set every evening at dusk."

Shadepaw tore her gaze away from the sight before her and looked curiously at her leader. What had happened in her life for her to need that kind of reassurance so young? Was it something to do with the fact that Nutriver's name seemed to be taboo in the Clan?

"Smoketail, why don't you head back to camp?" Silverstar meowed. She had phrased it as a suggestion, but Shadepaw could tell that it was actually an order that Silverstar had worded delicately. Why, Shadepaw wondered? Why did Silverstar want to be alone with Shadepaw, and why speak so carefully? Perhaps they were going to talk about a sensitive topic, and Silverstar didn't want to scare Shadepaw?

"If you want me to, Silverstar." Smoketail sounded surprised, but he dipped his head respectfully before turning and heading back in the direction of camp.

Shadepaw watched him go with a twitch of her ear. "So what did you want to talk about?"

"What makes you think I wanted to speak with you?" Silverstar purred.

"A lot of things, actually," Shadepaw responded. "Firstly, a patrol is usually comprised of three or four cats. A Clan leader may join a patrol if he or she so wishes, but the deputy will not include the leader when organising normal patrols, so the leader must usually tag onto the end of a patrol. You came out on a dawn patrol with just one cat and his apprentice, a much smaller size than usual. Almost deliberately so. And I won't deny that this is beautiful, but it can't be the only reason you chose now to join a patrol. Plus, the fact that you sent Smoketail back to camp leads me to believe that you only took him along in the first place because he's my mentor and no other reason. Is this about the prophecy?"

Silverstar looked at Shadepaw for a moment. "You're getting smart."

"Are you going to answer my question?"

Silverstar flicked her ears. No. "I've been told that you did incredibly well in your assessment yesterday. Jaggedpelt expressed his surprise at how well you can fight. He told me he'd planned to go easy on you, but decided against it when he saw how seriously you were taking it. He was flattened anyway, or so he tells me."

"Smoketail tells me I have a good instinct for that sort of thing," Shadepaw replied. "My hunting skills are... average at best."

Silverstar twitched an ear. "You know, the first thing Fawnreed said to me was that you're ready to be a warrior."

"Now?" Shadepaw blinked in alarm.

"Maybe." Silverstar sighed. "I decided not to make you a warrior, however. You're too young, and it wouldn't be fair on the other apprentices. I'm going to wait until Leopardpaw and Lilypaw are warriors - which won't be long now, no more than a moon - and after that you have a choice to make. You can become a warrior yourself, or you can wait until Shimmerpaw is also ready." Silverstar turned to Shadepaw and looked steadily at her.

"I'll wait for Shimmerpaw," Shadepaw responded immediately. She didn't even have to think about it. She couldn't imagine doing anything without her sister at her side.

Silverstar nodded slowly, as if she had been expecting that answer. Perhaps she had. "You really have grown up, Shadepaw," she meowed. "I think StarClan made a good choice."

Shadepaw opened her jaws to ask about what the leader meant, but Silverstar stood and started walking away, flicking her tail to indicate for Shadepaw to follow. Somewhat reluctantly, Shadepaw recognised that the conversation was over and followed her back to camp.