Perfection [ warriorcats fanfiction ]

xiv.ii

Ravenstep left the camp first, followed closely behind by Rosepool, who kept her eyes on the ground, looking for footprints, presumably. Nightpaw and Puddlepaw followed them side-by-side a few fox-lengths behind.

"I hope we find her," Nightpaw said quietly, "I'm so worried. I don't think she realizes how dangerous it is to be out alone, especially in this season."

Puddlepaw nodded.

"I think she thinks she can do more than she actually can," Nightpaw continued, her voice even lower, so Ravenstep couldn't hear, "she thinks she can survive out here all by herself. She can't. I don't even think Froststar could, all alone."

Puddlepaw nodded again. "We'll find her, Nightpaw. I'm sure we will. Ravenstep obviously knows her very well. He has an idea of where she would be and where she might be going. I think he'll find her."

Nightpaw nodded, but she was still afraid. Silverleaf had left last night. She could be almost all the way to the mountains by now, and if she was still moving, they could never catch up.

Nightpaw hoped her mentor had found some safe place to rest, and was waiting for them to come find her and bring her home.

"She didn't go through the river," Ravenstep called from somewhere a few paces in front of the apprentices, "I can tell she went around it. To the side, towards the pine trees."

Most cats in their clan knew how to swim—Dawnpaw was an exception, as she only had one functioning front paw—but Nightpaw decided her mentor likely hadn't crossed the river because of how cold the water was at this time of year.

"So he was right," Puddlepaw murmured, "I think we'll find her very soon."

Nightpaw began to feel more optimistic, with Ravenstep's correct predictions, Rosepool's excellent tracking skills, and her friend beside her. Perhaps they would find Silverleaf before sun-high and be back to camp with her before it got dark.

The wind picked up, spraying the cats with frigid water from the stream. Nightpaw fluffed out her short fur as much as she was able, but it didn't help her much. She envied Puddlepaw's thick pelt.

The cats padded through the forest in silence. With every step she took, Nightpaw began to doubt her friend's earlier words. Perhaps Ravenstep didn't know Silverleaf as well as he thought, and he was leading them in the wrong direction. Perhaps Rosepool wasn't a particularly good tracker, and she was following the wrong scent. Perhaps they would never find Silverleaf.

Nightpaw sniffed the air and caught nothing but the sharp smell of pine trees and cold air. She had a feeling it would snow soon, and she wanted to yell to Ravenstep to move faster, to get closer to Silverleaf in a shorter amount of time so they could all go home before it got too cold.

Nightpaw was still certain they would find her mentor.

Sun-high came and passed and the sky began turning shades of pink and red. Ravenstep's tail dragged on the leaves, his pace hurried and frazzled. He thought we'd find her by now, Nightpaw thought, he thought we'd be on our way home instead of closer to the mountains, deeper into the forest.