With her paw fully healed, Lightpaw threw herself into training. The day of her warrior assessment loomed and her fighting skills were beyond ready; hunting was proficient, almost excellent; jumping and climbing skills could use some work, but were passable.
Stealth was a whole other story.
"Got you again!" Rainpaw cried happily as Lightpaw felt her weight on her shoulders. The tortoiseshell flattened herself, catching the grey tabby off-guard. Rainpaw rolled forward into a pile of snow.
"How do you do that?" the pale she-cat hissed, angry with herself for getting caught.
Rainpaw shook the snow off her whiskers. "You're as loud as a badger. The snow doesn't help, of course, I could hear you from treelengths away."
Lightpaw flicked an ear. The snow crunched, the leaves crackled, and the low-hanging branches swished. How on earth was she supposed to be silent?
"I think that's enough for the day," the tortoiseshell decided, getting to her paws. "Flamestrike told me to be back for patrol by sundown." She turned in the direction of High Rocks, Rainpaw trotting after her – very quietly, much to Lightpaw's dismay.
The business of camp masked their arrival and Lightpaw slunk off to the healer's den before anyone noticed her. Rainpaw, of course, joined Stormpaw and the other apprentices by their den. Watching her go, Lightpaw's eyes met Beetlepaw's briefly; the flash of triumph in the black she-cat's eyes caused her to turn away quickly.
"Reedpaw?" Lightpaw called as she stepped into the sweet-smelling den. She drew in a deep breath, enjoying the mixture of scents. With leaf-bare here, everything else smelled dead.
"Back here!" Reedpaw called from the depths of the den.
"I just need a place to rest for a second," Lightpaw began, padding over. "Training is taking the life – " She stopped abruptly as her eyes fell on Pigeonfang, who lay on her side in one of the healer's nests. Reedpaw's brown paws kneaded her stomach gently and the she-cat would growl deep in her throat every so often.
"Definitely two, perhaps three or four," the tom said. "It's too early to tell for sure, I think." Lightpaw could hear the trembling in his voice, the slightest shred of doubt.
"I hope it's not too painful when the time comes," Pigeonfang replied. "I already feel like I'm about to burst."
Reedpaw shook his head. "I'm afraid it won't be easy. You still have another moon to go, at least."
The grey and white she-cat groaned as she rose to her paws. "Thanks, Reedpaw." She cast the two of them one curious glance before heaving herself out the entrance.
Lightpaw and Reedpaw exchanged a look.
"Are you alright?" Lightpaw asked lightly as the tom turned to his medicine storage.
"Shouldn't I be asking you that?" he replied. "I am the Clan's healer, after all." He dropped a pile of herbs before her, their sweet scents filling the air between them.
She looked at them with distaste. "I'm not actually sick, you know. I just don't want Flamestrike asking me questions about my training."
Reedpaw tilted his head. "That bad?"
Lightpaw nodded.
The brown tabby twitched his whiskers grimly. "If you do want to take those," he continued, "they will help with the stress and weariness."
She held his copper gaze, noticing the hopefulness that filled it. With a sigh, she dipped her head down, swallowing the herbs in one gulp. The happy satisfaction on Reedpaw's face was enough to make her forget their tang.
"Thank you," the tortoiseshell said. Reedpaw only nodded his head.
Outside of the healer's den, Spiderthorn's voice carried across the camp as he called out the dusk patrols. Hearing her name, Lightpaw directed her paws to the den entrance. She had nearly reached it when she turned back to see Reedpaw watching her.
"I did want to know if you're alright, you know," she said, seeing the sadness etched into the markings on his face.
He did not answer immediately. "I'll be okay," he whispered.
Lightpaw swallowed, unwilling to leave her friend behind, but Spiderthorn's voice shouted her name again, louder this time. She waved her tail at Reedpaw, sighing as she emerged into the sun's fading light.
Her patrol stood waiting for her by the Speaking Rock. To her dismay, Beetlepaw stood at its head, with Shademask, Thistleshade, and Rowanstorm right behind.
"How's your stealth coming?" Beetlepaw asked snootily as her littermate approached. Already braced for the question, Lightpaw just gave a slight shrug before turning her attention to Rowanstorm.
"Where are we headed?" she asked, assuming his leadership of the patrol. To her surprise, the old tabby turned to Shademask instead.
"Lead the way," he growled to the black tom and Shademask nodded his head, confidently moving out of the camp and up towards the Twolegplace. Lightpaw fell into step beside Thistleshade at the back of the patrol, avoiding Beetlepaw's backwards glances and Thistleshade's curious looks. All the while, she attempted to ignore the worry she felt for Reedpaw, trying to forget the sadness on his features as she left him to his work.
"Have you seen Reedpaw recently?" she asked Thistleshade in a low tone as they padded through the small snow drifts coating the prairie. Somewhere beneath their paws lay the borderline between the moors and the start of the rock cliffs.
"I haven't visited him in quite some time," the older she-cat admitted. "Is something wrong?" Genuine worry was clear in her eyes.
Lightpaw looked away, wondering if her own gaze mirrored the emotion. "I'm not sure. He just seemed off when I went to see him today."
"Hurt yourself again?" Beetlepaw snickered.
"Eavesdropping again?" Lightpaw shot back, in no mood to put up with the she-cat.
The black apprentice's whiskers twitched. "Or does a certain lack of skill have your tail in a knot?" She kinked up her tail to demonstrate.
The pale she-cat narrowed her eyes before pushing past Beetlepaw and joining Shademask up at the front. At least she wouldn't have to suffer her littermate's gleeful looks up here.
Shademask offered no comment, but allowed her to walk alongside him. Soon, Lightpaw found herself mirroring his steps, a solid left, right, left, right as they travelled further towards the Twolegplace border. She almost found herself enjoying the patrol, a certain silent fellowship hanging in the air between herself and the older warrior.
All too soon, they neared the edge of DarkClan territory.
"We'll split up," Shademask decided, and Lightpaw plead silently that she would not end up with Beetlepaw.
"I'll take Beetlepaw," Thistleshade offered before Shademask could say another word, and the younger warrior acquiesced.
"I'll take Lightpaw," he said. "Rowanstorm, you'll be fine on your own?"
The tabby just gave a flick of his tail before following the borderline east. Thistleshade, with a rather cross Beetlepaw in tow, turned west. Shademask continued forward, surveying the tall white walls before them.
"Have you ever been to this border?" he asked Lightpaw quietly, marking a wooden slat.
Surprised by his willingness to converse, as the tom generally preferred silence, the tortoiseshell struggled to find a response. "Only once," she finally said.
The black warrior just nodded, continuing on down the white wall. Unsure of what to do, Lightpaw followed. The fellowship of before had disappeared and an awkwardness had descended upon them. Hoping to fill the silence, Lightpaw asked the first thing that came to her mind.
"How often have you been here?"
The tom paused, giving her a confused look. "Enough to know how to lead a patrol to it," he replied after a moment.
The tortoiseshell held his dark gaze, ears burning with embarrassment. Finally, she looked away.
Shademask seemed amused. "I'll mark this side, why don't you go in the other direction? Rowanstorm should meet you on his way back down." Eager to get away from the tension in the air, Lightpaw went on her way.
She had only travelled a couple of treelengths, marking every twenty steps or so, when she heard thud from above her. Moving away from the white wall, she saw a dark figure sitting atop it. The cat was large, with brown tabby markings and big, green eyes.
"You smell like them Clan cats," he said, watching her every move. Lightpaw felt her fur rise.
"Is that a problem?" she hissed back, claws unsheathing.
"Hey now, no need to get defensive," the tom replied, tucking his paws in closer to his body. "Though you did kill a friend of mine just over a half moon ago."
Immediately, images of the frightened tortoiseshell filled Lightpaw's head and the feel of bloodied fur beneath her claws made her paws tingle. She shook herself, unwilling to relive the moment.
"Ah, I see you remember," the tabby observed.
"It's hard not to," Lightpaw admitted, guilt momentarily washing over her. Realizing she had let her guard down, she jumped back into her defensive position. "But that doesn't explain why you're here."
The fat kittypet did not reply, instead lazily letting his eyes travel over her body. He seemed completely at ease, while Lightpaw did not let a muscle twitch.
"What's your name?" he asked.
"Lightpaw," she replied. "And you are?"
"Charlie," he purred. "I live just over in that Twoleg den with my friend, Minerva."
What strange names, Lightpaw thought. "Just the two of you?"
Charlie nodded. "Yep. We're not like you Clan cats, or the Junkyard Gang, or the alley cats."
Lightpaw blinked. "There's that many cats living in the Twolegplace?" The tabby nodded affirmation again.
The pale she-cat glanced up and down the white wall, looking for any sign of the other patrol members. Rowanstorm would be somewhere off to the east, while Shademask would be moving west. Thistleshade and Beetlepaw would meet him somewhere halfway.
Suddenly, Lightpaw remembered her conversation with Thistleshade, nearly a quarter moon ago.
"You're not a rebel, are you?" Her defensive position was back, crouched low over her front paws.
The tabby snorted rather loudly. "Who, me? No, never! I have met them, though."
"Wait, here?"
"Yes."
"Where?"
Charlie narrowed his eyes. "I don't believe that is something I should be telling you."
Lightpaw clenched her fangs, frustrated. The kittypet wasn't giving anything up and she knew for a fact no one in DarkClan would tell her anything about the rebels.
"Please," she hissed. "I want to know more about them."
"So you can use it against them?" he growled back, fur beginning to rise.
"No, of course not!"
"I won't let you hurt my friends. They've suffered enough at your claws as it is." The tabby's stance now mirrored her own and Lightpaw, though her fighting skills were sharp, was unwilling to put them to the test, even against a kittypet. Something about the idea of his blood on her claws made her shrink away.
"We've got company," Charlie hissed, ears pulled back. Before she could ask, he disappeared from the fence.
"Slacking off, are we?" The drawl could belong to only one cat.
"No, that kittypet started taunting me," Lightpaw retorted, turning to face Smoketalon. Beside him, Dapplefrost gave her a suspicious look.
"Can't even sneak past a kittypet?" Smoketalon sneered, brushing his tail over the tortoiseshell's back. Lightpaw swatted at it.
"I can too," she growled, hackles rising.
"Just an observation," the grey tom assured, though his hazel eyes glittered.
Lightpaw looked between the two warriors. Smoketalon looked entirely at ease; Dapplefrost seemed out of sorts, eyes darting to the white wall and back to Lightpaw.
"Who was he?" she asked the apprentice.
"Some kittypet. He was angry that we killed his friend."
Dapplefrost's eyes lit up with surprise. "And he told you nothing else?"
Lightpaw shrugged. "Nothing of importance."
Smoketalon's gaze hardened. "Perhaps we should report this to Dawnstar. She would be interested in your conversation with this kittypet."
Something about the way the tom spat out the word made Lightpaw snarl. "Charlie. His name is Charlie."
Dapplefrost curled her lip. "So you do know him."
Too late, the tortoiseshell realized her mistake. "I just met him," she replied calmly. The two warriors remained unconvinced, watching her as if she were a dangerous prisoner. She felt her claws slide out of their sheathes, uncertainty filling her.
"I think we'll need to settle this with Dawnstar," Smoketalon whispered to Dapplefrost, never once taking his eyes off of Lightpaw. "She would want to know."
The warriors advanced on her and the pale she-cat shrank back towards the white wood wall at her back. Both Smoketalon and Dapplefrost had their claws unsheathed, a dangerous glimmer in their eyes. Deep in her stomach, the smouldering fear licked at her, rising higher and higher.
"What's going on here?"
A brief moment of relief hit Lightpaw as Shademask's dark figure approached, confronting Smoketalon. Dapplefrost remained behind, still watching the apprentice.
"She's been fraternizing with the enemy," Smoketalon hissed, just loudly enough for Lightpaw to hear.
Shademask's face remained impassive. "She is on border patrol with me. If she was fraternizing with the enemy, I would know."
"She was having a conversation with a kittypet!" the grey tom spat back.
"I had a kittypet follow me down the wall," Shademask replied calmly. "I don't see you accusing me of treason."
Smoketalon looked ready to kill, but the black tom took no notice. Instead, he padded over to Lightpaw, looking her over.
"She looks like she's just carrying out her patrol duty." When their eyes met, Lightpaw saw the faintest spark of curiosity in his.
Smoketalon looked between the two of them, lip still curled back in a snarl. It was Dapplefrost who stepped forward, drawing the tom away.
"Let's go, let them finish up their patrol," she said to him and after a couple of heartbeats the grey tom stood down. With one last glance in Lightpaw's direction, he turned tail.
Lightpaw let out a breath she had not known she was holding. Watching Smoketalon's retreating back, she suddenly felt a deep hatred for him. Accusing her of treason? The only thing he could accuse her of was curiosity, at best.
"You owe me one," Shademask pointed out quietly. Looking over at him, Lightpaw saw that he looked much smaller now that he was not standing up to Smoketalon. In fact, he looked deflated, much like herself, and somewhat frightened and amazed at the same time.
"Standing up to that tom is both scary and tough," the black warrior explained. "I thought he was going to rip my fur off."
Lightpaw found herself twitching her whiskers. "You and me both."
Their eyes met again and, this time, Shademask looked away first.
"I wonder what they were doing this far out together," he commented, gazing after the warriors' retreating figures. "I don't remember them being assigned to a patrol."
The tortoiseshell flicked an ear, confusion filling her. She only returned to marking the border when Shademask called her sharply and, even then, couldn't put the thought of Smoketalon and Dapplefrost out of her mind.
// Is anyone shipping yet? Let me know what relationships you might see in the future ;)