Warriors_moorkralle

CHAPTER 1
 
Leafpaw shuddered. She could feel staring on her neck, she could feel a figure looming just behind her. The sharp sense of herbs wafted up her nose, and it felt like she was inhaling a thistle. Hesitating slightly, she gently picked up a white flower with a yellow center from the pile in front of her.
 
“Nice job! That’s feverfew!”
 
Leafpaw let out a rather loud sigh of relief. Cinderpelt put a supportive paw on her shoulder, gentle concern in her eyes. “Were you that nervous? It’s just testing your memory. It’s not some sort of final assessment!”
 
Leafpaw shrugged dismissively, placing the stalk of feverfew beside the other herbs. “Squirrelpaw has been doing her training for as long as I have and she’s been getting her moves right. Yesterday she had even bragged about having managed to beat Spiderpaw during their sparring session.” It didn’t seem very fair that her sister was getting it all right while she had to be struggling.
 
Cinderpelt rolled her eyes. “Being a medicine cat is hard, Leafpaw. And that’s fine. It was a brave choice to follow this path. There’s a reason why medicine cats need to train for a longer time. You are doing just fine.” Her mentor cocked her head slightly. “Are you feeling alright, Leafpaw? This isn’t the first time we’ve had this conversation.” 

“Really?” Leafpaw didn’t really remember ever talking about this before. Perhaps her mentor was mistaken? With all of her training, Cinderpelt could probably tell how anyone was feeling just by studying their posture. That had to be it. Her mentor was simply mistaken. “I think you’re mis-remembering.” 

Cinderpelt shrugged. “Maybe I am. But I know you, Leafpaw. I know that you’re capable of becoming an amazing medicine cat. You just need to remember that yourself. Now go relax, okay? I think your sister will be back from her hunting patrol soon enough. Once she feeds the elders maybe you two can share whatever she caught.” 

Leafpaw nodded, placing the herbs that she had to recognize back into their respective piles. She sped out the den’s entrance, nearly colliding with her sister. Dustpelt padded behind just a bit behind, his pawsteps resembling the trotting of a deer more than the movements of a cat. Squirrelpaw let out a startled squeak, stumbling back in surprise. “Leafpaw! Cinderpelt already let you quit for the day?” Her voice was somewhat muffled by the thrush in her mouth. Seeming to realise this, her sister placed the bird at her feet, spitting out a few feathers from her mouth. “We can finally share prey together!” 

“Now wait just a moment Squirrelpaw”, her mentor mused, “You need to feed the rest of the Clan first before feeding yourself you know. The warrior code says-”

“Yeah, yeah, I know”, Squirrelpaw interrupted, “Kits, queens, and elders eat first. You don’t need to remind me!” 

Dustpelt let out a knowing yet exasperated sigh. “I know, I know. Now, hurry up with it, okay? The Elders have been waiting for a while. And tell Ferncloud I said hi, alright? Thornclaw wanted me to check up on Shrewpaw once we came back. He didn’t want to take him to the Sunningrocks just yet. RiverClan is still acting agressive, as usual.” Unknown to him, Squirrelpaw was long gone. Leafpaw craned her neck, looking into the elder’s den. Yes, she could see her sister in there now, talking to Longtail. As distractible as Squirrelpaw was, if you asked any of the older cats they would only say that Firestar was just like that when he was younger. 

If Leafpaw made the comparison herself, she would say that Squirrelpaw was more like their mother, Sandstorm. Sandstorm was brave and witty, although she at least knew better than to make a big mess whenever she talked. Maybe Squirrelpaw was a perfect mix of the two. Maybe you couldn’t make any comparisons at all, not when she seemed like a perfect blend. Then again, wasn’t that supposed to be how parents worked? When they had kits, it was supposed to be a kind of union between two cats. 

That was probably something she should be asking Ferncloud about. 

Just as Leafpaw snapped back into focus, Dustpelt was gone too. She huffed a sigh. Had she just been sitting there like a dumbfounded rabbit the entire time? At least Dustpelt knew better than to just sit and watch her. 

She looked to the elder’s den again. Squirrelpaw had now been joined by Dustpelt and Shrewpaw. Leafpaw could tell from here that there was some kind of commotion. Squirrelpaw and Shrewpaw were talking and laughing and shoving while Dustpelt repeatedly apologized to the elders. Leafpaw felt a pang in her chest. She didn’t have friends like that. Everyone respected her, of course, as a future medicine cat, but it was harder to make friends when you spend most of your time isolated in camp. 

“Hey, Leafpaw.”

She turned to the source of the voice. She had done a lot of turning in the past few moments, hadn’t she? Hopefully Squirrelpaw would be done before she got all dizzy! “Oh, hey, Spiderpaw. Do you need something?”

“No, uh, not really, anyway. Mousefur just wanted me to check on you.” Spiderpaw looked past her to the elder’s den. He sighed, sounding a bit exasperated, not unlike how Dustpelt reacted to things that tired him out. “They’re not going to get anything done at that rate, are they?” 
Leafpaw shook her head, chuckling softly. “Probably not. Squirrelpaw was actually hoping to share prey with me! At this rate it’ll be moonrise when she feeds the queens.” Spiderpaw gave her a friendly nudge. “Well, we might as well do it ourselves, then! I’d been wanting to say hi to mom anyway. At least once those two stop being kits then you and Squirrelpaw can actually eat!”

“Yeah, sure.” 

<—>

“So how’s your warrior training going, Squirrelpaw?” Leafpaw took a bite from her mouse, the meat still warm from its more recent catching. Squirrelpaw paused for a moment, seeming to be collecting her thoughts for a moment before speaking. “It’s been nice. Spiderpaw and Shrewpaw are fun to be with. Sorrelpaw is kind of quiet but she’s nice. She hangs out with Whitepaw, mostly.” Squirrelpaw smiled slightly at the mention of Shrewpaw. “And Dustpelt’s nice, too. I think I get him tired out a lot.” She gave Leafpaw a mischievous grin. “I’m hoping one day I can get him to fall asleep so I can go out all by myself. That would be fun.” 

Leafpaw frowned. “That’s dangerous, though. What if you get attacked by a dog? You could get killed!” Brightheart had gone out as an apprentice along with her friend, Swiftpaw. They had hoped to get rid of whatever creature had been stealing prey, only for the creature to end up being a pack of dogs. Swiftpaw had died and Brightheart had been scarred both physically and emotionally. It took her ages for her to recover, and even then the mentioning of it hit her in a place she did not want touched. Cloudtail was the one who spent so much energy and time to be with her during the long process of recovery. Leafpaw knew that Squirrelpaw was strong, much stronger than she was. But she didn’t want to see her hurt. Nobody did. 

Squirrelpaw chuckled nervously. “I’m just joking, you know.” Her sister looked to her feet. They both fell dead silent. Rain began to drip from the sky, slowly getting heavier by the second. Despite this, the two sisters remained, not saying anything. 

Finally, Leafpaw broke the silence. “We should probably head inside. I don’t want to know what Cinderpelt would think if I let myself get a cold as a medicine cat apprentice!” Her gaze flicked back up to her sister for a moment. “Tell the other apprentices I said hi, okay?” Before her sister could respond, Leafpaw turned the medicine den, heading there with a bit of an increase in pace. 

When she entered, Leafpaw shook the water out of her fur, droplets splatting on the walls of the den. She did not hear Squirrelpaw’s voice, but whether that was because of the rain or her sister not saying anything at all was unclear. Deeper into the den, Cindepelt was asleep, and likely had been for a while. Most cats had been heading to their nests when she and Squirrelpaw had been able to finally share a meal, after all, so it wasn’t unusual that her mentor had done the same. 

Leafpaw curled up beside her mentor. Instead of falling asleep as well, however, she remained in her nest, curled up and comfortable yet wide awake. As she remained, Leafpaw couldn’t help but think. 

Had she already lost her bond with Squirrelpaw?