Chapter Two, Part Two

“Seedpaw, up! You’re on the dawn patrol today- you know you have to work extra hard. Get up,” Brightheart whispered in her apprentice’s ear the next morning.

            Holding back a groan, Seedpaw got up and clumped over to where three other cats were gathered- Sorreltail, Cloudtail, and, of course, Brightheart.

            “Let’s go!” Sorreltail, the patrol leader, cheerily mewed just before trotting out of camp like a gleeful kit. Seedpaw was disgusted. This cat is my mother?

            Cloudtail rolled his eyes and shared a disturbed glance with Seedpaw. “Okay…” he muttered, shaking his head. Seedpaw could just picture what he was thinking in his fluffy white head: She-cats, she-cats, she-cats!

            Brightheart was ahead of them, bounding joyfully beside Sorreltail. “And she’s my mate,” Cloudtail sighed, indicating Brightheart, his round blue gaze unimpressed.

            Seedpaw shrugged and thought back. When she and Lilypaw had first become apprentices, Brightheart was still in the nursery with her kits, Amberkit, Snowkit, and Dewkit. Lilypaw always had Millie as a mentor, but Seedpaw’s original trainer was Hazeltail until Hazeltail moved into the nursery. Brightheart took over her training once her kits were ‘paws.

            The patrol moved onward, and Seedpaw caught her second bird ever- a blue jay. And I’m the failing one? She thought that with a quick, safely hidden grin- Seedpaw remembered Lilypaw telling her that on one hunting patrol she was on, she hadn’t caught anything.

            Before long, Cloudtail was the only cat without something captured. His lips twisted in frustration, the long-furred white tom stalked around the bushes, soft pink nose twitching as it took in small sniffs of prey-scented air. “Aha!” he exclaimed, and Cloudtail disappeared into the brush.

           

            In his mouth, Cloudtail proudly displayed a nice and fat vole as Seedpaw’s patrol reentered the camp.

            “Wonderful catch!” purred Cinderheart with a smile. The queen shuffled up and gently asked if she could have his vole. “Larchkit and Smokykit are hungry too, and Hazeltail says they can try their first solids today!” Cinderheart continued with a wink. “How would you like to volunteer your vole for this special job?”

            Cloudtail laughed a deep laugh. “You’ll be a great mother. I suspect you’re genuinely excited,” he replied, dropping the vole off to her.

            “’Sure am!” Cinderheart answered before turning back around, and Seedpaw observed that her belly was slowly swelling with Lionblaze’s kits.

            Brightheart and Cloudtail padded off to a rare sunny spot in the clearing and groomed themselves. Sorreltail lapped at Seedpaw’s ears for a few heartbeats before ambling off to the nursery to help.

            Seedpaw screwed up her face intentionally. Before leaving, Brightheart had ordered for her to fetch fresh moss for the lone elder, Graystripe.

            Flinching at the thought of carrying an old tom’s used moss, she footslogged over to the honeysuckle bush that made the elders’ den.

            “Hello, Graystripe?” Seedpaw asked, poking her head inside the highly-scented flower bush.

            “Ah, an apprentice to bring me new bedding? Wonderful. Come, sit down, I might as well tell you a short story while you’re here.”

            Without looking at the gray tom, Seedpaw settled down and waited for Graystripe to stand up. She snatched the moss from under him and threw it at the exit, disgusted at the rank, musky smell that wafted around it.

            “What… is this…? Seedkit? Oh, you… silly kit. Back to the nursery you go,” Graystripe said quite sharply, gently prodding Seedpaw away. “Go tell your sister to come to me, will you?”

            Seedpaw’s stomach did a back-flip. “I’m an apprentice, Graystripe,” she snapped, scowling into his yellow eyes. “My name is Seedpaw.” It was hard for her to contain her anger, but she knew she had to show respect for the elder.

            If ‘sister’ means Lilypaw, I will kill him, steamed Seedpaw to herself. She knew he could mean Poppyfrost or even needy Cinderheart, but she and Lilypaw were more often known as the two close sisters, same for Poppyfrost and Cinderheart as a pair. They weren’t from the same litter, after all.

            Seedpaw continued to think as Graystripe pursued to hesitate, sinking in what she said. Also, he needs to keep up with the Clan activity. Does he think we just arrived here from the Great Journey? Does he think my father was just born? Who does he think our leader is, Thunder?

            “Sorry,” Graystripe mused, cutting into Seedpaw’s frustrated thoughts. “Please forgive me. There’s a rumor I heard from Amberpaw that you moved back down to the nursery. She changed my moss a few sunrises ago.”

            Seedpaw bristled. “What?” she hissed, exasperated. That stupid mouse-brain’s mad at me because I “yelled” at her and Lilypaw the other time. I have a new victim to murder…

            “Well, it’s not true,” Seedpaw explained stiffly, turning to leave. “You know what, forget the story. I’m leaving.”

            As she padded out, Seedpaw swore she heard Graystripe say, “Welcome back to being an apprentice again!”