7.5 Moons Later

🐾 💥Apprentice 💥🐾

🌕🌖🌗🌘🌑🌒🌓🌔11.5 moons

Crescentpaw watched Goldenheart and Eveningstar talking beside the fresh-kill pile. Her dual-colored eyes slitted with focus as she leaned towards her littermates.

"I mean, she could technically do it now. We're almost twelve moons old anyways... why wait?" She almost got up to go and ask her, but was stopped by Tinypaw's outstretched foreleg.

"Wait! It isn't much longer anyways, Crescentpaw." The she-cat's black pelt twitched along her spine nervously.

"And you can't go interrupting the leader like that," Rowanpaw stated, much harsher in her tones.

Crescentpaw shot her a look but her sister was already stalking towards the fresh-kill pile.

"I'm going to find out what they're talking about." Rowanpaw threw her words behind her without looking back.

Less confident Crescentpaw followed. She raised her tail and tried to look nocholont beneath the cloudy sky. As Tinypaw trailed behind, she earned no more than a glance from the other cats in camp.

Tidepaw was already at the fresh-kill pile. He met her gaze as she bent down to seek out a small fish, and Crescentpaw was unusually caught off guard.

I don't know what to say about his mentor... Feeling uncharacteristically awkward, she avoided eye contact but sat nearby so she didn't seem like she was avoiding the black-and-white tom.

Tidepaw's mentor Chaosclaw had died to a wolf attack three nights ago. He'd been one of their last remaining senior warriors. And pitying herself for it, Crescentpaw was ashamed to admit that she'd hardly knew him. She stepped back from the pile with a trout seized in her jaws, which reeked of fish in a tantalizing way.

Some of the cats had fled the clans to be rogues, loners, or kittypets. A few had even tried switching clans in favor of the territory least plagued by wolves, but it'd proved to be futile. They were all over the lake.

The different-colored irises of her eyes glinted beneath the morning sun while Crescentpaw settled next to Tinypaw. She began eating her prey and decided to follow Tinypaw's lead, who was not partaking in Rowanpaw's tilted head-turn towards the whispering she-cats. While picking flesh from the fish spine, the apprentice thought about her kithood, and her mother's abrupt absence.

Vixeneye had left them after they'd been named apprentices. The seasoned warrior had flitted off to the kittypet life. She hadn't even told them that she was doing it.

There used to be just the threat of occasional badgers, foxes, and Twolegs. But now it was mostly wolves. Oddly enough, the wolves never seemed to approach the Twolegs; and their scent trails never overlapped one another's. So clearly the wolves had no desire to hunt Twolegs, or foxes, or whatever else they could find more of beyond Clan boundaries.

They preferred their current food source of the cats themselves. And so Vixeneye had become so terrified that she'd run off to a Twoleg.

Either way, she could've taken us with her. She could've asked if we had wanted that. If we- If I-... Her whiskers stiffened. She knew what it was. We should've been given the choice.

"Okay, I'll leave for the Moonpool now." Goldenheart's mew was finally heard over their crunching of prey bones. Eveningstar whisked her thick brown tabby tail, clearly pleased. There were several scars along the leader's pelt, but the most prominent were along her back and face.

"Excellent. If ever we needed Starclan, it's now. It's been so long..." At first, she didn't try to hide her grievous mew. But when she glanced over at the watching apprentices, her voice dropped again.

"I'm sorry we can't spare any warriors." She sighed and stepped closer to the golden-furred medicine cat.

"If we could even spare an apprentice, I would..." Eveningstar's voice was barely more than a whisper, but Crescentpaw found herself pricking her ears to catch her words. The low-lying widespread trees rocked gently above them, as the wind picked up in the early day.

Past the stream running along the edge of camp, Crescentpaw could hear squirrels chittering in the willows, and begging to be caught in mid new-leaf. But she was listening close to Eveningstar.

Eveningstar is such a good leader. She might be impatient at times but it's always for the good of the clan. Crescentpaw had never known another Riverclan leader in her short life. And in fact, she didn't want to. She admired the brazen thick-furred she-cat.

Eveningstar had never taken a mate or had kits. She had committed herself to her clan- and that's exactly what Crescentpaw was shooting for. With my own twist on things of course. I would've went to the Moonpool myself, especially with nine lives.

Then she realized she was talking out of her ears. Eveningstar could be on her last life now, and was also probably worried about protecting what remained of their tiny clan. Plus medicine cats always had a stronger ability to communicate with Starclan cats.

"Travel safe," the leader gave a slightly-regretful sigh, but it also seemed one of relief. Crescentpaw thought she heard Eveningstar add "Stay alive," but she wasn't completely certain.

The green-eyed she-cat then turned her head to acknowledge the clan's remaining apprentices.

"Your mentors will return from the dawn patrol soon. Until then, stay in the camp. I'm going to check on them, and hunt on the way back." Eveningstar looked pointedly at the fresh-kill pile that they had devoured, with only two minnows left on it. However her gaze wasn't stern; and she padded away without saying more.

"Oh- and Tidepaw." The leader focused her gaze on the younger black-and-white apprentice.

"I suppose I'll be your new mentor for the time being."

Eveningstar didn't need to say more. All the cats knew that it was because every warrior in camp was either injured and healing, or already dead and fled the Clans.

It almost felt normal to Crescentpaw, since it's all she had ever known. However; she wasn't a fluff-brain. She knew something had to be done, and her thoughts constantly raced to find a solution.

But they all seemed short-sighted. Stuff like, find some kittypets or rogues to join the clans, or something. But couldn't that cause more problems than it would help? And then Crescentpaw found herself second guessing everything, and she gave up on thinking of solutions.

What can one cat do anyways? It's not like I'm super significant. Or hyper-intelligent. Or strong.

As her peers began chattering in Eveningstar's absence, she flicked her tail and wrapped it around herself. But you know what? I don't need to be anything special to make a difference.

_______________