moon meetings

~~~

BRIGHTKIT BECAME BRIGHTPAW in the next week, and the friends were happily reunited. That night, Violetpaw, Sweetpaw, and Brightpaw shared a vole, crouched together like they used to, pelts pressed close to keep warm.

"The territory's amazing," Brightpaw was meowing through a mouthful of prey. "When Fogsky showed me the beach, the lake was freezing over at the edges. It was so pretty. I hope it freezes all the way over, that'd be cool to see."

"Yeah, and I'm sure RiverClan will love that," Violetpaw snorted.

"I hope the lake doesn't freeze over." Sweetpaw shivered. "It's already cold enough."

"Speaking of which," the calico apprentice meowed, twitching her ears, "where should I sleep tonight? Ravenpaw told me the apprentices den is out of nests. Please don't make me sleep on the ground."

"No, of course not," Sweetpaw meowed reassuringly. "You can share with Violetpaw or I, and we'll find moss to make you a nest tomorrow morning."

The white she-cat nodded her agreement. "You can share with me, my nest's bigger than Sweetpaw's."

"Plus it's probably warmer," Sweetpaw added distractedly, focusing her attention more on ripping a piece of the vole out. "It's closer to the center, next to Eaglepaw's." 

This instantly caught Brightpaw's attention, and she snapped her head up to face Violetpaw with so much speed that the white she-cat swore she heard a bone crack. "Oh, really? Is that right?"

"Oops." Sweetpaw blinked at Violetpaw with a sheepish, guilty expression. "Sorry."

"Oh, come on now, do you take me for mousebrained?" Brightpaw waved her tail high up in the air. "I may have only become an apprentice today, but I've been watching. Near Eaglepaw, I know Violetpaw acts... odder."

"Shh," the white she-cat hissed Brightpaw's way, slapping her friend with her tail lightly, glancing over her shoulder at where Eaglepaw and his sister, Dapplepaw, were sitting. "Keep it down, will you?"

A few moments ago, from the corner of her eye, she'd noticed a patrol returning to camp, thoroughly chilled from the hunt. Ravenpaw was amongst them. 

Depositing his catches in the fresh-kill pile, he'd snatched up a mouse before glancing between Eaglepaw and Dapplepaw and the other three apprentices; at last, he seemed to decide that he was better friends with the three she-cats - or, at the very least, with Brightpaw and Sweetpaw - and started towards them.

He reached them just in time to catch the end of Brightpaw's words. "Violetpaw always acts oddly. It's quite concerning, actually."

Violetpaw scowled at him. "Oh, be quiet."

As Ravenpaw stuck his tongue out at her very maturely, Featherpool slipped out from the medicine den. The gray tabby she-cat padded across the camp to Lilystar, who was standing nearby the apprentices, engaged in a conversation with Russetfrost. 

Clearly what she had to say wasn't a secret, considering it was loud enough for Violetpaw's curious ears to catch. "I'm leaving now. I've got to get to the half-moon meeting."

Lilystar glanced up at the sky, as though to double check there truly was a half-moon. "Really? I thought you said all the other medicine cats had stopped coming."

"I know, but I thought I'd give it another try," Featherpool mewed with an edge of determination. "Maybe tonight's the night StarClan finally breaks their silence."

The ThunderClan leader nodded. "Alright. Just, if Yellowleaf shows up-"

"I'll be sure to steer as clear of him as I can," Featherpool promised. "I know relationships with SkyClan have been rocky."

Lilystar touched her tail-tip to Featherpool's shoulder gently. "Okay. Good luck."

When the gray tabby medicine cat had gone, Violetpaw turned to face her friends again, only to find that she hadn't been the only one who was watching the exchange. Everyone's eyes tracked Featherpool as she disappeared from camp in a tense, apprehensive way; the topic of StarClan was clearly upsetting in this Clan.

"So they haven't returned yet?" Violetpaw murmured once the normal conversations returned around her again. "StarClan?"

"I guess not," Brightpaw replied, clawing the earth beside the vole as though her appetite had now disappeared. "My mom told me a story about this once, you know. Many, many moons ago, this same thing had happened, and it'd been an intervention of the Dark Forest. Maybe it's the Dark Forest again."

"But I thought there was someone guarding the border." Violetpaw frowned. "Someone's guarding the border between the Dark Forest and StarClan so that never happens again."

"Or maybe StarClan's just mad because we're not getting along with SkyClan," Sweetpaw mewed with a shrug. "That's what Dad thinks. Lilystar and Russetfrost are anticipating war with SkyClan, but Dad's trying to convince them otherwise."

Violetpaw glanced at her sister, briefly surprised at how she knew all this, when Ravenpaw spoke.

"If we have to fight, we'll fight. It's time those SkyClan cats learned their place and quit pushing our borders."

Violetpaw's mouth suddenly felt dry at the mention of war. She wasn't quite sure why, but she felt so close to the idea of death, like it was a truly physical thing that she could just stretch out her legs and touch. And, of course, war meant death, which absolutely terrified her.

Having lost her appetite as well, the white she-cat simply bundled herself closer to Sweetpaw's soft fur for comfort and gazed up at the night sky. A cold gust of wind soon blew by, bringing with it the promise of a harsh leafbare and war. 

~~~

AS IT UNSURPRISINGLY TURNED OUT, StarClan didn't answer any of Featherpool's dreams at the half-moon meeting; despite this, the Gathering was still on, and when Russetfrost announced the patrol that afternoon, Violetpaw was pleased to hear that her, Sweetpaw, and Brightpaw's names were called. 

The three apprentices couldn't seem to keep their excited chatter controlled that night as they padded to the Gathering Island.

"I've never seen a WindClan cat before," Sweetpaw mewed smartly, as though what she'd just said was a magical discovery. "I wonder if their legs are as longer than mine."

Violetpaw snorted, flicking her sister's ears lightheartedly with her tail. "Everyone's legs are longer than yours," she teased. 

"I've seen a WindClan cat before," Brightpaw chimed in proudly.

"Really?" The white she-cat blinked at her, unconvinced. "How?"

"Well, I haven't really seen one before, but Dad's described one to me, so I basically have."

At the mention of him, Sunbounce, who'd been walking a little ahead of the three apprentices with Whitebird, craned his neck to look at his daughter affectionately. "Are you talking about me back there?"

Violetpaw instantly fell silent when he spoke. Despite him being her mentor, there was still that odd barrier between them - that perhaps only she felt and he didn't - that made him seem so formal and professional that it was mean. 

Brightpaw grinned up at him. "Nothing bad, I promise."

Sunbounce hummed, before facing towards again. His blue gaze swept the patrol before landing on two cats near the front: the deputy, Russetfrost, and his mate, Blossomsky. His parents. "I'd better go check on them," he murmured quietly to Whitebird. "Violetdust died around these parts. I-"

"I understand," Whitebird replied softly, nudging him. "Go on."

As Sunbounce padded away, Violetpaw glanced over at her friends to find that they'd all gone oddly quiet, like her. Brightpaw's cheerful demeanour seemed to fall a little at the mention of her dead aunt, and Sweetpaw had become weirdly fascinated with a pebble. 

So, with that cheerful atmosphere, the ThunderClan patrol crossed the tree bridge onto the Gathering Island. 

~~~

sorry, this was a bit of a filler chapter, but i felt that it needed some development time! i haven't written it yet, but hopefully chapter 11 will be more entertaining!

thank you for reading, have an amazing day!!

~ lily