Fern decided to grab some strawberries as well, grabbing three of
the larger berries by the stem and jogging casually behind
Whiteleap. She paused at the camp entrance, thinking for a moment
before wandering into the forest to her storage den. She scrambled
into the cozy room, seating herself on her small pillow pile and
making herself cozy. This room was full of nostalgia, and the sweet
taste of strawberries only complimented the atmosphere. Fern sighed
and relaxed, indulging herself in memories as she took a bite of
her first strawberry. After she had finished the sweet plant, she
set the two remaining berries aside for later before digging into
her pillow pile, covering herself in a cozy pile of fluff and
fabric.
Kauri stirred, her eyes slowly opened to be greeted by an
unfamiliar room with unknown cats. As she shifted to one side, she
was greeted with a stinging pain in her back, though much less
severe than before. "W-where?" She mumbled, lifting her head off of
the den floor. "W-what is..? W-where am I?" She stammered shyly.
Stonefoot looks up. "Hoo...come right in." He stretches. "What
brings you here? Clan life gettin' ya down already?" he yawns,
looking over the apprentices.
Firelight flinched as Kauri started to speak. "Oh my, you're
awake!" He sniffed at the kit. "Hows your head feel?" he prods
Kauri's side, making sure her wounds were covered. "You're in
Fruitclan." he says. "We rescued you."
Whiteleap purrs. "I'm glad you like them!" he says with a smile.
"To be honest, Snowflank and I were going to bring some sooner, but
so much happened. While I was out of camp with Streampaw I thought
now would be the best time. I hope you feel better." He dips his
head.
Streampaw gratefully padded in and sat down next to the elder. "Uhm
not exactly, it's been pretty good so far actually. Though
Firelight told me you might have some stories to tell me and it
sparked my interest." She mewed.
"Ah, right. What would you like to hear about?" The old cat coughed
a bit, his fur bristling and laying flat right after. "I've got
many tales to tell, clan history, battles, anything! Why i've been
in this clan longer than Flintstar!"
She thought about it for a bit and responded, "Whatever you think
is important to hear is fine by me" she purred and tucked her tail
in between her paws. She looked at Stonefoot waiting to hear his
response.
//Eyyyy get ready for my horrible story that im not even going to
think through.
im also a horrible elder but EH//
"Well....How about when we fought the clan Whiteleap originated
from eh? I remember it pretty well. One day around leafbare, we
caught a warrior of Fishclan on our side of the border, huntin' for
our water vole. They had an outbreak of kits in that there clan at
the time, an' they were much too lazy to go huntin' on their side.
They felt like they needed ta take our prey as well! Now if ye know
the warrior code, we aint allowed to be on another clan's
territory, so my patrol and I came up with a plan. We ambushed them
while they were scrambling around through our trees. You shoulda
seen the looks on there faces." He yawned before continuing. "We
sure did teach em a lesson that day, we haven't seen the likes of
Fishclan on our land ever since. They dont even dare come near our
border....well, there was Icetooth who came in quite recently, but
shes an exception, shes the deputy's mother!" he snorts.
"F-fruitclan... I-I think I've heard that before... I can't seem to
r-remember..." A feeling of panic wash over Kauri's mind, a
startled expression across her face. "I-I-I can't remember! I
c-can't remember anything!" She exclaimed in panic as she looked up
at the older cat.
Streampaws ears perked up in interest. She listened carefully
through the whole story making remarks here and there. After he
finished she yelped, "That's a pretty interesting story Stonefoot!"
Firelight gently licks the kit's ear. "Calm down, it's not
important right now. What's most important is that you heal, ok?"
He says, padding over to his herb storages to take out two poppy
seeds. "Eat these, they'll help ease your pain and relax you." he
purrs calmly.
"Im glad ye liked it, now I want you to do me a favor." Stonefoot
examined the kit. "I want ya to train hard an become a strong and
brave warrior, yet I want you to be kind. We don't want ya to grow
up and become an old grump like I did." he pats Streampaw's back
lightly. "Can ya do that?"
Streampaw's expression changed to a serious one when he said do me
a favor. She listened carefully and thought about it for a moment.
"I shouldn't make any promises, I'd hate to disappoint, but I'll
try my best!" She stated and stood up flicking her tail.
Kauri relaxed quickly to the med. cat's calming words, obediently
eating the poppy seeds given to her. "I r-remember my name though."
She said quietly. "I-it's Kauri, I think. What's y-yours?" She
asked, looking up to Firelight with a curious expression on her
face.
//Shaddedfur and streamfur. streamFUR you doof you aint a warrior
yet//
"Very good." Stonefoot dipped his head, wheezing a little as he lay
back down in his nest. "You seem like a smart young cat. I can tell
you'll make your clan proud one day. And when i'm gone, I want you
to remember me alright?"
Whiteleap sat down, curling his tail around his paws. "I can see
why you're worried. I don't think you made a mistake, and Im not
biasing that statement just because I was the choice...But i don't
see why she got so angry..."
"Firelight. My name is Firelight, and I'm the medicine cat here.
Nice to meet you Kauri." He purred, smiling as she obeyed his
command. Some cats werent so eager to take the herbs he provided.
Streampaw nodded, "Thank you, I do hope I make my clan proud." She
couldn't help but laugh and say, "I don't think you're joining the
ranks of Starclan too soon. Who else will tell me tales of
our clan before Flintstar then?"
"I think I've got a few moons left in me little one, but believe
me, life itself is a story, and one day you'll be able to tell the
apprentices of the stories that happened before the leader after
Whiteleap!" he laughs.
Oakshade padded into the warrior's den, going to his nest and
curling up. I kind of wonder what it's like to be a loner or a
kittypet, he thought, jaws gaping in a yawn. If I run into
Bird again I don't see any harm in asking her. His eyes drifted
shut and the tom fell asleep.
Bird raced back to her twoleg's home through the forest, blue eyes
glued to the path ahead of her as she waited for the fence to come
into view. She skidded to a stop, nearly running into it. At
least I was right about today's outing being interesting! Bird
thought as she leapt onto the fence and to the other side.
She frowned at his metaphor. She didn't like to see cats die or
speak about death in general. She quickly shrugged her shoulders
and replied, "Well I still got a long life ahead of me, or at least
I hope I do." She smiled.
"Yer a strong, brave little cat. I know you'll do just fine." he
nods, yawning again, more loudly than the rest of his yawns. "Now i
think i'd better be snoozin, if ya havent eaten today, go grab
something from the prey pile. If anyone asks, tell em ol' Stonefoot
sent ya"