Warriors: Burnttail's Regret (Complete)

Chapter 27

 A moon passed since Burnttail snuck out of camp to visit the place where he buried Snake, Dogspot and Spiderfrost, and since Frecklestar comforted him. Newleaf was here, and the dark ginger tom was feeling a lot better now.

 Burnttail swam out of the river and shook his fur, leading Lavenderpurr and Grassfoot back to camp. Since Newleaf arrived, he wanted to start leading as many patrols as possible. He nodded towards the two younger warriors, who padded towards the Fresh-kill pile to drop their prey. Burnttail quickly did the same and looked around, twitching his gray tail.

 ''Bouldershade, Whitealder!'' Burnttail called, rushing towards the two warriors. The toms raised their heads to look at their deputy.

 ''Can you two lead two patrols?'' Burnttail asked, tilting his head. Bouldershade nodded and got up. ''Sure! Who should we take?''

 ''Bouldershade, I want you to patrol the WindClan border, since me and patrol went to Sunningrocks. Take..'' Burnttail looked around, narrowing his eyes. ''Take Swiftbrook and Sweetpetal with you.''

 Bouldershade nodded and rushed towards the two warriors. Whitealder turned his head to look at his deputy again. Burnttail looked around again. ''Whitealder, you're going to lead a hunting patrol with.. Acaciaspark and Lavenderpurr. I'm sure that Lavenderpurr doesn't mind, she was very energetic today.''

 Whitealder dipped his head. ''Of course.'' He meowed, then let out a sigh. ''We're low on warriors. Thank StarClan Berryfeather is going to have kits!''

 Burnttail nodded, looking at his paws. Then, Briarpond let out a happy yowl as she padded out of the nursery. ''Berryfeather gave birth to three healthy kits!''

 Bouldershade's ears twitched and, forgetting about his patrol, sprinted in the nursery to see his mate. Burnttail blinked in surprise, then purred and followed him. A few other cats padded towards them, curious.

 As soon as Burnttail entered the nursery, the milk scent filled his nose. He flinched when he remembered his days as a kit, but then he let out a sigh. That was a very long time ago. Back when I was still in ShadowClan, and Snake..

 Burnttail shook his head, then focused on Berryfeather. The tired queen was laying in her nest, three kits at her belly. Bouldershade approached his mate and purred, touching his nose with her's. Burnttail looked at the kits. One kit was completely black, like Bouldershade, one was a pale ginger she-kit with black splotches, and the other kit was a very pale ginger with darker ginger stripes and black paws.

 Burnttail dipped his head towards the two parents. ''Congratulations!''

 ''Thank you.'' Bouldershade smiled and looked at his kits. ''Berryfeather, what do you want to name them?''

 Berryfeather looked at her kits, twitching her ears. ''I want to name the pale ginger she-kit with black splotches Dandelionkit. You can name the two toms.''

 Bouldershade looked up, surprised, but then nodded. ''I want the black tom to be named Crowkit, and the pale ginger one with darker stripes.. how about Flamekit?''

 Berryfeather nodded. ''Dandelionkit, Crowkit and Flamekit. I like them.''

 Burnttail got up and dipped his head. ''Congratulations, again. I better get going.''

 Bouldershade nodded towards the deputy, then looked back at his kits. Burnttail turned and padded out of the nursery. Frecklestar was waiting for him and she raised her head. ''How are the kits?''

 Burnttail dipped his head towards the leader. ''Very adorable! I'm sure that they'll be great warriors. And, who knows, maybe one will become Briarpond's apprentice.''

 ''We'll see.'' Frecklestar meowed, then looked at the nursery again. ''What did they name the kits?''

 ''Dandelionkit for the she-kit, and Flamekit and Crowkit for the toms.'' Burnttail meowed, then got up and stretched. ''Anyway, I think I'll go eat now.''

 ''Burnttail?'' Swiftbrook suddenly whispered, padding towards him. Sweetpetal followed her closely. ''If Berryfeather had her kits, and Bouldershade is with her, who will lead our patrol? Or should we go alone?''

 Burnttail frowned, lashing his tail in annoyance. RiverClan doesn't have a lot of warriors, thanks to that fox-hearted Spottedfur! But it's alright, I guess. Now that we have four newer warriors and that Berryfeather's kits arrived, we should be stable again soon. He thought, then looked towards the nursery. ''Hey, Bouldershade! Are you-''

 ''I'm here.'' Bouldershade appeared from the nursery. Burnttail blinked in surprise, but nodded. ''Will you still lead your patrol? I understand if not, and I could lead it myself, I guess.''

 Bouldershade shook his head. ''No, I'm fine, I can lead it. Berryfeather needs rest anyway.'' He meowed, then looked at Swiftbrook and Sweetpetal. He nodded, and then the three cats left camp together.

 When both patrols left, Burnttail let out a sigh and padded towards the Fresh-kill pile. He then sat down and took a watervole, then he dropped it at his paws. He layed down and took a bite out of the prey, licking his muzzle.

 ''Hey, uh, Burnttail?''

 Burnttail raised his head, surprised to see Grassfoot standing next to him. ''Oh, Grassfoot! What is it?''

 ''Well, I was wondering..'' Grassfoot whispered, sitting down. ''If you don't mind, can you tell me how you manage to make patrols? I mean, all you do is go around and tell other cats to go on patrols, and they listen! It must take a lot of confidence. How do you do it?''

 Burnttail blinked in surprise, but then chuckled. ''Oh, no, Grassfoot, it doesn't take confidence! The other cats respect me and trust me, that's why they do what I say. And also because I'm their deputy.''

 ''I know, but..'' Grassfoot whispered, looking unsure. ''You just walk up to them, even if they're talking or sharing tongues. How? Sometimes I can barely go up to my siblings to talk with them.''

 Burnttail let out a sigh, smiling. Grassfoot was always a nervous and shy tom. Kind, loyal and very light on his paws, but shy. Burnttail thought for a little bit before answering. ''Well, before talking with someone, I just think that they're my Clanmates and that it's no big deal if I intrerupt them. I mean, it depends on what, obviously, but if they seem to talk about something.. more private, let's say, I just wait for a little bit. And real Clanmates don't insult eachother just because you want to tell them something. And if they do, so what? They must be in a bad mood or they're just fish-brained. That's what I think, and I get enough courage. Besides, you just walked up to me without a problem!''

 Grassfoot blinked in surprise, then looked at his paws. ''Yes, I.. I guess I did. But you're the deputy, and I trust you.''

 ''Exactly.'' Burnttail nodded. ''You should trust the other cats too. Sometimes you might have evil Clanmates, yes, just like Spottedfur, but their tirany will be revealed soon. But nothing bad happened in RiverClan ever since Spottedfur's death, so just trust your Clanmates, Grassfoot. Everything is fine.''

 Grassfoot nodded, looking surprised. ''You're right, Burnttail.. Well, thanks!''

 Burnttail dipped his head. ''No problem.''

 Grassfoot got up and turned around, taking a deep breath. He then padded towards Nettlebrook, his mother, who was washing herself.

 Burnttail purred when he watched the tom, but then he turned his head and took another bite out of the watervole. To be honest, when I first joined RiverClan, I was also scared to approach other cats, just like Grassfoot. But I got over that, and he also will very soon. I'm sure of it.