Warriors: Solemn Wishes (Warrior Cats Fan Story)

Chapter 16

Redwhisker stared ahead at the leaves that had fallen into his sight near the edge of the den, far from him. He was tempted to wonder if they were an indicator of leaf-fall. Sometimes random circumstances happened that ended up in the displacement of a few leaves. But other times it was meant to happen; it was their time to go, and the tree released them to prepare for the season to come. He wanted to wonder if these leaves were a few of the early ones that were being released for leaf-fall, or had just been brought to an untimely end by unfortunate disturbances.

These thoughts were interrupted as he felt Oceanbutterfly's grip tighten on him, and he remembered that he was still laying with her in their nest that they now shared together in the warrior's den. Surrounding them was the darkness of the unlit den, shaded with dark blue hues in the early hours of the morning. Cold air surrounded them, not yet heated up by the sun, though there seemed to be a warm breeze blowing in from somewhere outside. The scent of the young day was cool and calm.

He raised his head up to glance outside the den, only to hear stirring beside him. He smiled down at Oceanbutterfly, who was curled up against him, still in slumber. She had insisted to do so even after he had warned her of the Clan's certain pushback. She's persistent like that.

Oceanbutterfly unfurled a tad, to free her eyes. Though she kept her head on the ground, she tilted it up to look at Redwhisker with a lazy smile. "Hi, sweetie."

"Good morning," he whispered with a small smile, moving his front paw to caress her cheek. She closed her eyes, enjoying the feeling.

"How late is it?" she murmured, her voice slurred as her brain was still bringing itself to life.

"Still very early. You can goes back to sleep if you want," Redwhisker whispered, his voice very low since they were surrounded by sleeping cats.

"No..." She rolled onto her back, stretching out and exposing her round belly. "No...gotta make patrols..."

"This early?" he mused.

She raised her head, sighing. "I did not make night patrols. We need early ones..."

He stifled a chuckle in an effort to remain courteous to those still sleeping. "Or Bronzestar will be mad at you?"

"This is just for the Clan's sake. Bronzestar's always mad at me. He wants every cat to work themselves to death. Or- every Clanmate."

Redwhisker pinned his ears back, knowing she had amended it for his sake. He murmured softly, "You don't need to say 'Clanmate' instead of 'cats' for me. I am in minority after all; I do not matter."

Oceanbutterfly raised her head up, gazing at him with a mix of surprise and sympathy. "Do you really think of yourself that way?"

He paused, not really expecting that type of question, and not having an answer for it either. His eyes grew painful, and he looked away from her.

She sighed, slowly tugging herself to a sitting position despite her body still waking itself up. "I'll see if any warriors are outside that I can put on patrols," she mumbled. "Hopefully there are a few morning birds up and at 'em."

"Heh, yeah," Redwhisker chuckled warily, though he seemed to have lost the conversational mood.

Oceanbutterfly glanced at him guiltily, feeling somewhat at fault for his awkwardness, then stooped down, licking the top of his head with a quick, "I'll be back soon," before fluttering out the den exit.

Redwhisker nodded. "Okay." Yet, he knew she was lying. While the Clan had allowed them to hang out together ever since Oceanbutterfly had fought with Bronzestar about it, they clearly had not gotten over their distaste for the relationship. And often, when the she-cat was busy with a single duty, the Clan would often keep proposing another duty, and another, and another, until she had spent half the day away from Redwhisker doing menial, small tasks that had popped up out of nowhere by the Clan's demand.