The leaving

The return

Snakestrike woke up, the cold night clung to her as she got up and breathed in the crisp air of snow. The only one awake, she walked into the clearing where the silence haunted her and the sky was clouded. Sitting in the snow, Hollyfleet came out of the warriors den and smiled, "What are you doing out here in the cold?" He wrapped his tail over her back in hopes to keep her warm and pressed his muzzle against hers. Sitting together near the highrock, they talked for a while and began to laugh "Remember that time you tried to catch a squirrel and-" she couldn't finish the story she was laughing so hard "And that time you tripped over you tail!" He chimed in. Both were laughing for what seemed like five seconds, until sun high slowly came up and both warriors looked shocked but simply laughed it off. Suddenly cats burst through the camp entrance, a large tom with tufts off his ears, a smaller she-cat with white and cream splash on her face and two warriors. The she-cat seemed to know what she was doing, though, the large tom was severely injured Snakestrike got up and ran over to them, while other cats came from the warriors den and apprentice's den. The sun rose and snakestrike could see the unknown cats better and better. Finleap raced over to the grey warrior and touched noses with him. Snakestrike tilted her head in confusion on why all the warriors were so friendly. Jayclaw emerged from the leader's den and snakestrike nor Hollyfleet could read his expression, "Lionstar! Spiritbreeze what happened?" LionSTAR? Star was only for leaders, who was this cat? "Finleap..." snakestrike mewed quietly, the she-cat heard and walked toward snakestrike and Hollyfleet who looked confused. "Who is this cat? Why is everyone inviting them in?" Finleap sighed "You weren't born when he left but that's Lionstar, the real leader of the clan and my littermate. Jayclaw is just his deputy." Snakestrike suddenly realized everything. He must of lost a life or something she thought and that she-cat is the real medicine cat! Quickly enough the apprentices ran out of their den in excitement, tinypaw was small compared to Lionstar and even goosepaw and spiderpaw were small. Spiderpaw gasped "I'm gonna be that big one day!" Goosepaw laughed "Hah, you aren't gonna be any bigger than tinypaw is now"
Tinypaw rolled her eyes and walked over to snakestrike who was watching in confusion and Aw of this returning leader and medicine cat. Finleap pressed against snakestrike and guided her over to the resting leader who was now near the leader's den talking to Jayclaw about everything he missed, "Lionstar! This is mine and Goldenslate's daughter, snakestrike." Snakestrike followed behind her mother and smiled at this tom. Lionstar sat up and walked to touch noses with his sister , "She is beautiful, congrats. Though, what happened to your paw?" Snakestrike was surprised by his comment and felt embarrassed but Finleap stepped in and explained what happened, he realized and apologized for his comment. Tinypaw watched the large leader speak to his sister and now niece, while goosepaw and spiderpaw wrestled around on the mossy grass in the clearing. She sighed, tired, and walked back to the entrance of the apprentice's den, when Jayclaw came over, almost relieved looking but exhausted. He smiled at the apprentice and sat next to her "How's your apprentice training going?" Tinypaw was surprised this warrior was speaking to her, she'd always been fond of him but they had never spoken before this "It's good! I'm learning plenty of battle moves." The tom didn't see phased "And.. Rowanclaw tripped on the slick moss the other day, it was really funny.." hoping to cheer him up, gladly he started laughing and smiled. He pawed her shoulder while laughing and she began to laugh too. "One time, I saw ravenfrost get scared over a stick, thinking it was a snake. He jumped so high I thought he was gonna hit a bird!" Jayclaw added in. Both cats laughed their heads off, Snakestrike walked over and tilted her head and smiled.

It had been weird with lionstar back, most cats adjusted fine except the younger cats who had only ever known Jayclaw as their leader. Tinypaw and Rowanclaw trotted through the maple forest, snow cold on their paws. Rowanclaw had been quiet since a rumor of hollyfleet's but it hadn't been confirmed. Tinypaw shivered "Do you really think it's true...? With hollyfleet. I mean if it is, I don't think it's a big deal." Rowanclaw kept walking, his ears pinned back, and Tinypaw stared at his half torn off ear. Rowanclaw stopped in a snowy clearing, "We're gonna learn sneak attacks today." He had ignored her question, she pounced onto him and threw him back, unbalancing him and pinning him down "Answer my question!" He threw the small she-cat off him and pinned his ears, quickly she got up from the cold snow and they began to circle, staring at each other. Rowanclaw's tail flicked "Fine. You want to know? Yes it is true. Hollyfleet is splashpelt's son, splashpelt become leader when I was young and he was a terrible leader who did terrible things. But the fact he ran away from his clan and faked his death, to live with a rouge kittypet is even weaker than anything else.
He made a loyalty to lead his clan in honor and he didn't. He fled when it got tough and just you watch, this rouge tom who believes he's a mapleclan cat, will flee too." Tinypaw was surprised by her mentor's honesty. She relaxed and her ears went forward and sighed. Rowanclaw had a stern look on his face "Can we get back to training now?" Tinypaw nodded but the thought never left her and Rowanclaw seemed quiet the whole time of training.

Snow fell and Tinypaw curled up, in the dark night, feeling frustrated, while spiderpaw and harveysplash played in the clearing in the snow and goosepaw talked with lionstar. She closed her eyes and began to sleep. She woke to a stone forest with flowers around and the stone was slick on her paws, she got up from the cold ground and padded to a nearby grassy land, where mice scurried and the sun was warm on her pelt. She crouched and shot off her hind legs, eyes narrowed but barely missed the mouse by a tail length. She landed "Mouse dung!" Her paws became unsheathed and she clawed the stoney ground "You would've gotten it if you'd jumped sooner." The small she-cat spun around to see a medium sized she-cat with green crystal eyes. She hopped off the overhead rock and came face to face with Tinypaw, "W-who are you? How are you in my dream?"the she-cat smiled, "I'm moonpaw." MoonPAW? She's an apprentice? "What clan are you from? I've never seen you before.." moonpaw sighed, "want me to help me catch one of those mice or not?" Tinypaw nodded even though this she-cat hadn't answered her question. Moonpaw taught her all the techniques and ways. Tinypaw had been having a great time, she forgot she was in a dream and suddenly woke. Light flittered through the cloudy sky and cats were sharing tongues in the clearing. Sighing, Tinypaw got up and walked into the clearing, she was surprisingly tired from that night and her paws ached but she went to find Rowanclaw who was eating prey near the fresh kill pile, staring at hollyfleet with narrow eyes, who sat with Snakestrike, content as a rabbit. Tinypaw grabbed some fresh kill and sat next to Rowanclaw "Can we go train?" She mewed, he shook his head "Today, you will be looking after the elders." The elders? Why can't she be out in the forest? Hunting and fighting! "Fine..." Rowanclaw took his eyes off Hollyfleet and turned to Tinypaw, you'll be going with ravenfrost, spiderpaw, and dovepaw to collect moss for the elders. Ah yes. The other apprentices were doing it too, Thank you starclan I'm not alone. She thought, nodded and padded off to find her littermates.
The moss was cold on her mouth, walking beside goosepaw who seemed like a nervous wreck and spiderpaw who kept bragging about the bird he caught earlier, even though his mouth was more than full of moss. Ravenfrost seemed annoyed but said nothing to his kits.