Warriors: Frecklesky's Heart

[ 31 ]

Frecklesky woke early, her eyes burning with exhaustion as she hauled herself to her paws. She pushed out of the den and emerged into camp where the sun barely crested the horizon, smiling tauntingly down at her. Sleep tugged at her paws. She felt the powerful urge to simply turn back and return to her nest.

She shook the thought away and snarled, lashing out at a small clump of snow to quickly calm herself. She gave her chest fur a brisk lick. I need to be presentable.

She turned her eyes to the leader's den, an uncharacteristic anxiety stirring in her chest.

It didn't take long until Larkstar padded out, her fur already groomed and well-kept. She yawned, blinking sleepily up at the sky as sunrise dazzled the camp. Frecklesky's paws started moving before she could think, and she found herself creeping closer to the leader.

"Larkstar?" She mewed softly. The leader's silver eyes flickered over to her. "May we hunt?"

Larkstar paused contemplatively. "Why don't we hunt at sunhigh? I already promised to join Elmshine this morning."

Frecklesky nodded briskly. "Yeah, okay. That sounds good. I'll go hang out with Fallowstep in the meantime, then."

Larkstar smiled after her as she scampered away to find her sister, ducking into the medicine den. Fallowstep was still sound asleep, and Lightshadow, the white ThunderClan warrior, was dozing in a nest a few tail-lengths away. After the battle, the tom hadn't woken up. When he finally did, he appeared tired and confused—brain damage, Fallowstep had proposed, and he remained trapped under her care.

The den was an absolute mess, still scattered with herbal remains from ThunderClan's attack a few sunrises ago.

Frecklesky fought with her thoughts for a few heartbeats, before finally relenting and busying herself by cleaning the den. She used her thick tail to sweep the scraps into a small pile in the corner, leaving them to be sorted through. She doubted Fallowstep would need them, but just in case the ruined bits of leaves were useful, she'd leave them there.

She turned to the herb store where only a few raggedly stems sat. Perhaps they could go herb gathering together later in the day. Fallowstep needed a breath of fresh air, anyways. She'd been so wrapped up in healing the injured and keeping an eye on Lightshadow while Heronwing ran around doing who-knows-what.

"Frecklesky, what are you doing?"

Frecklesky whirled around to see her sister, grimacing in embarrassment. "I... thought I'd help," she muttered. "I noticed you've been too busy to clean up the mess, so I did it myself." She gestured to the pile of scraps.

Fallowstep blinked slowly. "You decided to clean up around here?" She mewed, rising carefully to her paws. "Who are you, and what did you do to my sister?"

Frecklesky shrugged helplessly. "It's just me, Fallowstep. And... I'm sorry for the other day. I didn't like seeing those warriors hurting you."

Fallowstep shook her head blankly. "Nobody died this time, just please be more careful in the future, okay?"

Frecklesky nodded quietly.

The sisters chatted for a while longer, and eventually Fallowstep began listing the herbs they needed. Catmint was especially worrisome; the fresh stalks that she'd collected with Frecklesky had been destroyed in the attack, too. Frecklesky couldn't help but feel her gaze stray to Lightshadow now and again, dark with thought. Why should we waste the remainder of our herbs on him, when he's the one who destroyed them?

Eventually, she bode her sister farewell and slipped back into the clearing where she sat in wait.

As the day progressed, the snow began to recede under the warm sun. Larkstar eventually returned to camp with a rat dangling from her mouth, Elmshine padding along beside her with a small partridge. The two deposited their catches onto the fresh-kill pile, and Larkstar padded over to Frecklesky.