**OLD** Valley Cats: Of Sky and Stone 1- Daughters and Darkness

Chapter Five

 Twisterpaw brushed her pelt against the sides of the hollow log as she trailed after Crowpelt into the camp. The old tom made his way into the warrior's den without even looking at his apprentice. Twisterpaw stood at the entrance for a moment. Surely he would at least tell her to do something?

 She blinked against the harsh light as she reflected. She had spent her entire morning learning from Mousepaw and his mentor Sprucefall as they taught the new apprentices the basic responsibilities. At first it was interesting, making nests out of moss and treating ticks with prey bile. But by sun-high, Crowpelt had enough of Twisterpaw bugging him to show her the territory. 

 Now she looked around the camp, searching for her siblings. Magpiepaw and Brightpaw were nowhere to be seen, so she went to the one place she was sure to find her younger brother- the healers' den.

 In the hollowed-out cave, Galepaw looked busy. He was crouched in front of an arrangement of herbs, looking confused. Shadowsweep was impatiently pointing to them one at a time. "No, Galepaw, this one's dill. Come on, you just saw this a moment ago!" the healer said, frustrated.

 "How am I supposed to tell? It looks exactly like fennel!" Galepaw shook his head angrily, lashing his tail. "Whatever. They all smell the same. But can't I take a break now? We've been doing this since the crack of dawn!" he pleaded.

 "Alright, fine, but you're cleaning up this mess." Shadowsweep turned towards the exit but seemed to startle at the sight of Twisterpaw.

 "Oh, Twisterpaw! Did you see the lake? Pretty cool, right?" she greeted. The apprentice was briefly reminded of her strange conversation with her mentor, but shook off any lingering doubt.

 "Yes, it is. Can I talk to Galepaw?" she requested. Shadowsweep glanced back at the apprentice, who was bitterly collecting the herbs with his tail. "Don't bunch them up like that! You've got to sort them before you put them away!" she scolded.

 Galepaw furiously spread them out again and dragged together similar-looking leaves with his claws, muttering under his breath. Shadowsweep looked as if she wanted to correct him, but instead snorted indignantly and stalked away.

 "So, how's it going?" Twisterpaw said brightly.

 "I spent all morning trying to guess which herbs are which. And now I've got to clean up this mess!" Galepaw grumbled.

 "At least you won't do it alone," Twisterpaw offered. She pawed apart the stuck-together herbs. It made an even bigger mess, but at least now they could see everything. 

 "Where's Magpiepaw and Brightpaw?" she asked. Galepaw shrugged unceremoniously as he shook off a root clinging to his claws. "Beats me. This morning, Brightpaw said something about going hunting with his new friends. And I know Snowspirit is teaching Magpiepaw how to do apprentice stuff." he informed her.

 "That's strange. The three of us learned all that this morning." Twisterpaw recounted.

 "Apparently she's doing ...more of that," he said absent-mindedly.

 Now all the herbs had been sorted, and Galepaw took each bundle in his mouth to put it up. Twisterpaw looked around the healers' den while his back was turned. She admired the smoothed-clay walls that gave off an orange glow to the space, making the mossy nests look even more cozy. Twisterpaw was tempted to lie down in one, but just as she was stepping forwards, she heard paw steps at the entrance.

 Cardinalheart poked his head into the den. "Hey, Twisterpaw! What's going on in here?" he said cheerfully.

 "Oh, not much. I was just helping Galepaw put some herbs away." she waved her paw at her brother. "He was just about to... what are you doing?" Twisterpaw looked back at the gray tabby tom, who was padding over to join them. 

 "I was going to take a walk, but it would be better if I had someone to go with." he suggested.

 Cardinalheart smiled. "Well, shall we?"

 Galepaw glanced around at the healers' den before turning back to the warrior. "Sounds like a plan." he agreed.

 "Where did you and Crowpelt go?" Cardinalheart asked as they hiked up the hill. Twisterpaw once again thought back to the tom's strange words. 

 "He showed me the GroveClan and MireClan borders. And we went to the lake. He's probably asleep now, though, but I think he's taking me on a patrol sometime." she informed him.

 "Would you like to go on the dusk patrol? We're going to the Twoleg dens and the WoodClan border. You haven't seen that, have you?" Cardinalheart offered.

 "That would be nice. I haven't been to the Twoleg dens yet." Twisterpaw said.

 Cardinalheart glanced back at Galepaw behind them, who was clearly struggling on the uphill climb. The warrior lowered his voice. "Is it just me, or is Crowpelt a little... off?" he said quietly.

 "Well... yes, if you meant completely apathetic." Twisterpaw critiqued. "He could put in a little more effort into, you know, teaching me the things I need to know." 

There was a pause. Twisterpaw wondered for a moment if she should feel guilty about saying that about her mentor. 

 "I wanted to mentor you," Cardinalheart admitted.

 Twisterpaw drew back her head. "What? Why me?" she demanded, thoroughly confused.

 "Well, your father was... a lot of things. But he was my mentor. And you remind me a lot of him. In a good way, you know. Never mind what the others think." Cardinalheart said plainly.

 "What are you talking about? You mean some cats don't like my father?" the apprentice flattened her ears.

 "You don't remember him, do you?" Cardinalheart said sadly. "Of course not. You were very young at the time."

 Twisterpaw felt conflicted. What was he saying?

 "What happened when I was young?" she pried.

 "Oh, your father... was exiled. He broke the rules." the warrior explained simply.

 Neither cat said anything as they continue their journey uphill, but Twisterpaw was absolutely itching with questions. Why was everyone acting so weird about her father? And who was he, exactly?