"No."
"But why not? I promise I'll only dip my toes in!" Twisterpaw pleaded with her mentor.
"You're not going in the lake." the dark tom said flatly.
The black-and-white apprentice fought down her frustration and turned away from were she had been admiring the view of the rising moon. "So, what now?" she asked.
Crowpelt shrugged. "We gather some clouds, I guess. What do you think? It's a hunting patrol. We go into the forest and hunt." he snapped.
"Well, I can see you clearly want to be left alone." Twisterpaw held her head high as she trotted back into the forest. When she glanced back, Crowpelt wasn't even looking at her. He was staring out at... what were those territories? There was the tall trees of WoodClan, the grassland of MeadowClan, and those islands were DeltaClan, right? At least she had learned something.
Twisterpaw hunched her shoulders against the cold as she wove through the bushes. She could smell the directions the other cats went. The apprentice circled around for a moment before heading towards the WoodClan border. Surely there were some birds there, right?
This was one of the few times she had been alone in the dense forest. She breathed in the wonderful scents as she enjoyed the silence and the sweet smell of decaying leaves.
After a while of walking, a bird chirping brought her out of her thoughts. A mockingbird was singing from atop a berry bush, guarding it fiercely. Twisterpaw crouched down immediately when she spotted it on one of the highest branches. It was very high up, but if she could get underneath it, she could make the pounce.
The she-cat inched closer, silently creeping around a tree to get a closer look. The bird wasn't facing her, instead spewing its song in the general direction of WoodClan. Twisterpaw slowly padded forwards until she was directly underneath her prey.
At the last moment, the mockingbird hopped around to face her. It immediately saw the cat, letting out a shrill shriek of alarm. Not wasting an opportunity, Twisterpaw pounced just as it lifted off from its perch. She narrowly missed it and came crashing down to the ground with a few feathers fluttering from between her toes. "Rats!" she snarled, shaking off the feathers of her failed catch.
"You need to work on you follow-through. You had the pounce, and it was quite impressive. But the landing could have been a lot better." Crowpelt stepped out of the shadows, eyeing her coldly. "But that was good."
"Crowpelt- you were watching me?" Twisterpaw felt embarrassed as she picked out the gray and white tufts from her claws.
"Yes. How else am I supposed to criticize you?" the dark tom said plainly.
"Oh. Thanks, I guess." Twisterpaw felt warm inside. Her mentor was complimenting her!
"Maybe I could... teach you how to pounce sometime? I mean, you have the stalking part down pretty good. But a little practice could do wonders. You'll see." he sounded positive, for once.
"Hello? Crowpelt? Twisterpaw?" a voice called out through the moonlit forest, interrupting Crowpelt's rare display of affection.
"Over here!" he yowled.
A few moments later, the spiky-furred reddish tom materialized from the dead leaves. "There you are! I hope I didn't scare off any prey. We're heading back, though." he reported.
"Thanks, Pinebristle. We'll be right there." Crowpelt nodded at the tom.
Oh, so that was his name. Pinebristle. Twisterpaw never would have guessed.
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**OLD** Valley Cats: Of Sky and Stone 1- Daughters and Darkness
Fanfiction(Book One in "Of Sky and Stone") Twisterpaw just wanted to be the greatest warrior in all the Clans. But when an ominous prophecy darkens her path, it is up to her to discover the Clan secrets that no one wants to tell her- some that definitely shou...