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

Chapter Twenty-Four

 "Twisterpaw! Wake up! You slept through my apprentice ceremony!" 

 The black-and-white she-cat blinked awake, looking around. She was laying in her nest, all alone in the apprentices' den. The ginger kittypet was standing in the entryway, blocking the light. "I'm Pumpkinpaw now! And guess who my mentor is!"

 Twisterpaw rubbed her eyes, still half-asleep. "Uh... Who?"

 Pumpkinpaw smiled impossibly. "It's Basilfang!" she chirped.

 "Oh. Yeah, you two will get along well, won't you. Aren't you going to do things with him, though? Or is he taking your training slow?" Twisterpaw said, sitting up and blinking heavily.

 "What do you mean? It's sunhigh! I have to rest after going on the dawn patrol and doing apprentice tasks all day!" Pumpkinpaw twittered.

 "Sunhigh? Already?" Twisterpaw jumped to her paws, memories of the day before fading into existence. She was unpleasantly reminded of being yelled at by Mothtail, and the assignment of her punishment. She took a step towards the outside, but Pumpkinpaw threw her tail in her way. "Twisterpaw, have you been crying?" she asked, clearly concerned.

 "Oh, uh... no. I just haven't woken up yet. I had a rough day yesterday because Mothtail's making me take the blame for our elderly leader's death. At the gathering in a few days, I have to tell the nine Clans it was my fault." the apprentice explained.

 The fluffy tabby seemed to deflate a little bit, pulling back her tail so that her friend could walk through. "That's unfortunate. Hope you feel better." she attempted a smile, then yawned abruptly. "Wake me up in time for the dusk patrol. I can't wait to see the forest at night!" 

 Twisterpaw brushed past the excited apprentice, blinking in the sunlight. For the first time in her life, the air was warm and welcoming. She sat down beside the tree that supported the roof with a low-hanging branch and began to groom her pelt. A night of tossing and turning had tangled her relatively long fur. 

 It was a while before she noticed Galepaw's shadow hovering in front of her. "Hey, Galepaw. What's that?" Twisterpaw said, nodding at the chickadee he was carrying.

 "I brought you some prey. And some news." the dark gray tabby said as he placed the chickadee at her paws and sat down beside her. "I got back from the healers' half-moon meeting this morning, and we had a Clan meeting where Pumpkinpaw was apprenticed to Basilfang." he began. "But we also discussed some unfavorable news."

 Twisterpaw paused from clawing the feathers off of the chickadee's chest. "What kind of unfavorable news?"

 "At our meeting, Ravenflight was found drowned in the Moonpond. Any scent of an attacker had washed away, so we can only assume he rolled into the water in his sleep." Galepaw shivered for a moment. "It was terrible, seeing him floating lifelessly like that... but that's not all of the news. There have been a few more catastrophic events."

 "Oh, really? Like what?"

 "Well, Sandystar has finally addressed Brightspirit and Magpiepaw going missing. Of course, we had already told the other healers. But they showed more concern than I've seen out in our own Clan. There's also been a few changes, like those ancient senior warriors finally getting to retire." he nodded thoughtfully at his paws for a moment, but then seemed to remember that his sister was watching him.

 "The MeadowClan healer, Heatherheart, said she had spotted a strange cat on their territory while collecting herbs. The cat fits the exact description of the stranger who attacked you." he admitted.

 "Oh. Isn't that good news? Now I'll be believed when I say I was attacked by a CliffClan cat." Twisterpaw felt her lingering anger dissolve around its sharp edges.

 "Twisterpaw, Brightpaw got into a fight with his mentor on a morning hunting patrol. He was being disrespectful to her, so he was sentenced to a moon of doing every apprentices' tasks and not being able to leave camp. But he was threatened and started yelling things about certain cats. He said that there were other cats who needed to be punished, not him" Galepaw fretted. 

 "He said that him and Daisyshine had been training in the Frozen Forest. That kind of deed receives serious punishment around here. Oh, and that you had been bringing Mango information for a while before he murdered Poppystar." Galepaw finished.

 "Seriously?!" Twisterpaw dug her claws into the wet dirt, her fury making a reappearance just as she thought it was gone. "I get my fur yelled off by Mothtail, then Brightpaw goes and ruins my reputation again?!" she yowled. A few of the cats looked up from their sunhigh meals, giving the apprentice condescending looks.

 Galepaw flinched back. "Um... what reputation?"

 "You know. My reputation of being a responsible and honorable warrior."

 "Stop stepping on my tail!" the reddish-orange she-cat snapped.

 "Sorry, Robinsong! I'm just... nervous." Twisterpaw ducked her head.

 "Did I ask?" the irritable warrior snorted.

 The pebbles felt less prickly every time she went to a gathering. This was her third one, and her paw pads weren't even bleeding yet. She was already stepping across the smooth sand that faded into the now-lush grass, her paw pads feeling not even a prick of pain. Some of the blades of grass were almost up to her chest! Newleaf was in full swing.

 The apprentice's flash of joy soon faded when she looked around to see the GroveClan, DeltaClan, and MeadowClan cats gathered around. Their leaders Pikastar, Claystar, and Barleystar were talking with Sandystar, clearly concerned for the old ForestClan leader.

 Twisterpaw broke away from the ForestClan cats, with Pumpkinpaw and Galepaw trailing at her side. "The last time I went to a gathering, all I did was sit beside Moonsweep as she talked endlessly with the other healers. But I did meet Fernpaw. She's nice. She gave me herbs so that I wouldn't fall asleep on the way back!" Galepaw recounted, his unusually-cheerful voice falling suddenly. 

 "But now she's a full healer. Fernflutter. And I didn't meet any of the usual apprentices. What if they think I'm weak for being a healer? Are they-"

 "Quit worrying so much, Galepaw. I'll introduce you to all of the nice ones." Twisterpaw reassured. "Have you seen Pumpkinpaw?" she asked suddenly.

 Her brother's dark gray head shot up, and he searched the tall grass for the ginger tabby. "Uh, I think she ran off." he reported.

 "That's fine, she won't get into any arguments like Brightpaw would." Twisterpaw said softly. She trotted over to the cluster of dark green bushes, where the apprentices were usually gathered. As she neared her friends, she called out their names. "Lemmingpaw! Possumpaw! Gillpaw! Come meet my little brother!"