Warriors: Cobwebs

17. The Forest Walk

     "What were you thinking?" scolded Miststep as she stomped towards her young daughter. Webpaw and Goldpaw sat by the tunnel entrance, both equipping a soft, amused smile in equal humored measure. Ashkit held her head low and was escorted back to the nursery, the two apprentices receiving no words of gratefulness. But it didn't matter; the satisfaction of teaching the kit a lesson in humility was good enough.

     Webpaw turned his head and stared at the smirking she-cat beside him, who lowered her head and giggled. "She's so silly," Goldpaw purred, now grinning from ear to ear.

     "Yeah, she is," Webpaw agreed absently, and he looked back towards the nursery, watching as the grey tail of the mischievous kitten disappeared into the den. He turned his attention back to his friend. "I guess you need to get back to training." "I've got the rest of the day off," Goldpaw replied, getting to her paws. "I was wondering if you'd like to go for a walk or something? I'm sure you're tired of sitting in the medicine den all day." This made Webpaw's smile grow wider. "That.. would be nice, yes."

     "Then come on!" exclaimed the she-cat, and she immediately brushed past Blackear, who had been sitting by the entrance as a guard. Webpaw jumped to his feet and followed her, slipping out of the camp and padding in his clanmate's direction. "Where are we going?" he asked her when he finally caught up, and Goldpaw purred and twitched her clear whiskers. 

     "We're going to FireClan's border. They have some cliffs there, and it's extremely sandy. I thought it'd be cool to hang out there," answered the cat as she picked up her pace. Webpaw quickened his steps to keep up. "Sand?" he echoed in thought. He remembered passing by a sandy area as a kit, when he and Rose were heading towards the Clans with Violet. Had they passed by FireClan?

     "Is all of FireClan sandy?" he inquired. Goldpaw suddenly burst into a fit of laughter that made the tom's cheeks burn. "Of course not! Just around the cliffs!" she replied. Webpaw chuckled nervously and kept his head low. "Should have known."

     The two continued on through the forest, making their way southwest as they traveled. The forest was quiet, but not eerily; it was a peaceful silence that made Webpaw's steps light on the ground. Never had he paid so much attention to the detail of the forest floor, to the soft, black soil or the individual blades of grass. He blocked out Goldpaw's occasional comments on their surroundings as he drove forward, studying the trees now. 

     He heard his friend's voice, her tone showing concern, but he didn't hear what she said. But a quick brush of her tail against his nose snapped him into reality and he stopped in his tracks, sneezing. He listened as Goldpaw giggled while he sniffled and struggled to stifle a second sneeze. "What.. in StarClan's name was that for?" he questioned her, and she purred loudly.

     "Just being a jerk," she told him cheerily, bouncing on her paws, "besides, you zoned out. To your own little world." "I did not," Webpaw retorted. Goldpaw smirked. "Sure. You're totally not going batty."

     Webpaw huffed and launched himself at his friend, tackling the golden she-cat who yelped in surprise and collapsed. The two rolled over each other, kicking like kits at one another until Goldpaw had the tom pinned. But Webpaw refused to give up, and to lose to his associate, and he expressed a devilish smirk as he kicked her back left foreleg with one back paw. The blow knocked the apprentice's leg out from under her body and she fell on top of him. She quickly retaliated though, and she rolled along the ground and jumped to her paws. 

     Webpaw stood and shook the soil from his white fur. "I'm not even training to be a warrior, and I still beat you," he said in a teasing manner, eyeing his friend and opponent with his one good eye. The she-cat rolled her blue eyes, but she retained a happy expression. "It'd be much different with claws," she reminded him with a joking, smart-aleck tone. Her fur bristled, and it was her turn to instigate an attack. 

     Goldpaw rushed forward without warning, and she veered to the right and jumped to Webpaw's left side, then standing parallel to him. And she swiped with all of her strength at his back leg. But the tom spotted her with his good left eye and bucked like a horse, then curling his body to the side in mid air in hopes to land with a curved posture. His plan was foiled. Goldpaw quickly jumped up and rammed herself against his body just before his back paws could touch the ground, and his front paws were swooped out from beneath him and he was sent skidding through the grass until he stopped a fox length away. This time, Goldpaw was victorious.

     "It seems you're not so good after all," she taunted, trotting up to the cat with a proud bounce in her steps. 

     "Not fair," Webpaw snapped in an argumentative tone. "I'm a medicine cat apprentice. I can't do anything violent." The young cat laid in the cushion-like grass and sprawled out, stretching in the green flora and soon going limp. Goldpaw sat beside him, cocking her head to the side in curiosity. "What's it like? To train to be a medicine cat?"

     "It's stressful," Webpaw told her. "Frightening, in all honesty. It's scary to know that one day some sickness will come and only I, the medicine cat, and can keep my entire Clan from dying. It's scary to know that one day the Clan will need me, and I might not know what to do. There's only one medicine cats- two if lucky- so you have no backup." 

     The more he thought about it, the more he grew to loath it. He was stuck inside of the medicine den sorting herbs or helping snappy warriors with a thorn all day. He was taking part in tedious tasks in a dim cave with no company save an old cat. And so much was expected of him. It was he, a normal cat, who was forced to interpret the foggy and frustrating prophecies of StarClan. He who would protect his Clan from disease and death. He who would feel guilt as a clan mate died from a wound he could not heal.

     But so much was taken from him. So many nice things in life sat upon a branch he was not allowed to reach, sitting just in sight to tantalize the poor apprentice. He had no time for friends, or much time for fun; the simple walk with Goldpaw was a rare occasion. He was not allowed to love, and that was his worst problem. He could not pick favorites. He could never have any sort of mate or kits without breaking the losing his status as medicine cat or abandoning them. 

     And it hurt. He loved his friend, he was sure. He cared deeply for her, although he hadn't known her for as long as he believed he should. And she didn't know much of anything about him; his past and his present were mysteries to her, and vice versa. But it didn't matter. Goldpaw couldn't love him, a medicine cat. She respected the Code, and honored her Clan by doing so, and Webpaw was sure she would never break the sacred rules set down by the ancestors.

     He was young anyways, so how was he supposed to believe his feelings were true?

     "But it's not so bad," he added quickly, trying to force a reassuring smile to comfort his friend who now had an expression of worry. "I have Clearwhisker to help me through, for now, and you too."

     "That's true," Goldpaw murmured. "And.. you may have your own apprentice in time. Hopefully nothing big and threatening will happen in your lifetime, or theirs." 

     "Yeah," mewed the tom. "An apprentice will be nice, I guess." He rolled onto his back and stared up at the sky, narrowing his eye to see through the leaves that clung to waving branches above. The sky was turning apricot orange, with hints of a pleasing pink. Time had passed quickly. "We'd better go," he meowed, rolling onto his belly and pushing himself up to stand. "Maybe I can think of a good reason why I was gone all day. I might say that I dropped my herbs in the Streams or something; that ought to convince Clearwhisker."

     Goldpaw snorted. "Clearwhisker isn't stupid," she told him. Webpaw shrugged. "Neither am I."