Warriors | A Prophecy Reborn: Book 2. (A Path Beyond Stars)

~A Path Beyond Stars: Chapter 26~

Reedtail had spent the rest of the day hunting with Coldpaw and Brackenpaw, and now the sun was beginning to sink down as the moon woke.
"Let's go take these back," Reedtail mumbled through her mouthful of mice. Brackenpaw carried a few plump sparrows while Coldpaw carried multiple small voles. Reedtail didn't care about the size of the prey, only that there was enough to go around to stop the elders, queens, kits and other warriors from going hungry.
Coldpaw and Brackenpaw dropped their load on the pile and let out sighs of relief after releasing the heavy amount of prey.
"You two can wait here," Reedtail said after dropping her catch on the pile. "It's getting late and I don't trust the Lake to be in our favour for a long while."
"Okay," Coldpaw said, sitting down and grooming his face. Brackenpaw tilted his head to the side and stared past Reedtail.
"Where's Spidertail?" he asked grumpily.
"I'm not sure," Reedtail said, looking around the nearly deserted camp. "A good question though. Perhaps I'll run into him while I fetch the rest of our catch."
"If you do find him, can you ask him to start training me again?" Brackenpaw said with a look of anger. "He seems like a really lazy mentor."
"I wouldn't know because he wasn't my mentor," Reedtail said with a shrug. "But yes, I'll find him and talk to him."
Brackenpaw smiled and padded off to the Nursery where his sister was checking on the kits and queens.
Coldpaw put his paw down and looked up at Reedtail as she turned to leave. "Reedtail, why can't you be Brackenpaw's mentor as well?"
"Normally, a warrior is only allowed to have one apprentice at a time," Reedtail replied. "But if I find the chance, I'll talk to Fernfeather and ask if she can give him a different mentor, unless Spidertail gets his act together and starts training him again."
"But you're better at training him than Spidertail," Coldpaw protested. "And you don't seem to be having any trouble with the two of us."
"That's because you're good listeners," Reedtail pointed out. "You're not like I was when I was an apprentice. I barely listened to Creamfur when she was still alive."
"Rockhopper and Beeflower told me and Brackenpaw about her not long ago," Coldpaw admitted. "Who was she?"
"She was my mentor," Reedtail said. "Not long before I became a warrior, there was an... accident. She lived, but while on patrol with another warrior, some other cat killed her."
Coldpaw dipped his head in regret. She wondered how he would take Fuzzyear's death when the time came, if she died any time soon. If he couldn't stand the death of a warrior he couldn't even remember, how would he handle the death of his kin?
Runningstar died and I only recently found out about her, Reedtail admitted to herself. She wasn't even there when I became an apprentice. Grayfur was more of a mother to me than Runningstar ever could've been.
She knew it wasn't good to be thinking of a Clan leader, let alone her mother, that way, but how could she help the loathing? Everyone else in ThunderClan had been lucky enough to know at least one parent if they didn't know the other. Reedtail never knew she was the daughter of Stonestar.
But then, perhaps that was why Grayfur kept me so close. Perhaps she knew, and she didn't want anything bad to come to Stonestar's other daughter, or simply thought of me as her own.
After a long while of silence, Reedtail turned and left to grab the rest of the prey. Coldpaw walked over to the Nursery to visit Fuzzyear as Reedtail dug up the prey.
She felt a drop of water fall on her head and looked up, dropping the prey as she went back to camp.
Dark grey clouds covered the sky and more droplets followed after the first.
"Seems like it'll rain for the last of leaf-bare," Reedtail said, gathering her prey and running back to camp.
As she arrived, she saw some of the cats in the clearing running back to their dens. Others stayed outside after ushering their friends to the dens and padded over quickly to help Reedtail with the prey.
"To the warriors' den," Tigerfur ordered. "Go before you catch a fever or chill."
Reedtail nodded and made her way to the den with a few other warriors.
A rumble came from above before Reedtail entered the den. She looked up, immediately forcing her head back down as raindrops fell into her eyes.
"It's going to stay this bad for the next few days," Swiftflight complained.
"How can you be sure?" asked a curious Darkclaw.
"My leg aches," the tortoiseshell grumbled. "Only ever happens if the weather goes bad. Gets worse if it stays that way."
"Is that why you visit Russetfire so much when it's raining?" Stripedfur asked.
"Indeed. I just hope it doesn't pass on to any kits I have in the future."
"Are you expecting any at the moment?" Stripedfur asked curiously as Darkclaw curled up in his nest.
"None yet," Swiftflight said with a slight smile. "Soon, I hope."
Reedtail couldn't help but wonder who the father would be. That being said, she thought, if Swiftflight doesn't wish to tell, that's her choice.
Eventually, Reedtail fell asleep, finally forgetting about the endless pattering of rain outside, of the shuffling, and slightly restless, warriors in the den.