Warriors: Project Star

Chapter 9 | Ferretpaw | To Fish or Not to Fish?

Edited 6/6/23

Prologue is edited and more accurate now, and there's an AO3 version of this as well. An update on a change to the book will be tomorrow.

Ferretpaw crouched behind Kestrelwing as he marched through the beach, heading for the PrairieClan border. There was a Gathering tonight and he was hoping to go. He hadn't been to one for a moon and he was itching to go see what the drama was.

The calm and gentle flow of the river first indicated to him he was almost there. Kestrelwing kept silently carrying on, and Ferretpaw felt there was some animosity from him. Beside him, Swanpaw was contently following Frosttalon. Frosttalon had a wide grin on his muzzle and each step seemed to radiate warmth and love. The white swirly striped tom looked infinitely happier.

Soon, Swanpaw swiftly dropped back to meet Ferretpaw's nervous trotting through the coarse sand that covered his paws. "Hello." Ferretpaw greeted, with Swanpaw meeting it.

"I just came to ask about how you're doing with Wolfpaw being ar-" Swanpaw's genuine concern was quickly shut down.

"It's fine," Ferretpaw quickly lied, faster than a CliffClan apprentice bragging about their Clan. "Really. Don't worry about it." Underneath his tawny fur, he felt himself turn red with embarrassment.

"Alright... Blame Jaypaw, anyhoo. He told me to." With a regretful and shocked face, Swanpaw immediately stammered. "D-don't tell him I told you! I prefer to have all of my pelt on."

At this point, Ferretpaw was extremely confused. But he could see the sand turning to grass by the river that led to PrairieClan territory, so he waved goodbye with his tail and sped up to catch his mentor. The river looked abundant with fish, and Ferretpaw found himself staring at salmon and bass.

"Alright, let's mark the border." Kestrelwing suddenly ordered.

Ferretpaw found himself wandering to one of the spots by the river, where he marked it quickly. The thought of catching a fish still lingered in his mind.

Instinctively Ferretpaw hid his shadow, leaving the fish unaware. He laid in wait before taking his time to strike. Suddenly, his paw cut through the water before scooping a salmon out of the water. Already an improvement over most attempts! Seeing the fish struggle to get back in, he quickly plunged his jaws into its throat, killing it immediately.

Wait... I caught a fish! Finally!!! Kestrelwing will be so proud! Picking it up and with a wide and toothy grin, he paraded off to find him.

He found him sitting next to Swanpaw and Frosttalon, who he embarrassedly realised were patiently waiting for him. Kestrelwing's eyes flickered over to him before they lit up as if they were the sun ascending into the sky in the morning.

"F-Ferretpaw!? You did it!" Kestrelwing praised as Ferretpaw's smile grew wider. Because of the red salmon's position in his mouth, he just excitedly nodded repetitively.

"Nice!" Frosttalon congratulated, the happy mood being contagious. Swanpaw gave a nod of approval, before leaping to his paws.

"Wolfpaw's going to be so surprised!" Swanpaw exclaimed as he ran towards him.

"Let's take it back to camp, where you can share it with the others Ferretpaw," Kestrelwing commanded before adding on a joke. "If you forget how to do it, I'm going to be slightly mad."

* * *

Ferretpaw led the way to camp, the fish still in his mouth. As he leapt up the rocks, he grew more excited. I wonder what the other apprentices will think.