Path Of A Warrior: Book Two

Chapter 5

                                                              FLAREPELT

Poolstar had halted at the edge of the clearing of Fourtrees when her Clan lined up beside her. Some of the cats from DawnClan and SmokeClan turned and acknowledged their arrival.

Sunstar, especially, padding over towards Poolstar, nuzzling Poolstar's fluff eagerly. "Nice of you to take your time, Pooly! I was having an entire seizure that you wouldn't show up!" 

Poolstar huffed, rolling her eyes, but nuzzled back calmly. "Sorry, Sunstar, I was... side-tracked." 

Flarepelt watched the two leaders and sighed with amusement. These she-cats be gay. Good for them. Good for them. 

Flarepaw then saw five apprentices padding over to them. She then realized it was Riverkit, Wolfkit, Nightkit, Arctickit, and Whitekit. 

Shinefall smiled friendlily. "Oh hey there, you've grown so much! You're apprentices now? Let me guess... Whitepaw, Arcticpaw, Nightpaw, Wolfpaw, and... Riverpaw?" 

Wolfpaw nodded excitedly. "Yep! This is our first Gathering!" 

Riverpaw puffed out his chest smugly. "And I'm Coldstar's apprentice!" 

Flarepelt rolled her eyes at the smug apprentice. He must the most SmokeClan cat out of the entire litter. 

Alderclaw smiled warmly. "That's great! You can talk to Flarepelt all about that, if you want. She used to be Poolstar's apprentice." 

Flarepelt snapped her gaze at Alderclaw, glaring as her fur bristled. "Shut it, kittypet."

Flarepelt gritted her teeth when she saw Alderclaw wince at her snark. 

Flarepelt then spotted a fluffy she-cat in the middle of the crowd of cats. 

Flarepelt flicked her tail, narrowing her eyes at Shinefall and Alderclaw. "You guys do whatever. I'm going to speak to Goldenpelt."

Alderclaw blinked. "The... The DawnClan deputy? Are you sure? What if you offend her—I mean—accidentally offend her and you accidentally start a war with DawnClan?" 

Flarepelt rolled her eyes, glaring as her fur bristled. "Oh, yes, it's so easy to believe I would offend someone, right...?" she spat bitterly at the kittypet before stalking away.

Flarepelt was trying to calm her fur down as she was making her way through the crowd of cats, one SmokeClan apprentice came up to her. "Is it true that Poolstar fought Claw claw-to-claw?" 

Flarepelt stopped in her tracks, taking the moment to take pride in talking of her mentor. "Of course," she mewed excitedly. "She slammed him into our camp's walls and pinned him by the muzzle, and to seal it off, she threatened to have all of IceClan after him if he ever dared to step near our territory again!" 

The apprentice raised an eyebrow. "Sounds unbelievable, if you ask me. No cat could ever touch a cat like Claw. Not even Poolstar!" 

"Oh? Not even me?" 

Flarepelt grinned as the apprentice turned over to meet the gaze of Poolstar. "O-Oh—! I-I mean... Did you really...?" 

Poolstar groomed her paw calmly, before leaning her head down. "Of course. Would you like to know what I said, word-for-word?" 

The SmokeClan apprentice took a step back. "Er... no thanks!" The apprentice didn't hesitate to rush over back to another group. 

Poolstar purred with amusement. "Awww, and I was just having my fun." She turned to look at Flarepelt. "Are you enjoying your first gathering as a warrior, Flarepelt?"