The Barn Cat

Chapter Thirty

Ivypaw was sitting in camp with Badgerpaw, an apprentice that was formerly a kit last time Ivypaw saw him. Storm was sharing tongues with Rose, Kaya was talking with Birch and Moon while the apprentice-sized kits talked with Petalpaw and Stonepaw, Blaze was talking with Shortstep, Sparrow and Flake were speaking with Leapfrost and Cloudfall, Kar and Ash were sleeping in the den warriors den as they went with the morning patrol. Duskfeather had welcomed Ivypaw with excited cries and loving words and head licks, but for now he was talking with Halftail. The barn cats were fitting in just fine with the Fogclan warriors, though a pawful of cats were not happy they were here. Blazestorm, the dark-orange, tabby tom was padding over to Ivypaw and Badgerpaw. He was Ivypaw's mentor, and he was staring at him with a flat gaze as he walked over. "It's time to go train, Ivypaw." Ivypaw felt shock under his pelt. He was due to be a warrior nearly a moon ago, why can't he be one? "I'm old enough to be a warrior though," Ivypaw argued. Blazestorm gave him a sad shake of his head, "I spoke with Springstar about giving you your warrior name, but he denied it." Ivypaw's heart fell to the ground, disappointed, angry, and sad. "He said you'll have to train for four more moons," Blazestorm had guilt in his mew. "But that's not fair!" Ivypaw shouted, getting a few cat's attention.

His pelt burned with not only anger, but embarrassment. How could Springstar do this to him? He was sent from Starclan to leave, he deserved his warrior name. "Don't make this worse for yourself Ivypaw, I want you to have your warrior name just as bad as you do." "But he was sent by Starclan to get his warrior name, that's not fair for him." Badgerpaw joined in, defending Ivypaw. "Springstar shouldn't make him train for four more moons to have his warrior name, hasn't he earned it already?" Badgerpaw's voice rang through the clearing, and now everyone's attention was on the three cats. "It's Springstar's orders, Badgerpaw. We must listen to him," Blazestorm shushed the black and white apprentice. "What?" Duskfeather's angry mew and stomps came from the other side of camp. "Springstar isn't giving Ivypaw his warrior name?" Duskfeather's voice was cross with Blazestorm. "He hadn't been here for a lot of his training," Sandwing called. "He was sent from Starclan to go, that's not his fault. What if he ignored them and stayed here? Then we would have been in trouble," Duskfeather argued, his hackles rising.

"He must have trained out there, right?" Snowpool asked. "He trained with me and the other young-ones," Kaya meowed, trotting over to Ivypaw's side. "We all trained together, Ivypaw, Palepaw, Olive, Hawk, Rain, Flower, Jay, Badger, Speckle, and I all trained together with the fighters and protectors." "Just because I didn't train with Fogclan, doesn't mean I wasn't training," Ivypaw pointed out. Blazestorm looked defeated, "it isn't me who isn't letting you, Ivypaw. You need to speak with Springstar about it." "What is going on out here?" Springstar called, padding out of his den. "Ivypaw deserves his warrior name," Duskfeather pushed. Springstar stared at him, his mew calm when he spoke. "Ivypaw was gone away from our clan for nearly four or five moons. He needs his training to be a Fogclan warrior." "But he trained with us," Kaya argued. Springstar nodded, "yes, he trained as a Wild One, but he needs his training to be a Fogclan warrior. So, Blazestorm will continue to train you for your warrior name." Ivypaw stared at his leader, astonished by his reasoning. Angry, Ivypaw lashed his tail out and quickly turned away from his leader and clanmates, heading for the entrance. "You're just mad our cats train better than yours," Kaya spat, then trotted after Ivypaw.

Ivypaw led the way away from camp to the left where they would train the apprentices, Kaya hanging back by his side a little. Once he got to the dusty, small clearing he sat down. "This is mouse-brained," he muttered. Kaya let out an angry grunt as she sat next to him. "Why do the clans not think we are good enough? We do the exact same thing that the clans do, in fact, I think we have a more open mind with training and hunting. We learn so much more than warriors do." Ivypaw felt a little annoyed with how Kaya saw the clans, but it quickly left him when he realized she was right. The barn cats did hunt for each other, they shared tongues, had different dens, young-ones as apprentices, wise-ones as elders, a leader, a deputy, queens, kits, territory, even training places like the one Ivypaw is sitting in now. Except for the barn cats learned more skills than warriors did. Ivypaw was only trained to fight and hunt, while the barn cats learned how to climb trees, more tricks to fighting, how to dig tunnels that can be used to get around, Kaya even was trying to teach him how to do bird calls to call the birds over for easier hunting.