The Barn Cat

Chapter Thirty-One

     Palepaw was padding along the forest line with Hawk, Swallowflight, Troutpaw, Hareleap, and Streamfrost. "We need to patrol the Fireclan border," Swallowflight reminded Hareleap. Hareleap was Troutpaw's mentor, who was leading the patrol. Hareleap nodded gratefully, "I almost forgot and was about to go train with Troutpaw. Thank you, Swallowflight." Palepaw's mentor dipped her head. "Y'know," Streamfrost padded next to Palepaw, Hawk on her other side. "What?" Palepaw whispered. "I heard that Lightningstar is planning your warrior assessment today," Streamfrost whispered, his eyes bright. Excitement bubbled in Palepaw's paws, "really? Who told you that?" I overheard Lightningstar and Sootfrost talking about it. Sootfrost said that she thinks you should have your warrior name after your journey, since you survived and came back looking like a warrior." Palepaw fluffed her chest up in pride, "of course I did." "Yeah, she trained with me," Hawk answered, his gaze hard when he glanced over to Streamfrost. Streamfrost leaned into Palepaw, ducking his head low and whispering in her ear. "What's his problem?" Palepaw shrugged, "dunno."

   The cats kept walking until they reached the border of Fireclan, checking the border. Nothing strange was happening there, it all seemed normal. Exactly how Palepaw left it. "Hey!" The call of a Fireclan warrior rang in the distance. The Mistclan cats all stopped walking, Hareleap padding in front of the group. It took a while, but eventually a gray tom with a darker gray tail and light gray belly came running towards them. Palepaw remembered his name as Splashclaw, since he met the barn cats and warriors when they first returned. "What do you need?" Hareleap asked, her mew hard. Splashsclaw stared at Palepaw, "you were one of the apprentice's on the journey, weren't you?" Palepaw gave him a small nod. Splashclaw's eyes looked pleading, "so you're friends with Mistfoot?" Palepaw nodded again, wondering where he was getting to. "She left our clan to join Frostclan," Splashclaw mewed, and Palepaw shifted her paws. She forgot about that. Silverstar had driven her to leave the clan Mistfoot had loved so much.

     "I wanted you to go talk to her, as Silverstar isn't allowing us to speak with other clans at the moment." "So you're not supposed to be speaking to us?" Swallowflight asked. Splashclaw shook his head. "We aren't sending one of our apprentice's to another clan just to have her speak with a different clan cat," Hareleap answered. Splashclaw gave her a hard stare, then turned back to Palepaw, "please. I need to speak with her." Palepaw glanced at the cats around her. Hareleap and Swallowflight were staring at Splashclaw, Hawk and Troutpaw kept glancing at each other and Splashclaw, but Streamfrost was staring at Palepaw. She gave him a questioning stare, but Streamfrost shook his head. He's right, if Palepaw truly wanted her warrior name she should stay here. Besides, Mistfoot's business is her own, not Palepaw's. "Sorry, but I am staying with my clan. Mistfoot was very loyal to Fireclan, so if she left then she had a reason to, but that's not my business." Palepaw made sure her mew was firm, making sure he didn't think anything he said would convince her. Splashclaw stared at her with sad eyes, but lashed his tail and turned away. The cats watched him walk away into his territory for a while, then continued on with their patrol.

    "Why would Mistfoot leave Fireclan?" Troutpaw asked. "Because Silverstar basically told her not to come back," Hawk shrugged. "What do you mean Silverstar banished her?" Swallowflight pressed. Hawk grunted, "Mistfoot got mad Silverstar refused to help us, and decided she would go to Frostclan instead." "It was kind of a fight," Palepaw murmured, trying to shut down the whole conversation. This wasn't any of their business, it was Mistfoot's. "I wonder how tense everything will be at the next gathering," Hareleap meowed. "I bet Silverstar won't be happy," Swallowflight replied. Troutpaw shrugged, "that's not our problem." "It is if she wants to fight about it," Hareleap grunted. "If they do, no one will be on their side," Hawk put in. "It'll be three clans with triple the amount of cats in each," Streamsong added, "Silverstar would be mouse-brained to try and fight anyone."