the stars aligned | 𝐚 𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐫 𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐬 𝐟𝐚𝐧𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧

Chapter 11

"Where are you two going?"

Halfway out of camp, Echo and Rainclaw turned to see Claire padding over to them, suspicion lurking in her sage eyes. The pair were heading out to practice fishing, as Rainclaw has promised the previous day. Echo wasn't sure why Claire would be annoyed with them going out.

"To the river," Echo answered her mother. "Why?" There was the hint of a challenge in her tone.

Claire's eyes narrowed. "Alright then." She turned and stalked away.

Rainclaw glanced at her. "What was that about?"

"No idea," Echo meowed honestly. She pushed away Claire's odd behaviour, exitement rushing bubbling up inside her. She was going to learn to fish, just like a RiverClan cat!

She continued out of camp, crossing the stepping stones side by side with Rainclaw. They were slippery, with small waves lapping at them. Rainclaw slipped on the last one and she lunged forward to grab him by the scruff and haul him back onto the smooth stone. He shot her a grateful look and bounded down to the river, with Echo following.

A tortoiseshell molly was waiting for them, crouching beside the river and watching the forest on the other side with narrowed eyes.

"Hazelstep!" Rainclaw called. He murmured to Echo,  "I asked her to help me teach you while Fennelpaw is on patrol. She's got mentor experience."

Echo nodded. She padded down with him to the bank of the river, watching the water gently flow past them and tiny fish dart between the ripples.

Hazelstep raised her tail when she saw them. "Hi, Rainclaw, Echo," she nodded. "Ready to become a RiverClan cat?" she teased, purring at Echo.

Echo purred back. She doesn't even know half of it! "How do you fish?" she asked. "Do you just...dive down?" She looked at the muddy bottom of he river and shuddered.

Humour danced in Hazelstep's leaf-coloured gaze. "Sometimes," she began. "but we mostly crouch beside the river like this, so your shadow doesn't scare the fish —" She showed Echo the stance, and the silver tabby copied her. "— and hold one paw ready to strike."

Echo raised a paw, the way Hazelstep and Rainclaw were doing. The grey-blue tom gave her a nod of encouragement when she met his eyes.

"And you wait for a fish to come close," Hazelstep went on, eyes fixed on the water before her. "And one does, you strike." Her paw slammed down into the water, and she flung out a carp. Quick as a flash, she jumped on the fish and killed it with a nip. "Just like that!"

"You were so fast!" Echo breathed in amazement.

"You have a go," Rainclaw suggested.

Echo leaned down in front of the water, waiting for a fish to come close. They had been scared by the splash of Hazelstep's carp, but the ripples had eased now and more were coming back to the surface. She watched a fat fish as it swam near her paw. Closer...closer...

She darted her paw down the way Hazelstep had down, and grabbed the fish. But it managed to wriggle free from her hold and swim away.

"Mouse-dung!" she hissed, watching the fish duck down below the shadows.

"Don't worry, I don't think any cat has caught a fish on their first try," Rainclaw reassured her. Then, without warning, he launched himself into the water and dived under the surface.

Echo leapt to her paws. What was he doing? Was this how RiverClan cats fished sometimes? She watched the dark shape of him underwater kick himself to the bottom, and then swim back up. Rainclaw emerged on the surface and pushed himself out of the river, dripping wet and holding a fish in his jaws.