salt in the wound || warrior cats

chapter 10

moon meetings

~~~

BRIGHTKIT BECAME BRIGHTPAW in the next week, and the friends were happily reunited. That night, Violetpaw, Sweetpaw, and Brightpaw shared a vole, crouched together like they used to, pelts pressed close to keep warm.

"The territory's amazing," Brightpaw was meowing through a mouthful of prey. "When Fogsky showed me the beach, the lake was freezing over at the edges. It was so pretty. I hope it freezes all the way over, that'd be cool to see."

"Yeah, and I'm sure RiverClan will love that," Violetpaw snorted.

"I hope the lake doesn't freeze over." Sweetpaw shivered. "It's already cold enough."

"Speaking of which," the calico apprentice meowed, twitching her ears, "where should I sleep tonight? Ravenpaw told me the apprentices den is out of nests. Please don't make me sleep on the ground."

"No, of course not," Sweetpaw meowed reassuringly. "You can share with Violetpaw or I, and we'll find moss to make you a nest tomorrow morning."

The white she-cat nodded her agreement. "You can share with me, my nest's bigger than Sweetpaw's."

"Plus it's probably warmer," Sweetpaw added distractedly, focusing her attention more on ripping a piece of the vole out. "It's closer to the center, next to Eaglepaw's." 

This instantly caught Brightpaw's attention, and she snapped her head up to face Violetpaw with so much speed that the white she-cat swore she heard a bone crack. "Oh, really? Is that right?"

"Oops." Sweetpaw blinked at Violetpaw with a sheepish, guilty expression. "Sorry."

"Oh, come on now, do you take me for mousebrained?" Brightpaw waved her tail high up in the air. "I may have only become an apprentice today, but I've been watching. Near Eaglepaw, I know Violetpaw acts... odder."

"Shh," the white she-cat hissed Brightpaw's way, slapping her friend with her tail lightly, glancing over her shoulder at where Eaglepaw and his sister, Dapplepaw, were sitting. "Keep it down, will you?"

A few moments ago, from the corner of her eye, she'd noticed a patrol returning to camp, thoroughly chilled from the hunt. Ravenpaw was amongst them. 

Depositing his catches in the fresh-kill pile, he'd snatched up a mouse before glancing between Eaglepaw and Dapplepaw and the other three apprentices; at last, he seemed to decide that he was better friends with the three she-cats - or, at the very least, with Brightpaw and Sweetpaw - and started towards them.

He reached them just in time to catch the end of Brightpaw's words. "Violetpaw always acts oddly. It's quite concerning, actually."

Violetpaw scowled at him. "Oh, be quiet."

As Ravenpaw stuck his tongue out at her very maturely, Featherpool slipped out from the medicine den. The gray tabby she-cat padded across the camp to Lilystar, who was standing nearby the apprentices, engaged in a conversation with Russetfrost. 

Clearly what she had to say wasn't a secret, considering it was loud enough for Violetpaw's curious ears to catch. "I'm leaving now. I've got to get to the half-moon meeting."

Lilystar glanced up at the sky, as though to double check there truly was a half-moon. "Really? I thought you said all the other medicine cats had stopped coming."

"I know, but I thought I'd give it another try," Featherpool mewed with an edge of determination. "Maybe tonight's the night StarClan finally breaks their silence."