𝐀𝐅𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐁𝐔𝐑𝐍 〖ʷᵃʳʳⁱᵒʳ ᶜᵃᵗˢ〗

IV

Sunlight streamed in thin strips through the roof of the prophets' den. The air was beginning to warm already; Greenleaf would be coming early this year. Lazy clouds slowly slid by in the sky, conjuring up slow breezes that did little to relieve the cats below of the heat.

Spiderpaw had a lazy start to her morning, she ambled over to the herb stores and made sure that nothing was visibly withering. She looked over her shoulder to see that both of the prophets were asleep. Palebriar was curled into a tight ball, her eyes squeezed shut. Maplewhisker slept in a less condensed manner with his tail curled out and his jaws open.

The apprentice quietly padded out of the den and into the clearing, looking around to see who was already awake. Instantly, she spotted Larkkit and Marigoldkit, who were both passing a moss-ball to each other. Just past them were Hollyfang and Antstar, sharing tongues and chatting quietly. Antstar would turn his keen copper gaze on the kits every few moments, concern clear in his expression, before peacefully turning back to his betrothed.

"Morning," Honeystream meowed. The warrior was planted firmly in front of the fallen tree. She gave a big yawn. Spiderpaw's ears perked with interest as she waited for the molly to continue; Honeystream didn't often speak with others outside of Darkstone, who Spiderpaw assumed was her former mentor. "Antstar wanted me to tell you that Hornetclaw will be conducting your assessment." Her blue gaze was a bit withering. Spiderpaw could tell that she strongly disapproved of the notion that she was changing roles. "You have time to prepare however you want until sunhigh. When sunhigh comes, I'll collect you and it will be time to begin."

The molly didn't wait for a reply, simply turning away to watch the entrance to camp again. Spiderpaw's whiskers twitched. She wondered how many cats had caught wind of Antstar giving her a second chance and how many were upset about it. She glanced up towards the sun, which indicated that she had at least a sizeable gap of time before the assessment began.

Spiderpaw relaxed onto her haunches for a few beats. She had to think about how she would spend her time. Which cat could help her in the matter of tracking? Spiderpaw considered every cat in MorningClan, before she landed on the right one.

Moments later, she was padding towards the advisors' den, her whiskers twitching with nervousness. She would have to address them properly and speak wisely. Advisors didn't like when their time was wasted by cats who had no business speaking to them.

Spiderpaw dipped her head into the den, giving it a good look-around. Two of the nests were uninhabited, the other contained a very sleepy-looking Stoatnose. Spiderpaw was surprised that the molly was still in her den; most of the time, advisors wanted to get the jump on their work and get to assigning patrols earlier in the day.

"Spiderpaw," Stoatnose addressed her in an impatient tone. Spiderpaw felt bad; she hadn't realized that she would've disturbed the advisor's sleep.

"I'm sorry to disturb you," Spiderpaw meowed, carefully avoiding eye contact with the she-cat. "I just need some guidance."

Stoatnose's tail flicked. "Well, that's my job, isn't it? Come on in then."

As Spiderpaw settled down onto one of the unfamiliar nests—whoever's nest it was, it was stiff and scratchy—she got a better look at the advisor. Her pelt was curled and almost layered on top of itself, like ripples on a lake. The hairs on the back of her neck stood up as though they were the pricks of a thistle. Spiderpaw remembered hearing rumors when she was a kit; that Stoatnose had been found by the border of the original territory which faced a rarely-visited twoleg den. That some outsider had abandoned her as a kit.

As though sensing how Spiderpaw was looking at her, Stoatnose shifted and cleared her throat. "So, what is it exactly that you needed help with?" Her copper eyes did their own look-over of Spiderpaw.