I awoke, the sunlight spilling into the den like milk. A pelt warmed my back and I turned my head, thinking Jaypaw was sleeping against me. But then I saw a handsome, strong-looking, light-grey cat resting by my side. His head turned and his brilliant sea-blue eyes looked at me. He smiled warmly. "Good Morning, Seafern."
My whiskers twitched. Oh. I'm sleeping next to someone who's not Jaypaw... I mean, It's normal to sleep with Jaypaw, but I feel so awkward with him by my side. Uhhhh... "Morning Featherpaw." I yawned, getting up and stretching my back. "What time is it?"
"I don't know. It's not sunhigh yet but Dawn Patrols been out."
"Oh okay." I meowed, padding to the entrance of the den. I had noticed that Jaypaw was not in his nest so I padded outside, trying to forget Featherpaw. Jaypaw was dawdling over his meal, taking minuscule bites from the mouse he had plucked from the fresh-kill pile. Brook padded past with Stormfur. "No appetite today?"
"Not much," Jaypaw muttered. He went back to nibbling at his meal as the two warriors took fresh-kill from the pile and settled at the edge of the clearing. I realised that since he was confined to camp, I should've been too. After all, I did go after him. But I went to the gathering. That must mean I'm not confined? Maybe I should go ask Firestar. I padded over Jaypaw and sat down. "Whats up?" I asked. Jaypaw looked up with his sightless blue eyes then bit the mouse in two and gave me half of it. "I'm confined to camp and its boring. Shouldn't you have? Then I could've hung out with you." Flicking my tail to his shoulder to say thankyou for the mouse, I replied, "Yeah. I guess I should've. I was thinking that I needed to ask Firestar that. I feel a bit guilty." I took a bite from my mouse which tasted delicious.
"Go ask Firestar about it then!" Jaypaw grinned, and nudged my shoulder. I rolled my eyes and finished my mouse. "Okay! Okay. I'll ask!" Padding away from Jaypaw, I made my way to Firestar's den. I walked inside and sat down where Firestar was laying. He looked up as I walked in and purred. "Hello Seafern."
"Hello. Um, didn't I need to be confined to camp?" Firestar nodded. "Then, why did I need to go to the gathering?" I asked. Firestar's bright green eyes blinked in amusment. "Because I wanted you to see what clan life is like. You know nothing about it and I just thought you should need to see one of the most important parts of becoming a warrior. But now that you've gone, your punishment will be fulfilled and you will become confined to camp. I'm sorry."
"No, no, it's fine. I kind of wanted to be confined. I want to help out Jaypaw." Firestar gazed at me in surprise. "You like Jaypaw?"
"Not in that way! We're just really good friends... There's nothing bad about that, is there?" Firestar shook his head slowly and started to purr again as I left. Argh, that was weird. I bounded toward Jaypaw who was looking very tense. "You okay? I'm confined to camp too." He blinked at me happily, but his tail was lashing. Suddenly the thorn barrier rattled. The dawn patrol had returned. Whitewing, Ashfur, Lionpaw, Spiderleg, and Mousepaw carried the scent of the forest temptingly into the clearing. And yet I could sense anxiety among them; Ashfur was lashing his tail while Whitewing padded in agitated circles. Brambleclaw swished out through the entrance of the warriors' den, followed by Squirrelflight. "Anything to report?"
"ShadowClan are marking every tree along the border," Ashfur replied, his mew sharp with anger. ShadowClan! I thought they were the worst! "Are ShadowClan up to their old tricks already?" Graystripe spat. "If any of them set paw on ThunderClan territory while I'm on patrol, I'll claw their ears off."
"They haven't crossed the new border yet," Brambleclaw informed him. "So we've decided to ignore them."
Graystripe snorted. "Ignore ShadowClan? You may as well try to ignore the wind and the rain—it won't stop you from getting cold and wet!"
