Whiteriver's Truth

Chapter 10

She quickly spotted her friends from ShadowClan and WindClan. She dashed off towards them, leaving Bravepelt to catch up with her. "Blueclaw! Brokentail! Dustpaw!" She called out.
All three, plus a smaller cat that sat beside Blueclaw turned to look at her. At first the three warrior had smiles on their faces as they turned to greet her, but it quickly changed when they saw her as neared.
"What happened to your face? Your ear is practically missing." Blueclaw gasped.
She slowed down and she suddenly felt embarrassed being seen with the way she looked after not seeing them for 2 moons. "O-oh." She looked down to the ground.
   "Don't ask it like that. She hasn't been her for two moons. Put two and two together, Blueclaw." Brokentail hissed at the she-cat.
   She now looked guilty. "Sorry Whitepaw." She meowed. "Are you okay now?" She asked.
   She nodded. "Yeah."
   Suddenly the pale brown tom spoke up. "If you were here last gathering you would've heard that I got my warrior name." He puffed up his chest exaggerating how proud he felt.
Whitepaw chuckled at his antics. "Congratulations, I should've known." She purred.
"Speaking of warrior names, you should have yours as well." Brokentail said.
She suddenly felt sad and went silent. Bravepelt you eventually appeared beside spoke up for her. "She was too injured to do her assessment although Clovernose said she should be doing it tomorrow."
"Oh, well I wish you luck." The ShadowClan she-cat responded.
"Oh and before I forget." Blueclaw swept her tail over the small brown cat beside her pushing him slightly forwards. "This is my apprentice, Brownpaw."
He spoke very softly. "Hi."
"Hi Brownpaw. I'm Whitepaw. It's nice to meet you." She purred a friendly greeting.
"You look too old to be an apprentice." He remarked.
Before she could say anything, a loud yowl came from the Great Rock signalling that the gathering had started.
Heatherstar, the leader of WindClan, spoke first. "Prey is running well in WindClan as Newleaf has arrived. We also have a three new apprentices. Brownpaw, Gorsepaw and Falconpaw."
   The crowd of cats below started cheering out their names greeting them as apprentices to the forest. The small brown tom backed further between where Blueclaw and Dustheart sat smiling shyly and licking his fur with embarrassment. It reminded Whitepaw when she was named an apprentice at her first full moon gathering and how she too had also felt embarrassed. She had sat beside her brother then with Silverdust by their side looking proudly at them. Now, all of that seemed to be just a dream that she had while she slept.
   Goldenstar was the next to speak. "Prey is running well in ThunderClan and Newleaf has brought more hope to our clan to prosper. One of our warriors is going to be expecting kits very soon." He declared with a proud smile on his face.
He backed away letting the next leader go in front to share their news. Fogstar, the leader of ShadowClan took his place and spoke. "Prey is running well in ShadowClan, but during Leaf-bare, one of our warriors had passed away." He turned his head to glare at Goldenstar making a lot of the cats below start to murmur and question what had happened to the warrior.
   Fogstar was about to let Mossstar, the RiverClan leader speak next, but Goldenstar spoke before he got the chance to leave his place on the rock. "What has one of your warriors dying have to do with me." He hissed.
   Fogstar turned back to look at the ThunderClan leader. "Because he was found on your territory." He retorted.
   A few gasps came from below and most of the ShadowClan turned their head giving hostile stares to the ThunderClan warriors they could spot.
   "It was a bad storm that night. Any cat could've died if they weren't properly hidden from it." Goldenstar tried to explain.
   "But that doesn't explain why he was on your territory." Fogstar hissed back his tail starting to lash.
   Both cats had their ears pinned to their heads looking like they were ready to claw each other's ears off. Before any cat could pounce, a yowl came from below. "Stop!"
   It was the ShadowClan medicine cat, Fireleap. "Goldenstar is right. The storm was bad and any cat caught in it would be frozen to death. He was a fox-heart anyways and StarClan probably wanted him gone anyways. Why does it matter whose territory he was on and why. He wasn't killed in a battle it was clearly the storm." She was angry with her leader. No cat had ever been bold enough to stand up to their leader like she did.
Fogstar stared down at her and Whitepaw was scared he was going to pounce on her, but his fur started to lie flat down on his neck once again. He gave Goldenstar one last glare and turned away from him.

***

The walk back to the camp seemed longer than on the way to the gathering. Whitepaw's legs were tired and she herself was exhausted and ready to sleep in her familiar nest. She leaned slightly on Bravepelt as they walked, feeling comforted at the feeling of his flank every now and then brushing up against her.
Once she got back to the camp, she headed straight towards her den. Robinpaw rushed past her diving into the entrance making her let out a small chuckle.
"Tonight would be the last night you sleep in the apprentice den." Bravepelt meowed.
"I can't wait to share a den with you." She purred, nuzzling her muzzle against his. "I'll see you in the morning." She then left into the den.
"See you in the morning." He called after her.
   Her legs finally got to rest once she laid down in her nest and it made her body feel relieved. She curled up, wrapping her tail around her muzzle, getting comfortable. Despite the tiredness her body felt, she couldn't seem to fall asleep. She kept her eyes closed hoping for the relief of sleep to take over her body, but it never came. She eventually shot her eyes opened and stared at the entrance of the den. Moonlight filtered in making parts of the ground glow. She rested her head on her paws and looked now at the wall. The moonlight was suddenly blocked off and she looked up to see Bravepelt standing there.
   "What are you doing here." She whispered and he approached her.
   "I couldn't sleep. I missed you too much." He responded lying down beside her.
   Hearing his response and feeling him against her made her feel safe and more sleepy. The rhythmic purrs that came from both eventually helped her fall asleep.