Whiteriver's Truth

Chapter 12

   She slept comfortably the first night in the warrior's den. She slept right beside Bravepelt with his tail curled around her. The sun started to filter in waking her up. She looked down at the brown tom licking his ear to wake him up.
   "Good morning." She meowed.
   "How was your sleep?" He yawned.
   "Good." She purred.
   "Mine was too." He smirked giving her muzzle a lick.
   "Whiteriver. Bravepelt. You're coming on the dawn patrol. Bring Robinpaw along." Whiteriver looked up to see Bramblefoot calling them out.
   Both cats stood up and stretched. "Well let's go." Whiteriver turned to her mate.
Whiteriver lead the way over to the fresh-kill pile where Bramblefoot and Berrytuft waited for them to join.
"I'll go get Robinpaw. I think he's still asleep. You go get something to eat." He gave her ear an affectionate lick and then stalked off the apprentices den.
Whiteriver joined them, picking out a vole for breakfast. She sat down to eat watching Bravepelt approach with Robinpaw excitedly bouncing beside him.
Berrytuft turned to her. "First patrol as a warrior. How are you feeling?" She asked.
"I'm excited." She responded through bites of her vole.
"That's good." She purred.
Bravepelt and Robinpaw finally joined them. Bravepelt picked out a crow and Robinpaw found a plump mouse for himself. Once they had all finished eating, Bramblefoot flicked his tail for the group to follow them. The sun was starting to rise over the line of trees casting dappled sun beams on the ground and an orange hue in the sky.
"It's quite beautiful." Whiteriver whispered in Bravepelt's ear.
"It is." He responded turning to her smiling which made her feel suddenly hot and shy.
"I smell a rabbit." Robinpaw called out.
Bravepelt turned to look at him. "Well be quiet or else you'll scare it away."
Robinpaw nodded. "Can I hunt?" He asked quieter.
Bramblefoot turned his head around. "Since it's not a hunting patrol you can eat the prey you catch." He said.
Robinpaw smiled and bounded off into the bushes. Quickly he came back with a limp rabbit in his jaws. Bravepelt chuckled and they continued behind the rest of the patrol.
Eventually the twolegplace fence came into view. Bravepelt turned to his apprentice. "Bury the rabbit over by the tree." He nodded his head towards a nearby tree. "Go remark the boarder." He instructed him.
Robinpaw listened and went over and started remarking the twolegplace boarder. Whiteriver again started staring in the direction of where Mistyeye told her her actual father lived. She suddenly felt a paw poking her side. She snapped out of the daze and turned to look at Bravepelt.
"You good?" He asked. "We're going."
"O-oh. Yeah." She responded, turning to follow the patrol without looking back.
They continued to the RiverClan boarder looking for any intruders. Once they had marked it up they made their way to the ShadowClan boarder.
"Yuck!" Robinpaw wrinkled up his nose as they approached the thunderpath.
Whiteriver felt her nose and throat burn as the scent drifted into her nose. The ground started to vibrate and a rumbling and humming sound came from the distance. Quickly it appeared, whirling past ruffling the cat's fur and disappeared again.
"The monsters are so scary." Robinpaw said.
"I agree." Whiteriver responded staring off in the distance.
"Can you smell anything either then the thunderpath?" Bravepelt asked Robinpaw.
He opened his jaw slightly sniffing the air. "I smell ShadowClan, but not here and fox, but stale." He explained.
"It probably crossed into ShadowClan territory so that's their problem." Bramblefoot growled.
They continued on until they made it back to camp. At the same time, a hunting patrol had just come back. Berrytuft put down the rabbit that Robinpaw had caught down with the rest of the fresh-kill.
"Were you okay?" Bravepelt asked her once they settled down in some shade.
"Why do you ask?" She responded.
"You seemed quite distant when we were at the twolegplace boarders." He explained.
Whitepaw looked down at her paws, but didn't say anything.
"You know you can tell me anything, right?" He pressed.
She looked back up at him. "I just keep thinking about what Mistyeye said before she passed." She finally told him.
"Oh right." He said.
"Is it crazy..." she paused thinking about what she was about to say. "Is it crazy that I want to go see him?" She asked.
"Of course not, he's your father, but..." he looked off into the distance and then pressed his body close up to her. "You don't need to go find him, Whiteriver. You are who you are whether you know him or not." He then looked down at his paws and then looked at his face in an almost pleading way. His voice got quieter as he spoke again. "And I don't want you to leave." He said.
Whiteriver felt happy that he wanted her by his side as much as she wanted him. "I wouldn't go anywhere without you, don't worry." She purred licking his cheek.

***

Whiteriver woke abruptly. She looked out the entrance of the warriors den and saw that the sky was still dark. She still remembered the dream. It was just a replay of what Mistyeye had told her. She shook away the memory trying to get rid of the feeling that seemed to pull her beyond the twolegplace to learn the truth.
Bravepelt was still sleeping in the nest right beside her. His flank rose and fell steadily letting her know that he was in a deep sleep. She rose to her paws and shook a few scraps of moss from her pelt. She carefully picked her way through the den of sleeping cats. Once she was out in the clearing, she looked up at the sky and saw all the stars of her ancestors looking down on her. She searched them hoping that see would know which one was Mistyeye or Riverleap. Eventually, she stopped looking and made her way back to bed with her head hung low.