Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Larkwing doubted she had ever felt such excitement before. In fact, it was so great that her thoughts only centred on that one thing.
For today was the day that the two cats would be chosen to join the reconnaissance patrol.
In the past few days, Larkwing had found out that Flamedash, Beechfall and Sparkletail had also volunteered to take part alongside her and Lakepelt. I wouldn't be surprised if most of the cats voted for them, Larkwing thought. After all, they are much older than Lakepelt and me. They can be trusted with such a task.
Involuntarily, Larkwing felt envy rise in her, but she quickly tried to shake it off. No matter what the Clan decided in the end, she had no choice but to accept it.
Scrutinising, she glanced down to the camp, where the Birchtunnel was. For the duration of the voting, the registered cats were to go into the forest. Larkwing didn't know where the others were at the moment. Actually, she didn't really care. She didn't need any distraction at the moment.
The more the day progressed, the more nervous Larkwing became. Things were getting serious for her. And when Mottletail came to fetch her to camp, she suddenly felt the urge to just run far away, the main thing was to get away from the result - whatever was waiting for her.
Still, Larkwing tried not to let anything show. With her head held high, she trotted towards her voting hollow and sat down in front of it without looking at it. She didn't want to know how many pebbles were in it yet. She also didn't want to know who had voted for her until she had heard it from Palestar herself.
Who would have voted for her? It had to have been a few cats, she was sure of that. But she highly doubted that it would be the majority.
I'm the youngest warrior here. Hardly anyone would entrust me with such a responsibility.
Mottletail had brought the other cats back to camp faster than Larkwing had hoped. The dark reddish-brown speckled she-cat raised her tail with unmistakable pride and her expression was strangely self-satisfied.
Larkwing couldn't help but roll her eyes excessively. Every bet she's been given the task of taking us back to camp just because she's Honeyclaw's kit.
As soon as the rest of the cats had gone to their hollows, Palestar jumped onto the Roserock.
"Cats of RoseClan," she meowed as solemnly as one usually only knew from ceremonies. "In just a few days' time, the first meeting of the reconnaissance patrol is due to take place. Their task is to gather valuable information about the possible vulnerability of the Shadowless."
Larkwing hung spellbound on Palestar's flews.
After a short, effective pause, Palestar continued, "The cats who have lined up here in RoseClan to take part are Lakepelt, Beechfall, Sparkletail, Larkwing and Flamedash."
