Untold Omen

Ch.7

As Snakepaw had predicted, Rednose sent him on the last hunting patrol of the day.

He was exhausted by the time he returned, and hunger was panging at his stomach.

He had to force himself to walk toward the hollowed oak instead of the fresh-kill pile. He lowered his head and looked inside the leader's den.

Elmstar was laying in his nest, facing toward the wall of the den. "Elmstar?" Snakepaw called. Elmstar turned his head and looked over his shoulder.

The tom's eyes lit up a bit as his gaze rested on the apprentice. He turned and forced himself to sit up, gesturing for Snakepaw to join him in his den by tapping his tail on the ground.

"I mean this with complete respect for you and Silverpaw," Snakepaw began, already regretting his choice of words.

"Do you know why Silverpaw is so brash? He nearly threw himself at me because I scared away a squirrel today."

"Silverpaw?" Elmstar's tail was tapping against the floor. The silence that followed was nearly deafening. Elmstar stayed still other than his tail and a twitch of his whiskers until he finally continued.

"He may feel the need to prove himself. He's always been very determined."

"Why would he need to prove himself?" Snakepaw meowed. "He's already bigger than all the other apprentices, and Twigrush always dotes on him and his capabilities."

"He wants to prove he is no different than the cats who were born in ShadowClan. Something he's never failed to do." Elmstar spoke fondly of Silverpaw, but there was an edge to his tone that made Snakepaw question if they had an unspoken quarrel.

"Cats that were born here? Isn't Silverpaw Shadowborn?" Snakepaw looked at Elmstar with a puzzled expression.

"No. Silverpaw is from RiverClan."

"RiverClan!" Snakepaw yowled. Elmstar shushed him with a stern look that made him realize his outburst.
"Yes. Russetstar and I found him abandoned near the Greenleaf Twolegplace when he was only a few moons old. We never questioned why RiverClan would abandon their young, but we had no doubt he was ours to protect. We raised him as our own."

Elmstar's eyes seemed to flash with grief. Russetstar had passed only moons before Snakepaw was born, and he'd heard Elmstar and him were exceptionally close- much closer than most toms would be.

"You take him to gatherings, did RiverClan never question you? What if they accused you of stealing him?" Snakepaw lowered his voice. He felt like this was something the clan wasn't supposed to know, or atleast, something he wasn't supposed to know.

"Heronstar would never make such an accusation. We have plenty of cats who could've born a cat like him. Any cat who had doubts would've likely thought he was Laurelpaw and Bluepaw's littermate."

This must have been something he planned out, Snakepaw thought, way before he ever considered letting Silverpaw go to a gathering.

Thoughts stirred in his head. Maybe Silverpaw did feel the need to prove himself to any cat who thought he was less capable due to his RiverClan heritage. His hostility toward Snakepaw made him seem more like an enemy warrior, however.

"If Silverpaw continues to bother you, you can always come to me. He might hiss and yowl, but at the end of the day, he knows to listen to me." With a flick of Elmstar's tail, Snakepaw was dismissed from the hollowed oak den.

Snakepaw had a hard time processing what he'd just been told. Silverpaw fit in with the clan so naturally.

His fierce loyalty to the clan was something he never would've doubted. Laurelpaw and Bluepaw interacted with him like he was their littermate, not a cat from a different clan. Snakepaw's confused expression must've caught the attention of Patchpaw, who was coming to greet him.