Warriors: What Is There To Do?

Chapter 9- Half Of A Knot I Am

Coalfoot, much to Splitpaw's dismay, said that Shadowclan worked in pairs for almost everything. It made sense, but from Shadowclan...? They were supposed to be the cats that worked alone, that were practically loners and scorned any sort of corporation!

But, looking back, Shadowclan has cleared up a lot of the myths and lies about themselves.

"Now," her mentor addressed the four other apprentices next to Splitpaw, all bleary-eyed and ruffled from sleep, "Partnership is, of course, a trait exclusively for Shadowclan, just as the Hunter's Crouch is for Thunderclan, or the speed of chasing prey is for Windclan. You do not get your permanent Partner until you become a warrior, of course, and up until then you will each work with each other.

"Partnership has nothing to do with age, and a new warrior can be paired with a senior one. Since there are an odd number of apprentices for these four seasons, four out of you five 'paws expect your Partner to be one of the cats sitting next to you."

All of them looked at themselves, and then at each other, trying to predict who will be paired with who.

Splitpaw looked at her options: Bravepaw, the ginger tom that had a knack for saying exactly what was on his mind, Driftpaw, who was kind to her but sometimes could be annoying by the most patient of cats, and Moonpaw, the silver tom who was very handsome, but was slightly full of himself.

Bonepaw. He almost never spoke with her around her, which was strange considering she could hear him loud and clear with Driftpaw and the others when she was still in the den grooming.

Splitpaw hadn't really spoken to any other cats in the clan, so she did not know how many unpartnered warriors there were.

Breaking her out of her pondering was Bravepaw, with yet another question.

"What decides who your Partner will be?"

Okay, that wasn't as silly as some of the questions he has asked, like 'why are beetles so small?' and 'why does it take so long to grow big?'

"Your final assessment before you become a warrior will have you work with each cat that does not have a partner, both in fighting and hunting, and the senior warriors and the leader will decide."

That was... comforting, in a certain sense. At least if Splitpaw made a mistake the first time, she would have multiple other chances to fix or perfect it.

For the rest of the day they practiced basic battle skills, both alone and with another cat. Although they learned nothing more complex than a simple paw swipe, whether it was not stumbling over their own paws, over their Partner's paws, or simply holding their balance, they all had trouble. Splitpaw, her body having never moved this much in less than five sunrises was the worst off, wincing at her sore muscles and panting from lack of breath doing the smallest things.

"Coalfoot, I don't want to work with Splitpaw! She's too slow and she keeps messing up!" Bravepaw was starting to really get on her nerves with his constant talking, and Driftpaw, who was almost as bad, then got right into Bravepaw's face.

"You have no place to complain! Aren't you the one who tripped over his own tail earlier!? Do what you're told and leave Splitpaw alone, it's not her fault she's weak!"

Splitpaw's mentor just sat with her tail over her paws neatly and watched with no expression on her face.

"Well you keep bumping into me when we go back-to-back! I can't move!"

"Hey, guys, calm down! There's no need to fight!" Moonpaw tried to get in between the two apprentices, who were head to head, noses touching and eyes slanted with anger.

"Oh shut it, you clumsy tom! You're worse than Bravepaw!"

Splitpaw sighed as all three of them were arguing with each other, with her and Bonepaw watching from a few tail-lengths away.

"Do you want to practice while they are being squirrel-brains?"

Splitpaw almost jumped as she heard the white tom's mew, surprised that he was talking to her at all. He wanted to practice?

"S-sure..." she stuttered, wincing as her voice rose into a squeak. She pulled herself up off of her haunches and padded over to where he was waiting for her, for once not wearing that Starclan-cursed expression. She rose onto her hind legs and pressed her small back against his big, warm one. She wobbled, not used to standing on only two legs for so long, and she could feel Bonepaw trying not to do the same.

"So," she said, proud that she didn't stutter. After all, she had never touched another cat so much before, "What do we do now?"

"Oh, um... I guess we can practice the paw swipe?"

"Do we have to be in this position, or can we do it on all fours? I'm pretty 'weak,' as the others put it."

"Uh, yeah. Here..." for some reason, the black pawed tom twisted in such a way that they both collapsed with matching 'oofs.'

Blinking dust out of her eyes, she tried to move but found her body trapped under Bonepaw's. She twisted her head to get her nose out of the dirt, and... found herself nose-to-nose with him, his blue eyes meeting her mismatched ones. She just sort of... stared for a moment before realizing that she was free and she jumped up and looked away, blowing the long fur from the top of her head out of her eyes.

"I think I know who Splitpaw will want to be her Partner," whispered Bravepaw to his silver counterpart, Moonpaw, unheard by the two cats that were eye-locked.