Warriors: What Is There To Do?

Chapter 19- Finally Back Home

They finally reached Shadowclan territory as the sun was finishing its beautiful descent into the tree line, and Silverpelt was already shining behind them. The air around them was cool, it was not hot enough to have little bugs fly around their ears, but the sounds of frogs in the marsh was almost deafening.

It was so comforting to have Shadowclan's pine trees engulf them once more; it was like being surrounded by everything she loved. Splitpaw couldn't wait to collapse into her own comfy nest and drift off into a peaceful, dreamless sleep...

"Hey, look Coalfoot, they're back!"

Moonpaw's ears pricked as he heard Bravepaw's excited mew break through the pines. The ginger tom's pelt was obvious after another moment, Coalfoot taking another moment to spot with her dark grey-black pelt. So, Bonepaw and Bravepaw had already made it back from the Moonstone...

"Bravepaw! You guys are already back? How was your journey?"

The two toms padded off back towards the camp, snorting and laughing in such a way that they startled a group of crows that were making ear-throbbing noises and made them fly away in a panic.

Shaking her head at those two toms, she turned her head back and nodded her head to her mentor. Had Coalfoot shrank since Splitpaw had left? She was now shoulder height with the warrior...

"I watched you two until you arrived at the Twoleg place... how did it go after?"

Splitpaw explained to Coalfoot how they had passed through the two Thunderpaths without trouble, shared tongues with Starclan, left and went through the territories once more back to where they were now.

She did not mention Rapidpaw.

She doesn't know why.

While explaining, they had begun to make their way back to camp, the sun just about to set and sending the pines and marsh into long shadows and dim beams of light.

"Well, it certainly looks like you and Moonpaw came back for better and not worse, that's good. I'm thinking about the possibility of making you two Partners once you become warriors... maybe. Keep up the good work, Splitpaw. To think you've been here for only two moons... I'm impressed."

Coalfoot left her with these words, moving swiftly past the brambles and into the clearing full of the scents of cats that she hadn't seen in almost three sunrises. She wondered how Driftpaw's partnership with the warrior went, and if they were back yet.

If Bravepaw was back, then so would Bonepaw, she realized. No sooner had she thought this, she was almost scared soulless by the white, black pawed apprentice.

"Ah! Don't scare me like that, you mouse-brain!"

Bonepaw's dark blue eyes glowed in the dim light.

"Sorry," he mumbled, looking up at Silverpelt with a pained expression and a huff.

Splitpaw somehow felt responsible for his sudden mood shift. "Uh... sorry. How was your journey?"

Still with his neck craned upwards, he peeked at her staring earnestly back from the corner of his eyes.

"It was... uneventful, besides Bravepaw's constant complaining. You?"

"Oh, uh... cool. Mine was... fine."

Bonepaw looked at her.

"Whatever you say. I made you a new nest, I knew you would be tired after being Partners with Moonpaw and his suffocating personality."

Splitpaw was about to defend her Partner, but a huge yawn made its way up her throat and made her jaw stretch, Bonepaw taking that as an agreement.

"Come on, I found a couple of feathers at the marsh today..."

Bonepaw's voice drifted off as he pushed past the brambles. Splitpaw sighed, wanting to just stay and look up at the stars of her ancestors, but the ache in her body and the fog in her brain that had been hanging over her since she had met Rapidpaw made her paws follow the white tom back to the Shadowclan camp.

Everyone was getting ready for a night's sleep or the moon-high border patrol, so the clearing was fairly deserted. She almost tumbled over to the fresh-kill pile, but she was able to properly run over without tripping over herself.

Splitpaw scarfed down a small mouse, licking her lips with a contented sigh, wanting nothing more than to close her eyes that very heartbeat and sleep, but her pelt was in a state less pleasant than she would like, and it was something that her mind wouldn't let her put off until morning.

Pushing herself through the bush to the apprentice den, she felt warm inside to see her nest, fluffy with bright green moss and lined with brown feathers. Bonepaw had seemed to have moved his nest, making it slightly closer to hers.

Her eyes slowly adjusting, she settled down and began the laborious task of making herself presentable for the morning.

She had only been cleaning for a couple of heartbeats when she almost jumped out of her fur. Bonepaw's tongue was on her back, on the one spot she had been struggling to reach without waking everyone.

Speechless, she just stared as he finished the spot and pulled a couple of leaves from the scruff of the back of her neck.

"It would've taken you all night otherwise," he mumbled, averting his eyes, which were shining.

"T-Thanks," she stuttered.

"No problem..... sleep well."

Starclan, was she tired! Between Moonpaw the weird, Rapidpaw the mysterious, and Bonepaw the confusing... she's impressed she made it through the day at all. Now she just had to go the gathering.

Which was tomorrow night.