Warriors - Burnt Skies

Chapter 26

Nightstorm stared at the flowing water in front of her, trying to look in its shadowy depths for any signs of life. She'd been trying intermittently for a quarter moon now. And still no luck.

"Maybe you should just give up?" Blizzardfrost suggested after yet another fish had slipped out of her claws.

"No!" she snapped, and then paused. "Sorry. I just can't stand not being able to do something."

"You don't need to be perfect at everything, Nightstorm," the tabby responded, standing up with a swish of his tail. "Why don't you focus on hunting something else instead?"

Nightstorm glared at him, but Blizzardfrost matched her gaze with an icy blue stare. "Fine," she huffed, standing up to follow him.

"You can teach me how to hunt rabbits better if you want. Or we can go and help out with the apprentices' training," he meowed back at her.

Nightstorm smiled. "Why are you being so nice today?"

Blizzardfrost tilted his head to the side. "What do you mean?"

"It's just that-" she paused. "You usually seem angry at the world."

"I realised that there was no point in being angry at the world, as you put it. I-I realised that I was actually pretty happy with my life right now, and I should try to enjoy it," he mumbled.

Nightstorm glanced at him. "Should we go and help train the apprentices?"

"Sure."

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Hazelpaw knocked Dunepaw down to the ground for the fifth time, pinning his shoulders down so that he couldn't move. Blizzardfrost padded over to them.

"Hazelpaw, get off," he growled. "For the last time, you're meant to be practicing the front paw blow, not engaging in a full fight."

"I did win though, right?" The brown she cat checked, hopping off Dunepaw.

Nightstorm nudged Dunepaw to his paws, picking a leaf out of his fur.

"I'm useless at this!" The sandy tom meowed despairingly, flopping onto his belly.

"No, you're not. If Hazelpaw would actually give you a chance to practice, I'm sure you would do great," Nightstorm meowed firmly, nudging him to his paws again.

"Fine, fine, I will," Hazelpaw meowed, rolling her eyes. "Go on, Dunepaw, attack me."

Dunepaw bounded forward, hesitating before gently pushing his paw down on Hazelpaw's head.

"You've got to do it faster than that! And harder as well!" Hazelpaw complained.

"W-well I didn't want to hurt you," Dunepaw mumbled, blue eyes shining with hurt.

"Hazelpaw! It is not your place to criticise Dunepaw," Nightstorm meowed firmly.

"It's not my fault that I'm better than him," Hazelpaw pointed out.

"She is right, though," Blizzardfrost murmured in Nightstorm's ear.

"Oh, for the love of StarClan, will both of you shut up?" Nightstorm said sharply.

"Sorry," Hazelpaw mumbled, her ears flattened against her forehead.

"It's fine," Nightstorm sighed. "Spiritpaw will probably be a better sparring partner for Dunepaw than Hazelpaw. Blizzardfrost, can you go and find Spiritpaw to see if he's up for some fighting practice? He should be in the forest hunting with Tigerflame. Take Hazelpaw with you - she can go hunting instead."