Raven sighed as she padded alongside the river. Despite leaf-fall being here the sun today was scorching her and Amber, making them both grouchy and less social. The river looked so inviting to swim in, but Amber had told her it was deeper than she thought. She had objected and said she knew how to swim but the dappled tom wouldn’t have it. So instead they had to just walk along it. Raven was starting to wonder if she should just run for it and dive in, when she saw the ground slope a little ahead, leading carefully down into the river like the ground beside a lake.
“Hey Amber!” she called. The brown tom looked over his shoulder at her, whisker twitching flies away.
“Yeah?” he replied.
“How about we go for a swim?” she suggested. Amber narrowed his eyes impatiently and lashed his tail.
“I already told you, it’s not that easy here!” he growled.
“But there is a small beach right over there!” she begged and pointed with her muzzle. Amber swung his head around and scanned the beach. He hesitated, before nodding reluctantly.
“Fine.” he sighed and changes the course. Raven grinned and bounded over to as eagerly as a kit would run to its father when he came home from a patrol. Raven remembered when her mentor Rippledstream had taught her how to swim! Rippledstream was one of the best swimmers in NightClan, and a great teacher. Raven felt a stab of sadness over the thought that she might never see her mentor again, but she pushed the thought away.
No! I WILL make it! she vowed. So she carefully stepped down to the water, testing every paw-step in case it gets deep too sudden or the current gets too strong. The water seemed fine though so after testing it thoroughly she and Amber splashed in until the water reached their necks. Amber, being a farm cat, didn’t feel as comfortable in the water as a forest cat but he knew how to swim well enough and enjoyed the refreshing coolness.
Raven decided to have some fun, so she quietly swam up behind him when he wasn’t looking and with a swift sideways motion with her paw at the top of the water she created a thin wave that reached over Amber’s head and soaked it through. The poor tom yowled in surprise and tried to bound forwards but the water created too much resistance and he stumbled into a head-first dive. When he erupted from the water, spitting and coughing, his thick fur was plastered to his face and heavy water droplets dragged his whiskers down. He reached down with his paws and stood up in the water, scowling at Raven.
Raven could barely keep herself from laughing uncontrollably. Her friend looked so ridiculous soaked in water she couldn’t take it! Her body shook with laughter and her eyes were narrow slits. She struggled onto the bank where she lay down in the sand, rolling around in it.
“Haha, very funny!” Amber retorts hotly. “Was that really necessary?”
“Ye-Y-Yes!” Raven manages.
Amber bared his teeth in an annoyed, but silent snarl. “Humph!” he stands up and raises his bushy, but now droopy with water, tail straight up. “Shall we go?” he asks.
“You don’t wanna dry off first... Droopy?” Raven couldn’t help it. Amber shot her a scorching glare, but Raven didn’t take any notice. She just chuckled and followed her traveling companion along the bank of the water for a while, sometimes bounding ahead to scout. She was just about to do so when she spotted a shape lying by the bank, similar to the beach they had recently bathed in. She narrowed her eyes to look closer, but the heat waves were obscuring her vision.
“Amber? What do you reckon that is?” she asks, pointing to the limp shape. Amber stopped and looked to, but shook his head.
“I don’t know. Is it some kind of weird boulder?” he suggests. Raven thinks about it, but frowns.
