Aurora

The Border

     I slip behind a wet stone and peer suspiciously out at the hollow surrounding me. Where is he? I take a tentative step forward, then another. Nothing. I bunch my muscles and prepare to leap out, and suddenly he slams into me. I growl and pummel him with my back paws. He leaps back with a snarl. We circle each other with narrowed eyes. Suddenly he darts forward and swipes his paw toward my face. I leap on top of him and sit there until he sighs and relaxes. Cirrus steps forward from where he was watching and pulls me off my victim.

    "Good job, you two." He says to the panting Eevees in front of him. "Aurora, good stalking, but your fighting moves are a little sloppy. Sitting on a Flareon won't usually work on the battlefield." I nod, too breathless to reply.

    "Jet," he continues, "Same goes for you. That was an excellent surprise attack, but a paw swipe is too easy to counter." Jet nods.

    "I was just going easy on her because she's a girl..." he mumbles. I roll my eyes. Yeah, right. Good excuse.

    Cirrus must have had the same thought, because he says, "Jet, I highly doubt that. But even if you were, don't. That won't help either of you in the long run. Anyway, you're done for the day."

    As I hurry home, Brook leaps out from behind a stone and lands in front of me. "Hi! Hi!" She cries gleefully. "How was training?"

    I shrug. "I guess there's a reason Cirrus pairs us up with Eevees we hate." She sighs sympathetically. "Well, good luck," I say. She has her daily training in a few hours.

    Training with Cirrus is when it pays to be like Brook and not dislike anyone in the tribe. Cirrus isn't mean, but he sure knows how to make most of us fight.

    It's winter and my eighteenth month alive. AquaClan don't mind the cold, but there really isn't much to do at this time of year.

    I decide to head to the BlitzClan border. No one ever told me not to go there, and as long as I stay on the AquaClan side, I'll be fine, right? At least, that's what I tell myself over and over as I cautiously pad over to the riverbank.

    The border itself lies somewhere in the middle of the river, as of today, anyway, but we rarely leave the land on our side. We have plenty of water and fish, because a stream branches off of the main river and flows through our camp. Eventually, it reaches the waterfall where Tide gives her speeches and flows out of sight.

    I reach the bank and peer over at the BlitzClan side. I've wondered what it looked like for as long as I could remember. Answer: Not much.

    A gray and black barren landscape with a few stunted and scorched trees meets my eyes. Smoke and flames drift out of small holes in the ground. In the distance, I can see a large mountain, with a thin trail of smoke rising out of the top. I shudder. No wonder they want our territory.

    The fur on my neck prickles. My head whips wildly around but I see nothing. A bush on the BlitzClan side of the river rustles and I look closer. A pair of eyes peeks out at me. BlitzClan. Unnerved, I start to back away. Then, a small, creamy brown paw pokes out of the bush. I turn and run for the AquaClan camp. As I race away, I can feel the eyes boring into my retreating back...