Aurora

Ash

     The reeds framing the river swish as I push through them to the edge of the water. I sit down on the bank, wrapping my bushy tail around me. I don't really know what I'm looking for, but I settle down to watch the BlitzClan border anyway.

    I lose track of how long I sit there, but at some point lava shoots out of a hole in the ground on the BlitzClan side. I flinch. I hate fire, but I sit and watch anyway as the dry, dusty land around it burns until the fire runs out of fuel. A wave of heat washes over me from the other side of the river. I feel my ears start to droop. Ugh. I need to get away from this heat! I start to stagger away, but my legs give out. The ground rushes up to meet me. Then everything goes black...

Some time later, my eyes slowly open, and I wish they hadn't. My head immediately starts pounding with the beat of my heart. My throat feels like a Flareon breathed fire down it. Wait a minute...

I look around. To my immense relief, I haven't been kidnapped by BlitzClan. I'm exactly where I was before I... what? Passed out? Crap, if anyone in AquaClan finds out, Jet will never let me forget it.

"Hello," a soft voice says. I leap to my feet, then wobble and almost fall over again. The source of the voice is an Eevee sitting beside me. He looks about my age.

"Who are you?" I ask. "I haven't seen you before."

"Actually," he says, "I believe you have, though I doubt you'll recognize me."

I look closer. His eyes..! In our world, you can tell the Eon an Eevee will evolve into by looking at their eye color, so most of the different clans have different eye colors. His are black, and I remember where I've seen them before...

"You!" I yelp. "You were at the border that day..!" A cold stone settles in the pit of my stomach. BlitzClan. "You're in our territory!" I snarl.

"Actually," he says calmly, "You'll find that I'm not."

I look down. He is standing in the shallows of the river.

"Technically, the river is maritime territory." I look at him blankly. "Not owned by either side," he explains. I roll my eyes. I hate when other Eevees are smarter than me.

"What, are you stalking sleeping Eevees?" I growl.

He smiles slightly. "I don't have to be on your side of the river to know that you weren't sleeping." My eyes narrow. "Are you okay?" he says softly. "It's dangerous to be exposed to so much heat that it causes fainting."

"I didn't faint. I just..." I trail off awkwardly. He smiles again.

"Well whatever you want to call it, it's still dangerous. Tribal hostilities aren't the only reason they probably told you to stay away from the border."

"Who are you, anyway?" I ask.

"My name's Ash. What's yours?"

"I'm Aurora," I say. Ash nods.

"Pretty name," he says. There's an awkward silence.

"Well, I should probably go," I say, and get up. He nods. I start to walk back in the direction of the AquaClan camp.

"It was nice to meet you!" He calls after me. I turn around and smile in farewell. As I start home to my familiar territory, I realize that my face is burning. I'm not sure why.