Morning Clouds

Chapter 17

Where is he going?

Echo's training sessions with Slash had taught her a bit about the forest and stalking prey. She had never thought of Splinter as prey, but she realized that she was stalking him silently, just like she would do prey. Except she didn't plan on killing him.

Or so she thought. Things were getting pretty weird at this point, she might end up attacking him.

Echo shook her head fiercely. No way would she attack her own groupmate! Sure, he had never been her best friend, but they were groupmates!

Echo narrowed her green eyes, annoyed with herself. Come on Echo! Focus on Splinter, not some stupid thought that randomly entered your head about attacking him! What is he doing?

Splinter honestly wasn't doing much instead of walking. He seemed pretty confident in what he was doing, despite the fact that he had sneaked out of camp, but his ears were pricked and his tail spiked when Echo accidentally stepped lightly on a twig. But other than that, she managed to stay relatively quiet, and luckily Splinter didn't seem to notice her.

At last he reached a clump of oak trees surrounding an old willow, noticeably marked by three scratches on one of the oaks. Ember was sitting in front of the willow, tail wrapped over his paws. As Splinter approached he rose to his paws and arched his back in a long stretch. "Finally." he complained. "You took forever."

Splinter sniffed. "Mist saw me," he meowed. "Have to take precautions, you know."

Ember's tail lashed at the disapproving tone. "I know. I'm no kit."

Splinter's eyes flashed with some emotion unknown to Echo. "Then quit acting like one!" A sneer crossed his face. "I don't see why Slash made a cat who lived in the Clans a general."

Echo's eyes widened. She knew Splinter had crossed the line. While the two toms were distracted, she craned her neck to see past Ember into the willow, which turned out to be hollow with a small entrance blocked by brambles, with a tiny hole. What could they be storing in there? But all she could see was white fluff. Huh.

Meanwhile, Ember's furious eyes narrowed to slits and a growl rumbled low in his throat. "What did you just say?!"

Splinter sneered. "You heard me!"

Ember hissed furiously and leaped at Splinter, claws outstretched. Splinter rose to meet his unspoken challenge. The two toms rolled over, screeching, clawing, and biting each other mercilessly in a way that would have scarred Echo for life if she was watching. But something else was scaring her.

The "white bundle of fluff" inside the willow apparently had eyes.

Hazel ones.

And they were staring straight at her.

//-//

"Dawn Mist!" Splashing Creek mewed, plastering a fake smile on her face. "Can I come in?"

"Of course," the mother purred, sweeping her tail around her kits happily.

Soft Breeze pouted. "I don't see why Splashing Creek gets to go in and we don't."

Ember Dawn shoved her sister playfully. "Splashing Creek is the medicine cat apprentice, you fish-brain!"

Soft Breeze squeaked indignantly. "I'm no fish-brain! You are!" She leaped on Ember Dawn and soon all five kits were play-fighting.

Rolling her eyes, Splashing Creek slipped into the den, eyes softening when she saw the two tiny tom-kits curled at Dawn Mist's belly.

One was a pale gray tom with slightly darker spots and long, pale whiskers. The other one was a dark brown tabby tom with white splashes.

Splashing Creek let out a purr, falling in love with them all over again. Though she had been in RiverClan when Night's and Gecko's Chirp's kits were born, she had helped birth these two and they we her first born as medicine cat apprentice.

Her ear twitched slightly as that nagging voice came back into her head. You liar. You just stood there and let Night and Dappled Pelt do everything. What kind of medicine cat apprentice are you?!

Splashing Creek winced. I'm a great medicine cat apprentice! They just took over, that's all. But she hardly believed herself.

Dawn Mist studied her, worry dancing in her eyes. "Splashing Creek, are you all right?"

Splashing Creek nodded, shaking out her pelt. "So, what are their names?" she asked quickly.

The queen's eyes lit up, her concern forgotten. She gently touched the gray tom. "This is Icy Whiskers." Her fluffy tail moved to the brown-and-white kit. "And this is Mud Splash."

"Icy Whiskers and Mud Splash," Splashing Creek purred softly. "Thank you, Dawn Mist."

Dawn Mist's eyes widened. "Well um, you're welcome!"

But Splashing Creek had already left.

~~

A/N: BOOM! Finally done! I am so sorry to keep everyone waiting! I'll try to update faster for next chapter, but I'm super busy, so I can't say I can get them out as fast as I did in the summer. So sorry!

So in this chapter, Echo tracked Splinter and found him and Ember doing something really weird. Also, Splashing Creek is doubting herself and we see Dawn Mist's kits for the first time. Icy Whiskers is named after this person named Icywhisker, who was really active on BlogClan (I usually take cameos from there at the beginning of each story and put them into the allegiances, but he asked after I finalized them, so I had to scoot him into a litter that was born during the story.) for a couple weeks and then vanished mysteriously. I feel kinda bad that he never got to see his cameo.

Questions of the Day: (really awesome idea that I saw on on Fanfiction.net doing – she's really good, check her out!)

1: What/who do you think was in the willow?

2: Why are Splinter and Ember sneaking out to guard the willow?

3: What do you think the three marks on the willow mean?

4: Is Splashing Creek right to doubt herself?

I'd love to see what you think!

Thanks for reading! Feedback is always welcome :)