//Un//marked

// chapter 25 //

    The arrival of the two she-cats surprised Dewpaw and he decided very quickly that he didn't like them. The pale tortoiseshell stared at him her first morning in camp and Dewpaw assumed she was judging him for his stunted back leg. The other one, though not directly rude to him, was just loud and seemed bossy, neither of which were characteristics Dewpaw enjoyed in others. As such, he attempted to steer clear of both of them.

    He didn't need to worry about the former much, as Mothpelt and Lily had kept her in the medic's den so far. She was separate from those sick with greencough, but the medics had deemed her unfit to join training so far. Dewpaw half-wished the same were true of her littermate, Beetlepaw.

    The thought of the medic's den made him half-guilty, as Cinderblossom continued to get more sick with each passing day. Killian had been visiting her less and less but had been strangely close with both Sprucetail and Roxanne ever since Dewpaw followed him during their hunting patrol, though the trainee could not figure out why. Coupled with the fact that he and Gannet were clearly up to something, Dewpaw's trust of the tabby tom waned daily.

    As he padded out to join his patrol, he swept his eyes over the camp to see if the former loner was present. He only spotted Gannet and Cobalt arguing over something or other, and Bronco and Sprucetail having a conversation over their freshkill, Bronco's whiskers twitching in amusement over the she-cat's comments.

    Condor, feeling better now that his coughing had subsided, stood waiting for the rest of the patrol, Leo at his side. To Dewpaw's surprise, Shard, one of the alley cats, also stood with them.

    "Just waiting for Webpaw now," Condor said by way of greeting. Leo huffed in annoyance. Dewpaw was glad to see Leo getting back to his usual self after the death of his littermate.

    Webpaw arrived in a flurry of fur, having clearly just gotten out of her nest.

    "Sorry I'm late," she said unapologetically, giving her chest one quick lick. It did little to improve her dishevelled appearance.

    "You better be," Leo muttered and the she-cat shot him a glare.

    "Let's leave the lovers' spat for later, shall we?" Condor intervened, and the two younger cats did not speak again.

    As they walked to the edge of the fences, Dewpaw took up his usual position in the middle of the patrol. Condor and Shard walked up ahead of him, the alley cat thanking the second-in-command for allowing him to join the patrol. Condor, in turn, thanked Shard for offering to help in day-to-day happenings at the camp. Dewpaw preferred not to know what Webpaw and Leo were fighting about this time and ignored them to the best of his abilities. For once, his crumpled ears were useful.

    The edge of Twolegplace looked more or less the same as when Dewpaw last saw it, though the fields beyond were now covered in sparkling white. The scents rising up from around it were stronger now, too, but Dewpaw found he did not recognize all of them.   

    "They're marking this border more strongly," Condor commented. "I haven't smelled this much DarkClan stench in a while."

    Shard wrinkled his nose. "Do you think they're giving us a warning?"

    "One can only hope they do not know of Nightchaser's plans to attack," Condor replied dryly. "Best thing to do is mark our side just as strongly and hope they get the message."

    The patrol split off into smaller groups to mark the edge of the territory, and Dewpaw was assigned to Webpaw. They worked silently for the most part, until they reached the final leg of their portion.

    "I heard you helped Crowpaw become Mothpelt's apprentice," Webpaw said.

    Her neutral tone gave Dewpaw no clue as to how she felt about the development. He shrugged.