Falling Feathers

Chapter 2

One moon later

Dovepaw yawned, stretching joyously.  Cuddling farther into her nest, she let herself fall back into the gentle embrace of sleep............to be woken up again.

"Dovepaw! You can't sleep forever!" Hazelpaw swatted her ear playfully. "I know," She sighed. "But Bluedawn worked me so hard yesterday....I thought I was going to be hunting all night!" Hazelpaw nodded in agreement. "Still, that's no excuse to sleep longer than the rest of us. Now come on, we have dawn patrol with Hawkpaw!" Dovepaw forced herself up, eyelids drooping, the fuzzy blanket of sleep still wrapped around her brain. Stumbling after Hazelpaw, she caught sight of Ashfall, talking to Daisypetal. He never has time for me anymore.... Dovepaw sighed. She knew she was acting rather clingy, but her brother had barely talked to her at all during the past moon. She had nothing against Daisypetal, but...she always seemed to take up all of Ashfall's time. Shaking her head, she ran after Hazelpaw. Stay positive!

Bluedawn, Glowsoul, and Hawkpaw were already waiting when the two she-cats rushed over. "Took you long enough," Hawkpaw grumbled with a flick of her brown tabby tail. "Where's Sparkheart?" Hazelpaw asked, ignoring her sister. "There were already so many cats, we figured she didn't need to come," Bluedawn explained, her gorgeous dark blue eyes sparkling on the morning light. Hazelpaw nodded with understanding, then leapt off into the forest, leaves crunching under her paws. "Well?" She called, looking back. "What are you waiting for?"
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Hawkpaw marked the last border. "That's it!" She called to the other cats. "We're done!" Bluedawn looked over at Dovepaw, eyes surveying the pale gray and white apprentice. "Dovepaw, I know you love battle training, and you've worked very hard this past moon, so why don't you train with Hazelpaw?" "Sure!" Dovepaw purred. She did love battle traing, and Hazelpaw was a good opponent.

Dovepaw followed after Hazelpaw as she led the way to the training grounds. Soon, they had made their way to the sandy hollow where generations of warriors had trained. "Ready to be defeated?" Hazelpaw snarled smugly. "In your dreams!" Dovepaw hissed, leaping onto her friend with sheathed claws. Ready for the attack, Hazelpaw swerved out of the way, sending Dovepaw skidding in the sand. With a vicious growl, she headed for Hazelpaw, eyes fixed on her right side. Hazelpaw smirked triumphantly, thinking she had won, and moved to the left- exactly where Dovepaw was going for. She hooked her paw under Hazelpaw's left hind leg; catching her by surprise and making her fall to the ground. Taking advantage of the situation, Dovepaw pinned Hazelpaw down and was just about to put her paw on her neck in triumph when-

CRACKLE.

Both cats looked around at the sound. Hazelpaw sniffed the air, confusion written all over her face. "Is that-" "Nettlepaw's scent?" Dovepaw finished for her. Curiosity taking over, the two cats peeped into the forest just in time to see a long brown tail dissappear around the undergrowth. Not a word spoken, the cats silently followed, careful not to make a sound. Finally, they came to the border. They watched as Nettlepaw's sleek brown body squeezed through a twoleg fence and out into a pasture with big, black and white animals in it. Within seconds, the she-cat had dissapeared. The cats just stood there, dumbfounded.

"Should we follow her?" Dovepaw asked, turning to her friend. "I don't know...." Dovepaw could clearly hear the uneasiness in Hazelpaw's voice. "I wouldn't want to invade her privacy...." Dovepaw was shocked. "But don't you want to know what she's doing??" Hazelpaw shifted uncomfortably. "Its...not really my business...." Dovepaw sighed. Hazelpaw was right. It wasn't their business. And, she had asked Hazelpaw for a reason. This was her answer. "Alright....." Dovepaw mewed dejectively. "Let's go home."
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All that night. Dovepaw couldn't help but wonder what Nettlepaw was doing at a twoleg place. Though it may not be her business, something about it wasn't right... She shook her head. Hazelpaw said we shouldnt, so I'm not going to. It doesn't matter.

Then why couldn't she shake off the feeling that something was wrong?