Warriors: Shooting Star Book #1 A Star Is Born (#Wattys2015)

Chapter 18

"Hazelnose always got in to some kind of trouble!" Earthdirt let out a mrrow of laughter as Wolfpaw picked his fur of ticks. The silver apprentice had asked the elsers to tell him a story while he did his apprentice duty. He was glad to hear a story about his mother. He never really got to know her as a kit. "Climbing trees, disobeying orders, and messing with the elders!" Earthdirt went on.

"But, she was just beautiful!" Sunnigpelt put in, her tail twitching happily. "She was graceful, fast, and had all the toms chasing after her, even from the others Clans. Be lucky you're her kit, Wolfpaw, your charms equal hers to a T!"

"A 'T'?" Wolfpaw asked with a purr. A tick falling off Earthdirt after removing the foul mouse bile of moss.

"The last letter to the word perfect!" Sunningpelt answered.

"I'm glad you're here, Wolfpaw," Earthdirt put his tail on the apprentice's shoulder, "you look just like your mother! I miss those beautiful eyes of hers!"

"She always dreamed of having a son like her," Sunnigpelt added.

"And a daughter like..." Earthdirt trailed off. Wolfpaw knew they were talking about Goosetail and Foxkit.

"Foxkit was to be nothing like Goosetail!" Sunnigpelt snapped. "none of her kits were! And if they would, then shame on StarClan for bringing another him to the world!" Sunnigpelt stopped when Wolfpaw lowered his ears. He might not be the best father, or warrior, but he was still his father. "I'm sorry, dear, truly I am, but, no one in ThunderClan really liked Hazelnose spending time with Goosetail, he was just so mean with her."

"That's enough, Sunnigpelt," Wolfpaw looked up to see Glaregaze at the entrance to the elder's den, his amber eyes piercing through through all three cats. "Did he get all the ticks?"

"Yes, every last pest," Earthdirt answered solemnly.

"Good," Glaregaze turned, "come Wolfpaw, we're going hunting." Wolfpaw watched as the older tom's stripped tail disappeared.

The silver apprentice bowed his head to the elders and took the terrible smelling moss. Wolfpaw made his way to the medicine den to return to Halfmoon and Lightpaw. The grey and brown stripped medicine cat apprentice was going to go to the Moonpool with Halfmoon to retrieve her warrior name as a full medicine cat. She was still going to be Halfmoon's apprentice until the white she-cat either died or retired.

Wolfpaw wanted to gather as much information about the warrior code as he could. If he wanted to be twice the warrior he wanted to be, he was going to need to know everything that Foxkit would have known. Hopefully she was standing next to him right now learning with him.

"Just go put it over by the pool over there, Wolfpaw," Halfmoon told him as she looked through her store of herbs. Lightpaw was sleeping soundly on the side, gathering energy for the trip to the Moonpool.

Wolfpaw set the moss next to the pool and ran out to the gorse tunnel, where Glaregaze, Sparrowwing, and Bramblestripe waited. He followed them out in to the forest where the scents of mouth watering prey filled his mouth. It wasn't until he could hear the pecking of a woodpecker hitting a tree that the young apprentice realized how much he missed his home of ThunderClan. He missed the bickering of Sparrowwing and Bramblestripe arguing about nothing. The elders reminiscing and complaining about their joints. Halfmoon and Lightpaw talking about herbs best for cough. Adderstar and Twitchwhisker discussing patrols. Hazeleyes admiring the leader from a distance. Even Poundpaw and Meadowpaw fighting about who was the best apprentice.

"We'll go hunt near the SkyClan border," Glaregaze twitched his tail toward where SkyClan camp was, "you two hunt over near stream between ThunderClan and ShadowClan."