LEGENDARY | Warrior Cats #1

-Face First-

  She walked out of the den. She wondered where Eelstar might have gone. Suddenly, she remembered last night.

Last night she saw Eelstar walking out of camp. It looked like he didn't want anybody to know where he had gone. She remembered his angry words. Stay quiet, and I might let you live another day. And then the yellow eyes started watching her.

"Hi, Thrushkit," a voice said. It was the oldest of Russetcloud's kits, Darkpaw.

"Hi, Darkpaw," she said.

"What are you doing here?" he asked, tilting his head.

"Just wanted to talk to Eelstar."

"Haven't you heard? He was attacked by rouges."

Thrushkit didn't know that he was attacked last night.

That explains all of the screechings, she thought. But that doesn't explain why Eelstar said his cold words.

"Oh, what happened between you and Onepaw? I see that you two haven't been talking lately." the apprentice told her.

"We just had a little fight, that's all."

"Well, could you two please make up? I hate seeing you two upset."

"I'm not sure if I can. She isn't talking to me."

"She doesn't have to talk to you, but you need to talk to her."

"Alright. Where is she?"

"She's sitting next to dad."

Thrushkit turned her head. She saw Onepaw, Onepaw's eyes were closed, and her head dipped towards the pile of rocks that covered their father.

Then, before Thrushkit could apologize, Eelstar started to speak.

"All cats old enough to catch their own prey, meet under Shadowrock for a Clan meeting."

Cats gathered around the rock. "As you know, ShadowClan needs more warriors. So, we will be making kits apprentices today."

Yowls of disagreement and frustration came from the Clan.

"But, we will only take two for now," He meowed. "Graykit, step forward."

"Graykit, you have almost reached the age of six moons, and you are ready to become an apprentice. From this moment on, until you receive your warrior name, you shall be known as Graypaw. Your mentor will be Shortshade,"

"Shortshade, you are ready to take on an apprentice. You have had excellent training from me, and have shown yourself to be fast and patient, and I expect you to pass on all you know to Graypaw."

Shortshade touched noses with Graypaw.

"Thrushkit, you have almost reached the age of six moons, and you are ready to become an apprentice. From this moment on, until you receive your warrior name, you shall be known as Thrushpaw. Your mentor will be Pouncestream,"

"Pouncestream, you are ready to take on an apprentice. You have had excellent training from Badgerflame and have shown yourself to be strong and confident, and I expect you to pass on all you know to Thrushpaw."

Pouncestream stocked over to Thrushpaw and touched noses.

"Thrushpaw! Graypaw! Thrushpaw! Graypaw!" They chanted. Sedgepaw seemed to be cheering quite loud.

Thrushpaw stalked over to Onepaw. Onepaw looks up at her.

"So, you are an apprentice?" Onepaw asked blankly.

"Yeah, my mentor is Pouncestream."

"I didn't think Eelstar would defy StarClan."

"All he did was make us apprentices. He had to."

"No, he didn't. He could have waited a little longer."

"Look, I'm sorry about what I said."

"I was never mad at you."

"But, you didn't even talk to me."

"Because I didn't think you wanted to listen." She replied.

Thrushpaw looked at her paws. The gray tabby she-cat shook her head. "You're smart," She said, giving her a sad smile.

Onepaw nodded, "I get that a lot." She joked.

**************************************

Thrushpaw had rested with Graypaw in the apprentices' den. The two hadn't talked very much at all.

Thrushpaw had been talking to Sedgepaw about the gathering that was happening the next day, and Graypaw was talking to Heatherpaw, a brown tabby she-cat that was 8 moons old. Every cat was happy.

Even if Graypaw and Thrushpaw weren't talking.

Pouncestream padded in the apprentice's den with a smile. "So, Thrushpaw, are you ready for your first training session?"

"Sure! What are we doing?" the apprentice asked.

"Showing you territory," he meowed.

The two cats walked for a long time until they stopped near the Gathering Island.

The Island had stepping stones in the water leading to it, where four towering stones laid in the middle of the island.

"Can we go and see it?" Thrushpaw asked.

Pouncestream shook his head. "No, there's a gathering tomorrow and you can go then.

"Besides, I'm no medicine cat. If you fall in and hit your head I can't help you."

"I won't fall in! I promise!" She pleaded.

"No." He said, more sternly this time.

"Now that you've seen the whole territory, you can practice hunting. Show me your hunting crouch." He meowed.

Thrushpaw bent down, her tail stuck up in the air.

"Now, lay your tail to the ground without touching the grass. Can you smell anything?" He asked her.

Thrushpaw tasted the air. She smelt frog. She stalked up to the pine green blob and pounced, landing straight on her face.