Diverging Paths (Warrior Cats Fanfiction)

Chapter 3

Highwings sleepily stumbled out of her new nest, sincerely regretting her choice from yesterday. While her brother and sister had regained enough rest during the day for the night to be fulfilling, she was lagging behind. Last night her sleep had not been as fruitful as usual. Either that, or she had slept in and was now drowsy, which of course never happened to her.

Or so she thought. The warriors den was completely empty by the time she was up, so when she padded lazily over the various other nests and poked her head out through the bramble, she was taken aback by the fact that it was already sunhigh. Sunhigh! What good warrior sleeps until sunhigh?! she thought in utter panic. I need to apologize to the leader immediately!

She found Scatterstar laying on the floor, while chattering to a sitting Murmuringsoil, Slicepaw - Murmuringsoil's apprentice - and Riftrim - one of the most senior warriors in the Clan. The shaking and fretting she-cat raced over from almost all the way across the camp. She drew the attention of all four cats with her rapid entry.

"I'm so sorry!" were her first words. "I'm so so sorry!"

"Well," Scatterstar chuckled, "Look who's finally up."

"I'm so sorry!" Highwings repeated, meeting the leader in the eyes, her ears down and her eyes wide. "I can't believe I slept in so much!"

"She has a mouse inside her head," Slicepaw giggled, addressing her mentor. She was a mere six moons old. Her and her littermates, Bigpaw and Cricketpaw, were the newest apprentices of the Clan.

"No, she just doesn't know," Murmuringsoil returned, gazing back up at Highwings with amber eyes. "We let you sleep in on purpose. Since you didn't give up yesterday to get your sleep back, we thought we'd be nice today."

"Wait, really?" she gasped, gazing around at the rest; Scatterstar nodded in confirmation, and Riftrim shrugged, indicating that he wasn't part of the decision but had went along with it. "Are you kidding?! A warrior should never sleep in this late!"

"A warrior also shouldn't be stumbling around on their paws barely awake," Murmuringsoil snapped. "You wouldn't be able to catch a blind frog if we didn't give you some leniency."

Highwings glared at him, but didn't provide a comeback. Instead, she only demanded, "Put me on a patrol. Now."

"Highwings," Scatterstar murmured in a somewhat soothing voice, "Highwings, you went on two of them yesterday. One in very early sunup, another near sundown."

"Yeah. And put me on another!"

The leader shook her head in exasperation, though there seemed to be a small humorous smile there, before gazing up at the deputy. "Has the sunhigh patrol gone out yet?"

"Yes, they're already out. They haven't come back yet."

"How about a hunting patrol?"

"We haven't had one since the dawn patrol. She could go on that one."

Scatterstar nodded, turning back towards Highwings. "Well, you're in luck. Just go out with a few other cats on a hunting party, then."

"Okay! Who else?" she eagerly asked.

Scatterstar just sighed, looking around the camp, seeming to be getting somewhat tired of this interaction. Murmuringsoil lifted the weight off her shoulders by saying, "Just pick them out yourself, Highwings. One or two other warriors, preferably an apprentice to tag along too."

She nodded obediently. "Yes, sir!" The young warrior bounded off to the midst of camp, where most cats by this time of day were sharing tongues under the heat of the sun. It was not greenleaf yet, so it was not the hottest time, but newleaf had a fight of its own and many Clanmates chose to retire under the shade of a tree or otherwise, to shelter themselves from the brutality of the highest sun.