Morning Rays

Chapter 12

"Quickpaw, do you promise to uphold the warrior code at all costs?" Hawkstar was announcing.

A day had passed since Velvetcloud had recommended the older apprentices to become warriors, and Sunpaw was missing Quickpaw already. He really enjoyed having the older tom's company, and it wouldn't be for some moons until Sunpaw could spend a good amount of time with his friend again.

Sunpaw glanced over at Moonpaw. She was looking at Turtlepaw, now Turtlefoot, with a look of longing in her eyes. Turtlefoot and Moonpaw had been best friends, even closer than Sunpaw had been to Quickpaw. The two she-cats were also close friends with Lavenderfern, who had been a warrior for a few moons now. The three cats were like three sprouts from the same root.

"I do," Quickpaw said confidently. His voice carried across the clearing

"Then I dub you Quickfleet, in honor of your fast paws. The Clan welcomes you three as warriors."

"Turtlefoot! Oatsplash! Quickfleet!" the Clan cheered. Sunpaw joined in, shouting Quickfleet's name the loudest.

Fawnspeckle was smiling at the three newest full members of the Clan with an expression of pride and happiness on her face. Sunpaw had almost forgotten that the warm queen was the three cats' mother.

Sunpaw felt a prickle of resentment, which he pushed away guiltily. He couldn't help thinking that he should have been made a warrior alongside his friend, as they were only two moons apart in age.

"It's just like back in the nursery, isn't it?" asked Moonpaw, walking up to the golden tom. He jerked his head up.

*Flashback to kithood*

"Catch this!" Moonkit had called, flinging the ball over to him. He threw it back, squeaking, "Moonkit's a slow slug!"

The memory shattered as Moonpaw waved her paw in front of his face.

"Sunpaw. BlazeClan to Sunpaw," she meowed in a metallic voice, her eyes shining with laughter.

"What?" asked Sunpaw, ear tips reddening.

"You just looked weird for a minute. Kind of like when Silversprout used to talk to me," Moonpaw murmured, shuddering a bit.

"Oh, never mind that. We should try to figure out what you-know-what means, shouldn't we, speaking of Psychosprout?" asked Sunpaw. Psychosprout was a nickname the littermates used for the old cat.

"Of course! I just can't right now. I'm due for a patrol," Moonpaw sighed. She looked slightly amused at the use of the nickname.

"Okay. Bye!" called Sunpaw as his sister bounded out of camp. Moonpaw waved her tail to show she'd heard.

"Sunpaw!" yowled a voice. It was his mentor, Timbertree.

"Yes, Timbertree?" asked Sunpaw respectfully.

"I need you do take care of the elders. Moonpaw and Turtlepaw, well, Turtlefoot did it last time," reasoned Timbertree.

"Yes, Timbertree," Sunpaw said resentfully.

. . . . .

"Want to hear 'o story?" asked Cedarclaw, one of the elders.

"Sure," mumbled Sunpaw around some moss.

"Let me tell ya 'bout some other far'way Clans." rumbled the old tom.

Sunpaw's ears pricked.

"There was once these cats 'at called themselves ThunderClan." he said.

The old tom rambled on about how ThunderClan had been in a big battle with some cat group led by a huge tabby named Tigerstar, and how the four fantasy-Clans together defeated him.

"So the lightning struck the tree, ya see," Cedarclaw was saying. "and it fell, right on top of the orange cat called Firestar. That was when the battle was truly over," he finished.

Sunpaw had long since been done with the elders. Now, he was just listening to Cedarclaw tell tales about the fabled faraway Clans.

"'Ya liked the story?" asked Cedarclaw.

Sunpaw nodded.

"Good. Now you run along and play with some other youngsters," he said. "Go!"

Sunpaw backed out of the den. He saw that Moonpaw was back from hunting.

"Hey, Moonpaw! Guess what story Cedarclaw told me! It was about how some other Clans defeated this tabby, and-" he broke off when he saw that Moonpaw had a the same faraway look in her eyes as before.

"Moonpaw? You okay?" he asked, worried. What had Silversprout done this time?

"Huh?" Moonpaw looked like she had just woken up. "Oh, yes, yes, I'm fine."

"Thinking about the message?" meowed the young golden tom, lowering his voice.

"Of course, yes," meowed Moonpaw, looking relieved.

"Well, see you later!" called Moonpaw, turning away.

"Uh, bye," answered Sunpaw awkwardly.

Is it just me, he thought, or did Moonpaw look relieved when I gave her an excuse? Is she really thinking about Silversprout's message? Or is it something else?

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Until next time!

-Russet