Chasing the wind [open]

"Yeah, great catch" Icepaw mumbled. I hope I get a chance to hunt soon. He thought to himself. "Isn't ShadowClan territory across the...ug, what's it called...oh ya! Thunderpath though?" Icepaw asked, almost forgetting what the rotten thing was called.

"Thank you." He purred. He looked around for a suitable place to hide his kill, spotting a clump of bushes and deciding that it would do until they returned. After tucking the rabbit safely away he returned to the group and responded to Icepaw, "It is, but I expect we're merely going to leer at the ShadowClan side from ours. No need to cause tensions by passing on their land... though I doubt they could do much about it."

"True" Icepaw replied. "You know, now that that I think about it, in all honesty probably every clan apprentice thinks the same things as us. Like 'we are stronger than them' or 'they cant beat us.' I mean, aren't we all the same in how our apprentices think of other clans?" He asked with a sincere look. He didn't want to sound weird or not loyal, but when ever he thought about it, he always wondered.

"They all think it," purred Ashpaw, "but it's only true in our case. ShadowClan is depleted- hardly any cats. ThunderClan is crowded- the apprentices' den is overflowing! SkyClan is in the background, not doing hardly anything. And RiverClan is hating ThunderClan so much that they can't do anything else! But we're full up of capable warriors and apprentices. The nursery is full of promising kits, and we have no long-lasting enmity with any other Clan at the moment. WindClan is the strongest!" The gray she-cat almost burst with pride in her Clan.

"Of course!" Icepaw regained his thoughts back to his clan, fluffed his fur and started to purr with happiness at their pride.

Eaglethorn led the apprentices to the Thunderpath, pleased with the conversation he was hearing. After all, clan pride was very important. When they reached it, he allowed them to get closer than Falconstar would have allowed, but still not to where they could reach out and touch the hot asphalt. "ShadowClan is known for being cold and sneaky," he began, looking at them. "Anything else you've heard?"

"That's basically it, and they eat gross stuff." Icepaw replied. He wanted to see how long the thunder path was and as he walked slowly up to it, peering down it and not watching were he was going, he tripped over a branch and fell on the edge of the horrible black path. He tried to figure out what just happened when a horrible roar filled the air and bright lights raced towards him...

Ashpaw gasped and pulled Icepaw off of the Thunderpath seconds before a monster reached him. "Careful, Icepaw! I got hit by one of those on my leg when I was just a kit and I still have some trouble running." To answer Eaglethorn's question, she replied: "They're very good at ambushing, especially during the night. They live in the marshes, I think." She knew more- a lot more- but didn't want to seem suspiciously knowledgeable about her former Clan.

Icepaw didn't know what to say, or what to do. All he could think about was the monster's lights racing towards him and how he almost got crushed like a bug. Icepaw ended up just sitting there for a few moments in awe.

"I heard they got chased out once. Don't think they've fully recovered yet. Might be worthwhile to chase them out for good, since they were the ones who caused our loss in the war against SkyClan." He watched calmly as Ashpaw retrieved Icepaw from the path of the monster and flicked his tail. Lightpaw didn't have any sort of comfort to give; after all, it was his own fault he stepped so close. Instead he flicked Icepaw's flank with his tail in sympathy. "Makes a good border, doesn't? Keeps the unwanted out and cripples the ones who try."

After Lightpaw gave him a tap of his rump, Icepaw snapped back to his sences. "Ya" he replied the white tom. Then stood up and went of to thank Ashpaw. "Thanks for getting me off the thunder path" he said sincerely, feeling like an idiot for stumbling.

"You're welcome," replied Ashpaw, a little flustered. "Any respectable cat would have done the same, I'm sure."

Eaglethorn narrowed his eyes at Icepaw. "Careful!" he hissed, before glancing over at Lightpaw. Hopefully his apprentice wasn't as thick-headed. "Not a bad idea indeed," he mewed with a small grin, ushering them away from the Thunderpath before any more of them fell onto it, and he would be the one in trouble. "Alright, any other questions before we head back to camp?"

"I guess not" Icepaw grumbled, staring at the ground. His high spirits withering away, not wanting to look the warrior in the eye.

Lightpaw caught Eaglethorn's glance and shook his head in response. It wasn't entirely drab, so he was pleased; he got a chance to show off his speed and watched another nearly get flattened by a monster. Certainly an acceptable amount of excitement for one patrol. "No questions here." He answered in a purr.