By the River [closed]

Applepaw had wandered away from his patrol to hunt. He knew he wasn’t supposed to be out himself, but he could still hear his companions. He wanted to try hunting by himself for a little while. Standing by the river, the sun hit his ginger pelt, and he watched the fish swim by, waiting to hunt one. Smiling, he sighed happily. It was nice to be out in the open, especially when the weather was so nice. He waited for a fish to swim by, then caught it, flopping it onto the ground. He grinned. ”Yes!” he said quietly, looking for more fish to catch.

A scrawny calico she-cat padded through the forest, careful not to make any sound. Willow knew she was trespassing on the wild cat's territory, but she was so hungry she didn't care. A small mouse was nibbling on something nearby at the root of a tree, and Willow crept up behind it, so intent on her prey she didn't notice the leaf. The dry leaf crackled when she stepped on it, and she hissed in frustration when the mouse scampered off.

Looking around, she spotted the river sparkling nearby. Weren't there some cats who fished out of the river? she mused. I could try that. Racing to the water's edge where she would be seen by any wild cat, she saw silver flash beneath the surface. Focusing on a random fish, she reached her paw into the water and pawed at the silver fish. Her paw touched something slippery before it was gone. Willow tried a few more times with no success, and she yowled in annoyance. Remembering she was on enemy territory, she glanced around to find a ginger cat fishing nearby, who must have heard her. Why is that cat so good at fishing? Willow thought, irritated, before trying to creep back into the underbrush without being detected.

Applepaw had heard rustling. His fur stood up on his back. He didn’t want to be attacked. ”Who’s there!” he asked, looking around. If he had to battle, he wanted to know what he was up against. Hopefully it was just a piece of prey and he was being paranoid. Still, he didn’t want to take any chances. Especially not this close to warriorhood.

Willow froze when she heard someone call out, asking who was there. Forcing down her panic, she weighed her options. If she moved, it would probably alert the other cat, and make them chase her, maybe even get their friends to get her killed for trespassing. If she revealed herself, she most likely wouldn't be attacked, if the other cat was civil. She had heard that the cats who lived in the forest ate bones.

Shuddering, Willow turned tail and ran. Hopefully, she could outrun the other cat. But unaccustomed to the forest, Willow stumbled over twigs and shrieked when her fur snagged in a thornbush. She tried dragging herself away, but her attempts were futile and her fur remained stuck. "I lived my whole life alone in Twolegplace, survived dogs and mean cats and mean twolegs and a bunch of other stuff, and I'm defeated by a bush." Willow grumbled unhappily. She decided to stay there, and hopefully, the cat near the river would see her. They might help her.

Applepaw finally saw the cat. She was stuck in a bush. Trying not to laugh, he decided to help her. She surely wasn’t used to this sort of territory. He bit off the thorn that was keeping her from moving away. ”Uh, Hi? I’m Applepaw.” he greeted, a bit unsure. He wasn’t sure how he was supposed to act around this unfamiliar she-cat. She didn’t seem like an enemy, but he was unsure. Taking a quick sniff, he confirmed that she wasn’t a clan cat, or a kittypet. It seems she was a loner, or a rouge. Applepaw hoped it wasn’t the later option.

"Willow," she grumped, trying to hide her embarrassment. "I'm Willow. Umm, are you gonna kill me or something now? You do know I'm trespassing on your territory, right?" She winced at her big mouth and tried to explain. "I didn't mean to trespass but I just wanted to hunt. I didn't catch anything though." she finished awkwardly.  Suddenly wary, she glanced at Applepaw. What a weird name, she mused. "Why can't he just be 'Apple?'" Shaking away her wandering thoughts, Willow mewed, "I should go now. Also, can you keep it secret that I trespassed in your territory? Thanks." She didn't want a bunch of bone-eating fighters chasing after her. But unable to hide her curiosity, Willow questioned, "Do you really eat bones? Uhh, sorry that was rude..." Willow hoped she didn't offend the ginger tom.

Applepaw watched as the she-cat rambled. A funny look came across his face. ”Hi Willow.” It was hard to not call her Willowpaw. It looked like she was an apprentice, it was also the name of his younger sister. ”Well, I’m not just gonna kill you! I’ll listen to what you have to say.” What kind of cats would just straight out kill a trespasser? ”Alright, I guess I can let you go.”The next question made him laugh. He was laughing very hard at the idea of the clan eating bones. How ridiculous would that be? Forgetting to answer her question, he just kept laughing, and laughing.

Willow felt relieved when Applepaw told her he wouldn't kill her. And even more so when he said he could let her go. Suddenly, Applepaw started laughing. Was her last question really that amusing? Willow stayed silent, waiting for his laughter to subside, but he didn't stop. Growing impatient, Willow slapped her tail over his muzzle without thinking to silence him. "So do you eat bones?" she pressed, "Some cats from Twolegplace said that. Is it true?"

Applepaw felt the harsh slap on his muzzle. ”Nope!” he said, stopping his laughter. ”That cat was clearly misinformed. Imagine me, eating bones.” he said, waiting for something else to happen. It was nice to be with someone new, for a change. ”So, what’s it like? Being a loner?” he asked the she-cat, curious about her life.

"Sorry about the tail slap," Willow mumbled apologetically. "Life in Twolegplace is hard. Often, I go hungry for days, and when I find some food, it gets taken from me by other cats sometimes. And I mean like using tooth and claw. And it stinks, with monsters everywhere and twolegs. The twolegs usually don't like us, so they throw stuff at me sometimes. There are lots of dogs, too. Also, my food source is the twoleg trash. They throw bags of icky smelling stuff in these tall boxes, and I usually dig through them to find some scraps." Suddenly remembering why she was here in the first place, Willow mewed, "I came here to hunt. I'm really bad at it, though. I haven't eaten in a while. Now, tell me about your life." she demanded.

Applepaw listened to everything she said. It seemed so much different. ”Yuck! Eating Twoleg trash!” He wrinkled his nose, it seemed disgusting to just smell stuff touched by Twolegs. ”Well, when you are born, you are a kit for six moons until you become an apprentice. As a kit, the end of your name is “kit”. So I used to be Applekit You have a ceremony by the deputy. As an apprentice your name ends in “paw”. Like me, right now. I’m Applepaw. Then you are assigned a mentor and you train to hunt and battle and stuff. Unless you become a medicine cat apprentice. They train in healing, but their name still ends in paw. After you have trained for a while, you have an assessment and get to go to Moonstone to talk to StarClan, our ancestors. Then you become a warrior, or a medicine cat. When you are a warrior or a medicine cat you get a special ending to your name that is different from everyone else’s. The warriors train apprentices, hunt, and defend your clan. The medicine cats heal ads and help queens give birth. Special warriors get chosen as a deputy, which are like the leader’s assistant. They organize patrols and hold apprentice ceremonies. The leaders run the clan and hold all other ceremonies. They have 9 lives from Starclan. When they lose their lives, the deputy becomes the leader. The leader’s name ends in “Star”. The queens just stay in the nursery and nurse their kits. Riverclan is my clan, we live by the river and eat mostly fish. Thunderclan lives in the forest, so does Skyclan, Shadowclan is marshes, and Windclan is moors.”

"I see. It's so different..." Willow murmured. She longed to feel something like that, cared for and loved. Wait! she gasped. "Does the leader really get nine lives?! That's so cool!" Another thought popped into her head. "So if I was an apprentice in your clan, I would be Willowpaw." She wrinkled her nose. "Sounds weird." She looked at the sky. "I think I should go. You should, too. I don't think your clan would like that you were talking to a loner like me."

”Yeah, very different. And the leaders do get nine lives!” he smiled. He had never found it that impressive, it was just a part of how he lived. But to Willow, it must sound very cool. ”Yeah, you would be Willowpaw. Actually, that’s my sister’s name.” he nodded. ”Bye Willow! Good luck hunting!” he watched as the she-cat left, then headed back towards his patrol with his fish in his jaws.

"Hey, wait!" Willow called to Applepaw, turning around to look at him. "Do you think we could..." she began hesitantly, "meet again? I mean like, you're the first Clan cat I've met and, umm, you're one of the kinder cats who hasn't attacked me. And I would like to learn more about you. And your clan, of course." She blabbered,  shuffling her paws in embarrassment.

Applepaw smiled. He had been thinking something similar. ”Sure! Tomorrow? At Sunhigh? Same place?” he offered. A slight blush invaded his ginger cheeks. He started to walk back to his camp, grinning like an idiot. As he reached camp, he realized that he had just made friends with a loner. But, she wasn’t attacking or stealing, so it was fine. Right?