a quiet poetry (c)

Stars... so many stars. Hedgepaw had completed her duties for the day and had meant to go find her brothers or take a nap, but she'd accidentally looked up in the middle of camp and now her eyes were glued irreversibly to the sky. Velvety black stretched impossibly far, broken up only by the gentle twinkling of infinite silvery specks. Silverpelt. Where the ancestors lived, or so Mamma said. How far up did the sky go? Did the cats live above it, or were they the stars? There was no moon tonight--a black circle of emptiness was visible where it would be tomorrow as the sliver of claw, but for now there was nothing but stars. A "new moon," Mamma had called it when she asked. "New moon," she whispered to herself. It was so pretty. The nighttime in camp was so pretty. Why would anyone want to be awake during the eye-hurting brightness of the day? Sure, the colors were muted, but it made them softer, more welcoming... and then there were the stars. She was so focused on the sky, in fact, that she had completely tuned out all of her surroundings--meaning she wouldn't be aware of any cats trying to approach.

"Hedgepaw..." Came a sing song voice from beside the brown tabby "Are all your chores done?" Nettlepaw sat down beside her, ears twitching. His chores were certainly not finished, and he didn't even really feel like finishing them at any point either. Besides hanging with his denmate would be way more fun. Maybe Hedgepaw would even give him the inside scoop on some of his new denmates. She did seem a little preoccupied, head in the clouds, or more so the stars since the night was cloudless. Mismatched eyes followed her emerald gaze to the twinkling light above. Silverpelt. Nettlepaw imagined they must know everything, about everyone. They probably knew he was a no good lazy gossip of a cat, which didn't bother him. It was the truth and they were dead. And dead cats don't tell secrets. "So..." he mewed rocking back and forth "What are you thinking about? I'm thinking about how much I hate Leafbare, so cold and boring, wouldn't you agree?" The white tom puffed out his pelt, as he shivered slightly. If only he had a tail to warm his paws with.

Hedgepaw jumped slightly in the air at a voice behind her. She hadn't been paying attention to her surroundings; the approach had come out of nowhere. But her fur settled down when she turned and saw her denmate. It was... Nettlepaw, wasn't it? "Finished all my chores for now," she informed him proudly, puffing out her chest just a little bit. "I was too fast. I'm getting real good at changing out the moss. So I was gonna rest, but I ended up just looking at the sky. It's pretty tonight, isn't it?" She glanced up at it again, green eyes reflecting starlight, before returning her gaze to Nettlepaw. "I was just thinking about how there's not a moon in the sky. When it's not there, where does it go? And why is it only gone one night a month?" She flicked an ear at the other apprentice's remark, frowning slightly in thought. "I don't know... I've never seen anything besides leaf-bare. It is cold, but I'm not bored of it. I'm excited for newleaf, though! I've heard there's going to be a lot more green, and a lot of colorful flowers. Maybe it'll be warmer, too." The thought of newleaf, of her mother's stories, made her face brighten again. "You've never seen anything other then leaf-bare either, have you? What season would be your favorite, do you think? We'll just have to guess."

Nettlepaw cast his eyes downward, miffed that he couldn't tease the she-cat about her duties. It was always fun to rile his denmates up, over silly things. There chores weren't that important so he didn't understand why they all got so offended over it, it wasn't like he was going to tell Sablestrike. Well, not yet. As Hedgepaw spoke, he followed her gaze to the heavens above. She was correct it was very pretty, but the lack of the moon did seem odd. He was so use to it that now that it had been pointed out as missing the whole sky looked weird. "It is." he mewed in agreemnt, letting out a soft purr of appreciation for the stars. "I've never wondered that before, but it's certainly intriguing. Maybe it needs a nap?" Nettlepaw yawned loudly "I could probably do with one, after doing all my chores too." That was a lie, the fluffy tom was well aware that he was behind on several tasks. He had until moonhigh to complete them, but if there was no moon then how could he complete his chores for then? A fool proof idea

Hedgepaw was speaking again, answering his question with one of her own. "I'm bored though, the nights are soooo loooooong during Leafbare, and the cold hurts my paws, and I think the colours are boring. White and Grey and Brown all the time!" replied Nettlepaw pelt rising as he ranted "But, I digress... I think you're right. Newleaf will be much better, I love when things are new and different. I can already tell it will be my favourite, what about you?" he added with a smile, returning the question.

The moon... needed a nap? Well, that made as much sense as any other explanation. Hedgepaw nodded, filing it away. She should probably ask Fernpaw about it to get his theory later. She blinked at Nettlepaw's complaining though. "If you're so tired, why are you talking to me?" she pointed out, tilting her head. "You should go take a nap then." But he brought something else up, and she forgot about the nap idea immediately. Long nights, cold... he didn't like white and gray and brown? She frowned. "What's wrong with the color brown? I'm brown. And you're white. So I don't get why you're complaining." Flowers being different colors like green and orange did sound pretty, though. "I mean, I guess you get tired of the same colors all the time. Are you tired of your own pelt, though?"

He asked her another question before she could finish her tangent. What would be her favorite season? Her head tilted to the side while she thought. "I don't know," she said honestly. "I only remember leaf-bare. I think I like the sound of leaf-fall, though. From what Mamma says, it sounds really pretty. Like the trees in the other territories are suddenly on fire. I don't think I'd like greenleaf if the nights are too short. But I'll have to wait and see! I want to experience all of them." Here her eyes sparkled. "I'll probably be a warrior by the time leaf-fall comes around, anyway. Then I can sleep in the same den as my big brother!"

Nettlepaw frowned briefly at Hedgepaw's comments, that hadn't been what he'd meant at all. Did she not want to hang out with him? Maybe she was confused, he'd just have to clear it up. His smile quickly returned to his face. "I like your pelt! It's kind of bright, but Leafbare is dull, everything is kind of muted." mewed Nettlpaw quickly explaining himself, words coming out in a high pitched manner. "And I don't look at myself much, but If I constantly stared at my reflection I'd probably get bored of it too. Unless I pulled funny faces, but there are only so many faces you can pull I suppose." He was frowning again, he hadn't meant to upset Hedgepaw, or offend her. His ears twitched as she spoke again. "Fire?" he echoed, he'd never seen fire before, but he'd heard its nature. Though if it wasn't a real fire maybe it was pretty. "Orange is a bright colour. You don't see it much though, which is a shame." mewed Nettlepaw. "I didn't know you had a big brother, who is it? My only sibling is Crabpaw."

Hedgepaw's momentary misunderstanding was cleared up immediately. She smiled and waved her tail. "Oh, okay! That's fine then. And yeah--I get what you mean. This leaf-bare is reeeeallly long. It'll be nice to change things up a bit. I guess you'd get tired of anything if it was there forever, right? Even your pelt, like you said." The idea of being offended didn't even enter Hedgepaw's mind. It was gone instantly, dissipating like a small cloud on a windy day. "Yeah, fire--I'm just quoting what my Mamma said, though. I've never seen fire or leaf-fall. So we'll just have to see what she means when we get there!"

When Nettlepaw asked about her brother, Hedgepaw's green eyes gleamed. Her ears perked up. If there was anything she loved to talk about, it was her brothers. "Yeah!" she meowed happily. "My big brother Silverhawk! He's big and strong and he's Pineblossom's son which makes him my brother, only not by blood but he's still my brother anyway. And he has a friend called Hawkmist who isn't my brother, but he's still basically a family member because he's always around, and he's big and quiet but we play hide and seek sometimes. And I have other brothers that are my same age--you might've seen them around. There's Wolfpaw, who is really brave and not scared of anything. There's Stagpaw who is super strong and nice and he's twice my size. Then there's Fernpaw, and he's probably the smartest cat in the forest. I love them so much and they're all so cool!" She'd almost forgotten to breathe. She took in a deep breath, but couldn't get the smile off her face. "Your brother's... Crabpaw? I think I've met him once, before he got apprenticed. He was trying to steal all the prey in the fresh-kill pile, or something." Her head tilted--it was hard to remember back then, even though it hadn't been too long ago. "I don't remember. I'm sure he had a good reason. He seems very nice, though. And his fur is orange!"

Nettlepaw nodded glad everything had been cleared up and his spark returning. "I can't wait to see, hopefully it comes soon." He kneaded the ground in excitement, buzzing with the anticipation of all the bright colours and sights and "Do you think there'll be new smells? Everyone forgets about smells, but I remembered!" There weren't many smells he found in Leafbare now that he thought about it, everything was hiding.  There was a special word for it, but he hadn't cared to remember it. He wished he had, having a big vocabulary would be great, he could say all sorts of things if he had all the words, but he didn't. One day though he was sure he'd have a silver tongue and everyone would listen to what he said,, like he was important and not silly. Hedgepaw listened though and talked a lot, and that made him happy. She was going to be his first apprentice friend.

"Your brother sounds really cool, even if you're not blood. So does his friend Hawkmist. I wish I had grownup friends or an older brother then they could teach me loads of things and I'd be able to impress everyone." Nettlepaw dipped his head slightly, when he mentioned impressing everyone. He just wanted to be liked by everyone and have lots of friends. He wasn't sure how to go about it though, always getting mixed up, like when he got so excited he headbutted Swiftheart in front of everyone. She hadn't minded though at least. "I've heard of your other brothers, mostly cos we share a den. You're lucky, Hedgepaw it must be great having such a big family." At Crabpaw's name, Nettlepaw jumped up, stumpy tail twitching excitedly. "That's Crabpaw! He's pretty funny, and he always makes me laugh, but then we both get in trouble for being silly. Yeah and he's orange, but we still match a little bit. I have one eye the same colour as his, and we both have the same tail and we're both kind of fluffy." He turned around in a full circle for emphasis. "Your brothers are all kind of stripy, and their fur is kind of spiky right? You all look the same, but matching is good, you could pretend to be one another..." he dropped into a crouch and pounced forwards, sending up a poof of snow "...And do heaps of pranks and silly things!"

Hedgepaw grinned. This was fun. She spent so much time hanging out with her brothers, usually, that she forgot how nice it was to talk to other cats too. Nettlepaw was fun. "Yeah! I bet there will be," she agreed. "Lots of new smells, not just mud and snow and stuff. Maybe there'll be flowers! I've heard that flowers smell good. Kinda like the herbs Heatherberry uses, only not so bitter-smelling." She frowned a little bit at hearing that Nettlepaw didn't have any adult friends. "Don't you have a Mamma? I have a Mamma. Pineblossom is the she-cat who looks a lot like me only bigger, she's got white paws and really dark fur. I think she'd be your friend if you asked her. She's super nice and really good at teaching. Fernpaw's lucky, he got her as his mentor." She'd never really considered that others might not have a family in the same way she did, before. Nettlepaw did have a brother--but if his parents were dead or gone, then he might be a lot more lonely than she was. Her family was so big and so good that she forgot to be lonely most of the time. She'd never thought of it as being "lucky." But if she'd been born with only one brother, and then had no Mamma... Hedgepaw stepped a little bit closer to Nettlepaw and rested her small tail on top of his. "I know I'm not big or cool enough to teach you stuff, but we can be friends. Right? And then maybe you can hang out with my brothers sometimes. They're really great when you get to know them." Her deep green eyes gleamed as they looked at his. "And I'd like to hang out with you and Crabpaw sometime, too! He sounds fun, like you."

Nettlepaw moved around a lot when he was excited; it reminded her a little bit of Stagpaw. She giggled. "Mostly I look like my Mamma! But I'm so small no one would ever think I was her. Fernpaw's gray and Wolfpaw doesn't have any white, and Stagpaw's a bit lighter brown. Silverhawk doesn't look like me cause he's 'dopted, but he's still my brother anyway." One ear twitched thoughtfully at the mention of pranks. "I've never been great at doing silly things. Wolfpaw and Stagpaw were always better at that. But!" Her face brightened. "I'm real good at following. Like if someone asks me to do something, I can do it real good! I can never come up with good ideas on my own. But I have more fun just doing what everyone else wants to do, anyway." She dropped into a playful crouch, mirroring his own. "So if you wanna hang out or do something silly, you can just ask me, and I can probably help!"

An excited tremor ran through Nettlepaw, he could not wait to smell flowers! It seemed strange that anything pretty could even bloom in ShadowClan, but he could not wait to see the exceptions. The fact Hedgepaw seemed to understand too? No one else did! Crabpaw was far too excitable and Batpaw thought he was too pretty and... Maybe Orchidpaw would smell the flowers with him. He'd have to ask. The white tom was so caught up in his flower related fantasies that Hedgepaw's ramblings had hardly registered until they had. "Oh, I do! I've got a mama and a papa, but they're pretty busy and they're not in camp much, always adventuring or something." he answered [color=#cc9966]"Crabpaw and I are even named after one of their adventures, it is kind of funny. One day they were exploring and-" Nettlepaw glanced at Hedgepaw realising she'd moved closer, and had laid her tail atop his stump of a tail. It was a sudden, surprising gesture. One he hadn't experienced before and his eyes flashed with a warm confusion. "Wh-" Again his words were stripped from him as Hedgepaw raised her small voice. The apprentice ran his tongue over his teeth.

"You're plenty cool to me, Hedgepaw." he mewed matching the gentler, less excited turn their chat had taken. It was vastly different from how he imagined it would go, he just wanted to tease the dark furred tabby, but somehow she'd gotten him to really open up. At least he hadn't said any secrets yet, not hat he had any, but it felt like with this sudden openness he could spill any and everything. A happy purr rumbled in his chest. "I'd love to meet your whole family, and Crabpaw would think you're the best. Definitely! We'll teach you heaps of tricks, then you could prank anyone." Nettlepaw shuffled closer to Hedgepaw, mismatched gaze meeting her own forest green eyes, crinkling slightly "Friends." he said in agreement, nodding is head sharply. "I can't wait to hang out with you again!"