A Bird's Call

Mosspaw had painstakingly made her way outside of the twoleg nest to rest in the sunlight. A couple sunrises had come and gone since she sustained her injury, and while it didn't burn anymore, it still hurt to try to move around or do anything. Forced to stay still by both Amberdawn and Flintfang, she was beginning to feel trapped and useless, and she wanted desperately to help more. However, she resigned to staying within the makeshift camp with a sigh. She closed her eyes, her pelt warming in the light of the newleaf sun, and lifted her head into the breeze. The different scents of each individual clans had morphed, forming into some strange mix of all of them from the time spent together. It was hard to remember each specific scent, as they mingled together as she pondered them. From behind came the scent of herbs, one that had grown familiar and comforting in the days since winding up in this spot and through helping Amberdawn however she could. The pretty calico apprentice's head slowly lowered to the ground with another sigh, feeling awfully torn between the smell of fresh-kill and the smell of new herbs.

Perhaps to a different cat, there wouldn’t have been much to love about the East Shore. The areas where the water had begun to recede were muddy and covered in debris; the solid ground in between was dotted with trees and Twoleg nests. At best, it was still a far cry from the boundless moor most WindClanners knew to be home. But where older, wiser warriors may have seen danger, Ravenpaw saw an opportunity. To an apprentice young enough to feel invincible, it seemed as if he’d washed up on the shore of a great adventure. He’d never caught so many scents in one place before. Even as his nose prickled, even though he didn’t know what each part meant, the mishmash of smells made his heart thrill.

Having gotten bored of investigating Twoleg nests for now, Ravenpaw ventured into the sunlight and almost immediately spotted an unfamiliar face. Fluffy tail waving behind him, he hurried over, paying little mind to how relaxed Mosspaw looked. He had no friends back home; to him, this seemed like the perfect chance to change that. ”Hey!” he called with a smile, hoping Mosspaw wouldn't mind being interrupted. ”Where’d you come from?” Had she been hiding in one of the nests this whole time? Of course, he’d spent his days on the East Shore sleeping apart from everyone but Brookclover, so it was hardly Mosspaw’s fault he thought she’d appeared out of nowhere. A rabbit's hop from the calico she-cat, Ravenpaw drew up short. Her scent was different from Brookclover’s. Most cats’ scents were different from Brookclover’s—but this one was really different. He opened his mouth to ask, considered how awful a greeting that was, and switched tactics. ”Sorry, hi, I’m Ravenpaw.”

At the sudden call, Mosspaw's ears swiveled, and she slowly opened her eyes to see a small black apprentice making his way towards her. She raised her head as he stopped nearby, smiling as she answered his question. "I've been stuck in the twoleg nest the last couple of sunrises. Amberdawn has been keeping an eye on me." She responded, looking over the tom. She didn't recognize him... Perhaps he had recently found the camp. He smelled predominantly like... Was that WindClan? "What are you apologizing for? It's nice to meet you Ravenpaw. I'm Mosspaw." She purred as she answered, then attempted to sit up. Wincing at the stretching of her chest as she did, she slowly worked her way so she was sitting, looking at the younger apprentice with a warm expression.

So she had been hiding. Judging by her smile, Mosspaw wasn’t mad at him, either. In Ravenpaw’s eyes, this conversation was already a roaring success. ”Me too! Must’ve been a different nest from mine.” Then Mosspaw mentioned an Amberdawn, and the triumphant feeling in his chest abruptly vanished, along with his smile. Was that someone he was supposed to know? He was beginning to wish he’d asked Brookclover about his Clanmates rather than running off to poke his nose into StarClan-knows-what as soon as he’d had the energy. Unless this wasn’t a Clanmate… ”Amberdawn,” he said, frowning, as if saying the name would conjure up Amberdawn’s image in his head. Predictably, it did not. ”…Who’s Amberdawn?”

When Mosspaw sat up, she did so in such a slow and painful-looking way that Ravenpaw grimaced in sympathy. His gaze darted down to her chest once, then twice, then stayed there. His apprenticeship had yet to include fighting of any sort, much less a battle with a creature outside the Warrior Code; he couldn’t begin to imagine what had done that. ”I thought you might be busy,” he meowed, looking back up at Mosspaw's face with wide eyes. ”What—what’s that from?” Maybe asking why her scent was so different would've been a safer question after all. Oh, well. Too late to take it back now.

With a soft laugh, Mosspaw agreed. "Yes, it must have been a different nest. I don't think I've seen you around either!" She watched as the tom's smile faded, but was relieved when it was just a bit of uncertainty the caused it. "Amberdawn is from SkyClan, she's a medicine cat. And an excellent one, too." She purred, thinking of her new friend. "You'll meet a lot of new people here, they're all very kind for the most part."

Her tail tip flicked as she watched the apprentice gaze at the wound, curious as to what he was thinking. It hurt too much to twist her head down, so she hadn't been able to see it herself, but with as much pain as it caused her, it surely wasn't a pleasant sight. With a shake of her head she responded. "No, I'm not busy. I've been pretty well cooped up here for a while, I was getting pretty bored actually." She laughed lightly before the tom's last question was ask. After a moment of hesitation, she explained. "My father and I were hunting and we ran into a raccoon. It wasn't very happy with me for disrupting it's slumber..." She trailed off momentarily before speaking again reassuringly. "But don't worry! We got it back, it no longer walks among the trees here." She flicked her tail towards the trees where the event had taken place, and then tucked it neatly at her paws.

"So, Ravenkit, did you recently become an apprentice?"

A medicine cat! Ravenpaw had never met one of those before. He didn’t like the idea of spending his days cooped up in a den with a bunch of plants for company, but it couldn’t hurt to find Amberdawn and ask her a thing or two. Best case scenario, he’d gain a friend. That wasn’t the only part of Mosspaw’s answer that stuck in his head, though. Tilting his head, he asked, ”You mean there are other Clans here?” Ravenpaw hadn’t expected the flood to deposit the Clans neatly in five separate areas, but he hadn’t expected it not to do that, either. Honestly, he’d hardly thought about the other Clans at all. Was that where the weird scents were coming from, then?

Yet another question—what’s a raccoon—wormed its way into Ravenpaw’s mouth. This time, he held his tongue. Did he really want to know? Despite Mosspaw’s reassurance that the beast had been dealt with, Ravenpaw eyed the trees nervously. When nothing emerged, he turned back to Mosspaw and settled into a sitting position, trying not to look too relieved. ”I’m glad it’s gone, then,” he declared with the confidence of a cat who hadn’t been fully expecting the raccoon to make an appearance moments before. ”That sounds scary. I don’t want to fight a raccoon.” Not that he couldn't fight a raccoon—all right, he definitely couldn't, but he didn't need to go announcing that.

Glad to get his mind off of raccoons, the apprentice nodded. ”Yeah! A few sunrises ago, I think. Brookclover’s my mentor,” he meowed proudly, sitting as tall as his still relatively kitten-sized body permitted. ”How long have you been one?” He wasn't much good with ages, but he guessed Mosspaw was older than him based on her size and, more importantly, the fact that she'd met a SkyClanner.

Blinking at Ravenpaw for a moment, Mosspaw nodded. "Yes, I believe there's some cats from every clan here... I've met some cats from WindClan, RiverClan, SkyClan, and ShadowClan... And then I'm from ThunderClan with my family." She straightened a little as she mentioned her clan, pride surging through her even through the throb of pain from her wound.

Watching as the young apprentice eyed the trees, she suppressed a purr. "I am too. It was quite scary, that was my first time actually fighting something... Not something I particularly want to do again. But it was necessary, and both Flintfang and I are okay now, and there's no risk of the raccoon attacking anyone else. Hopefully you won't ever have to fight one, but if you do you should be prepared." She gazed at him, blue-green eyes watching him as he spoke again.

"How exciting! Congratulations. There's a lot to learn, but you seem quick to learn. You'll have no issue." She smiled at him, although she had never heard of Brookclover... Sure that they would eventually run into each other, she shrugged it off. She stiffened a little at his question. How long had it been?... "About... A couple moons, probably? I became an apprentice before the flood, and with everything that's happened I seem to have lost track of time!" She purred, although the question tugged at the back of her mind a little. How long did she have left to becoming a warrior? Did she want to become a warrior? Shaking herself back to the present, she waved her tail around the camp. "What do you think of this place?"

Had he been aware of it, Ravenpaw would have tried to hide how his ears eagerly swiveled further forward at the mention of other Clans; however, he was too lost in Mosspaw’s words to pay it any mind. The lives of those outside WindClan (or those outside WindClan’s nursery—it had all been the same to him then) had always interested him. Here he was, surrounded by cats from other Clans, and he hadn’t even known! For a moment, he wondered why Brookclover hadn’t told him. She’d mentioned WindClan when she’d dug him out of the mud, but…

His doubts were forgotten when his Clan’s name popped up. Honestly, being an apprentice was a far bigger deal to him than just being a WindClanner, but he still took some pride in what little he remembered of his home. ”I’m from WindClan,” he meowed, eyes lighting up as if he’d only just realized this fact himself. ”That’s so cool! What’s ThunderClan like? I heard it has…” Ravenpaw broke off, straining to recall the many stories he'd heard floating around the nursery. ”Trees! A lot of trees.”

Was this an invitation to ask for raccoon-fighting tips? For a long moment, he considered it; another quick look at the wounds on Mosspaw’s chest convinced him to swallow his questions. He’d been lucky so far, and if that luck ran out, he still had Brookclover. No reason to stress about something that would never happen, right? He didn’t get a chance to voice this, however; when Mosspaw went on, Ravenpaw’s mouth snapped shut before he could get the first word out, and he averted his eyes until the warmth receded from his face. ”Um, thanks.” Complements were something else he hadn't gotten used to; coming from someone who had real experience as an apprentice, even though she didn’t know Ravenpaw well, it was a surprise. A nice surprise.

Upon meeting Mosspaw’s eyes again, he finally returned the smile, so focused on himself that he missed the way she’d tensed and instead plowed right ahead with his answer. ”It’s…” The tiny apprentice trailed off as he cast a glance around the makeshift camp. Wet was a good word. Weird-smelling probably counted, too. But Ravenpaw was as determined as ever to put a positive spin on this place—maybe even more so now that he knew it was full of cats from across the Clans—and “wet” and “weird-smelling” weren’t exactly redeeming features. ”It’s different.” That wasn’t a good thing, either. He pressed his paws into the soft earth, frowning, deep in thought. ”Not like WindClan at all. The nests are nice and warm, and I’ve had a lot of different prey, and all the other Clans are here.” Mosspaw knew that already, but that didn't stop him from adding it to the list. In the end, he allowed himself one criticism: ”I wish it was less muddy, though. It's kind of gross.”

The calico apprentice's eyes gleamed with amusement at Ravenpaw's enthusiasm, it was almost contagious. "WindClan, huh? From what my mentor told me WindClan and ThunderClan are in an alliance, so we get along and help each other!" She purred, finding herself excited to share her knowledge of the clans, especially her own. "ThunderClan territory does have a lot of trees, but there are some clearings that we use for training so there's more space. The trees offer a lot of places for prey to hide. And I hear that in newleaf, when it warms up, they get things called leaves that are green. I can't wait to see it! I'm sure it's beautiful." She gazed out over the lake they had settled beside, staring towards the horizon, uncertain exactly which way home was... Looking back down at the black tom, she tilted her head as he looked away and fell silent. Afraid she had said something that upset him, she stiffened, relaxing only once he had responded and smiled back at her.

She touched her tail to his shoulder in agreement. "Different is a good word. It's nothing like ThunderClan either... But it has certainly be an adventure... Not sure I would want to do it again, but because of it I've met so many wonderful cats from other clans, like Amberdawn, Leafaw, and you! I'm glad that I was able to meet and talk to all of you." She looked down at the ground as he added one criticism, suppressing a purr of amusement as she lifted a paw to inspect it. Definitely. We are in agreement there. At this rate I'm afraid I'll develop webbed paws like RiverClan and ShadowClan! I don't think I'll ever get the mud out of my pelt either." She would have turned her head to gaze at her back, but at the moment the injury at her chest prevented such a motion, so she settled to start grooming the paw she had raised.

Through the methodical laps of her tongue along her paw, she asked another question to Ravenpaw. "Have you had any training yet? My first training session was a battle training session."

”That’s great! Maybe I could visit, then!“ To Ravenpaw, this—barging onto another Clan’s territory to see a cat he’d spoken to once—seemed perfectly reasonable. Exciting. A proper adventure. Only once he learned how to fend for himself, of course; he didn’t want to get carried off by a hawk or worse. Did ThunderClan have hawks? Mosspaw went on to describe ThunderClan’s territory; all that accomplished was making Ravenpaw wish he was in ThunderClan more ardently than what was probably acceptable for a WindClanner. He almost mentioned this, but his mind had wandered back to trees and leaves. When another thought rushed in, he was too happy to take that route rather than letting the conversation turn to how they were here and not home. Besides, this was more important. Dropping his voice to a whisper, he said, ”I want to try climbing.” As soon as the words were out of his mouth, he glanced over his shoulder. ”It’s not like I’ll get a chance to once we go back, but...” Now he’d gone and mentioned home anyway. Oh, well.

”…You’re actually the first cat I’ve met.” The thoughtful frown reappeared; his single white paw tapped absently against the ground. ”Aside from Brookclover, but I don’t know if she counts.” She’d called him by name before yanking him out of the mud, so he couldn’t technically say that was their first meeting, could he? ”I think I still have mud on me from when I washed up,” he said on a laugh. ”Webbed paws might be cool, but they’re not worth that!”

Oh, he hadn’t thought this through. Though he’d told Mosspaw he was a new apprentice without hesitation—with pride, even—there was something embarrassing about admitting he’d learned nothing in the days since getting his -paw suffix. ”I, um, I haven’t. I will soon,” he added in a rush, nodding to emphasize the “soon” bit. Brookclover hadn’t mentioned when his training would begin, but since nobody to his knowledge had suggested leaving the shore behind, Ravenpaw was sure she wouldn’t put it off until they were back home. But if she did…What if he reached warrior age without learning anything at all? What if he had to lead a patrol without knowing what a basic hunting crouch looked like? What if he had to lead a patrol without knowing what most of the moor looked like? That was a horrible train of thought, and Ravenpaw was glad to pull himself out of it. He had gone quiet for a bit, though. Time to fix that. Clearing his throat, he asked, ”What’s it like, fighting another cat? Who was it? Did you win?” Part genuine curiosity, part trying to gather hints for later. That was one nice thing about not having started his training yet; if he figured out what everyone else was doing and put it into practice, he’d be leaps and bounds ahead of WindClan’s other apprentices before they knew it! ...Or something like that.

Mosspaw jumped as his declaration that he would visit, as it caught her off-guard. She stuttered for a moment as she collected her thought before responding. "I... I don't think that's allowed, you would have to ask your mentor about it... She trailed off, before smiling again. "Tree-climbing is... Interesting. I've only done it once, so I can't speak much on it... SkyClan would be better to talk to about it."

The calico watched him curiously as his paw tapped on the ground. "Well, I'm glad that I have the honor of being the first! I'm sure you'll make lots of friends, don't worry." She smiled at him and nodded in agreement with a little laughter. "I feel the same. They are most definitely not!"

"There's been a lot going on, I'm sure you'll get plenty of training. After all, even in these hard times, we've needed to keep up on your training, and we could use more paws to bring back fresh kill." She gently laid her tail on shoulder in encouragement. "You'll do great. You'll have to tell me all about it after! It was... interesting. It was just against my mentor, so we kept our claws sheathed. I mostly learned new moves and tried them out on her. She definitely would have won, I stood no chance. She's an amazing warrior..." She trailed off, worry enveloping her heart as she though of her mentor, Emberheart. Shaking her head to stop imagining the worst, she imagine Emberheart waiting for her back home in the forest, safe and sound, and wondering where her apprentice was.