i found myself a hideout, where no one can find me now [c]

Hedgepaw had been training for what felt like three nights straight. Had she ever really had much free time? Back when she was a younger apprentice, everything had seemed so much easier and lighter; now, she worked and worked and worked, and still appeared no closer to achieving her goal. But what was the point? Fernpaw was laid up in the medicine den more often than not recovering. Wolfpaw was... sick, still, in his mind. How could they earn their dream of becoming warriors together if she was the only one to receive her name? So she didn't mind it, so much. She didn't mind being stuck in the apprentice den if she was just waiting for her brothers. She had Fishpaw there, too, so it wasn't too bad. But still.... What if everyone left her behind? She tried not to think about it. There was no reason to think about it. Everything would be fine. She just had to believe that.

She was resting her paws for a brief moment, having found just a second to breathe after her second hunting patrol of the night. When the little apprentice heard pawsteps behind her, she stood back up, ears pricked into a listening position. Was it another warrior, come to find her for more training? However, she blinked in pleasant surprise when she saw Nightowl approaching. "Oh!" Hedgepaw smiled widely. "Nightowl! It's nice to see you." She hadn't expected him to come looking for her--unless something was wrong with one of her brothers?--but she dismissed that thought as quickly as it came, for his expression was not a somber one. Instead, he said that he'd missed her. A mixture of delight and guilt swirled in her stomach. Delighted that he had thought of her and missed her, but guilty that the heavy burden of her training had caused her to at all neglect her good friend. "I missed you, too." She looked up at him carefully. When had he become so tall? He was younger than her, wasn't he? But he'd grown so fast, and now he was the only full medicine cat of ShadowClan. Whereas she... well. She was useless. Still, seeing him standing there, for her, made her step forward and nuzzle her nose into his shoulder. It felt nice, his dark pelt on her face. It felt nice to be there with him. Her friend. "Sorry I've been so busy all the time," she murmured. Her smile had slipped away, but he couldn't see it from here. "I think about you lots. I hope you've been doing okay."

When Nightowl spoke again, Hedgepaw stepped back, tilting her head up to meet his gaze. Seeing his expression grow lighter did ease some of the strange, uncomfortably distant jealousy that had almost begun to grow in the pit of her chest. How could she not smile, seeing him smile back at her? And if he'd thought of her, and come here to talk to her... "Of course," she said warmly. Memories of after the owl attack, when he'd taken her out of the medicine den to go look at the first flowers of newleaf, soothed away the edges of exhaustion from her face. "Anything. What'd you want to show me?"