Warriors: Distant Echoes

CHAPTER 17

Sleetpaw padded into camp, the sun descending in the sky behind him. He was exhausted from a day of training and hunting with Lightningblaze, a few pieces of fresh kill dangling from his jaws. Keeping some for himself to eat, he dropped the rest on the fresh kill pile. As he did so, Honeypaw came walking up to him.

"Hi, Sleetpaw. Good day? I see you caught a lot of prey!" Honeypaw beamed.
"Yep. Lightningblaze and I caught quite a lot between us," Sleetpaw said, placing down his food so he could speak. "I wonder if Foxpaw is back in camp. His disappearance this morning has been worrying me all day."
"Hopefully he'll be there now. Let's go take some fresh kill over and see if he's there, yeah? If he isn't, we'll have to tell Hailstar to send out a patrol to search for him." Honeypaw said softly.
"...Alright." Sleetpaw sighed, picking back up his fresh kill.

The two walked together, side by side, heading to the apprentice den and nudging their way in through the plants growing across the entrance. Sleetpaw's heart sank as he only saw Kindlepaw, Quailpaw, Pumpkinpaw and Dandelionpaw, but Honeypaw suddenly bounded to the back of the den and with a sigh of relief he spotted Foxpaw.

"Hey Honeypaw!" Foxpaw smiled, raising his head from the rabbit he was eating.

Honeypaw placed down the mouse she had plucked from the fresh kill pile and sat beside Foxpaw. Sleetpaw padded over to them. His argument with Foxpaw days ago was still fresh in his mind, but he was relieved to see his brother safe and sound, sitting down beside Honeypaw.

"Where were you?" Honeypaw asked. "You disappeared early this morning. You had us worried sick! And Copperflame, too!"
"Sorry. I went out hunting." Foxpaw lied. "I brought back quite a bit of fresh kill. I thought the pile could do with topping up and I woke up early, so I felt like going out and sorting it myself."
"You could've at least told someone where you were going!" Honeypaw groaned.
"It slipped my mind," Foxpaw said quickly, before glancing at Sleetpaw.

"Hey, Sleetpaw...sorry for making you snap at me the other day. I realised while I was out this morning how wrong I was—"
"No, no, Foxpaw, it wasn't your fault. I shouldn't have lost my temper." Sleetpaw interrupted.
"Let me finish. I was wrong to believe anything Hailstar ever told the clan was justified. I can't believe I let myself believe in him and his words for so long." Foxpaw said, his voice hushed to not alert his denmates closer to the entrance.
"...I'm glad you understand now." Sleetpaw said, surprised to see Foxpaw's attitude had changed so quickly. "But I still want to apologise to you for yelling at you. That wasn't the right way to handle it and I'm sorry for that."
"That's okay." Foxpaw smiled softly. "I hope we can stop avoiding each other so much now."
"Of course." Sleetpaw nodded. "I didn't like feeling so distant from you. You're my brother, after all. No matter how many times we fall out, that will never change."
"Thank you, Sleetpaw."

The apprentices then tucked in to their long awaited meals. Sleetpaw was grateful, not only to have his growling stomach filled with food but to have his brother on good terms with him again. Part of him wondered how he so quickly shifted his opinions about Hailstar's leadership, but he was just grateful that he did.

After the trio had eaten, the sun had almost fully set and the other apprentices were heading to their nests. Honeypaw stood up, stretching out her body and yawning.
"Well, we better get to sleep." she mewed, padding over to her moss bed.
"Yeah. I'm exhausted!" Sleetpaw agreed as he too got to his feet, Foxpaw following behind.

"Foxpaw?" Honeypaw mewed.
"Yes?" Foxpaw asked as he stood above his moss bed.
"Is that a wound on your hind leg? How did that happen?" she asked, turning her gaze towards the bite mark Timberpaw had given Foxpaw during their scuffle earlier.
"O-Oh. I just scratched it on some brambles when I was hunting." Foxpaw said quickly, curling up in his nest and hiding his leg from view. "It doesn't hurt that much, it'll be fine."
"...Okay, if you say so." Honeypaw sighed. "Goodnight Foxpaw. Goodnight Sleetpaw."