Waging War Book 3: Blood Red Moon {COMPLETE}

Chapter 29

"You did a great job, Blossompaw." Mudfall praised. "You didn't miss a single piece of prey. I'm proud of you." Blossompaw held her head high at Mudfall's praise. "As promised, you can come to the gathering tonight."

Excitement bubbled up inside of Blossompaw and her tail twitched happily. "Thank you so much, Mudfall." She dipped her head respectfully.

"You should be thanking yourself, you're the one who passed the assessment." Mudfall gave her an approving nod and began leading Blossompaw back to camp after they gathered her caught prey.

For the first time in moons Blossompaw felt as if she had been making genuine improvements with her hunting ability. She had adjusted to hunting in the snow, and she had made less and less mistakes. Even when she did make mistakes she made certain not to dwell on them, she would think about why she made the mistake and she would make sure she didn't make the same mistake again.

She hated to admit it, but Slatepaw's advice had helped her a lot. Not that she would ever let him know. She knew that when she saw him at the gathering tonight he would have bragging rights about their contest, but she didn't care. She could handle his insults. She had to admit she enjoyed going back and forth with Slatepaw, but she wasn't sure why she enjoyed it so much. Maybe she enjoyed watching him get annoyed, she wasn't sure but it still amused her.

Blossompaw shook away her thoughts about Slatepaw and followed Mudfall back into SunClan camp where everything was business as usual. The forest was still snowy, but it hadn't been snowing nearly as much and the sun had been out most days. She looked around, watching her Clanmates work and talk with each other, but there was one cat she worried about the most.

She briefly saw Owlpaw vanishing into the medicine cat den. She had barely seen her sister over the last half-moon or so. Ever since she had came back to the camp with blood on her paws and told Dawnstar that AshClan had attacked MoonClan and Riverstar killed Shadowstar. The news had been incredibly shocking to the cats of SunClan but Blossompaw could see how much it was bothering Owlpaw as she had seen the whole thing take place, she had also informed SunClan that MountainClan was without a medicine cat and that was taking a mental toll on her as well.

Blossompaw wished she could help her sister, but Owlpaw was burying herself in her work as a medicine cat and wasn't talking much to anyone. Blossompaw could get Owlpaw to agree to share some with with their brothers, but she would just sit silently with a damaged look in her eyes. It made Blossompaw's heart ache that Owlpaw was struggling so much. She had tried to figure out how to help her, but nothing seemed to work.

Blossompaw couldn't bring Shadowstar back to life and she couldn't give MountainClan a new medicine cat. She was a little upset that the responsibility of finding a MountainClan medicine cat had fallen solely onto Owlpaw's shoulders. She's a SunClan cat, not a MountainClan one. She knew that Owlpaw had played a huge role in forming the Clan, but the Clan was formed. It was no longer her responsibility to take care of that Clan, Blossompaw just wished Owlpaw would see it that way.

Blossompaw let out a sigh, she had been improving her warrior skills but she felt like she could do nothing as a sister to support Owlpaw. She's dealing with things that no apprentice should be dealing with. It's not fair to her.

Blossompaw waited for the rest of the day to pass and soon it was time for the Clan to start preparing to leave for the gathering. She stood with Oakpaw and Rushpaw who were equally as excited to attend the gathering. Blossompaw watched as Owlpaw joined up with Honeyfrost and Pebblestep, she looked exhausted. Has she not been sleeping? Blossompaw wondered anxiously.

"Before we leave," Dawnstar spoke up, silencing the sound of chatter from the rest of SunClan. "We need to be prepared for the situation we'll be heading into. Things will be incredibly tense between AshClan and MoonClan but as of right now it is not SunClan's business to get involved." Blossompaw noticed Owlpaw staring down at the ground while Dawnstar spoke. "We will honor the loss of Shadowstar, as he was a great warrior, friend and leader, but we will not be starting nor joining in on any arguments between the two Clans. I will do my best to mediate the situation and prevent a physical fight if it arises."