• A Muse Of Storms And Tragedy - A Warriors Apply Fic•

Chapter 4

The small molly awoke with a yawn, shifting in her nest uncomfortably. She'd open her eyes to darkness, the stars just starting to give way for the sun.

"Another early morning..." she'd mutter to herself.

"I've been awake for much longer, you shouldn't be complaining." The young mollies sister, Quiet, smiled amusingly.

"Yeah, yeah, I know." She chuckled, stretching, "I just hoped that I would get more sleep tonight, cause you know, Maplespots has been making me stay up later..." She'd chuckle nervously to herself.

"Silent, she's been making you stay up late since you were first apprenticed to her and her brother!" Quiet laughed.

"Aren't your names Silent and Quiet? Maybe you should start acting like that!" A white tom hissed, waking up his own littermate, Hawk.

"They weren't trying to wake anyone up, but you woke me up Flurry!" Hawk hissed quietly back to his littermate.

"Too bad, not like you can go back to sleep, the defenders and collectors are waking up," Flurry beamed brightly.

"Sometimes I wish I were the only Flocking in our litter." Hawk sighed, getting up and stretching. Before Silent could finish cleaning her pelt she heard a screech that could be heard all throughout the burrow, making the quadruple of flocklings scurry out of their own cave and into the main burrow where the sun shone through the many gaps in the canopy overhead. They snuck though the gathering crowd of worry-written expressions. When they had gotten to the center of the crowd they all gasped in shock, as they looked at the bloodied body of their Emperor. Silent looked at it with shock, one of her mentors, Troutspots padded to her side, dipping his head with grief for their fallen leader, and led Silent to his sister so she could train to get her mind off of the death. But before she could leave with Maplespots, her other mentor, she heard commotion from the paths near the canopy.

"How could you do that to me, Moonheart?! I had loved you, and you went behind my back-" before the voice could finish its sentence, they were flung across the canopy and slammed into the stone wall then fell to the ground, his pelt ruffled and slowly gaining blood like his father. The Sovereign, Sharpsky, had also now died.

"No! Sharpsky!" The skilled collector, Moonheart, called to the cat, running down the canopy path to the body. Silent watched as the collector cried at the Sovereigns side, while her mate, Soulfire watched the scene.

"Come on Silent, that's enough drama for the day, let's get you outside to train" Maplespots tried to get her attention. The molly looked to her two mentors both worried for her wellbeing,

"Can I train with Quiet today?" She asked, her eyes wide.

"Urm, yes, go get your sister, I'll tell her mentor's that we'll train her today, Troutspots will start training you today." Silent bolted to find her sister with Moonheart staring at Sharpsky's body, she turned her head to look at her sister. She didn't say anything but Silent knew what she was trying to say. The duo never spoke much about tragedies like these, their mother had died when they were born, they didn't make a fuss when they were born like the other flocklings, they were Silent and Quiet. Their mother only just named them when she had died, their father cared about them when they were flocklings, then when they became tenderfoots, he seemed to care less and less. Their father was Thrushspeck, but they never spoke anymore, he left them to train by themselves. So whenever the siblings need to talk, they just look at eachother and the words just hung there, out in the open for the other sibling to decipher them.

"We're going to train, you can join if you'd like, but I'm sure you'll like the way my mentors teach." Silent said softly, trending lightly making sure not to say the wrong things. Even if she wasn't used to speaking much.

"I understand, Violetpelt is grieving, and Sharpsky, well...we both know he can no longer teach me..." Quiet glanced at the body of her former mentor then back at her sister, "Plus, it would be interesting to train with your mentors." Quiet nodded to her sister to lead the way. Silent led them to Troutspots' who was waiting patiently for the two of them to join him.

"You don't speak much do you? You're like your sister." Troutspots laughed amusingly.

"It wouldn't do us much good if we were not like our names." Quiet explained, almost in the exact words her sister used when Troutspots asked Silent the same question.

"We're Silent and Quiet, what would you expect when those are our names?" Silent asked her mentor as they headed to the training grounds.

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean you should live up to it, you two should be able to speak your mind-" Troutspots tried to explain before the duo both interrupted him.

"But we do," They both said.

"We don't need to speak to speak our mind," Quiet explained.

"We just learned social cues well enough to read someone's true expressions and words." Silent finished.

"But that can't always help in battles-" Troutspots tried again.

"It can be very useful to stay silent and quietly tell the others what to do if you were to lead a battle." Quiet started again, leaving her sister to finish explaining once more.

"It's a smart technique to catch your enemy by surprise, though you'll also need the strength as well if they were expecting you to attack."

"Would you two stop acting as if you've been in numerous battle situations and listen to me?" Troutspots whined.

"Stop teasing my brother, he's dumb enough already," Maplespots chuckled, seeing her brother's confidence die completely.

"I'm not dump, I'm a great defender," Troutspots whined.

"You're a great defender if going headfirst into the battle, the last time a fox showed up you were confined in the Mender's den for nearly a moon." Maplespots laughed.

"But-" Troutspots tried to explain but got cut off by his sister, making Silent and Quiet try to hold back a laugh.

"Enough teasing, let's get started, first we'll start with hunting, find us two rabbits and a small bird, each, before the sun sets then we'll teach you both how to fight tomorrow." The sisters nodded before going off in different ways, having before challenged each other to see who would get the prey first.

***

Silent had been waiting at the entrance of the Burrow for quite some time now, watching eagerly for her sister to return. Troutspots sat beside Silent, and had tried to make conversation with her, Silent tried to respond to him, but in the way she would speak with her sister. So he didn't understand her, but when did he even try to?

"Two more moons till you become a fully fledged tenderfoot?" Troutspots asked. Silent looked up to her mentor, feeling sympathy towards him for trying so hard. But when she tried she couldn't speak a word, just looked at Troutspots with wide eyes hoping that he knew that she was trying to say, 'Just one more moon, but why would you ask me that when I miss my sister?'

"Heh, urm, one more moon?" Troutspot asked awkwardly, he then sighed, "I wish I could understand you better, I promise that I'll pay more attention to you, to learn your weird social cues." He sighed, getting up to leave the small tenderfoot to herself.

"You don't need to pay more attention to me, and my 'weird' social cues, I don't need everyone to understand me, just Quiet..." Silent muttered quietly.

"I know, but I 'want' to care for you, I 'want' to learn your social cues so I can help you if something happens." Troutspots sighed, walking back up to Silent and pressing his muzzle down to her crown then turned around and let her wait for her sister. Silent watched as Troutspots left, the other tenderfoot watched Silent and the entrance anxiously, also worried for Quiet to return safely.

"Sharpsky's death was a sign from the tribe of Gloom! The clan of Shining is leaving them in control!" The voice of Beecloud, the Mender in training, yelped throughout the Burrow. Her father Sunfoot trailing behind slowly his fur having grey accents, "And Quiet might be next!"

*1404 words*