CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
HAZELPAW | THUNDERCLAN CAMP
The days flew by quickly, everything a whir until it halted, the day before the Gathering. Every cat clearly had felt the same as Hazelpaw this day; tired, slow, just bored out of your mind. Hazelpaw blinked tiredly at the descending sun, yawning, then jumped back when something flew into her flank.
"Haselpraw!" Aqua's oldest daughter, Raccoonkit, peered up at the tortoiseshell apprentice, tail whisking. "Can you pway with us?"
Hazelpaw purred, swallowing a giggle. "Of course." Aqua's kittens mispronounced everything which always made Hazelpaw chuckle. They made every day worth something.
"Can we pw-" Puddlekit, Aqua's second oldest and named after her late father, paused, frowning at the ground in concentration. "Pl-pl-play Cwans?"
Hazelpaw fought against a wince. Clans, again? Didn't these kits know moss-ball or hide-and-seek?
"How about we play tag?" Hazelpaw suggested semi-hopefully. Willowkit gave her the best withering kit look she could manage before turning away to her sisters.
"No. Too bowing." Raccoonkit complained. "Cwans! Cwans!"
Hazelpaw sighed. "Hide-and-seek?"
"No!" All three kits shouted at her. "Cwans!"
Help me StarClan. They're going to make me the elder again. Hazelpaw sighed.
"I call being weader!" Raccoonkit stepped forward. "Call me Waccoonstar."
"Who's deputy?" Hazelpaw asked.
"Um..." Raccoonkit trailed off.
"Me! Me! Pwease..." meowed Puddlekit, then piped back up. "Willowkit was deputy wast time!"
"Point made." Raccoonkit nodded, not allowing Willowkit to speak. "Puddlekit is deputy!"
"Can I be the medicine cat?" Willowkit looked defeated at not being deputy.
"Yeah!" Raccoonkit meowed.
Before Hazelpaw could open her mouth to ask if she could be a warrior, Ryekit and Lizardkit, Ravenwhisker's kits, burst out of the nursery.
"Free! At last!" Lizardkit cheered, circling around his sister.
Raccoonkit's tail whisked playfully. "Hey! You two!"
The siblings whirled around at the same time. Ryekit's face expressed complete disgust, whereas Lizardkit's face portrayed curiosity.
"What?" Ryekit asked, nose stuck up in the air, stalking over pompously.
"Can you pway with us?" Puddlekit pleaded.
Ryekit scoffed. "Never."
"Why not?" Willowkit argued, brows furrowing.
Ryekit glanced over her shoulder at her brother, then looked back. "First, you three don't have Clan blood. Mother tells us you'll contaminate my perfect Clan bloodline if I am near you too long. Second, you don't speak properly. I don't want to mingle with flea-bags like you."
Hazelpaw was at a loss for words. Ryekit marched away, tail in the air. Lizardkit looked torn, whiskers quivering. He padded after Ryekit, casting the group an apologetic look over his shoulder.
"Did she mean that, Haselpraw?" Willowkit sniffled, ears flattened. Hazelpaw's heart broke at her crestfallen look. "That we're... 'fwea-bags' and can't speak pwoperwy?"
"No, no, of course not." Hazelpaw crouched, nudging Willowkit's cheek. "I think she woke up with ants in her pelt this morning, so she's very irritable today. She'll apologize later." Not that she has ever been nice to them, but this time she crossed the line. Hazelpaw grinded her teeth. Didn't Ryekit notice Hazelpaw? But what upset Hazelpaw the most was how she let Ryekit hurt their feelings. Hazelpaw was an apprentice. She had authority over kits - or so she was told.
"I don't want to pway anymore." Raccoonkit dragged her tail. "I'm going to Aqua." The she-kit walked to the nursery, head hanging.
"Same." The other two she-kits mumbled, racing after Raccoonkit.
Hazelpaw sighed. Ravenwhisker had rubbed her distaste for Aqua and her kittens to Ryekit rather quickly.
Nectarstar's voice snapped her out of her thoughts.
"Gather around if you are old enough to catch prey!" Nectarstar yowled.
Hazelpaw shook her fur out, realizing he was going to announce who was attending the Gathering. With a renewed joy, she took a seat next to Dewpaw.
"The Gathering is tomorrow night, and I'd like to address the cats attending the Gathering," Nectarstar cleared his throat. "Honeypool, Mistysong, Doeblaze, Sweetberry, Fallowbrair, Larchtail, Cloverheart, Vixenheart, Wrencry, Runningsky, Stormpaw, and Dewpaw."
Hazelpaw's whiskers twitched in disappointment. Nevertheless, when Dewpaw bounced over, any bitterness faded away. Dewpaw's energy somewhat made Hazelpaw feel good, too.
"Tell me if Hailpaw and Swiftpaw are there. They should be; they told me last Gathering they were earning their warrior names sometime this past moon." Hazelpaw ordered, then sweetly added. "Please?"
"Will do!" Dewpaw chirped, tail lashing. "I'm so excited! I know I've already been to a Gathering, but it never gets boring, you know?"
Hazelpaw purred, ear flicking. "I know. I wish I was going." With a wistful sigh, she shook her pelt.
"Ooh, I hope Adderpaw, Flypaw, and Sagepaw are there!" Dewpaw suddenly meowed, about to say more when Lynxpaw trotted in. Dewpaw's eyes immediately went to his, and a smirk appeared on her face. "Lynxpaw, how will you survive the night tomorrow?"
"Huh - what?" Lynxpaw, not expecting that question, stepped back, bewildered. Hazelpaw leaned forward, also surprised but invested.
"Your dear Stormpaw is going away for more than half of the night. Who'll keep you warm?"
Lynxpaw rolled his eyes, irritated. "Dewpaw, I don't love her. She doesn't love me. Besides, she doesn't sleep next to me; you two do."
Dewpaw looked like she wasn't going to give up, but shook her head, deciding against it. "Well, I'm going to go find Larchtail and ask to patrol or something." Dewpaw bounced away.
"She gets on your tail, doesn't she?" Hazelpaw asked Lynxpaw, noticing his frustrated expression.
"It's fine," he muttered. "Dewpaw has always acted like this. I shouldn't be bothered by it." Just as he turned away to do who-knows-what, Hazelpaw cut him off.
"But you are bothered by it. Just tell Dewpaw to stop. She'll stop." Hazelpaw mewed, brushing his side with her tail.
Lynxpaw looked at her, then over his shoulder in Dewpaw's direction, then back. "I'll get over it eventually. Soon we can joke about it. I don't want to prevent that from happening. That's something we can laugh about when we're down."
Hazelpaw smiled, stepping back. "Well said."
---
if its hard to read the kits baby talk, here are all the translations (i totally understand if you had trouble with some):
Haselpraw = Hazelpaw (side note; i like to think its pronounced hassle-praw)
pway = play
Cwans = Clans
bowing = boring
weader = leader
Waccoon = Raccoon (makes me laugh when Raccoonkit can't pronounce her own name correctly)
Pwease = Please
wast = last
fwea-bags = flea-bags
pwoperwy = properly
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Warriors: Shadows in the Light - Veiled Stars
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