Flowerstar's Judgement {COMPLETE}

Chapter 26

The sun was shining bright. Flowerpelt padded through the lush forest, making sure that her moves were silent. Icepaw was easy to spot, the snow as gone and now her white pelt stood out against the green forest. Her apprentice was stalking a large squirrel that had no idea that Icepaw was near. The white she-cat leapt forward and killed the squirrel before it could even realize what was happening. She's gonna make a wonderful warrior. Flowerpelt purred, feeling a rush of pride for her apprentice, she had really come a long way.

Stormwind and Flowerpelt were currently holding an assessment for their apprentices, it wasn't their warrior assessments but those wouldn't be too far behind. Both Icepaw and Snowpaw had become very skilled hunters and fighters. Flowerpelt continued to follow her apprentice who had already caught a shrew, a vole and a blackbird before the squirrel. She wondered how well Snowpaw was doing.

After Icepaw caught a mouse, Flowerpelt decided that she had caught enough and decided to call the assessment to an end and retrieved Icepaw. "You did a wonderful job, Icepaw." Flowerpelt purred loudly, Icepaw held her head high and her blue eyes glimmered. "You are shaping up to be quite the warrior."

"Thank you." Icepaw held her head high. She had also become more confident in herself and her achievements. "It's hard hunting with my fur but I've made it work."

"I'm proud of you." Flowerpelt flicked her tail over Icepaw's ears. "Let's go find Snowpaw and Stormwind."

They found the two of them and Snowpaw had done just as good as Icepaw with two squirrels, two mice and a rabbit. Bringing back so much prey was good, SunClan was full of cats. It had been five moons since Dovewish, Fishtail and Springkit died and leaf-bare had ended. Leafwhisker and Alderfang had succumbed to their sickness later in the season and joined StarClan as well, but their families were slowly adjusting just as Flowerpelt, Stormwind and the others who had lost family were.

Foxstar was fully recovered and the same, bold leader he normally was. Blazepaw, Poppypaw and Lakepaw had become apprentices to Frostclaw, Brightclaw and Flintstripe earlier in the moon and yesterday, Cloudstorm and Barkfang's kits, Windpaw and Berrypaw had become apprentices to Hawktalon and Tallfern.

The apprentice had gotten so full that they finally expanded the warriors den to make room for Rustpelt, Barkfang, Snakewhisker and Willownose. Both dens were full and Flowerpelt felt joy at the thought. SunClan was incredibly strong with so many powerful warriors. No new kits were on the way but she didn't know if SunClan had room for any more cats.

After such a bad leaf-bare and losing four cats, Flowerpelt and the rest of SunClan were grateful for an easy newleaf and plentiful greenleaf. Flowerpelt continued to miss her mother, but she knew that Dovewish was happy in StarClan with Stonewhisker and watching over their daughters with pride.

Since life had returned to a sense of normalcy, Flowerpelt had been trying to get on more patrols and spend more time with Thornpelt, but she had been so busy with Icepaw that she didn't have much time for a social life with Thornpelt. She knew that Thornpelt was hoping to get one of the many new apprentices, but they went to other cats and Flowerpelt could tell he was very upset about it.

Stormwind and Flowerpelt released their apprentice to have some prey and relax after their impressive assessment and Stormwind went to go spend some time with Snakewhisker. They didn't need to tell any cat that they were mates, Flowerpelt could see it in their eyes. Flowerpelt was incredibly happy for her sister, Snakewhisker had helped Stormwind cope with the loss of their mother and was there for her whenever she needed him.

Now that she didn't have much to do, Flowerpelt found Thornpelt, he was talking with Crowfur and Rainears over some prey. "Hi there." She purred to him. Thornpelt looked up, his amber eyes turning soft when he saw her.

"Hello." He swallowed a piece of squirrel. "How was Icepaw's assessment?" He questioned, his eyes going to Icepaw who was now talking with her sister and Blazepaw.

"Great, she's shaping up to be a wonderful warrior, Snowpaw too." Flowerpelt explained.

"Have you eaten?" Thornpelt nudged his squirrel towards her.

"Not since this morning." She had eaten before she took Icepaw out hunting, but she had to admit she was incredibly hungry. Flowerpelt sat down beside him, accepting his offer of squirrel. She leaned down to take a bite, very aware of the fact that their pelts were touching. It sent sparks throughout her body. She was also very conscious of the looks Rainears and Crowfur were giving them, but she ignore them as she took a bite of the squirrel.

"When do you think Icepaw and Snowpaw will be made warriors?" Thornpelt asked, also taking a bite of the prey.

"Anytime within the next moon. They're both great hunters and I know they will make fantastic warriors." Flowerpelt replied.

"I wonder when we'll get apprentices." Crowfur mewed with a yawn. "We've been warriors for long enough, Tigertail got his first apprentice moons ago. We should've gotten one of the newer apprentices."

"We'll get them when we're ready." Rainears mewed, her voice chipper. "Foxstar picks the cats he thinks will be best for the apprentices and we will get our turn soon."

"Not soon enough." Thornpelt grumbled and took a bite of his prey. "I know Tigertail is mature and all, but Snakewhisker and Rustpelt are gonna get apprentices before we do at this rate."

"Like I said," Rainears repeated, flicking her white ears. "We'll get them when Foxstar thinks that we will be able to effectively train an apprentice. You should enjoy the life you have as a warrior." Rainears stood up and stretched, finished with her prey. "Well, I have a patrol to get to, see you later!" With a kind flick of her tail, Rainears bounded away to join her patrol.

"I gotta go too." Crowfur replied. "I'm going hunting with Nightwing, Moonfur and Fernson in a bit."

They left Thornpelt and Flowerpelt alone to finish their prey, Flowerpelt couldn't help but notice that Thornpelt was still clearly upset about not having an apprentice. "Don't worry." She nudged him kindly. "You'll get an apprentice soon, and I know that you'll do an amazing job mentoring them."
Thornpelt let out a snort. "Thanks, Flowerpelt." He nudged the remains of their squirrel with his paw. "I can't become deputy without an apprentice." He looked up with a playful spark in his eyes. "So tell Stormwind to hurry up and have Snakewhisker's kits already."

Flowerpelt laughed. "It's definitely going to happen sometime." There were three couples of cats that looked like they would be having kits soon, Stormwind and Snakewhisker were one of them. The others were Tigertail and Sunstream and Bramblepelt and Willownose. Both were Thornpelt's kin which wouldn't be made his apprentices. The exception to Falconclaw mentoring Thornpelt was that there weren't enough mentors, but now there was.

"You just have to be patient." Flowerpelt looked at Thornpelt who was staring at his paws still. "Plus," She added on, nudging him once more. Thornpelt looked up at her curiously. "Once Icepaw is a warrior then we can spend more time together until you get yours, you'd be surprised at how much time an apprentice takes up."

A purr sounded from deep in Thornpelt's throat, his eyes sparkled. "I'm glad I have you to spend time with." He nuzzled her cheek, Flowerpelt's entire body went stiff and heated up. "You're my favorite cat."