Featherstar's Destiny

Chapter 9

"Are you okay?",  Thornkit asked Tawnykit with worry in his eyes. 

Tawnykit ignored her brother and glared angrily at Featherpaw as she passed the nursery.  The golden she-kit slipped past her brother and headed back to the nursery with a flick of her tail.  Thornkit let out a worried sigh and followed his sister.  Featherpaw watched with a curious expression across her silver face.  Smokepaw suddenly padded past her and nudged her with his head. 

"Meet me by the border stream", he whispered to her and padded off.

 Featherpaw looked around for a few heartbeats before following him. She followed Smokepaw's scent and finally spotted him beside the stream. He was sitting down as was looking across the stream with a distant yellow gaze.  His ears flicked up and he turned his striped head towards Featherpaw.  Featherpaw rubbed against him and bent down to drink from the stream. She suddenly caught a sudden movement out of the corner of her eye and she looked up.  Otterfur had appeared in front of her with two she-cats beside him.  One was a small silver apprentice and the other was a brown tabby.

"Streampaw, look",  the brown tabby meowed. She nudged the silver apprentice who was beside her. The small cat looked up at the two OakClan apprentices and hissed.  Otterfur cuffed the apprentice's head and hissed. 

"They have a right to that side of the stream", the dark brown warrior growled.  He looked back up at Smokepaw and Featherpaw. "Are you two lost?", he asked. 

"No", Smokepaw replied. 

"Tell them to go home", Streampaw growled. She looked up at the brown tabby with a narrowed eyes.  "Come on Duskflower. These cats might want to spy on us", the she-cat meowed.

"We are not spying on you", Featherpaw growled. 

Streampaw rolled her eyes and pointedly turned her back away from the apprentices. Otterfur rolled his eyes and sighed in annoyance. That apprentice was a nuisance.

"Let's go", Smokepaw meowed to Featherpaw. 

The silver tabby nodded and followed her Clanmate back towards camp.

"You better not come back and try to cross this stream!", Streampaw called to the retreating cats.  

Smokepaw turned to Streampaw and was about to open his mouth, but Featherpaw slapped her tail across the apprentice's muzzle. 

"It's no use", she meowed to Smokepaw, her blue eyes blazing as she glared at the StreamClan cats.

After the cats had managed to concentrate on their surroundings,  they went hunting. The tension had faded.

Later on that night, Featherpaw followed her leader across the territory. This would be her first Gathering ever! Stormpaw, who was beside her, looked as if he could barely contain his excitement. When they arrived to the Gathering place, Flickerstar motioned with his tail for his warriors to follow him.  

A gray tabby tom greeted the cats with a nod of respect towards the OakClan leader.  "Hello Flickerstar", he meowed.

"Greetings, Fogstar", the black-and-white leader replied.  

Featherpaw padded off towards the clearing in thought. She suddenly bumped into a dark brown tom.  

"You must be Breezeclaw's kit", the tom meowed with a friendly dip of his head. 

"And you must be Shrewpaw", Featherpaw meowed with a purr. 

"Come meet the others", Shrewpaw meowed. 

Featherpaw followed him until the dark brown cat stopped beside a group of apprentices.  A sandy-gray tom looked up from talking to Streampaw. 

"Hello", Thrushpaw meowed.

Streampaw noticed Featherpaw and looked away with a snarl.  A dark tabby apprentice looked at the small silver apprentice with shock in his eyes. 

"I'm Twistpaw", the dark tabby meowed when Streampaw didn't speak. 

A spotted gray she-cat padded up to the group of apprentices.  "Who's this?", she asked with a flick of her tail towards Featherpaw.

"This is Featherpaw, Breezeclaw's kit",  Shrewpaw replied. 

"Well,  I'm Flippaw", the gray she-cat meowed with a friendly dip of her head. 

"I'll go first!", a voice yowled. Featherpaw looked up to see a mottled gray tom hissing to the other leaders.  Turning to the crowd of cats, he meowed,  "We have two new apprentices: Basspaw and Fishpaw.   Fogstar", he dipped his head to a gray tabby tom.

"We have new apprentices as well. They are Pebblepaw, Mallowpaw, and Riverpaw. We also have a new warrior: Fringepelt," Fogstar meowed. 

"I'll go next", a black she-cat meowed.  "We have now have Hopclaw as a warrior", she meowed with bright eyes.  She dipped her head to Flickerstar.

"We have two new apprentices: Stormpaw and Featherpaw", the black-and-white tom meowed with pride in his green eyes.  "We also have Mintnose and Willowclaw as new warriors." 

The next day, Flickerstar shared the news from the Gathering to the Clan.  After he made the announcements, Featherpaw went to check on the elders. A loud yowl of grief came from the den and Oakpaw raced out with wide amber eyes and flat ears.  

"Berrypelt!", the small apprentice yowled. 

The cream-colored medicine cat turned from talking to Stonepelt and Silvercloud. 

"Graypelt is dead!", Oakpaw yowled. The red-brown tom dug his claws into the ground as he looked up at the medicine cat. 

Silvercloud raced past the cats and into the elders den. Stonepelt followed behind her, his gray tail bushed out.  Stormpaw and Featherpaw looked up from talking and raced after the two warriors.  Silvercloud yowled in grief and buried her head into Stonepelt's shoulder with a sob.  Stormpaw put his head down and Russetpelt placed her tail on the young dark gray tom's shoulder.  

"Let's go tell Flickerstar", Meadowlark told Sunleap. The two elders raced out of the den and into the clearing.  Oakpaw passed them and poked his head inside of the den. He brushed past the cats and sat down beside Featherpaw. 

"His illness was too strong", he sighed.  He dipped his head to Stormpaw and meowed, "Do you want to help me with the ceremony?" he asked the tom. 

"Sure", he replied with a sigh and followed Oakpaw out of the den.