A Girl of a Warrior

28 | Brookpaw's Eyes | 28

Eventually, they arrived at the camp entrance, stepping into the reeds.

"That was fun," Brookpaw said, looking from Seapaw to Duskelle. "We should do that again!"

"Yes," Duskelle said. "Yes, I think we should." Seapaw nodded in agreement.

Brookpaw beamed at them. "I'm glad to hear that!" Her tongue slipped out and rasped around her fangs. "You two have such lovely spirits."

Duskelle frowned. "Spirits?"

"Yes..." Brookpaw's body seemed to flinch abruptly, and Duskelle caught a glimpse of her eyes as her head turned. They were a light, pale green, just as she remembered them...but they'd be darker this morning, more intense. Had she imagined that? Maybe it was a trick of the light.

Brookpaw stared at both of them with a hint of confusion, as if she wasn't sure why she was in their company, and then promptly walked away in the other direction.

Seapaw turned confusedly to Duskelle. "I suppose that's her way of saying goodbye? You know, I once met an apprentice like that in the Games-"

"The Games?" Duskelle asked, frowning.

"Yeah," Seapaw said. "Hasn't anyone told you about them yet?"

She shook her head.

"Every year, the Games are held between the four Clans, to ease tension and so everyone can have fun. Younger warriors and sometimes older apprentices participate," Seapaw told her.

"Huh. When are they?" Duskelle asked distractedly as she stared after Brookpaw's receding form.

"At the end of summer — we've still got a few moons to go, I think I might be old enough to participate then. I'd like to participate in the races, they always sound fun and I'd like to say that I'm pretty fast. Aren't I fast, Duskpaw?"

Seapaw continued jabbering and although, Duskelle didn't interrupt her, she didn't listen either. Brookpaw had acted alright today...she'd actually been nice to Duskelle, acted like good company.

But what had caused the change? Why was she suddenly so friendly when she seemed to detest Duskelle only a few days before?"

"Duskpaw," came Seapaw's voice. The she-cat jerked her head towards the fire-pit. "You should come and eat with everyone else."

"Oh — yeah, okay," Duskelle responded. "I will. Thank you." She allowed the uneasiness on her face to melt into a kinder expression.

She trailed behind the young apprentice as they padded towards the fire-pit and sat next to her as the she-cat dropped onto her haunches and curled her tail over her paws. Other RiverClanners were all gathering around in a loose circle, situated in small groups.

Duskelle could not shift her attention away towards Brookpaw. The she-cat had settled some ways from them with another cat — Duskelle thought she recognized her as the cat who'd been with Graysplash and Mosspaw the night of the fox den — and her expression was confused. Brookpaw opened her mouth to speak, and Duskelle strained to hear what she was saying.

"Dapplerush," she began, and Duskelle stored away the memory of the name to recall later. "Do you-did you see what I was doing earlier? In the afternoon? I could've sworn-I can't remember anything, I've just completely blanked out."

Duskelle frowned. She couldn't remember? But they'd gone out to the lake together, they'd hunted and ran and laughed together. Brookpaw's gaze snagged on Duskelle's, but as it always had before today, passed over her as if she weren't there.

Duskelle rose to her feet. She needed to find out what was going on. "Seapaw, I'm going to go talk to Brookpaw," she told her, glancing down at the tricolor feline. She merely nodded, laying her head down on her paws to gaze into the distance.