The forest was brimming with interchanging songs of symphony. Huge tawny owls in the trees hooted back and forth to one another. Insects buzzed over the camp's edges, floating across the empty space between Thunderclan's hollow and then zig-zagging off into the forest beyond. Crickets scraped their teeth-like serrations against one other, producing a discreet chirruping sound.

A bullfrog croaked from somewhere deep in the forest. A bat shrieked in the night air, and then the wings of something swooping above the treetops blotted out some stars.

Even after sunfall, the territory beyond Thunderclan's camp was busy. There was abundant prey-scent on the wind. It smelled like it would've been a good night for hunting.

After Crescentpaw finished eating she dragged the squirrel into the den. All of the cats inside were curled up asleep, so she left the prey's half-eaten corpse laid close to Pepperpelt.

She then returned to Trufflefur and continued listening. The apprentice looked out several rabbit-chases, towards the cascade of darkness that was Thunderclan's stony floor.

Amongst all the habituated sounds of the forest, an eerie howl filled the cacophonous air. It sounded far-off but chilled her nonetheless.

I hope Darkflower decides to make her way to Riverclan with Plumetail. The tabby apprentice didn't want a Shadowclan elder dead for nothing, now that she had found a medicine cat.

But she had left the choice up to Darkflower, who had seemed protective of her last remaining clanmate. Maybe she'll turn up on Riverclan land after we get back. Or even before, if she changes her mind faster.

Trufflefur continued to sit across from her, not even his tail twitching. He stared at the camp entrance.

"If they come, they'll come from there."  He echoed Sooftface's words.

Crescentpaw's eyes grew bloodshot from staring at the leaf-littered ramp for so long. She blinked then looked away, over at Trufflefur.

I don't think I can stay awake for much longer. I'm so exhausted... Her mind felt foggy. Crescentpaw's thoughts, too, were beginning to grow sluggish. And there was an anguished ache between her shoulders from walking all day.

She managed to stay awake for another hour, but when her eyes finally started closing Trufflefur spoke up.

"Alright, let's trade with Pepperpelt and Rainpaw."

Oh thank Starclan.

She felt a stab like stinging nettles as her paws struck down to get up and walk. As soon as the tabby-and-white apprentice got inside the den she flopped down with relief. Nest or no nest, she couldn't care less; and Crescentpaw immediately fell asleep.

🐈‍⬛

When the she-cat awoke she found her eyes bleary and hard to open. They were sticky with prolonged sleep.

"-keeps telling me that he's sorry about what happened. Can you believe that?!" Crescentpaw heard Jadestar's voice as she gradually woke up.

She rolled to her paws, stretching out stiff legs and turning her head towards the sunlit den-entrance.  

It's so bright outside! What time is it? Sootface, Rainpaw, Trufflefur and the kits were still asleep on the den floor across from her.

"No. How dare he!" a she-cat said. The voice belonged to Hillflower.

Crescentpaw licked her chest-fur a couple of times and then leaped to her paws and bounded out of the den.

"Why is it nearly sunhigh?" She noted the sun's position with an astonished glance.

I shouldn't have slept that long! "We've got to get going!" Her meow was distressed.

"Well, because none of us have had a proper rest in so long. And since you all took turns guarding the ledge last night, I figured I'd let a few of you sleep in after dawn."

Her tail quivered. Crescentpaw bit her tongue, trying to remain calm.

"We have to get going now," she repeated. "I told a clanmate that I'd be back within two sunrises."

"You only have Windclan left to cross," Jadestar looked unhurried. She bent to lick down a tufty spot of hair on her patchy tail.

"That doesn't matter." Crescentpaw let the hint of a growl creep into her voice. "We could easily come across wolves on the way, especially if we're stuck on Windclan land by nightfall." Her black-and-grey fur began bristling.

"And do you want to hunt along the way, or what?" Crescentpaw searched the ground for any sign of prey-bones, but there was none. Have they eaten this morning or haven't they? She couldn't tell.

Jadestar's gaze was begrudging. She had one eyebrow raised, as if she were beneath being scolded by an apprentice.

"I'm sure Rainpaw is hungry after standing guard last night," she tried to relay to the leaders softer side.

"What? My daughter stood guard last night?" Suddenly Jadestar's eyes were glinting with rage. She leaned forward and hissed. "Who arranged that?!"

Oops.

"Uh, Trufflefur. He said that Pepperpelt and Rainpaw would relieve us of our guard last night." Crescentpaw lifted a paw, defensive and taken aback.

What's her deal? Rainpaw should be a warrior by now.

"Rainpaw was asleep by the time I was roused for my watch!" Jadestar snapped. "Or faking it, anyway."

Hillflower rose to her paws and stooped towards the leader's den. The medicine cat's light-tabby haunches were swallowed up in shadow as she disappeared into the opening, rousing the cats inside.

"I told her that you would be hissed off," Pepperpelt walked out with a cool gaze and loose shoulders. Trufflefur followed behind her, then Sootface and Rainpaw.

"You should've told me when you woke me for the watch last night!" Jadestar scolded, snarling. The queen flattened her ears.

Jadestar then turned to Rainpaw and lectured her daughter in front of all the waiting cats. She shared a few condemning statements with Trufflefur as well.

"My daughter is only an apprentice.
Don't ever put her on sentry unless I'm made aware!" She hissed.

Crescentpaw flattened her ears, dismayed and confused at the same time.

She's over-reacting, but I haven't got the time to disagree with her. Instead, she went into the den to rouse Pepperpelt's kits for travel.

It took awhile for them to wake up. Their pelts were spiky and their eyes bleary with sleep. Somehow they'd managed to sleep well atop the dustly old nest.

When they emerged, Crescentpaw was relieved to see each of the cats usher toward the cliff edge. They wasted no more time stretching, grooming or chatting.

"Kits down first," Hillflower advised cheerfully. She scooped up Cloverkit.

The black-and-white she-cat's rump was nearly brushing rock.

She's too big to scruff!

Hillflower tucked the apprenticed-aged cat into her chin, then lowered herself tail-first down the sloping cliff face. She dropped onto a flat stone outcrop. Cloverkit squealed as she was dangled over the cliff edge. Hillflower nearly lost her balance with the kit's uneven weight.

"Let me down! I'm old enough to do it on my own. You'll get us both hurt!"

The brown-tabby medicine cat ignored her. Hillflower focused her eyes on the next footpath below; the edge of a fallen tree that had most likely gotten there from a previous mudslide. She gripped Cloverkit tighter before bunching her muscles and leaping down; then did the same for the next ledge and so on.

Oatkit stepped forward next, but he was practically as large as his mother. He gave a placid glance towards Sootface when the Skyclan tom stepped forward.

"I'm not getting carried."

Crescentpaw watched him go as the cats behind her all passed around her flank to follow. When she realized she was the last cat, she leaned down with her eyes narrowed.

I can do this. Even without claws...

It was harder going down than it was going up. Last night, the frantic claw up the path had seemed habitual. Most of the cats had stepped with anxiety and unfamiliarity, save for Trufflefur.

"Skyclan cats don't climb stone. We hunt in the trees." Pepperpelt had defended herself with an angsty growl. Crescentpaw recalled the queen slipping off the footpath and into Sootface's shoulder. So really it hadn't felt so odd when she'd struggled to grip and slid partway down the cliff herself.

Now, though- she was in broad, searing daylight with the other cats waiting for her below.

It was somewhat helpful to have her back claws. After losing her balance and nearly slithering forward, Crescentpaw found strength in using her back claws to predominately grip sturdy areas of stone.

When she reached the vertical tree she slid down it backward, bounded across the last two jutting stone ledges and then landed on the ground with a heavy thud.

It took her a few seconds to get her breath back. Ugh. That faulty landing winded me.

"Riverclan cats aren't very agile," Sootface commented with a curdling laugh. He was looking at Jadestar, but the she-cat was waiting beside Thunderclan's thorn tunnel.

"Let's go," Crescentpaw meowed firmly. She picked up speed and raced past Jadestar. Surprisingly, Oatkit and Cloverkit were the first two on her heels.

She was forced to slow down when Thunderclan's overgrown forestry tripped up her paws. The apprentice took a path that veered off to the right, slating upward towards an area with less undergrowth. The other cats swiftly followed, catching up within seconds.

When the Skyclan cats both saw and scented prey, Crescentpaw was compelled to agree that they should stop. Trufflefur was alright with them hunting on Thunderclan's land.

"Stay close. Like really close, where we can hear one another if we yowl." Jadestar commanded. "It's not open enough to see each other."

None of the others offered to hunt with her. Good. Crescentpaw sauntered off on her own to try and find something.

A mouse is my best bet.

However, it was a squirrel that she came across. Crescentpaw lost the creature after trying to find a good spot for ambushing downwind, then tripping over a moss-covered tree root. Mouse-dung! That root is almost the same color as the forest floor!

She kept trying. The Riverclan apprentice leaped up a rocky outcrop toward a copse of birch trees. There she came across a swallow. It was hopping along a low rotting tree branch.

The bird paid Crescentpaw no interest, chirping an off-tune melody into the cozy mid-day air. As if it knows I can't reach it...

She decided to test her luck. The she-cat bunched her muscles and leaped for the bird, but she missed the branch by a mouse-length. The swallow flapped its wings and fluttered to a different tree entirely. It twittered beseechingly there.

On the way back Crescentpaw caught vole-scent teeming amongst some pungent vegetation. The ground here was particularly soft and moist, bordered by one of Thunderclan's shallow fox-length streams.

She spotted the vole between some thick-growing poppy flowers. The plant's leaves were still wet with dew, and the vole bent its head up to suckle at its droplets.

Her footfalls were silent until she was well beyond pouncing distance. Crescentpaw waggled her haunches and then leaped, but her paws hit the vole's back and it slipped from beneath them. Before she could snatch the vole in her teeth it had gone.

She bit back a yowl of anger and shook out her ruffled pelt.

I can't manage to catch anything this time. Thunderclan land is too strange, and my missing claws aren't helping.

I must learn to adjust my hunting style.

With no more time left, she walked back towards their stopping place with her tail-tip brushing the earth.

As she had figured, the rest of the cats were already back. Besides Hillflower, Pepperpelt and the kits each one of them had prey; which only made her feel more embarrassed.

"I'll share with you," Rainpaw offered in the quietest voice possible. Crescentpaw had to prick her ears to catch it.

"Thanks," she meowed appreciatively, but it truly didn't make her feel any better. She ate with hunched shoulders, avoiding the other cat's eyes. Hoping they didn't suspect her incapabilities.

The clouds were white and sleek. But a hefty wind had picked up, and now they moved across the horizon with visible speed. The cats below padded through the rest of Thunderclan territory as fast as they could.

The way to Windclan's camp was long and tedious. To start; the wind kept switching directions, pressing against their flanks so hard that Cloverkit was nearly thrusted off a bluff.

Crescentpaw felt that a storm was brewing, but she couldn't tell how far off it was.

__________________
🌧️ Rainpaw 🌧️

Jadestar, who she inherited her blue-gray coloring from ⤵️