Sparkfur prodded the sleeping form of Frostleaf gently, the ex-medicine cat mumbling something along the lines of "go away...." and slowing her breathing again as she dived back into sleep. Sparkfur narrowed her eyes, annoyed, and prodded her again gently. Frostleaf opened her eyes slowly, breathing in the morning air.

"What time is it?" She mumbled, still with messy nest-fur and sleep clouding her mis-match eyes.

"Just after sunrise. You need to be ready, Mintstar is announcing his decision to the clan at sunhigh. So clean up, get a drink and something to eat." Because it might be your last meal in the clan... She almost added, but knew the young cat was too tender to face a horrible possibility. Frostleaf seemed nervous but nodded, beginning to groom her fur. "Do you think Berryfoot will be there?" She asked, a glint in her eye. Sparkfur shrugged.

"He doesn't talk to me." She saw Frostleaf pause in her grooming awkwardly as she blinked up at her mentor. "Wait... Does he..? Does he talk to you?" The white cat blushed and tried her paw at lying, murmuring a no and beginning to clean her fur again. Sparkfur breathed out shortly and turned on her paw, exiting the den. The two shared the den: a large stone that was hollowed out, a crack in its side facing away from passing cats, a fox length outside the camp walls.

She made her at straight to the camp. A good number of cats were out patrolling and whatnot, but it was easy to pick out Berryfoot with his flaming ginger fur. He was talking to Waspclaw and some other bramble den warriors. The golden warrior didn't pause, but padded right in between two cats: a white Tom with dark flecks and an angry looking Waspclaw.

"What is she doing here?" Waspclaw snarled. Berryfoot nervously looked over at Sparkfur, motioning for her to come talk to him away from the group of elite warriors. Sparkfur sniffed and cut through to the other side of toms, Cloudstream waving his tail in a friendly greeting/dismissal. "I thought he disowned her..." She heard Waspclaw growl as she padded after her brother. She dismissed the comment with a flick of her tail.

"Sparkfur, how can I help you?" He was calm and collected. Sparkfur blinked.

"How come you don't want to talk to me anymore?" She asked bluntly. She had no other way to put it. "You just cut me off back when we found Frostleaf... You haven't really spoken to me since."

"No, you didn't talk to me." He retorted, his voice raising a tad. She sighed, frustrated.

"Yes, I know, I'm sorry, whatever. I just..." She thought about Ryeheart. He was kind and he would handle this situation with an apology. "I was mad." She looked back up into his eyes, green reflecting green.

"It's my fault." He finally said, "it was the only way for me to become deputy. Nobody would want me as the next cat for the job, wether it was back then, or five moons from then. Nobody would want me as a deputy if I was still... Protecting you." He ducked his head guiltily, "but my job, my real job, the one that Cherryflower would want me to do... Is protect you." Sparkfur turned, she was never one for all the mushy cheese-ball stuff.

"Right. Don't worry though. You don't have to protect me. I've got Asterfoot and Frostleaf and Ryeheart. Don't ruin your reputation, StarClan forbid Waspclaw becomes leader after Mintstar. And I understand the clan doesn't like me. But stay deputy. That's the only way they won't throw me to the rogues." She laughed, beginning to pad off to the Cedar Den. Berryfoot nodded his head slightly in goodbye, moving back to his cluster of bramble den warriors that he had been speaking to.

Sparkfur hastily poked her head inside the Cedar Den. Several nests were being occupied by late sleepers and cats who had been up into the early hours on patrol. It was easy for her to find Ryeheart: he smelled strongly of mint. He spent most of his border patrols on waterside ones where watermint grew thicker than honey.

She had learned that he loved the water, even though he couldn't swim. Sparkfur hadn't the heart to tell him that she'd taught herself to swim, because that was a rather long story that ended in her meeting FogClan cats and nearly dying. She decided she'd tell him tonight. The past day they had decided on going to the creek at moonhigh: one of their many moonhigh outings.

She slipped into the den silently, weaving between moss nests. This was the main reason she didn't want to be in one of the warriors den and preferred her solitary (well, now she shared it with Frostleaf) den. She almost stepped right on a cat's tail, she recognized it to be Fallowtail, but she finally found her way to his nest. Is wasn't as squished in as the other nests: the other warriors in the cedar den respected him and gave him more room.

She carefully prodded him with a white-toed paw. He was different from the heavy sleeper Frostleaf, who took a few tries. Ryeheart poked his head up on the first poke. He smiled as soon as he realized it was her.

"Hey." He whispered in the darkness of the den. She flicked her ears in a silent hello.

"Frostleaf is about to have her warrior ceremony." She whispered. He nodded, he liked supporting Frostleaf. He would help teach the white cat fighting tactics when the bees were getting busy and Sparkfur got distracted by their tempting buzzes. True, he also helped Frostleaf pluck a stinger from the golden cats muzzle once or twice as well, which helped seal the fawn tabby tom and the white she-cats friendship.

Sparkfur sat watching the cats outside the den move about as Ryeheart groomed his fur, preparing himself for the day. They padded out of the den together at last. They were actually the same height, thanks to Sparkfur's long legs and Ryeheart naturally being a fairly muscular cat, handsomely broad, actually.

They sat down near the High Oak, laughing and talking about one of their previous outings where they had chased a rouge out of their territory, when they were joined by Frostleaf. She was buzzing nervous, glancing around at the surrounding cats. Still, after three moons there was a fair amount of the clan mates who didn't trust her, but there were some who considered her a true DrizzleClan cat, probably due to her kind disposition. Sparkfur welcomed her with a purr and a smile, a cheery expression only given to the white cat, Ryeheart, her brother, and Asterfoot.

"I think Mintstar is about to call the meeting." Ryeheart noted from where he was sitting, a string of bramble den warriors filing out into the clearing. Frostleaf visibly relaxed as she saw Berryfoot, the bright ginger to, taking his place at the base of the tree with Waspclaw. The grey leader soon appeared from the bramble den as well, making his way up to the branches of the High Oak, calling the meeting. Several cats joined, including the medicine cats who came from their underground den.

Clan meetings weren't actually required now-a-days, it was just whoever was in camp and wanted to go. Mintstar blinked down onto the crowd of cats gathered: most cats knew it was the Day of Judgement and wanted to be there in case they got to exile a cat. They were cruel in that way.

"DrizzleClan. As you may know, three moons ago a FogClan medicine cat was found on our territory and was taken in to learn the ways of the warrior. If she has succeeded in her training, she will join our ranks. If not, she will be exiled and never allowed return." Many of the cats blinked impatiently. Sparkfur looked over to see Cloudstream giving them a friendly flick of his ear, a beautiful dark brown tabby she-cat turning to whisper something in his ear that made him smile.

"Frostleaf, if you could step forward." The white she-cat padded closer to the tree. "I've spoken to the elite warriors and the votes have been counted." There was a steady pause, where zone young half-deaf she-cat held her breath. "They have agreed to let you stay as a fully fledged warrior of DrizzleClan." There were several howls and cheers of congratulations, before Mintstar silenced them with the raise of his tail. He kept down from the branch so they were eye to eye.

"Do you, Frostleaf, agree to uphold the warrior code and defend DrizzleClan, even at the cost of your life?" The white she-cat nodded,

"I do."

"Then by the powers vested in me, you will now be known as Frostheart. We honor your grace and kind spirit." He touched his nose to her forehead, and she licked his chest fur out of respect. Cats began to cheer the name, and she returned next to Sparkfur blushing.  Sparkfur softly congratulated her, Ryeheart touching his tail to her shoulder and saying her new name.

"You should go see Berryfoot!" Sparkfur smiled as the crowd began to break up. The white she-cat nodded, the adrenaline fading, and padded away toward where Berryfoot stood laughing in a circle of others elites.

"I don't know why she's been allowed to stay..." Sparkfur heard Amberleaf growl as they ragged dark she-cat passed, talking to a second medicine cat. Sparkfur turned and opened her mouth, ready to snap back a witty reply, when Ryeheart began to speak to her.

"Hey, Sparkfur, I can't do tonight. I got out on dawn patrol." He smiled apologetically, and Sparkfur swished her tail.

"It's fine." Sparkfur nodded understandingly, looking up. "I bet it'll rain tonight, anyway." She noted the darkening clouds trying to hide the bright rays of the sun. He winced playfully.

"That means I'll get a mucky dawn patrol...," in which she purred in amusement.

"And I get to sleep in a warm, dry nest." She laughed, running her tail under his chin as she passed, walking toward the camp exit.

"Wait up!" He called, blushing and chasing after her.

---

I'm starting to find Sparkfur annoying af soooo toning down her annoyingness now xP All of the shit that's going down? Next chapter, kits. I thought I was going to get it in this one, but it's getting a bit long (I try to around 1k - 1.5 k words.)
Ily!

I have a contest going on right now (September 19 - September 26) on my DrawCast ( my user there is mooseling ) DrawCast is a free social drawing app for your iDevice or android. Anyway, my contest is to draw one or more of the main characters: Sparkfur, Berryfoot, Ryeheart, Frostleaf/heart, or Waspclaw. You could do other characters, but these are the only ones that I did little color palette and small ref things for on the contest info sheet. The prize will be for the first place winner to get their drawing put as one of the picture inserts for a chapter! I might have the other people who place also get their art in a chapter, but all the top four will get mentioned in the authors note of that chapter, so you can check them out!

Catch ya later!
-Pop