Sєα αηɗ Sку --x I'm too attached to abandon this sorry

        x -- Chapter One

        x -- Chapter Two

    “Rainstar! Rainstar! Rainstar!”

    Beneath him, his clanmates cheered, adoration in their eyes. Rainstar smiled down at them, searching the crowd for Leafglitter (he had come up with the name himself), his loving mate. He found her easily—after all, they were tied by a bond as perfect as the stars.

    Beside her were their two kits, a beautiful little she-cat and a handsome tom. The she-kit fluttered her wings, perhaps wishing to join her father in the sky. He smiled down at her.

   Even his head priest, Mossdumb (also courtesy of himself), smiled at him. “You are so obviously better than me, Rainstar. I will worship you blindly. I apologize for being a fox-hearted dumb.”

    Rainstar smiled at her anyways. “It’s okay, Mossdumb. However, I will only forgive you if you leave the clans forever and never talk to me again.”

    “Okay,” she said. And then she left and never returned and Leafglitter became the head priest. (This technically went against clan tradition, but it was okay because Leafglitter was the best cat ever.)

    And then they all lived happily ever—

    “Rainpaw! Rainpaw, snap out of it!”

    Rainpaw blinked, returning from his reverie. He recoiled; his brother, Nightpaw, had shoved his face far too close for comfort.

    The black tom rolled his eyes. “You need to stop spacing out, Rainpaw,” he whispered. The voice of a light brown tabby drowned out their whispers.  She was going on and on about something again—maybe about rabbits or something. Rainpaw had lost track a while ago.

    “I would if Hazeltail wasn’t so boring,” he replied.

    “Eh, can’t fault you for that. She is the worst mentor ever.” His older brother gave a sympathetic smile, which really didn’t do much to make Rainpaw feel better. He knew that Nightpaw was only glad that he didn’t get Hazeltail.

    “I know! I wish I got Turtleshell instead.” Although Turtleshell wasn’t exactly known for his productivity, he had to be more interesting than Hazeltail’s endless monologues.

    “Shh!” Leafpaw hissed, swatting her tail over Nightpaw’s mouth. “I’m trying to listen.”

    “To her?” Rainpaw muttered.

    “She’s interesting. Besides, don’t you want to become a warrior? You’ll never get to your final assessment if you don’t listen to her.”

    Rainpaw wrinkled his forehead. It was true that he wanted to be a warrior, but surely Hazeltail’s lectures weren’t essential to that.  He could get along just fine with the skills he already had. Besides, contemplating how to gain Leafpaw’s affections was just so much more interesting…

    “Rainpaw!” his mentor snapped. Beside him, the other apprentices giggled.

    “Wh-what?” he yelped, snapped out of his second reverie.

    “What’s the difference between hunting a mouse and hunting a hare?”

    “Uh…” He glanced at his peers for hints, but was met only with snickers. “Rabbit are… faster?”

    “Wrong!” Hazeltail exclaimed. “You really ought to pay more attention, Rainpaw. At this rate, you’ll still be an apprentice by the time your brothers are warriors. Leafpaw, can you give us the answer?”

    “Rabbit hears you, mouse feels you,” the she-cat recited. “Everyone with half a brain knows that,” she muttered.

    “Very good. Anyways, that concludes today’s lecture. It’s time to head back to camp.” With a flourish, Hazeltail flapped her wings and soared off, apparently expecting the rest of the cats in the clearing to follow. Leafpaw, of course, took flight easily. Nightpaw followed quickly, but not without difficulty.

    Rainpaw flapped his wings fruitlessly and sighed. Flying was just so hard, especially when he was tired. His other brother, Shadowpaw, looked at him expectantly. “I can give you a boost,” he offered.

    “No, I’ve got this.” The gray tom jumped a little, letting his wings catch the air beneath them. Above, Nightpaw was little more than a speck on the horizon. With great difficulty, he managed to get himself airborne, hovering about a tail-length from the ground. “See? I can do this.”

    “Okay. If you’re sure.” With that, Shadowpaw flapped his wings and was gone.

    Frowning in concentration, Rainpaw slowly made his way up. Once he got above the top of the tree, he would be able to catch the wind leading back to camp. He wondered what would happen if he fell. He was already fairly far above the ground, and a fall would probably be painful. Suddenly, he wondered what would happen if he hurt his wings. Visions of a life spent in camp raced through his mind. No, that can’t happen! he thought. He was going to be a leader, not a helper of the elders.

    Rainpaw flapped his wings more vigorously, trying not to look down. Suddenly he was picking up speed, and then he was above the canopy. The wind caught his wings, and he let out a whoop, fluttering as fast as he could. He was hurtling through the air faster than a bird, faster than the wind, faster than anything, and it felt wonderful to be alive.

    The clouds above him were beginning to be stained with the blood of the dying sun, the birds beginning to fly back to their nests for the night. CloudClan’s great tree lay on the horizon, beckoning Rainpaw home.

    When he landed in the camp (with a bit of difficulty; the branches above the camp were difficult to maneuver, especially for a cat of his age), cats were lazily conversing while eating their evening meal. He spotted his siblings talking outside the apprentice’s den, laughing about something. Rainpaw felt a twinge of jealousy. Didn’t they even notice he was gone?

    After quickly grabbing a young gull from the fresh-kill pile, Rainpaw raced over to join his siblings. “Hey guys,” he mumbled around the bird.

    “Oh, there you are,” Mosspaw said. “We were just talking about you.” Mosspaw was reportedly only heartbeats his senior, but she acted as if it made all the difference.

    “Hey Rainy,” Oakflight greeted. Oakflight and his brother Stonetail came from an earlier litter, but hung out with their younger siblings anyways. Rainpaw was always told to be grateful for this, but he never understood why—after all, the two were just as annoying as his other siblings after a while.

    “Don’t call me that,” Rainpaw muttered as he dropped his meal. “I have an actual name for you to use.”

    “Well, someone’s grumpy today. Any reason?” Stonetail butted in.

    “No.” It wasn’t true, and Rainpaw suspected everyone knew it. But a therapy session with his siblings wasn’t exactly on his to-do list for the night, and it would likely leave him feeling even more irritated than before.

    “If you say so.” Oakflight went back to his food, apparently losing interest in the conversation. An awkward silence settled over them.

    “Birchwing told me a story today,” Mosspaw announced to break the silence.

    “About what?” Stonetail responded, seemingly desperate for conversation.

    “Why we’re in this stupid war.”

    Shadowpaw frowned. “It’s not stupid, Mosspaw.”

    “Yeah it is. We’re not even fighting over anything—nothing will change, no matter who wins. Think about it. Their territory is mostly underwater, so we can’t use it. And they wouldn’t use our territory, since we don’t have much water.”

    “Well yeah, but that’s not the point of the war,” Nightpaw butted in. “The point is to show them we’re better.”

    “Wrong, according to Birchwing. She says that the whole thing started because the original leaders didn’t get along.”

    “What? You mean Cloudstar and Reef… whatever they call their leaders?” Shadowpaw looked puzzled at the notion.

    “Yep. According to her, their families were longtime rivals, and it just came to a breaking point one day. Unfortunately, both cats had an entire clan on their side at that point.”

    “Mosspaw, Birchwing is full of it. She’s the biggest liar in the clan,” Oakflight interjected, not looking up from his meal.

    Mosspaw bristled with shock and anger. “Oakflight! That’s so disrespectful of—“

    “It’s true,” Stonetail said gently. “It’s common knowledge that Birchwing’s tales aren’t grounded in fact.

    “Well, no one ever told me about that,” the silver she-cat huffed.

    Rainpaw rolled his eyes. “Only because you never talk to anyone,” he mumbled.

    Mosspaw, apparently hearing him, growled. “I talk to other cats! I just don’t gossip like you do.”

    “When do I gossip?” Rainpaw replied, offended.

    “All the time! I’ve heard you talking to the queens.”

    “I was asking them about training!”

    “Training? Oh, come on! You couldn’t care less about that!”

    “I care about my training! It’s just that Hazeltail’s such a terrible mentor…”

    “Terrible? She’s one of the best warriors in the clan! She trained Turtleshell, and look at him!”

    “How am I supposed to do that when he’s always wandering off into the woods?”

    “Rainpaw!” Stonetail snapped. “Turtleshell’s a fine warrior, don’t you forget that. And Hazeltail is one of the smartest cats I’ve met. I won’t stand for you speaking ill of them.”

    “Fine,” Rainpaw mumbled. “But she’s so boring.”

    “That doesn’t mean you should ignore her. She’ll make a warrior out of you yet.” Stonetail sighed. “Anyways. Make up, you two.”

    “I—I’m sorry for calling you a gossip and careless,” Mosspaw said reluctantly.

    “Sorry for saying you don’t talk to people,” Rainpaw grumbled. Even though it’s true, he thought.

     “Good. Anyways. The weather’s so nice right now, isn’t it?”

    As the chatter continued around him, Rainpaw couldn’t help but stay annoyed. Why did Mosspaw have to be so annoying? Stars, why did all of his siblings have to be like that?

    When Rainpaw finally finished his gull, the stars were out and the queens had called their kits in. The voices of his siblings were loud and lively, filling the area with noise.

    Exhausted and irritable, Rainpaw stalked into the apprentice’s den. It was a simple thing, fashioned from short branches stolen from the tree. He went to his nest—near the back, next to Nightpaw’s—and fell into it eagerly. The last thought in his head before sleep took him was a fantasy of flying through the sky with Leafpaw.

        x -- Chapter Three