Crowpaw had sat waiting patiently at the bottom of the camp's entrance, awaiting his task for right now. Dewstar had been giving out orders to the warriors and the other apprentices. Finally, her gaze rested on him. "Crowstar... hm..." She seemed to process for a moment before he interrupted her thinking. "What do you need me to do, Dewstar? Find herbs for Beetleheart?" Crowpaw stood up, his eyes sparkling with excitement. He enjoyed doing tasks for the clan, but he enjoyed helping Beetleheart more than anything, especially considering he aspired to be the next medicine cat.
Dewstar narrowed her eyes slightly. "Crowpaw, you will go find some moss. I'm sure Beetleheart would appreciate the extra bedding-". Before she was finished speaking, Crowpaw cut her off again. "I won't let you down, Dewstar!" He meowed and darted out of the camp, only appearing as a blur to the the rest of the clan. He reached an area he thought there would be moss at. "Let's see... Flower, flower..." He searched for the squishy green plant, but to no avail. He sighed in frustration. "No moss!" he scraped his paw against the ground in frustration. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw something moving in the distance. He turned to try and see the figure better, but he still couldn't make out who it was. "Oh my gosh! A possible intruder!" He gasped quietly. He tried to think about what he should do, but when he blanked, he thought about what Dewstar would do. Dewstar would ambush the intruder- That's what she would do! He crept closer and crawled up a nearby, being sure to stay hidden and silent. He waited until the cat was under the tree. He could see the cat was a very large gray tabby, and not one he recognized from his clan or any clan nearby. He suddenly grew concerned at the thought that he, a brand new apprentice, was about to take on a warrior by himself. The attack was now or never, though. With a yowl, he dropped from the tree. "Wha-?" The cat barely had time to look up before Crowpaw landed on her. "Hey! Get off of me!" She yelped, trying to shake him off and stumbling. Crowpaw had overestimated her age- she sounded more like an apprentice, and he had sunk through her long fur. She was maybe only a little larger than him, he determined. Crowpaw was shaken off, and the stranger darted off in the other direction. Crowpaw stood up, suddenly curious as to why she was here on the territory to begin with. "Hey, wait!" He ran after her. He followed her until she had dropped from exhaustion. "What are you going to do? Kill me?" He heard her snarl quietly. Her voice echoed fear as well. "No? You were just in our territory, and I want to know why you're here..." He said, flicking his tail.
"Oh great, getting lost and in wild cat land. Lucky me." She sighed. Crowpaw hesitated a minute before prodding her with his paw. "I know a place where you can stay! The clan cats won't mind!" His eyes glittered with the same excitement as earlier. The she-cat looked up at him. "Thanks, but I really should find my way home." Her stomach growled loudly. "Pleeeease? Just for tonight? You sound super hungry, and I promise they won't mind! Plus, you look like you need sleep, too." He made a pouty face. She sighed. "Fine. Just for tonight, then I'm leaving." She stated and stood up, shaking her pelt out. "Cool! I need help anyway. I've been trying to find this plant, and it's green and it's squishy and we use it for nests. Have you seen any?" The two started walking, and he looked up slightly at her. "Yeah, moss. There's some by some dead old trees- it was everywhere." His eyes lit up. "Oh! I know where you're talking about! Let's go!"
The two cats walked to Hunter's Hallow and collected wad after wad of moss near some dead trees. They then started going back to camp. Crowpaw bombarded the cat with all sorts of questions; Where was she from? What was her name? How did she get all the way out here? He learned her name was Katie, she was a barn cat, and she wandered too far from the farm. She's been trying to find her home for two days.
Dewstar had flickered her tail impatiently waiting for the moss back at camp. She knew Crowpaw would just goof off. It was a mistake to send him to complete such a simple task by himself. "Dewstar! I'm back!" She heard his voice cut through the camp. She walked out and was startled to see a large, silver cat beside him. "Crowpaw, what in the name of Starclan is going on here?" Dewstar growled and narrowed her eyes. "Who is this stranger, and why did you bring her to our camp?"
"This is Katie! She's a lost loner cat! She helped me find a place with lotsa moss!" He beamed, seeming proud of himself.
"I don't understand how you manage to have patience with him." Katie looked Dewstar in the eyes calmly.
"Crowpaw, you know not to bring strange cats to camp-" She was cut off once more. "Please let her stay tonight!" He begged.
She thought for a minute before speaking. "Fine. Just for tonight." her voice had a rumble as she walked off to her den.
Katie had stayed the night, but didn't immediately leave the next morning. She hunted and brought back some prey for the clan. Later on, she assisted the clan in chasing a coyote out of the territory. Dewstar had been impressed with this, and had asked Katie to join the clan shortly after, giving her the name of Cinderpaw.
Characters;
Crowpaw (Crowstar)
Katie/Cinderpaw (Cinderflurry)
Dewstar (NPC)
Beetleheart (Mentioned, NPC)
Word count: 978
Note: I got carried away oops
