Vol. 1/6 ✅️
"Your future - it is a path entwined with thorns. They try to grab you, to pull you into the deepest thicket - and they will succeed. You don't have the power to change your destiny completely, Larkpaw. The only thing you can do is not t...
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"Are you sure you want me to go with them?" Larkpaw stepped from one paw to the other. She had just heard that Dawnbreeze and Gooseleap were travelling to LaurelClan to get some herbs from them that were missing in RoseClan.
"Why not?" Silversky meowed, his ears twitching. "After all, you can't always stay in the same place. Besides, you won't get to see LaurelClan territory that often. You should take advantage of a chance like this."
That made sense to Larkpaw. She liked her own territory, but the idea of seeing a foreign forest was tremendously exciting for an inexperienced cat like her.
Silversky nudged her with his muzzle. "Now go, or you'll be too late."
Cheering inwardly, Larkpaw jumped towards the Birchtunnel to join the herb cats there. On the way, she passed the apprentices' den, where Reedpaw and Elderpaw were sitting and watching her with puzzled faces.
"That's so unfair," Reedpaw hissed loud enough for Larkpaw to hear. "Why does she get to go and we don't? She's basically still a kit!"
Although Larkpaw tried not to let Reedpaw's meanness upset her, she felt her fur bristle with anger. I don't even look like a kit anymore! She shouldn't behave like this just because others are worried about her safety.
Now Larkpaw's motivation and anticipation had been blown away like a leaf in the wind in a heartbeat. However, the prospect of putting a huge distance between herself and the light brown she-cat for at least half a day calmed her down.
"You look like you slept on a thorn bush today."
Larkpaw winced and tensed her shoulders. Dawnbreeze looked at her with a mocking expression in her green eyes. Embarrassed, she licked her chest fur. "Shall we go now?" she asked in a slightly impatient voice, hoping to distract from the little incident.
"As soon as Shrubtail is here," Gooseleap informed her.
Larkpaw scratched behind her ear, uncomprehending. The name didn't mean anything to her. Concentrating hard, she waited for some image to pop up in her mind, but to no avail. Shrubtail had to be a cat she had never had anything to do with before.
Somewhat panicked, Larkpaw realised that there were still some cats she had never really interacted with. There are just too many cats in RoseClan. She wondered how Palestar, or any other cat for that matter, could keep track of them all.
A light brown tabby tom with blue eyes appeared from behind the Roserock. Since he ran straight to the cats at the Birchtunnel, Larkpaw assumed that this must be Shrubtail.
She studied his appearance as unobtrusively as possible, memorising the swirled pattern of his dark stripes, the right ear with the missing tip and the long tail with the hairs sticking out like branches of a bush.
Gooseleap turned one ear slightly forwards. "So?" he asked expectantly. "What did Palestar decide? Has it finally been decided?"
"It is." Shrubtail twitched the tip of his tail excitedly.
