chapter 21

                                    

                                          
mintpaw
~~~
"HEAD DOWN THAT WAY, and grab the burnet," Clearfrost ordered. "If we don't get more, we won't have enough supplies for our next trip to the Moonstone."
Mintpaw felt some level of certainty that the other medicine cats would decide to skip the half-moon meetings, but Clearfrost was perhaps one of the most devoted to StarClan. She'd die before she ever missed a chance to share tongues with her ancestors.
"Meet me back here in a bit."
"Okay." Mintpaw twitched her ears and took off, happy for some alone time. Smelling RiverClan's scent at a border felt strange and unfamiliar, but not in a bad way. In fact, she preferred it to WindClan's rabbit smell.
As she grabbed mouthfuls of the herb, Mintpaw spotted a flash of silver fur, and was suddenly struck by a crippling of déjà vu.
"Dapplepaw!" she greeted excitedly, dropping her herbs. After the argument with Snakepaw last night and the rough day she'd had, talking to a friend was exactly what she needed. 
So, questions of where Dapplepaw's mentor was and if there was anyone else with the bengal she-cat were forgotten. Plus, Mintpaw assumed that Dapplepaw was on a border patrol, as RiverClan was starting to mark WindClan's borders.
"Hi, Mintpaw." To the gray tabby's surprise, Dapplepaw thrust out her muzzle, rubbing it against Mintpaw's cheek in greeting.
A soft purr rose in Mintpaw's throat as she returned the gesture, tail whisking through the air cheerfully. "So, what's up since I've last seen you?"
Dapplepaw hesitated. "Nothing much," she answered at last, weakly, and Mintpaw was certain it was a lie. However, she didn't push. "Rainstar's upset, but when is she not?"
"I can relate there," the gray tabby huffed. "Ivorystar's always ticked off, one way or another. The amount of arguments she and Clearfrost have had in the past moon is unbearable!" 
Should she really be sharing this about her Clan? She wasn't sure. I mean, this can't be anything too bad, right? Mintpaw thought. We're just making conversation.
She didn't know what friends talked about, to tell the truth.
"Thank StarClan Poolmist's too old now to do much more than listen," Dapplepaw mewed. "Even if she were allowed to go to the Moonstone, I'm not sure she'd be strong enough to make it."
"Are you supposed to be talking about your medicine cat like that?" Mintpaw asked, voice bubbled with laughter as she gave the silver bengal a nudge.
Dapplepaw nudged her back. "Probably not, but I'm sure Poolmist wouldn't mind. She knows it's all jokes, plus I yap her ear off all the time. I'm definitely her favorite niece."
Mintpaw's fur fluffed with surprise. "Poolmist's your aunt?"
That seemed bizarre, considering the RiverClan medicine cat's age. However, after pondering on it briefly, she concluded that it doesn't seem that impossible. After all, look at the age gap between Featherflight's two litters: Clearfrost and Ivorystar versus Frozenpaw and Sweetpaw.
Often times, Mintpaw forgot that they were related due to their difference in age. Maybe Dapplepaw just had the same situation, with Poolmist being in the first litter and the silver bengal's mom arriving far later.
"Yeah. Let's ignore the fact that I'm her only niece, though," Dapplepaw mewed, wrinkling her nose. "I mean, if I had any competition, I'm pretty sure I would be nowhere near her favorite. She uses up a lot of energy telling me to stop bothering her."
Another round of laughter rose in Mintpaw, before she shook out her pelt, feeling some sadness lingering as her purrs bubbled away. "I wish I knew my family." She spoke those words so softly, she wasn't sure if Dapplepaw had caught them.
However, the silver bengal had. "What?" Dapplepaw's face tugged into a frown. "What do you mean?"
"My father died in battle moons before I was born." Mintpaw said those words quickly, remembering that her father died in a battle against RiverClan. "And my mother passed away while giving birth to me and my brothers."
"Oh, I'm sorry," Dapplepaw mewed quietly. "But have you met none of your other kin?"
Mintpaw shook her head. "No. Nobody ever talks about my parents, and if I had any grandparents or aunts or uncles, none of them ever bothered to introduce themselves to me like that."
"I'm sorry, that really sucks," Dapplepaw huffed. "I can't imagine what life would be like without my family. But I mean, you've got your brothers and Clearfrost, right? You guys must all be really close."
"Not really," Mintpaw mumbled. "Clearfrost's cold, but that's how she always is, that's her demeanor. And I barely talk to my brothers anymore."
The gray tabby sighed, suddenly realizing that she was being a complete downer.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make the mood so upsetting," she apologized quickly. "Here, let's talk about something else."
"No, no, that's okay. I'm glad you shared that with me," Dapplepaw answered with a soft look. "And if it makes you feel any better, you'll always have me."
Until you die in battle, Mintpaw thought. Or decide to never talk to me again because our Clans are at war.
But she didn't voice any of that. Instead, she felt a smile spreading involuntarily on her face. "Thanks."
"No problem." Dapplepaw flicked Mintpaw's ears good-humoredly. "Hey, why don't we-?"
"Dapplepaw!" a voice screeched somewhere in the distance, demanding the silver bengal's attention. "Dapplepaw, where are you?"
"Mousedung," Dapplepaw hissed, climbing to her paws.
Mintpaw jumped up as well, pawing her herbs into a bundle, ready to grab them and go. "Is that your mentor?"
"No, my deputy." Dapplepaw winced, before her expression turned into panic. "Mintpaw, you have to go, now! Go find a safe place to hide."
"What?" The gray tabby snatched up her herbs. "What do you mean? What's going on?"
Dapplepaw lowered her voice. "Don't tell Ivorystar, Clearfrost, or Waspstrike what I said, but the other apprentices and I were sent out on a scout patrol. We were told to check different areas, and it was just by luck that I was assigned here and came by you."
"A scout patrol?" Mintpaw frowned in confusion. "For what?"
"For an attack," the silver bengal meowed with exasperation. "I was just supposed to check that there were no ShadowClan cats by the border and report back, but I got... distracted."
"Distracted?" Mintpaw voiced, more to herself than anyone else.
Dapplepaw's eyes softened. "Do you want to meet me again somewhere? To talk, hang out, have fun?"
Before she knew what she was doing, the gray tabby was nodding.
"Good. Now listen to me." Dapplepaw's voice came out in quick, rushed whispers. "There's a tunnel in WindClan's territory that connects to ShadowClan's land. I think it's somewhere under the Thunderpath. Meet me five days' night from tonight, keep going down the tunnel until you see a cave."
"Dapplepaw!" Splashfoot's call, this time, sounded much closer.
"Go!" Dapplepaw ushered. When Mintpaw stood there, unmoving, still in shock, the silver bengal gave her a gentle shove. "What are you doing? Hurry! Go hide!"
Mintpaw didn't really know what was going on. Her mind seemed to blur, body controlling her actions based solely off of survival. She crouched beneath a bramble bush, listening to Dapplepaw say that no, there were no ShadowClan cats here, she didn't see anyone.
She watched as paws trotted past her, careful of where they tread. It was only until that one attack patrol disappeared that Mintpaw came to the cold realization.
RiverClan was going to attack her camp.
And she'd just sat by and allowed it to happen.