Call my name `o n e l a s t t i m e`

[mehl]

The streams of Riverclan. They were both beautiful and dangerous at many times of the year. A she-cat, in her pristine age walked solemly over to one of many streams. Her warm eyes skimmed across its surface, taking every facet of light that hit the water. She would catch a fish and bring it back to camp, she had promised herself. It was Leaf-bare and hardly any land animals were present, so Lightstream resorted to the streams... where she was'nt as skilled as she was on land. Her thick fur kept her at a warm temperature, making her feel a whole lot better than the short-haired cats. Lightstream jumped from a stepping stone in the middle of a stream to the shore. She chose a large pocket of deep water among the other parts of the stream. Her smile was of success and nervousness. She dipped her paw into the water; perfect.

Her claws dipped into the water, lettig the stream make them its average temperature. She then swiped at the water, feeling the tough skin of a fish slide past her. She hissed in annoyance, her creamy pelt bristeled. Were'nt all Riverclan cats supposed to be good at fishing. She was a Riverclan cat, only Riverclan cats were this beautiful. She smiled then, thinking once again, of herself. Her paw dipped in dreamily, she felt a fish on her paw again, with out even noticing it. She broke from her trance, whipping around in search of an intruder. No one... she was fishing though, not going to battle! Lightstream shook her pelt and concentrated on the fish. Finally, she got hold of one after a long wait, she unhooked her claws and pulled her paw up to reveal a struggling fish.

It was small, but would be a blessing to Riverclan since the prey would soon grow scarcer. She bit into its back, breaking the spine, and then walked proudly away from the stream. Before she went, she looked back at where she had fished. She frowned, her eyes misting over in slight confusion. "Dovestream?," She said wearily. She thought she saw a shimmering figure, one that looked liked Dovestream almost exactly. She shrugged it off and walked on, glancing back ever so often in hope of finding the warrior once more.

[Heathclaw]

Today was a warm day, considering that it was Leaf-bare. The streams were no longer frozen, and when Tigerpaw closed his eyes, it almost felt like a happy day in Leaf-fall again. Almost.

The prey was hardly running anymore; no soft skittering sounds disturbed the earth. The air had a bite to it that only Leaf-bare could bring. Not one leaf rustled on Riverclan territory. And of course, Stormkit and Daisykit weren't with him anymore.

The apprentice opened his eyes and shook himself, pushed that thought out of his mind for the hundredth time, and continued padding along the riverbank, a clump of moss in his jaws. he had been tasked with collecting new bedding for camp; a task he enjoyed, because it meant he'd probably be visiting the medicine den once he'd finished.

It was his favorite place in the camp: The nursery was too full of painful memories. The warrior's den was off-limits, and the apprentice's den only served to remind him of the troubles he'd have to face in the future. But he was drawn to the scents and sound of the medicine den; just as Stormkit had been drawn to the world outside camp. What wouldn't he give to work there, sharing tongues with StarClan and healing his clanmates instead of struggling along as a warrior, hiding secrets that his clanmates must never discover?

But no... That path was closed to him, probably promised to another, and Tigerpaw wasn't going to complain. He'd just have to make do with what his lot in life, and deal with whatever Starclan had in store for him.

He continued down the stream, glancing around at the clumps of snow to distract himself from his thoughts. Presently he heard the sound of splashing water somewhere up ahead, and the scent of RiverClan thickened. Some cat must be fishing nearby.

Tigerpaw continued on his way, pushing through a small clump of foliage. Sure enough, a cat had been fishing here; he could smell her scent, mixed with the strong scent of fish and a hint of blood. She was up further ahead, her pelt almost blending in with the snow. A warrior; probably Lightstream, judging by her fur color.

Not that it was of any interest to Tigerpaw. He wasn't a social cat. He took a few more steps along the streambank, searching for more moss, and then the dirt beneath his paws shifted suddenly, tipping him into the water with a yowl and a splash.

The water was freezing, soaking through the young cat's dark coat and shocking him to the skin. He panicked and started flailing, sending up great arcs of water as he fought to reach the surface. His back legs hung uselessly in the water below him as he scrambled for air, the water pounding in his ears and stinging his eyes.

StarClan, help me!

[mehl]

Did Dovestream see me fishing? Is he proud? Why was he there, is he here to guide me in something?, So many thoughts seemed to suffocate the air out of Lightstream, she thought the snow had formed into herself as she padded on in an uncoordinated way. Her thick coat was on end, making her look bigger and even more camouflaged than she had been. Dovestream. Her mind was only on him at that very moment. Her unique eyes blazed in confusion and the battle that was forming in her mind, had she seen Dovestream from Starclan, or was her mind playing tricks on her as it always did in Leaf-bare? She never quite figured out the answer to that, probably never would either.

The scent of the fish masked her sense of smell, it would'nt do very good either if the fish had'nt been there. Her long tail drooped in the snow, covering it with snow and twigs. On the nice day that it was, she would've thought her body would feel cozt and delightful. Instead, it was cold and seemed lifeless to herself. Bitter memories came crashing down on her, her ears went back and she dropped the fish abruptly, her sense of smell was'nt very good... but her ears and eyes worked just fine. There was a sound, one the fish made when they leapt and submerged into the water. There also was the distinct yowl of a cat, she paid no mind to it at first; all Riverclan cats could swim so there was'nt anything to worry about. Yet, after a short few moments, the air wasa still and no sound came, Lightstream knew something was up... she glanced behind herself and stood stock-still with fear. It was Tigerpaw, struggling for dear life in the ice cold stream.

"Tigerpaw!," She cried aloud, she made a leap into the snow and trudged as fast as she could to the waters edge. "Come on Tigerpaw, swim on over to me," She meowed soothingly, there was a tremble in her voice, but she with-held it. Something was utterly wrong, Tigerpaw was scrambling frantically all over the place. Lightstream hissed to herself and plunged into the fast flowing water, she stood there for a second until she was paddling quickly towards Tigerpaw. "C'mere Phigerpaw, I'm wight ere," She spluttered, water filling her mouth as her misguided attempt to save Tigerpaw looked ever more hopeless. She grabbed unto the scruff of his neck, tugging him away from the deeper pools of water. He was heavy, dead-weight against her. Lightstream managed to get half of his body unto the bank, her breath was ragged as she clambered back unto land.

She was trembling with both fear and cold, her fur was plastered against her body and she was pacing frantically, trying to figure out if Tigerpaw was ok. He must've been able to take the other half of his body up unto land; she hoped. Lightstream glanced Tigerpaw over and tried pulling him farther up the snowy hill that went down to the stream. Lightstream's eyes flickered with excitment and shock, why had'nt he swam to shore- as all Riverclan cats do?

"Are you okay, Tigerpaw?," It was a idiotic question, of course he was'nt okay. She'd leave the questioning for later, right now she tried to warm him, her toungue rasped along his fur, making his fur look unkept as she licked upward towards his head. It would warm him up a bit, hopefully he'd speak sooner or later.

[Heathclaw]

Tigerpaw couldn't tell if he'd been underwater for a few minutes or for an hour. The only thing his mind could register was a cold so sharp that it felt like fire; like icy claws ripping into his fur.

And all of a sudden he was transported back to that night in Leaf-fall, running for his life, running away from Stormkit's body. Daisykit was running beside him, letting out mewls of terror. For some reason, a rushing sound was filling Tigerpaw's ears, and he heard a worried voice in the distance.

"Come on Tigerpaw, swim on over to me,"

Swim? But he was running; the streams were already far behind him...

"Are you okay, Tigerpaw?"

Tigerpaw let out a great gasp, coughing water up onto the shore as he was hurled back into freezing cold reality. Someone was rasping their tongue across his fur, making it stand on end. He felt warmth creeping back into his pelt, and he got a peculiar feeling of something tugging gently on his back legs.

He didn't need to look to figure out what had happened. He must have blacked out, and someone had saved him, had pulled him half out of the water, and had stayed to make sure he was okay.

"Lightstream?" Tigerpaw coughed, spitting out another mouthful of water and opening his eyes. Sure enough, he recognized the she-cat's cream colored coat. With a grunt of effort, Tigerpaw dragged himself out of the stream, pushing with his chest and front paws. He blinked water out of his eyes and turned his head to face his rescuer properly.

"Lightstream," Tigerpaw said again, speaking in a weak voice. "Thank you. You- you saved my life, didn't you?" His amber eyes gazed into hers, detecting honest concern, and slight confusion. She'd probably want to ask him what had happened.

Tigerpaw lifted his head, glancing quickly along the stream, and let out a small sigh of relief. His patch of moss was still lying a few foxlengths down the streambank where he'd fallen. But he'd have to get it later. At the moment, he felt that he could barely stand.

[mehl]

She fretted over Tigerstar like a mother would, her eyes were clouded in confusion as she soon got into the notion of warming Tigerpaw, it seemed robotic with her eyes looking nowhere and her tongue rasping his dark coat in melody together as if the whole thing was orchastrated. Lightstream shook herself from her dreamy thoughts, and paid attention now to Tigerpaw who spluttered her name out with an awful lot of water. She purred comfortingly and licked his ear one last time, to show that she was there and would take him back to camp to get proper treatment in the medicine cat's den. Her frame stood as he made an effort to stand on his own. She quickly scrambled to get beside him and balance him in case he were to lean to far and once again fall.

"Thank you. You- you saved my life, didn't you?"

Lightstream glanced warmly at him, she had'nt replied to him calling his name in fear... well, she just fear that he might collapse if he strained himself in talking to her so she had nothing to say. Now, she knew he was capable to talk and replied back to his comment on saving her,"I did save your life, I suppose... there's no need for thank you's, we Riverclan cats look out for each other always, am I right?," Her face contorted into a smile, she was happy that he was okay but she was selfish enough to be happier about talking to another cat. Her life had been miserably lonely and this was a nice time to talk to her fellow clanmate. She caught herself and nearly cried out in shame, how could she be happier that she was talking to her clanmate and not be leaping for joy that he was'nt dead!?

Lightstream shook her head, showing her shame in herself. She did'nt want Tigerpaw to think she was dissapointed in anything so she made another smile that was'nt quite as genuine as her last. When she heard him sigh, she knew it was of some relief by the tone of it. Was it because he was alive? Well, of course he was relieved of that but he was looking directly at something. She muttered,"Wha-," but stopped when she noticed what he was looking at. Lightstream immediatly stood and retrieved it, happy to be of service. "Here you are, I believe this is yours," She said quietly. When all had settled and silence fell, she observed Tigerstar closely and thought... just thought. Why had'nt he swam back to shore, had he maybe wedged one of his paw in a stone and broke it? Well, his two front paws seemed fine, it was his back legs that did'nt seem the strongest. She murmered,"Did you injure yourself when you were swimming to shore?," She wondered if he did'nt. Was he unable to swim like all RIverclan cats could, she knew it had been recorded before but were'nt they taught eventually? Lightstream felt uncomfortable for a moment, maybe her question should've been saved for later, they needed to head back to camp.

[Heathclaw]

"I did save your life, I suppose... there's no need for thank you's, we Riverclan cats look out for each other always, am I right?,"

"Yes. Yes, I suppose so," said Tigerpaw awkwardly, letting out another small cough. Not like he could do anything to help his clanmates. What would he have been able to do if the situation had been reversed? Nothing. Nothing at all.

He rose shakily to his paws, which felt stiff with cold, and shook a few more drops of water out of his pelt, glancing back at Lightstream just in time to see her shake her head about something. Shortly afterwards she gave him another smile, but this one didn't reach her eyes.

Something was making her unhappy. She'd been worried for him, but there was some other sad emotion there as well. Tigerpaw shook his head and told himself to stop prying. She was probably just irritated with him for falling in, probably wondering why he hadn't just swum out on his own. His musing was interrupted when something thudded onto the ground beside him; Tigerpaw turned and saw that Lightstream had retrieved his moss for him as well. "Erm... thanks," Tigerpaw said, although his tail curled up in shame. He really was useless, wasn't he?

All of a sudden, he sneezed, and in that instant he realized that he wasn't out of danger yet. Getting soaked in icy water like that in the middle of Leaf-bare made the danger of getting whitecough very real.

"I need to get back to camp and get warmed up," he said briskly, picking up his moss. He stumbled on the first few steps, but managed to get his paws under him soon enough. He moved at an even pace which concealed the weakness in his back legs. He turned after a few steps. "Thanks again for saving me. And... I'm sorry for causing you trouble. I... I ought to watch my step next time," he said, allowing some of the bitterness that he felt at himself to color his last sentence. He continued shakily on his way, not expecting Lightstream to follow him. She was a warrior, she had hunting duties, and better things to do than to fish mouse-brained apprentices out of the water.

[mehl]

Tigerpaw seemed either offended or awkawrd with her being helping him out. She cringed slightly, was it because of her being who she was, the cat who was avoided nearly every hour of the day? Lightstream became extremely pained at the thought that even Tigerpaw could be a cat whom did'nt favor her company. She nodded stiffly to his thanks, no warm comment coming from her mouth. It was'nt because she was angry at Tigerpaw, she just felt that he'd feel more... comfortable without her talking, even if she did have an urge to socialize with the apprentice.

I need to get back to camp and get warmed up

Lightstream could'nt resist to answer,"Yes, I'll take you back," She caught herself and her smile drooped, he'd decline... she knew it. She thought herself pathetic for being so weak in fron of an apprentice, her groveling to him was unknown in his eyes but she knew all to well that she was doing so; desperatly.

Then, he started his way back to camp, leaving Lightstream to do her duties. Her mouth parted slightly in defiance and she jumped on after him, she was two foxlenghts away before he turned and thanked her for "saving" him and that'd hed cause no more trouble. Lightstream smiled, not in a rude way, but in a comforting way that meant no harm. "Hey, we all make mistakes," She laughed, thinking of herself and how she caused way more faults to the clan and caused all sorts of trouble when she was an apprentice. "In fact, I fell in the river when I was an apprentice and my mentor had to pull me out," It was a bit of lie, her mentor had'nt pulled her out, she had simply swam out. It was all she could do to take a shot at making him a bit more good about himself. And so, she came next to him and nodded, they needed to get back to camp straight away and leave the talking at rest.

[Heathclaw]

It turned out that Lightstream had decided to follow him after all. Did that mean that she actually wasn't annoyed with him?

"Hey, we all make mistakes. In fact, I fell in the river when I was an apprentice and my mentor had to pull me out," said Lightstream with a small laugh, padding up beside him. Tigerpaw gave a genuine smile at these words. At least he hadn't been the only RiverClan apprentice who'd made a bit of a fool of himself. "Did you panic too?" asked an interested Tigerpaw, setting his moss down for a moment.

A shadow of doubt ran through Tigerpaw's eyes a moment later. What if she was just lying to make him feel better? Stop that! Tigerpaw snapped at himself. Would you stop making yourself miserable? There're other cats who are far worse off than you are! He looked back up at Lightstream again, eyes bright. She seemed a lot happier now that they were talking together. Did that have something to do with why she'd shaken her head back at the streambank? He didn't know much about the light-colored warrior, but he chanced a guess that she was the social type.

"Well, if you insist on taking me back to camp, you should at least bring your fish back with you too," said Tigerpaw, pointing out the general location of the prey with his tailtip. "I saw you fishing earlier," he explained.

"And don't worry, I promise that I won't run away in the meantime," said Tigerpaw, with his small quiet laugh. "It's not like I could even if I wanted to. If you want, we could talk on the way back to camp," he added.

[mehl]

they began their trek back to camp, it was quiet and serene... everything seemed still. Her pearly white coat blended effortlessly in the landscape, she may very well have been born to live in leaf-bare. Lightstream smirked, what a thought; being born to live succesfully in leaf bare.

"Did you panic too?"

Her steps faltered for a moment as she forged for an answer. It wasn't that hard, she just had to say yes and have a convincing story. The convincing story, that was the hard part. Her multi-colored eyes flickered around in distress, and then she smiled wide, her ears perking with triumph. "I did panic," She started with an eerie voice, though she knew Tigerpaw probably wouldn't appreciate her being addressing him in a voice fit for a kit. Lightstream continued,"I was just walking along the bank, very much like you... well, I'm guessing you were just traveling along the stream. Well, my mentor was by me and he was talking quickly on how the stream represented us and how the fish were our pride prey," She smirked. Pride prey?. Lightstream laughed at herself and continued jaggedly,"I wasn't listening since I was an ignorant and trouble-making apprentice, next thing I knew I was plunging into the water, just like you were!" Well, it wasn't that convincing but... It's Lightstream, you know?

"The fish!" She cried, looking frantically around at Tigerpaw's word. Lightstream scampered over to the lone fish, flies buzzed around it in glee only to be flciked aside my Lightstream. She picked up the dead fish and carried it back to Tigerstar with an embarrased yet beaming expression. "I wats ot!" She said in a muffled voice; laughing loudly. "You didn't run away!" She exclaimed teasingly and brushed pelts with him as she came up to his side. She was in a grand mood, her eyes were alight with happiness and she walked with a slow pace; a shot at keeping Tigerpaw in her grasp for awhile longer. Lightstream immediatly felt guilty again, but she whipped it aside with haste in case Tigerpaw saw her sudden shift in expression.

"It's not like I could even if I wanted to. If you want, we could talk on the way back to camp"

Lightstream tilted her head and answered hesitantly,"Ok... the wish sworta stops ne bow," She tried for a smile again but still thought of what he said before his gesture of kindess. She blurted out all of a sudden,"What do you mean 'like I could even if I wanted to'," Her gaze was stern but worried... was he really hurt from his fall?

[Heathclaw]

Tigerpaw's whiskers twitched slightly as Lightstream recounted her story. He reflected that it might have fooled another apprentice, but Tigerpaw was very mature for his age. He'd just finished deciding that she'd probably swum out on her own when she went to get off to get her fish, and then quickly decided that it didn't matter. It was the thought that counted, and Tigerpaw had to admit that he was feeling better. Of course, he'd had to shout himself out of his mental quagmire, but nonetheless...

"Huh?" he mumbled, his head shooting up as he felt fur brush his side; Lightstream had returned, carrying her fish with her. She definitely looked a lot happier now; she was positively beaming. Tigerpaw supposed he must have come reasonably close with his guess that she liked talking. This was going to be tricky.

They walked for a while in silence, traveling at a sedate pace. Tigerpaw wondered if Lightstream was slowing down especially for him and had opened his mouth to tell her that he'd recovered enough to walk faster, but the snow-colored she cat spoke before him.

"What do you mean 'like I could even if I wanted to'," she blurted out in a concerned voice. It was at this moment that Tigerpaw shivered involuntarily from his recent dousing, giving him a few heartbeats to figure out his response. He'd slipped with his tongue there and had almost given himself away. This was one of the reasons why he didn't talk out loud so often.

He composed his features into a relatively nonchalant face and turned to look at her again. "Oh, you know. Stiff limbs from the cold. It's getting better now though, so you don't need to slow down for me. I can keep up," he insisted, his whiskers twitching in a smile.

"So, er, who was your mentor? Did you two get along alright?" Tigerpaw asked casually, anxious to change to subject. "I don't know who my mentor's going to be. I'm actually a little nervous about it." Too true. How was he going to hide his disabilities from the cat who'd be training him?

[Fernpaw]

((I hope you do not mind be intruding, but I felt they could use a little visit from Twigpaw. ^^ ))

Twigpaw sat in a low hanging branch of a tree, his tail twitching in boredom. He really did need something else to do rather than what Oakstar had sent him for. Oakstar always gave him something boring to do, but at least today it was an assignment outside of camp.

The young tom sighed, if nothing interesting happened sometime soon he just might die of boredom. Twigpaw was almost always in motion and on the lookout for mischief and adventure, but this leaf-bare there seemed to be nothing to do. No one wanted to play, there was nothing to hunt and play with, no falling leaves or snow to catch, the world was just dull, plain and simple.

The brown apprentice scanned the barren horizon from his vantage point and thought he could make out two cats on their way toward camp. His grey flacked tabby fur puffed up in excitement, he was in the perfect place for an ambush and would be hard to spot up in the trees since his pelt matched so well. His golden eyes gleamed with excitement. Twigpaw stood up and stretched his legs very carefully to warm up his muscles. He then gathered up his long thin legs under his body to be ready to pounce once the pair of cats were in just the right spot.

While he waited the apprentice willed his long, thin tail to stop its twitching, but to no avail. It was almost as if his tail had a mind of its own, it just simply would not stop twitching! Oh well, a cat might mistake it for a waving branch any way.

"That's right, come just a bit closer he mewed under his breath. I'm ready for you. That's right, just one more paw step-" BAM!

He launched himself from the tree branch he had been sitting on, letting out a nice caterwaul as he flew through the air and landed on top of a nice lump of...wet fur? Twigpaw scrambled off of the other cat and looked down at the one he had landed on. He thought recognized the apprentice as Tigerpaw.

"Tigerpaw, why are you all wet!? Don't you know now is not the best to go for a swim?" he asked, forgetting the warrior that stood beside him.

[mehl]

"Oh, you know. Stiff limbs from the cold. It's getting better now though, so you don't need to slow down for me. I can keep up"

She glanced warily at him and sighed; giving in. "Ok, I trust that your telling me the truth," Oh, what a hypocrite she was! She had been lying to him and now she was dawdling and telling him about lying. She laughed without emotion under her breath and kept a steady pace. Lightstream walked in silence for a moment, tryig to keep the fish in her mouth without having to settle it down in the cold to speak. Then, he asked the questions. She glanced at him and smiled, glad to speak again. She set the fish down and spoke quietly,"I wanted my mentor to be a cat named Dovestream yet I got another whom I do not wish to name," The truth was, she really didn't want to speak her mentors name... she had died along with Dovestream. There was hardly any memory of her anymore.

Then, there was a crack and a catowaul. Lightstream hissed and flexed her claws at the enemy. She couldn't identify the scent of whom she was to attack but she knew it had attacked Tigerpaw. Then, she heard it speak and perked her ears... it knew Tigerpaws name. "Twigpaw!" She yowled angrily, her tail lashing. "You come off Tigerpaw this instant!" She had never used sucha commanding tone... it was new on the tongue.

Lightstream hissed in frustration and lashed her tail about. She said quickly,"Come on, we have to get back to camp," She hurried onwards, not caring for conversation anymore.

OOC`` Not at all! And sorry for the crappy post, not alot of muse in me todayy x[

[Heathclaw]

(Sure knows how to make an entrance, doesn't he? XD So, should we proceed from here to the meeting? We don't have to end this thread immediately, I just want to agree on where we're going from here.)

Tigerpaw was grateful to Lightstream for getting angry on his behalf, but it wasn't really necessary. His hypersensitive ears heard Twigpaw the moment the apprentice decided to leap down, and he'd shifted his position subtly to brace himself for the impact, buckling a little bit as the bark-colored apprentice bounced off his back, but managing to stay on all four paws.

He regretted not being able to respond properly to Lightstream's story about her mentor, but he knew Twigpaw was likely to try some other stunt if he was ignored for too long, and so he gave him a mild reply. "I didn't do it on purpose. Still, isn't it more like a RiverClan cat to mimic a fish, instead of a squirrel?"

There. That was enough to acknowledge his stunt, and hopefully enough to discourage a repeat performance. He headed off, swiveling his ears in the direction of the camp, which he knew must be close by, and caught a faint snatch of something on the wind. "Hey, Twigpaw, we're heading back," Tigerpaw called over his shoulder. "You might want to join us. It's just a hunch, but I think there might be some excitement on the way." He left it at that, bounding after Lightstream in a controlled lope, again hiding the weakness in his back legs.