“What did I say?” Sandynose was staring at her.
“Good borders make good neighbors,” Twigpaw repeated, hoping he hadn’t said anything else important while she’d been caught in her own thoughts.
“Good.” He looked pleased.
She puffed out her chest, relieved.
Sparrowpelt marked the pines along the edge. “I can’t wait until my kits are old enough to explore here.” He glanced around the forest. “It’s a good place to grow up.” The lake was visible between the trees, sparkling in the bright leaf-fall sunshine. Needles crunched beneath his paws. Prey-scents hung on the air.
“Has Quailkit recovered from his sniffles?” Twigpaw asked.
“Yes.” Sparrowpelt purred. “Leafpool gave him coltsfoot. This morning he felt so much better, he wanted to see if he could jump the stream. Sunnykit and Pigeonkit dared him to try.”
Sandynose flicked his tail. “It sounds as though Tinycloud has her paws full with those three.”
“They’re a joy,” Sparrowpelt meowed as he marked another tree. “Now I want the Clan to thrive, not just for my Clanmates, but for them.”
“Kits can be a worry.” Sandynose’s gaze darkened thoughtfully. “We have so many hopes for them. And yet we can’t protect them from every danger or disappointment.” Twigpaw pricked her ears. Was he talking about Finpaw? She wandered farther along the border, sniffing for stale markers as he went on. “And they grow up so quickly, so sure they know everything, and so determined to make their own choices, even if they’re wrong. We can only pray that StarClan guides their paws.”
Twigpaw hurried ahead, following a weak scent line and refreshing it as she went. If he was complaining about Finpaw’s friendship with her, she didn’t want to hear.
“Well done!” Sandynose called to her through the trees. “You picked up that scent line well.”
Was he actually praising her? She looked at him, puzzled. Perhaps he wasn’t dropping hints about her friendship with Finpaw after all. Stop being paranoid!
“You seem to have a natural sense of where the border lies,” Sandynose went on. Twigpaw didn’t tell him that it used to be the old border with ShadowClan, and she’d marked the ThunderClan side many times with Ivypool. “Head toward the lake, and mark the border there,” he told her. “Sparrowpelt and I will head toward the ditches.”
He trusted her to work alone. Twigpaw lifted her tail. Had she won his confidence at last? Hope pricking in her pelt, she crossed the rise and followed a gully toward the lake, carefully marking each tree as she passed.
“Twigpaw!”
She froze as she heard Finpaw’s mew. His pelt flashed behind a bramble, and he bounced out, excitedly, and stopped in front of her.
She glanced nervously between the trees. She could still see Sandynose and Sparrowpelt heading inland. “Aren’t you supposed to be training with Bellaleaf?” she breathed.
Finpaw paced excitedly back and forth. “She said I’d done enough training this morning. I’m allowed to explore. So I thought I’d come and explore with you.”
“I’m training.” Twigpaw shifted uneasily.
“I thought you were marking borders,” Finpaw mewed. “I can help.”
Her pelt pricked guiltily. “I’m not meant to hang out with you,” she mewed softly.
Finpaw frowned. “Why not?”
Twigpaw glanced toward Sandynose. He had disappeared behind some bracken. “Your father thinks you’ll learn quicker if I’m not distracting you all the time.”
“Sandynose said that?” Finpaw’s eyes widened. “He must have bees in his brain. You’ve helped me so much!”
“Maybe you should just stick with Bellaleaf for now. You do have a lot of catching up to do.” Twigpaw tried to smooth over the awkwardness. She didn’t want to sour Finpaw’s relationship with his father. “We can hang out when we’re warriors.”
“Yeah, right.” Finpaw lashed his tail angrily. “Like you’ll want to hang out with me once you’re a great warrior and I’m just lumbering around like a clumsy badger because I’ve only got a half tail.”
Twigpaw stared at him. “I’ll always want to hang out with you.”
“So you think I will be like a clumsy badger?”
“No!” Twigpaw’s ears twitched uncomfortably. “Of course not. You’re going to be a great warrior too, if you train hard.”
Finpaw grunted crossly. “I’m never going to be the warrior Sandynose hoped I would be. He knows it and I know it. It’s probably why he doesn’t want me hanging out with you. He probably thinks I’ll hold you back.”
Twigpaw stared at him. “That’s not true.”
“Then why does he want to keep us apart?”
Twigpaw shrugged. Should she tell him that she suspected Sandynose would only ever see her as a disloyal ThunderClan cat?
“It’s not fair.” Finpaw sat down. “I’m never going to be a great warrior, and now I’m not allowed to be friends with you.”
“No one will ever stop us being friends.” Twigpaw padded close. She stared at him until he returned her gaze. “You’re special to me.”
“I am?”
“Of course you are.” Twigpaw nudged his cheek with her nose. “Once we’re warriors, no one will be able to keep us apart. I don’t care if it puts Sandynose’s tail in a twist. You’re going to prove to him that you’re a great warrior and so am I. We’ll be the best warriors in SkyClan, and he won’t be able to stop us doing anything we want.”
Finpaw lifted his muzzle, his eyes bright. “You’re right. He might think he knows best now, but once we can outrun, outhunt, and outfight him, he won’t be able to tell us what to do.”
“Exactly.” Twigpaw’s heart lurched as she glimpsed a brown pelt between the trees. Sandynose was watching them. “But you’d better go and find Bellaleaf now. I’ve got borders to mark before your father gets back.”
“Okay.” Finpaw stood up and flicked his half tail happily. “I’ll see you back at camp later.” He trotted away, glancing over his shoulder as he went.
As he disappeared behind the brambles, Twigpaw turned toward Sandynose. Her mentor was heading toward her. She tried to read his gaze. Was he angry that she’d been talking to Finpaw?
“He came to talk to me,” she mewed defensively.
“And you sent him away.” Sandynose looked satisfied. “You did well. The harder each of you concentrates on your duties, the faster you’ll earn your warrior names.”
And the faster Finpaw will lose interest in a ThunderClan traitor. Twigpaw turned away. “I’ll go and mark the rest of the border.” She headed for the lake.
“We’ll meet you on the shore when you’re done,” Sandynose called after her.
Twigpaw tried to keep her pelt smooth. She should be happy that she’d finally pleased Sandynose. But she couldn’t help feeling that she’d been mouse-hearted. In ThunderClan, she’d be a warrior by now. She would never have let a SkyClan cat boss her around. Did she want to be a SkyClan cat so much that she was willing to roll over and act like prey whenever Sandynose ordered her to? Anxiety rippled through her pelt. Would she ever earn the respect she’d had in ThunderClan? Was this what it cost to stay with Hawkwing, Violetpaw, and Finpaw?
Twigpaw followed Sandynose and Sparrowpelt back to camp. As they neared the cedar grove, she stiffened. ThunderClan scent. The familiar smells of Ivypool, Cinderheart, and Bumblestripe hung on the bracken that lined the path. She leaned down and sniffed the needle-strewn earth, and their scents bathed her nose. They had come this way recently.