{softly the blackbird sings} open

[**Burn**]

SHE was supposed to be hunting. That was what Cursedstar had charged her to do that morning when she woke up. The clan needed the prey, Blackpaw knew it was important, but she just wasn't in the mood for it. Snow piled high all around the little black she-cat, reaching nearly to her belly even in the shallowest parts. With so much snow all over the place, the entire landscape was washed white which was a huge inconvenience for the solid black apprentice. After all, her mother hadn't named her Black-kit for no reason, just like Burnpaw hadn't been named Burnkit because she was sweet tempered. It really wasn't working out so far for the slender black she-cat, creeping amidst mounds of snow while occasionally flurries threw themselves from the sky and left cold spots on her back. Still, she wasn't about to go back to Cursedstar and tell him she hadn't been able to find anything, that would just be too embarrassing. BRACING herself against the chilly breezes, Blackpaw leaped over a fallen log that was piled high with several inches of snow. Looking around at the clearing she had come into, her pawsteps stopped when she saw the tree in the middle of the clearing. It was the biggest, tallest tree she had ever seen in her eight moons on earth. Tipping her head back, Blackpaw stared in amazement at the massive plant, it's bare branches sticking out like skeletal arms. The young apprentice could only imagine how grand the tree must look during newleaf and greenleaf, it had to be the most beautiful and majestic thing in the forest. TWITCHING her black tail, Blackpaw slowly walked around the outskirts of the clearing around the tree. Her amber eyes swept over the gnarled bark, the twisted limbs, the bare branches and even the empty hollow where an owl most likely had once made its home. Once she had come full circle back to her own pawprints in the snow, she stopped. Reclining back on her haunches, Blackpaw continued staring upward at the tree while little flakes of snow lazily fell from the gray sky to settle on her head, catching in her whiskers and making her ears twitch from time to time. "I wish Burnpaw could see this, I bet she's never seen such a big tree," Blackpaw murmured to herself. Then again, Burnpaw probably would just sniff and tell her she was making a big deal about nothing, that it was just a big old tree and nothing more. The thought of her sister's sharp tongue made Blackpaw's tail tip flick from side to side. "Oh well. Even if she doesn't like it, I still think its wonderful," Blackpaw told herself with a small smile to the tree. HERE where no one could see her, Blackpaw let herself relax. There was no Burnpaw to try and appease, no Cursedstar to impress, no other warriors to laugh if she messed up something. Better yet, there was no one to scold her for not hunting like she was supposed to. Her sleek muscles uncoiled as she relaxed, seeming uncaring about the snow that drifted down on her. Sure, she was cold, but sometimes there were more important things than personal comfort. Stopping to enjoy one of the forest's many wonders, that seemed like one of those more important things in Blackpaw's mind, though few of her fellow clanmates would agree. [bg=76746e][atrb=border,0,true]

[Jay]

Treading carefully through the snow, the medicine cat of Sunclan breathed in the many scents, wondering where he was going to go. He had came out from the shelter of his den to get some fresh air, although now he wished he hadn’t. There really wasn’t any point to it; he was just wandering aimlessly around the territory. It wasn’t like he could enjoy the snowy scenery around him, since he had never seen anything in his life. Blinking his sightless blue eyes, Snowfall thrashed his tail. He felt useless, cold, hungry and tired! He felt like a complete idiot, wandering around his own territory in the middle of the day. If one of his clanmates saw him, he couldn’t pretend that he was collecting herbs, since there weren’t any. Leafbare in Sunclan territory was just full of cold snow, ice, clean scents and things that Snowfall’s almost-completely blind blue eyes could never see. Hopeless, Snowfall growled to himself. At that moment, he felt that the other medicine cats were much more capable than him. At least they could see the herbs and their patients. Snowfall had to guess by the scents and the sounds around him; he could never be completely sure of anything. If Snowfall had been born with the ability to see, he would have been better with healing than all the other medicine cats! They would come begging for help, and they would never taunt Snowfall again; no one would! Lost in his thoughts, Snowfall didn’t even notice Blackpaw until he very nearly stepped right on her. Startled, the medicine cat took a step back, breathing in the scents around him. He could smell trees and leaves hidden beneath snow, but stronger than all of that was the warm, familiar scent of Sunclan, which was obviously coming from Blackpaw. How had he not noticed that before? “What are you doing out here, Blackpaw?” he asked, trying to figure out exactly where she was, so that he could look directly at her. After long moons of being blind, he found out that cats with sight listened better if the other cat was looking right at them. Or it might intimidate them. Either was good. ”You might catch Greencough.” Snowfall added sternly. “We don’t have many herbs left to cure that, so you better head back to camp if you plan on just standing there. Or are you hunting? I wouldn’t know, I’ve never seen before.” [bg=17061a][atrb=border,0,true]

[**Burn**]

THE sound of crunching snow woke Blackpaw from her fanciful wanderings, drawing her back to the here and now. Twitching her black ears, the apprentice turned her head, amber eyes searching for the source of the sound. On the cold breeze, she could smell the warm familiar scent of SunClan so, she didn't feel any fear. She was comfortable with her clan, if shy at times. It took her a moment to find the source of the pawsteps but that was only because it was a solid white tom that she instantly recognized as Snowfall. His sightless eyes were aimed at nothing in particular and as he drew closer, she wondered if he had even realized she was there, but she was loath to break whatever wanderings he was in. To her, he seemed frustrated, or at least he was if the twitching of his tail was anything to go by. Unwilling to disturb anyone, the young apprentice was ready to get up and move out of the blind medicine cat's path when he nearly trod on her, quickly drawing back before she could even get up. Blushing under her fur, Blackpaw laid her ears back against her head as the tom fired off his round of brisk questions. Bitterness colored his tone and agitation, Blackpaw hoped it was aimed just at her. "I'M sorry Snowfall," Blackpaw meowed softly, flicking her black tail so it brushed his paw. "I was hunting but I got a bit distracted I suppose." SHE didn't want to mention that she'd been staring at a tree. He'd probably think she was silly or tell Cursedstar that she was wasting time staring at foliage, though of all cats he might understand wanting to absorb those kinds of things since as he had said, he'd never seen before. Still, if he told Cursedstar she was just sitting around looking at trees, the leader might get agitated with her and think she was lazy. That was the last thing she wanted, for her clan to think her useless or disobedient. "I should get going, I'm sorry I was in your way." BOBBING her head even though Snowfall couldn't see it, Blackpaw got up. Stretching her sleek black form, she gave her fur a bit of a shake to loosen any snowflakes that had gotten caught in the glossy strands of hair. She gave the tree a longing look but then looked back at Snowfall. She was torn between offering to help him with whatever it was he was doing in the middle of a snowy forest and just going on her way. Everyone knew he could be touchy about his blindness, as any blind cat had a right to be, but Blackpaw had never thought him a bad cat. He was the one that had patched up Burnpaw whenever she got in her silly scraps or was there when training accidents happened. From what she could see just around camp, Snowfall seemed more frustrated than anything, a lot like Burnpaw. Burnpaw had told Blackpaw once that she felt like she was running in place, like she wasn't doing all she could do, like something was holding her back. It wouldn't be too much of a stretch for Blackpaw to believe that was what Snowfall was suffering when he snapped at someone or growled every now and then. "EXCUSE me, I don't want to seem rude, but is everything alright?" Blackpaw asked after a hesitant pause, amber eyes looking into the glassy eyes of the blind tom. Not many cats gave Snowfall the benefit of eye contact because he couldn't see it, but Blackpaw felt...disrespectful when she didn't look someone in the eye when talking to them. Maybe it was just her own little quirk, but it was there nonetheless. So, blind or not, he would have her full attention, eye contact and all. [bg=000000][atrb=border,0,true]

[Jay]

Narrowing his sightless eyes at where he thought the apprentice was, Snowfall twitched his tail irritably. He didn’t like when young cats bothered him about his problems. They didn’t need to know about every little thing that was happening to him, so of course, his reply back to Blackpaw wouldn’t be entirely truthful. Sure, he might say that he was just worried about an outbreak of Greencough, or that the only herbs he had were withered and useless, but he wouldn’t speak of his personal issues. Blackpaw didn’t need to know about that, and he would make sure to keep it hidden. To his clanmates, he must make sure they see him as a capable medicine cat. With the tip of his tail still twitching, Snowfall opened his mouth to reply, careful not to give anything away. “Oh, everything is alright. Any medicine cat would get worried in Leafbare, with all of this snow, and the chance that Greencough could infect the clan at any moment.” Pausing, Snowfall wondered if he should tell her about the empty herb storage, and how the only herbs in the whole territory were in the Twolegplace, in Reedclan territory, where Snowfall couldn’t travel because of his blindness. If only he had an apprentice to do those chores...But then again, they would get annoying after a while, unless they were like Snowfall when he was a kit; quiet and sensible. An apprentice like that would be tolerable, and maybe the clan would feel safer with two medicine cats, instead of a useless blind one. Getting angry at himself, Snowfall thrashed his tail. Almost every second of the day he thought about his blindness; even other cats mentioned it less than him. He just wished he could view the world, instead of being trapped in an endless darkness all of the time. It would have been so much easier if he had just been born like the rest of his family; normal and capable. He would have course still been a medicine cat; he couldn’t imagine himself as being a warrior. Since he was a kit, Snowfall knew which path he was going to take, and he was glad he had done something right in his long lifetime. “The herbs are pretty low.” he added, finally deciding to explain his behaviour better. ”And I can’t travel all the way to the Twolegplace to get them, but I think we’ll manage, as long as no one catches Greencough.” [bg=17061a][atrb=border,0,true]

[**Burn**]

BLACKPAW'S ears twitched when Snowfall answered. It was sort of what she'd expected, after all, she was only an apprentice. Nobody ever told apprentices anything. It was something Burnpaw grumped about on a regular basis, enough for Blackpaw to see how right her sister was. Warriors ignored them unless they had to be trained. Oh well. What could anyone do about it? They weren't experienced warriors or anything spectacular, why would anyone confide in them? As long as Blackpaw knew what her mentor wanted her to do, she was alright with warriors mostly ignoring her. Someday she would be a warrior and then maybe the clan would actually see her and her sister as something more than the cats that cleaned out the dens and fetched moss. Waving her tail calmly, Blackpaw waited for Snowfall to dismiss her or something but instead, he spoke again, his tail lashing and again looking agitated. Blackpaw truly hoped she wasn't the one that kept making him angry, she hated making anyone angry, Yes, that did include her ever-irritable sister. With Snowfall though, it was worse because he could get her into big trouble if he told Cursedstar she was being a bother to him. THIS time when he voiced his worries, Blackpaw stood a little straighter, amber eyes narrowing slightly. Herbs at the twolegplace? It explained why Snowfall seemed angry, at least a little of it. Everyone was worried about greencough, it seemed to her worse this year than before but she had never seen a leafbare before so she couldn't truly know. She had just heard Tangletail mention it the night before. If the herbs were in twolegplace though, it explained Snowfall's sour mood. He was blind and probably didn't know ReedClan territory well enough to get through easily. Blackpaw had never been there, but even she would be able to make it through because she could see obstacles in her path. Snowfall had no such luxury. HESITATING a moment, Blackpaw looked at her paws, small and black nearly buried in the snow. After a moment of pondering she looked back at the white tom, who for all intents and purposes was her polar opposite in more than just appearance. "I could go with you to get the catmint, or maybe one of the warriors? I'm sue you'd be able to fill up your stores more quickly with more than one cat going with you." SHE was careful not to mention because he couldn't see. To her that simply seemed rude and would probably get her ears chewed off by the white tom. She didn't want to make him mad, she just wanted to help. She might not be the best, fiercest fighter in the clan but she could at least carry herbs and keep an eye out for unwelcome cats. She couldn't go for Snowfall because a ReedClan patrol would probably skin her alive as soon as she passed the border, but if she went with him or convinced him to take someone else, everyone would be satisfied. Medicine cats were always allowed to cross borders and with the extra cat, he'd be able to carry more herbs, not to mention dodging unforeseen problems and keeping alert for dangers like dogs, twolegs and foxes. THE again, her suggestion might just be seen as rude. He might think she was calling him stupid by suggesting something so obvious. Or he would be offended because she suggested he needed someone to help him. The thought of the medicine cat getting mad at her and telling Cursedstar made Blackpaw's ears lay back and her tail sway from left to right nervously. This was a she-cat that did everything possible to avoid trouble and seldom ever showed signs of a temper. Cinderheart used to say Burnpaw stole all the bad temper but Blackpaw just figured her sister had more fight in her. Blackpaw would fight and patrol and do all the things a warrior needed to do, but she didn't enjoy being angry or someone being angry at her. [bg=000000][atrb=border,0,true]

[Jay]

Snowfall hesitated, the tip of his fluffy white tail twitching. He was always fretting and worrying about the lack of herbs this leaf-bare, it would be sensible to accept Blackpaw’s request. But then again, Blackpaw was just an apprentice. The journey to the Twolegplace in leaf-bare could tire her, she might prove to be annoying and it would all just be a waste of time. But if Snowfall didn’t go to the Twolegplace as soon as possible, he would risk cats dying needlessly from Greencough. Even though there wasn’t a trace of Greencough in the camp, Snowfall would always have to be ready. A dozen complications and things that might go wrong flashed into Snowfall’s mind. Could he really risk going there right now? Although Snowfall couldn’t see if the sun was high in the sky, he couldn’t feel any warm sunlight on his flank. It would be foolish to travel all the way to Reedclan today, especially with an apprentice. And besides, Cursedstar might get worried if two members of Sunclan went missing for a few hours, especially since one of them would be a medicine cat. No, there were too many things that could go wrong. Snowfall would have to turn her suggestion down. But what if they just snuck out of the territory for a while? Maybe Cursedstar would just think that Blackpaw was hunting and Snowfall was looking for herbs, which he was, but not on Sunclan grounds. After all, bringing back a mouthful of cat mint would perhaps make Cursedstar forget about their absence. Of course, it wasn’t as simple as that. A Reedclan patrol might find them. Even though medicine cats were free to travel across borders, they might not be that welcoming. A blind medicine cat and an apprentice wouldn’t stand a chance against a full patrol with many well-trained warriors. If they ran away or gave up to them, it would send the signal that Sunclan was weak and a bunch of cowards. Snowfall definitely didn’t want to cause harm for his clan. In the end, Snowfall decided that he would have to go to Reedclan territory another day. Maybe Blackpaw could come with him when he went, and surprisingly he wouldn’t mind that. Blackpaw didn’t seem like the other apprentices. She seemed quiet and attentive, which would make her a good apprentice for Snowfall. But of course, she probably didn’t want that. Blackpaw probably preferred having a warrior training her. “No, we should go another day. It’s getting too late, and Cursedstar would get worried if we went missing. Maybe another day, Blackpaw,” he replied, blinking his sightless blue eyes. [bg=17061a][atrb=border,0,true]

[**Burn**]

NODDING in agreement with Snowfall, more out of habit than anything, Blackpaw waved her tail in acceptance with the medicine cat's words. "Of course Snowfall." The last thing Blackpaw wanted was to give Cursedstar any reason to worry about her. After all, he was the clan leader for StarClan's sake, he had much more important things to worry about than a scrawny apprentice running off somewhere without letting him know. And, if she left unexpectedly, even if it was with the medicine cat, Burnpaw would be furious. She wouldn't be furious because Blackpaw left, oh no. She would be furious because Blackpaw left without giving her any kind of warning. Burnpaw hated to worry and hated even more to admit she was worried. So, Blackpaw was glad there wouldn't be any need to cause a ruckus because if nothing else, that was what Burnpaw would do as soon as she realized Blackpaw was gone. "I should go on hunting then," Blackpaw meowed rising to her feet. "It was nice to have talked to you Snowfall." Bobbing her head again, Blackpaw began to turn and move away. SHE sighed mentally at the thought of going back to the monotony of hunting. Burnpaw enjoyed it but Blackpaw often found herself quite bored with the whole business. Fighting practice wasn't much fun either since, while she was quick, she wasn't quite as aggressive as some apprentices were prone to get. She could do it all, she just didn't find joy in it. Why then, hadn't she gone to become a medicine cat? Because she had no calling from StarClan and frankly, she wanted kits. Her mother, Cinderheart, had always seemed so happy being a queen. Even though the leader had chosen her mate, she'd been one of the few lucky ones to get a mate that actually loved her. She'd had only one litter but she'd been so happy. Blackpaw would always remember that even with Burnpaw, Cinderheart had been unfoundedly happy. Her amber eyes had always glitter brightly, her voice always with the undercurrent of a soft affectionate purr. If being a warrior first is what it took to have that, Blackpaw would do it. GIVING her sleek black pelt a shake to dislodge unwanted snowflakes, the eight moon old apprentice began to pad away from Snowfall. [bg=000000][atrb=border,0,true]