[Fawn]

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        Heat suffused over the rocks. With little to no cover beyond the occasional boulder and the shadow of the mountain, greenleaf could be an uncomfortable season for the cats of StoneClan. Though the first warm tendrils of dawn began to bear down on the rocky outcropping and almost cleverly laid rock, inside the dens made of tumbled-together mountain stones, it was cool and safe and the moss beddings were fresh from the sky springs.

A small fluffy bundle of brindled fur and feathery limbs no bigger than a rabbit's was curled loosely in her nest. It wasn't at all strange of her to be dreaming of the sky springs, and the beauty of the stars reflected in their deep pristine centers. She liked to picture the esteemed and dignified cats of Silverpelt all taking an unintentional bath, when the stars glimmered on the surface of the pools. Mrrow-ow-ow. It was a challenge to look noble with your fur clinging to you like a replacement skin.

At the water's edge, Barkpaw gazed at her mirror self, seeing not the odd, easy-target the other apprentices (and warriors) knew her to be, but a warrioress as strong and dignified as even the mightiest starbound ancestor. Even her pelt looked remarkably neat and well-groomed – and she looked wise, as if her reflection-self understood many things beyond their current-self's capacity for knowledge. A sudden weight on her face interrupted the starlit basking, and even in the dream, Barkpaw's already scrunched features crumpled further in annoyed confusion.

Huh?

She left behind the sky springs, the apprentices' den coming into focus, warm honey-shaded eyes opening at the close of her dreamworld and the peace she'd felt in it. But something was lying across the top of her head and over her small, blunt, pushed in nose – making it difficult to breathe. Groggy as well as irritated, Barkpaw tried to wipe the cool, tapering thing off her face – until it moved, and the pattern on it's back swam before her eyes. Adder!

As if caught in the crossfire of a lightning storm, Barkpaw flung up and backwards, a strangled yowl leaving the kitten's fear-fluffed form, rear end colliding with the chilly stone wall; her eyes were locked on the snake, paralyzed.

Just to her left, there was laughter. Familiar laughter. Barkpaw's skin flushed red, face scorched under her fur with humiliation and fury mixed, wheeling on Gracklepaw with a pained snarl. ”Gracklepaw! You—“

”I can't believe you fell for that! Look at your face, you look like you ran nose first into the rocks!” Gracklepaw snickered, the dark pelted tom gripping the dead snake by the tail and wriggling it, feigning a sloppy, mock slither.

Hatred of the bully fell upon her like a mudslide, Barkpaw spitting between quivering lips. ”I hope you get bit by an adder! A real one!” For a heartbeat, she meant those words, amber eyes reflecting the bruised angry ball her heart had become, and then the tide of hurt receded and left only remorse in its wake. Gracklepaw was a birdbrain and a menace, but to wish him dead was wrong...

”Yeah right,” sneered the tom, ”It'd go for you instead of me – at least nobody'd miss a smooshed in face like yours!” With one deft movement of his paw, he flicked the snake at her with another crowing guffaw.

Barkpaw flinched, holding onto the dirt floor as though she'd let go of her pride and her resilience if she didn't – what was left of them, at least. With the arrival of Blacksmoke at the den entrance, Barkpaw was spared the further humiliation of her tormentor witnessing the moisture pooling on the rims of her eyelids and collecting in the plush, chocolate and ginger fur covering her distinctively flat face.

”I told you to take that to the elders,” mewed the normally quiet, stealthy she-cat in the entrance, the black feline framed by the soft light of dawn.

”Yes Blacksmoke, I just wanted to show Barkpaw what you caught first.” He replied, in perfect obedience.

Barkpaw dared not look into the smug golden eyes of Gracklepaw as he picked up the snake where it had flopped beside her, and she mumbled something about finding Batear before shoving past them into StoneClan's camp, using her brindled fur as camouflage against the mud-streaked stones as she hurried along the perimeter.