Autumntide

Autumnfang waited patiently for his leader's return. The sun was getting low in the sky, Madronestar was typically home by this time of day. This was a test, he was certain of it. There was no reason for his mother, Wolfprowl, to be attempting to stress him out like she was if it were not a test.

"Are you not concerned for her safety, Autumnfang?" Wolfprowl was seated next to him. The longhaired brown cat was deputy, if something were truly amiss it would not be the year old warrior's issue to deal with. Autumnfang had complete confidence that nothing was wrong, Madronestar liked to wander off.

"She's perfectly capable of managing on her own." There was no irritation in his voice.

"This is true, but life is not an equation with the same answer every time." His mother muttered back. She was definitely testing him.

Autumnfang turned to look Wolfprowl directly in the eyes. "Madronestar wouldn't want to be babied by a cat many years her junior." He said with grace. "If she were not to return by nightfall, then we could consider it a potential problem. For now, we have faith in her."

Wolfprowl's serious expression ever so slightly changed, she seemed pleased while remaining stoic as ever... She was still his mother, his mentor. If anyone could tell her true feelings, it was him. Or perhaps his father Redwood. Thoughts of the tall brown tabby seemed to summon him as he emerged from the medicine den with his apprentice, Tinderpaw.

Autumnfang considered himself good at everything. Maybe not healing, but everything that he actually needed to do, he was good at. Which includes eavesdropping. His mother's constant tests were to prepare him to replace her as deputy, and one day leader. He needed to know everything that was going on in the clan, at all times.

Redwood was dismissing Tinderpaw for the day, and she was heading off towards the elders den to spend time with her parents. Autumnfang was thankful that his parents were young.

"Autumnfang, you should work on not viewing life so inorganically." Wolfprowl gently rested her paw on his shoulder, but she wasn't looking at him. She was looking at Redwood, who was pausing. His parents liked to stare at each other very seriously sometimes, it had something to do with him. His father always looked so uncertain and cautious when he watched his son, for what reason? Autumnfang wasn't sure about it, he's tried to pry it out of him but every time Redwood just tells him to be a good cat. Were his parents worried that he was going to not be good? They have no reason to be afraid of him, so he wasn't going to fret over it.

"I know, mother." He tried to reassure her with a laugh, but she was unfazed. Autumnfang would figure out  a way to get them to lay off eventually.

"Yes, I'm sure you do. I want to see this in action." Wolfprowl quietly whispered to him. Alright, that was kind of annoying.

"Wolfprowl, I understand what you are trying to do, but hounding me isn't helping. Can you trust me?" Autumnfang stared back in his mother's eyes, he saw guilt briefly flash. Yeah, not so fun when I do it back, huh?

"I just worry about you. There is a lot of responsibility, I want you to be prepared." His mother reassured him and he nodded. He knew this already, though. Autumnfang was being prepared to take over deputyship from his mother seemingly from the second he was born. She was the one who wanted this, but it's not like he was unhappy about it. The idea of leading the clan one day sounded incredible, the young tom was excited with the concept of having that much power. Oceanclan really liked him, and he liked Oceanclan. He was going to be a great leader.

As they continued to sit in the clearing, Redwood joined them and chatted with Wolfprowl about Tinderpaw. Apparently, she was getting close to finishing her training. As they waited, the rest of his clanmates began to slowly trickle in from their daily activities. Wolfprowl greeted each cat, Redwood and Autumnfang did the same. Snowpaw and Urchinpaw were very proud about their successful defense training today, and the newest warrior Riptide was being chased around camp by his boyfriend Wisteriabloom. Leafpaw was sharing a squirrel with Monkeypaw and Flutterpaw. Emberpelt trotted into camp with a single mouse, she took it to a secluded area and began to eat it alone. It seemed like everyone but Madronestar had come home. Their leader was typically back by now, she liked making sure she could say goodnight to everyone in the clan.

Wolfprowl jabbed Autumnfang with her elbow. “Why have you not gone over to Emberpelt?”

“She didn’t respond when I said hello, I think she wants to be alone.” Autumnfang retorted back. He heard his dad groan.

“Autumnfang… If you two are going to date you should at least be seen hanging out together. You should want to hang out together.” Redwood chimed in quietly, trying to not be loud enough for their clanmates to hear. It wasn’t that Autumnfang didn’t like Emberpelt that way, it was more that he just didn’t like anyone that way. His parents were asking him a while back if he liked any of his clanmates, to which he replied of course he did… Then he learned that they were asking if he had romantic feelings for any of them…

How was he supposed to know? He tried to think about what qualities he’d like in a potential partner, but he didn’t really have any idea where to start. Autumnfang didn’t like not knowing things. Madronestar was the leader and she didn’t have a partner, he didn’t need one either. His parents seemed to be obsessed about his future, so after they had poked him a few times he decided he would try dating someone. Emberpelt was a cat his age, independent, and not related to him. She gave him space, and was interested in his future career. Most importantly, she didn’t want children. Autumnfang was happy about this, but his parents were still confused.

Before his parents could continue rambling on, a cheerful yowl was heard from above the camp walls. At long last, Madronestar has returned home carrying a songbird and a vole. Autumnfang immediately got up to greet her.

“Awh, hey! You miss me or something?” His leader was often like this, she was easily excitable, but only two pieces of prey for the amount of time she spent away didn’t quite add up.

She dropped her prey and immediately gave Autumnfang a hug. “I’m so happy you weren’t there today! You totally would have ruined it!” The young tom was puzzled, that’s rude.

“Ruined what, exactly?” Wolfprowl approached them curiously.

Madronestar smiled very smugly. “I met a cute girl!”

Wolfprowl looked her leader up and down. “Did you eat while you were out?”

“Yes, I did have dinner with her.” Madronestar sighed dramatically, “I hope we can share a meal again soon…”

“You should be careful sharing prey with rogue cats, Madronestar. The raccoons-” Wolfprowl was cut off mid-sentence by a yelp sound from Madronestar.

“Not a rogue, first off, she’s a loner. Secondly, I’m not worried about the raccoons.” Autumnfang knew his mother could bicker with Madronestar about the grey and black animals all night long, he wasn’t really interested in their stalemate. He tried to walk away but Madronestar reached up and pinched his cheek fur. “Where are you off to, my dearest nephew?”

The short red cat loved to flex that she was his aunt for some reason. He could hear his father chuckling lightly from behind them.  “Just not keen on talking about raccoons, again.” Madronestar let out an ‘aww’ sound at this.

“Okay! If you see this woman around, please don’t harass her. She’s tall and has beautiful long blonde fur! She’s very dreamy… A bit out of your league, so leave her to me!” She giggled while saying the last part. Autumnfang was content to exit the conversation as soon as possible.

“Understood, ma’am.” Madrone let go of him finally. He said goodnight to his family, then walked over to Emberpelt who was grooming herself. She noticed him but didn’t stop cleaning, even after he greeted her.

“I’m going to go throw some rocks on the beach, if you want to come with me?” He offered, but Emberpelt shook her head.

“No, thanks. I had a busy day, I’m going to go to bed early.” She got up and walked over towards the warriors den, she clearly wasn’t interested in doing anything but sleeping. Autumnfang shrugged, there were some other clanmates that might join him. He looked around for his two friends, Riptide and Wisteriabloom. Riptide in particular was very eager to hang out with him, he was the last one of the trio to be made a warrior due to being the youngest. He graduated last week, earning the near full freedom of a fully trained cat.

Autumnfang found the two of them tickling each other near the leader’s rock, Riptide immediately sat up as he approached them. “I’m going to the beach, if you want to come along?” Truthfully, Autumnfang did not care too much whether or not they joined him. He liked these two, but he felt it was good to keep some distance between them. Riptide seemed to want an intense friendship with Autumnfang, and he was not interested. Autumnfang preferred to keep things casual between all his clanmates, even Emberpelt and his parents.

“Would I ever say no?! Of course, man!” Riptide nearly leapt at Autumnfang.

“Heck yeah.” At least Wisteriabloom was calm about it.

“Cool. I feel like tossing some rocks.” Autumnfang smiled at them. It was sunset now, so they would return after dark. Getting a nice workout in the cool evening air would make him tired and ready for bed. He flicked his tail and led the way to the beach. They were going to have some fun.