The Heatherpaw Vignettes/Story of a Hawk and Much Needed Praise
From Children of StarClan
< History:The Heatherpaw Vignettes
This is the second vignette in The Heatherpaw Vignettes series of short stories. It was written on the 12th of March, 2008. This features Heatherpaw, Frozenpaw, Sparkpaw, Scarpaw, and Bearpelt on the 3rd day of the Moon of Tiger's Wrath (2006).
Featuring
Notes
- Written March 12th, 2008
Story of a Hawk and Much Needed Praise
You have to learn the rules of the game. And then you have to play better than anyone else - Albert Einstein
“Whoa, nice catch, Heatherpaw!” a sandy cat called out to her, her warm amber eyes glowing.
Thrush stuck in her claws, Heatherpaw looked down, embarrassed. “Thank you, Sparkpaw.”
Sparkpaw’s sister, newly renamed Scarpaw, grinned. “Yeah, I wish I could’ve caught that. You’re real good.”
“But you two fought off the hawk!” Frozenpaw meowed, bounding out from behind Heatherpaw. Heatherpaw returned her gaze to the ground.
“Oh, it was excellent!” Scarpaw said, her eyes wide with excitement, beginning to retell the story. It had happened a moon ago, and Heatherpaw had heard the story many times. Sparkpaw and Scarpaw were the same age as Heatherpaw and Frozenpaw, and they were nice enough, Heatherpaw figured. Scarpaw boasted a lot, but she had fought a hawk off. That granted a cat enough bragging rights.
The three cats babbled on and on, and Scarpaw started to illustrate the battle, Sparkpaw piping in at times. Heatherpaw sat there, clawing some snow over the thrush, waiting for them to finish so they could move on.
A booming voice came out of nowhere, and soon, Sparkpaw and Scarpaw’s father, and Frozenpaw’s mentor appeared. A massive brown tom, he looked at all four young cats with a steady, disapproving eye.
“Bearpelt!” Frozenpaw gasped.
“Dad!” Sparkpaw and Scarpaw squeaked, almost in unison.
“What are you all doing?” Bearpelt accused, his gaze sweeping over each of them, focusing on his apprentice. Frozenpaw was notorious for getting off task. “You should be hunting. For the clan. Kit tales can come later.”
“But dad –” Sparkpaw began, but Frozenpaw cut her off.
“Heatherpaw caught a thrush!”
Bearpelt now looked at Heatherpaw, not looking displeased but not pleased either. “Really? Is that it?” He stepped forward and prodded the snow covered lump with his paw.
Heatherpaw nodded, not wanting to speak.
“Well, take it back to camp. Take it to the nursery. We’re going to finish this hunt and actually catch something, given you haven’t scared the few pieces of prey away,” he meowed, but there was an edge of humor in his voice as he looked at his kits. Heatherpaw took the thrush and took off, eager to get away.