The catmint that the journeying cats had brought back to RiverClan had saved Foxpaw's life, but she was convinced it was over the moment she had ever met the Clan cats. Her mother was dead and her skin was being paraded about by one of the cats, her skull a bounty for them to admire. She wondered if someone came in and killed one of their own queens and wore their pelt around, whether they would be as easy-going about it.
She had been bitter when she was a kit, but under the guidance of her mentor, Barkfang, her bitterness grew dark and heavy. Barkfang had taught her the truth of how she came to be here. She may have only been a young kit when she arrived, but Barkfang had taught her to see the truth of things. Among all of the cats in the Clan, it was only her mentor who had her trust.
She learned to keep her true feelings hidden, to wait to unleash them at the correct, opportune moment. There was more to learn, how to survive on her own as a hunter, how to kill others as a warrior. She wasn't going to be able to learn any of that if she was found to be untrustworthy. So, she masked her feelings with an uncertain smile, her bitterness only showing in moments of indigence or when Bumblebreeze was around sporting her mother's pelt.
"Barkfang!" Foxpaw mewed in a chipper tone, her small paws making dainty prints on the snow in the camp. "Are we going to train now?" She called into the Warriors Den, wondering if her mentor was awake yet.
Revel1984