Rav took a quick nap. The snow was pelting hard down outside, and every apprentice was told to stay inside.
As everyone should know, Rav didn't mind the cold. He could even go out there with the Tribe's summer clothes that are literally just a tight fur sweater with no arm wear and the furred belt that lined the black baggy pants.
The boots are always the same, it's soft wood as the main base and the inside is full of wolf fur, then dyed black bear fur as the outside.
Only full grown males can have a choker with one of their wing feathers. It was quite a surprise when Rav realized Moon-Hill's wing color was actually very different from everyone else's.
Now, he was fixing his tiny room up.
First, he had to refresh the candles. They were already almost melted out, and a lot of the dripping wax was now dried out against the stone wall, which was really bad.
Rav scraped the wax off and put in into a small hole right underneath the original candle standing, then took the free dirt and filled the hole up.
Next, he really needed to clear out his cotton and fur bed. The cotton was really ticklish, which was really hard to sleep in sometimes and annoying.
Taking out the bedding, he placed it in the corner far left of his bed-basket, then came back to pick out loose transparent feathers from the basket.
Just as Rav was about to put his feathers into a safe keeping box, a loud voice startled him.
"Apprentices!"
oh..?
Oh hey! I know that voice! Wow it was his dad! Vaite-Key!
What's Vaite-Key doing here? And what is happening? It did sound important, which his claim was right just seconds after.
"Come out here, the snow stopped, and now we have to start working!" Vaite-Key, Rav's father, yelled.
Rav immediately got up from his kneeling position and went to his door, opening it.
The snow outside flash blinded him for only some seconds, but Rav turned his gaze away when he saw Vaite-Key standing away from it.
Vaite-Key is unique, as Rav said.
A choker holding evidence of his wing color, a black armless turtleneck sweater that melted into white at the bottom, the basic black baggy pants with black fur boots, and the brown armbands on both arms that had little pouches containing whatever it had.
Even with all that, his father's uniqueness was actually the expression he had on his face.
With crossed arms, it was hard to not laugh when Vaite-Key got a restful expression and was looking up at the ceiling.
He must be feeling proud, Rav knew, because he always does that. But his father didn't need to make it look serious.
Hua was the first to appear, then more of the apprentices came.
It got quite crowded, and Rav hated it specifically, but since it's a blessing to the other, older members, then he wouldn't complain.
"Finally, I was bored."
"..I got to used to the hard training Crippling-Creek made me do.."
"It's going to be freezing."
"Let's hope that we don't have to go far, then, Husk. Continue complaining, your literally going to jinx it."
As everyone talked, Rav looked for someone specific. Among the dark grays and cool grays.. even the rusty ones.. oh, right there!
That metal-like gray that his mother said was 'gunmetal' gray!
Three! Oh, no, Three.. The apprentice that loves I think my sister, Shine.
Rav took a couple of steps away from his door and towards Three, then called,
"Three-"
But before he could finish, Three was quicker.
"Shine!" the pessimistic apprentice interrupted Rav. Three's eyes were glowing as he was focused on the shifty puritan gray wings further in the cave.
Rav's sister slowly turned towards them, the underside of her wings flashing as the marble-like feathers that made huge swirls caught the white snow.
Her eyes lit up at the sight of Rav, and she ran towards them.
"Hi Rav! Ready to find goldenseals? Or yarrow? Hm.. yarrow is enough, I think we need goldenseal more than yarrow. It's still growing lushishly in the small garden soo- oh, Three," between her rambling about herbs, Shine noticed that Three was standing there dumbfounded.
"Sorry I didn't see you there. Rav was quite noticable, well, more outstanding than you.. yea!" she exclaimed. Three's heartbroken look seemed to inform that Shine said some real offensive things, and she quickly tried to correct her huge mistake. "I-i didn't mean it like that! I meant it like.. like Rav's conditions! The pale glacier eyes and his ice-blue eyelashes and that he is basically never cold and- and the see through wings! That's what I meant, yea, but Three! You have um.. eyes like a Moonlit sky.. but the sky is midnight blue so lighter and streaks of blackish-gray feathers mixed with.. yea?"
It already looked like Shine's earlier comment damaged Three completely, because the blank look on his faces says it all.
'Theres no recovering from this,' right? That has to be what Three just thought.
***
"Ok, everyone is outside and merry," Vaite-Key finally spoke when all the apprentices were present.
Lightning had watched Three take critical damage from the thoughtless insult Shine mistakenly spilled onto him, and now he was just watching the three.. no, that's weird. Saying three again? Three really needs to get his full soulname quickly.
"It's about time, since all of you took a lot of time just getting out. Some were sleeping and you all say your bored?" The Peacemaker's voice rose over the murmurings that were starting to grow louder.
"I thought you sleep when your bored," Breaking the Warrior Apprentice whispered to Depressed, who was also a Warrior Apprentice.
"I thought so too, I slept."
"Me too."
"ANYWAYS," ignoring the criticism, Vaite-Key waved his hand for silence, "I will be appointing you all for hunting. All of you."
The silence in the cave was unbearable, then Lightning himself broke it.
"A-all of us?" he stuttered, more confused and shocked than Three.
"Even the Healers!?" Cloud's angry call sounded from behind Lightning.
"Even the Healers-" been before he could finish, the apprentices were either outraged or just merely confused on the situation.
"ME!? I, A HEALER, HAVE TO HUNT!?"
"I know it's not that serious but hm.. as a training Warrior I think I have to continue with-"
"Wood-Bury promised a new fighting lesson!"
"Wood-Bury always doesn't keep serious promises-"
"Vaite-Key you have to be joking, I never knew how to hunt!" The comment seemed to reach the peacemaker's ears because Vaite-Key instantly pointed that out.
"See! You have to fend for yourselves, without the Hunters then we're all done, but the Hunters are still here thankfully, so can't you try to catch atleast one fish or deer?" Lightning suddenly saw the anxious look on Vaite-Key's face for the first time. Distressed and worry soon sparked in his eyes as more started to complain.
Theres something seriously wrong happening, right? Lightning wanted to ask Vaite-Key desperately, but over all of the angry and real confused voices, he knew he couldn't.
"Ok," a small voice from the left of Lightning said. Nobody seemed to hear Rav until Lightning said more louder, "Ok! Guys, listen! I think there something wrong!"
Some of them quieted down, then just stood or sat in silence as one by one apprentices notice quiet protesters, then stopped in confusion or their feathers bristled, quieting them.
At last everyone was silent, and Vaite-Key's shuddering sigh honestly calmed Lightning down too. "There is a problem, as some of you noticed… a lot of our tribe has to go," he said hurriedly, then added, "wait, before you all start talking, it's the Spirit Butterflies and Space Bird war concern. The Half Dragons look like they were preparing to join, and if we don't move soon, I fear- we fear we'll be dragged into it without any warning."
War? It wasn't fake? He thought it was mindless drama roaming around!
"So.. we think you apprentices have to fend for yourselves when almost all of us go to get an alliance with the Spirit Butterflies. They're actually more related to us according to the Aster-Fate." As no one talked, Lightning could feel the chain reaction of fear running through everyone at that moment. "So, I beg that you all learn how to hunt. Please have Crippling-Creek and Fade-Trix to train you Warriors, it's really a bad time."
As Vaite-Key finished, Lightning felt his face feathers rising. A bad time, soon as he became apprenticed.
The war was now the biggest threat to Lightning, in the way of his path of being a Guardian, and its in the way of being a good tribe mate.
***
The few days that had passed with everyone on edge and Hunters trained apprentices with Warriors, one Healer, and Builders equal, it was now time for a lot of the fully grown members to go.
But..
He couldn't believe it, Rav couldn't believe it. A war? Hunting? Well.. he doesn't like being a Healer, and suddenly hunting is good but.. it's war. It's death.
It was the late afternoon of the Crescent Tribe. There were no joyful talks and happy moments, only deadly silence as they waited for Aster-Fate to come out and appoint who's going to go with her. Morning-Prase was quietly talking to the Aster-Fate in the old willow tree, with her Silestone Marengo wings bristling with obvious anger.
Rav just sat there in silence, waiting in honest disbelief.
Finally she emerged, her appearance ruffled. Her long hair that's the same color as her wings that is usually always wrapped around her neck was drapped down her back, messier than normal. Her ice gold eyes flashed and her armbands looked worn, as if she had been using it continuously.
"Crescent Tribe, hear me," she snapped angrily, "this is who's going with me and the Aster-Fate: Crippling-Creek, Vex-Ice, Vaite-Key, me, Gravel-Zircon, Wood-Bury, and Fade-Trix."
Shock showed on everyone's as Morning-Prase basically said every experienced member and every adult. Even one elder, at that.
Since the massacre, it seems that the Fallen Angels couldn't recover from that.
Crippling-Creak, Fade-Trix, Wood-Bury, Vaite-Key, Gravel-Zircon, Vex-Ice, Sage-Onyx, Glow-Tunnel, and Moon-Hill were the only grown ups, and the fact that there are more apprentices than actual fully trained Fallen Angels is crazy in a way.
"I didn't know there was that many going to get one alliance!?" Vex-Ice, the elder who was called, said. "I asked because I've known you for a long time!"
"It isn't my fault, I didn't even select this team," Morning-Prase said in a mad tone, fixing her armbands. "Where's Cloud? I need new weapons. Oh, and everyone called, come with me. Everyone needs to reset their weapons."
Cloud came out at the sound of her voice, her hands a mess of goldenseal leaves. "Oh, yes! I still have alot of insects, I mean."
"Do you have poison ivy?" the warm yellow light glinted in Morning-Prase's eyes. "I have a feeling it'll be a very useful thing for the alliance."
"Poison ivy?" Rav jumped as Shine whispered, her face feathers twitching with complications. "I better go help, and oh, you too."
"Ok," Rav sighed as he got up. "At least I get to see the storage."
Walking with Shine, Rav had to push his way between the crowd that was forming up in front of the Medicine Cave's entrance.
"Excuse me.."
Finally reaching it, Cloud was handing over some strips of cloth to Crippling-Creek, a beautiful child of Sage-Onyx, which means Wood-Bury is her sister. She looks almost exactly like her mother too. Sage-Onyx got a darker hair and wings color of dove gray and Crippling-Creek got the same dark dove gray hair with a pattern of curly silver feathers on the underside of her wings that sometimes are barely visible, which gives away the similarities.
She was more taller than her mother too. But yea, she's pretty and got a better personality than Wood-Bury could ever have, which is why Rav just likes her more.
"Ok, Vex-Ice, I'll give you it- oh, Shine! Rav! Please help me with this," Cloud chased Rav's thoughts away as she said that, and Rav cheered up just a little bit when he got inside of the Cave and finally saw the weapon storage cove.
Different things were in the cracks in the stone walls: Caterpillars, plants, flowers, a lot, basically.
Everything, basically.
"Here's the weapon storage, but the herb storage is over here as you know," Shine said from behind Rav, waving at the wall containing totally different things from the menacing wall of weapons on the other side.
Shine never even showed me it! She basically just showed me things and say that's it!
Then Cloud came bustling in, her eyes wide and focused on her task. "Shine! Can you please give me the calendula oil?"
"What? But that's the last we have!"
"And we're going to give it to them!"
Gritting her teeth, Shine went to get the small bottles that Cloud had requested.
Now I probably have to make some. It's his first time, but it's worth the try.