Fur ruffled in embarrassment at Loudheart's compliment, Snakefang settled down on the earthy floor, sighing in exhaustion. Maybe she'd take a nap – Loudheart had probably forgotten what the herbs would look like and would take a while...

That night, Snakefang dreamed of the past – back when she was a young, rebellious apprentice without a care in the world.

Snakepaw was sitting alone at the Trade Gathering, more subdued than she usually was – gazing at the groups of friends chatting and joking around.

"Hey there!" An unfamiliar voice called out to her making the young apprentice start with surprise, and turn to face a dirty grey tom with bright eyes.

She coughed awkwardly, "Um, hi?"

Snakepaw was known to be a disobedient, rebellious and rude apprentice – everyone avoided her and her sharp tongue. The warriors disliked her arrogant, careless nature while the apprentices scorned her lack of friends.

"I'm Loudpaw!" The other apprentice practically yelled, fur sticking in all angles in a messy mat. He stunk of fish and salt, telling Snakepaw he was from CliffClan. She curled her lip in disgust.

"What do you want?" She scoffed, "I don't associate with dirty cats like you."

"Huh?"

She glared at him crossly, "Can't you take a hint? Buzz off!"

The bold tom withered before her, causing a rare twinge of guilt to strike the CedarClan she-cat. "Why? What did I do wrong?"

She sighed, "Cats are supposed to avoid me, you know. Why'd you come over here?"

"Well," Loudpaw flicked a knotted tail more cheerfully, "you look like the kind of cat who needs friends! And, you know, I'm really good at friends so- so I thought I could help you out." He beamed proudly, "This is my first Trade Gathering, and I've made it my goal to befriend as many cats as I can."

Snakepaw gazed at him oddly, perplexed, "Well, you'll want to keep away from me." She muttered, "I'm a troublemaker."

"Oh yeah?" He challenged her. "And why's that?"

Snakepaw, for once, found herself without an answer. Why did she act up so much all the time? "Well- why should I be polite?" She demanded him, "Just because everyone else pretends to like each other and be a bunch of goody-four-paws, doesn't mean I have to!"

Loudpaw grinned, "I like you. You have a unique view on things."

For the first time, Snakepaw found herself returning a smile. Thus, her first ever friend was made.

Snakefang dreamed of all the mischief the duo had gotten up to, pranking her littermate Lizardpaw, and Loudpaw's littermates Silentpaw and Deerpaw. Loudpaw blunted Snakepaw's sharp edges, and Snakepaw helped Loudpaw learn to calm down and listen.

The day their friendship had, well, ended, was the day of the Trade Gathering after Snakepaw – now Snakefang – had passed her warrior assessment. She'd worked harder than ever, mostly thanks to Loudpaw, to pass and create a better reputation for herself – and it'd paid off. Her Clanmates had been impressed by her sudden change in attitude, and congratulated her when she'd been given the fitting prefix -fang.

But when she got to the meeting spot, instead of going to see Loudpaw, she went to look for other younger warriors alike her – determined to make some respectable friends. No words had been spoken – they just sort of lost touch. Loudpaw had, she guessed, thought she wouldn't want to be friends with an apprentice like him once she was a warrior.

It was a shame, really. They'd been good friends.

---

Yawning herself awake, a strong smell of prey at her nose, Snakefang blearily blinked – vision fuzzy with sleep for a few heartbeats, before it cleared and revealed a small fish by her face.

A little surprised by the unusual offering, Snakefang slowly sat up and gazed around her. The clearing had been completely transformed! The old, hollow log – rotten and dirty the night before – had been spruced up, all the rot scraped away and replaced with fresh, dry moss and some random flowers. To her amusement, Snakefang recognised some certain herbs in the mix – including the blue petals of borage and smooth shaped leaves of dock. The group had been swept clean too, any leaves or twigs gone. The earth seemed to be have been patted flat, too. Some cleverly woven sticks and bushes made a barrier around the trees, so carefully disguised the CedarClan warrior would have easily missed them if she hadn't been looking properly.

"So you're awake, eh?" Loudheart chuckled from behind her.

Turning round, the brown and white striped she-cat rolled her eyes, "Clearly. Did you do all this last night?"

"Mm, I couldn't sleep. Like it?"

"Of course – those woven sticks work well."

The stood in silence, the heartbeats stretching out, before Snakefang cleared her throat, "Well, thanks for the fish – I'll have it when I've woken up a bit more." She promised, leaning forward to stretch her limbs.

Loudheart smiled, "Alright. Oh, and I made a polotic for your wounds."

"You mean 'poultice'?" Snakefang snorted loudly, becoming aware of the cooling herbs on her bodily wounds and face.

"Yeah yeah, whatever." He growled in embarrassment, but his tone turned serious, "I think your face is scarred – your back too."

Snakefang's ears pricked at that. She wasn't one to really bother about her appearance – all warriors were bound to gain some scars, of course, and the one on her back didn't really bother her – but one on her face? She tended to protect her face during battle, conscious that facial scars certainly wouldn't help her appearance, and failed to remember what had happened to let her let her guard down. But she distracted herself from this thought upon spotting angry red wound on the back of Loudheart's neck.

"Hey, do you need help applying poultice on that?" She asked, padding closer and nodding to the back of his neck.

At his small nod, so not to pull on the broken skin, Snakefang hobbled over to the tree trunk to see what herbs she could collect from it. Grabbing the earlier spotted dock, and some chervil, she began chewing it up as she walked back to Loudheart.

"Be gentle-!" He hissed as the spat the herbs on his neck, and she apologised, rubbing the herbs into the wound more carefully – applying some nearby cobweb over it to keep it in place.

Loudheart sighed in relief as the herbs soothed his cut, "Thanks, Slitherer."

She gave a small smile, but winced and grimaced as the wounds on her face were pulled. Loudheart shot her a look of concern.

"Are you alright?"

She nodded, forcing her face to relax and remain neutral "Yeah, I just hope this doesn't take too long to heal." She paused, "Do you know if there's any puddles or streams nearby?"

Guessing her train of thought, Loudheart nodded. "There's one just past our little camp. You can wash off those old herbs too."

A little anxious, Snakefang followed her apprenticehood friend through a gap in the boundary and over to a small, fast-flowing stream. Closing her eyes, the CedarClan she-cat dipped her face into the water – allowing it to wash away the poultice and sting painfully, before the pain faded to a gentle throbbing and then nothing.

Resurfacing for air, Snakefang dried off her face – relieved to find the wounds were closing up, not letting any more blood out – and gazed down into the stream. She only caught occasional flashes of her appearance, the stream flowing a little too quickly to let her get a good look, but she made out the most of it.

It was like somecat had drawn a large cross over her face with their claw. It started just above her right eye, one part of the cross going down her right eye and the other down her left. Her right ear was also torn, from the top halfway down.

"Well," she spoke quietly, "that's that."