WHAT AM I DOING. I CANNOT POSSIBLY BE STARTING ANOTHER MULTI-CHAPTER FIC NOW...

I really wanted to do an 100-prompt in the Elemental world. Most likely, it won't happen, so this will end up a bunch of one-shots that don't have to do with the plot directly. Things like romance and family and the main characters when they were kits. I have no idea how many one-shots I'll end up writing, but I threw together this one in a free period I had today and REALLY wanted to share it with the world. So, if you're hanging out waiting for a new chapter of the regular series, check out this!

PROLOGUE

Characters: Willowshine, Reedwhisker, Mothwing

Genre: Friendship, Romance

Time Period: pre-War of Shadows

"Willowshine!" Willowshine gritted her teeth and looked up at the new cat she had to listen to. It was bad enough that Leopardstar was dead, but she didn't think she could handle an arrogant young cat as deputy. Mistystar had been good and fair as a deputy, but Willowshine seriously doubted her judgment in choosing Reedwhisker as RiverClan's next leader.

"What is it, Reedwhisker?" She fought to keep exhaustion and irritation out of her voice; Reedwhisker made no indication that he had heard anything but politeness from her.

"Can I ask you what you're doing today?" he asked.

"Working in the medicine den, like I always do," said Willowshine. She flicked her tail. "I came out here for a breath of fresh air."

"Oh," said Reedwhisker. "Well, thank you, Willowshine. I just wanted to check."

He looked a little worried as he hurried off to his next task. Sighing, Willowshine watched their new deputy run in circles around the camp, asking cats what their plans were and assigning new tasks if they had none. He was hopeless if he planned to just keep tending to the every needs of the Clan. It was good enough that he was doing his job, she supposed, but his presence was overwhelming. She blinked up at the sun for a few seconds and then turned her attention back to the list of things she had to do today. Stretching one final time in the warmth of the late sun, Willowshine turned and retreated back into the medicine den.

"Oh, Willowshine," purred Mothwing when she entered. "It turns out we have less borage than we thought. I'm going to run out and get some. Will you stay here and watch over Mossypaw?"

Willowshine nodded absently, going to sit beside the snoozing Mossypaw, the only resident in the den currently. The young apprentice had tripped on a slick stone and had fallen into a harsher portion of the river. It had taken three warriors to fish her out. Mistystar had scolded the young apprentice, but she seemed to tired and weary to even care. Honestly, sometimes Willowshine worried about Mossypaw; the other apprentices too, of course, but this particular young cat in particular. Mossypaw always seemed far more tired than her peers. Maybe her mentor was pushing her a little too hard.

She had other things to do, though, so she headed back into her supplies to do some inventory. Inventory was one of the few things that calmed Willowshine, which was why she had decided to do it today. A solid six sunrises after Leopardstar's death, and still the Clan was on unsteady footing. She was on unsteady paws, if she was being completely honest. Leopardstar had been leader since before Willowshine was born – her presence in the Clan was simply the way it all worked. Now they had to look to Mistystar and Reedwhisker for guidance; while Mistystar had been a constant and Reedwhisker well-respected in the Clan, Willowshine still was unsure. She hoped that her uneasiness would fade as time went on, but time was marching on far too slowly for her liking.

By the time she had taken everything out and sorted through the majority of it, Mossypaw had only woken up once – for a drink and a poppy seed, if Willowshine could spare it. A part of Willowshine was hesitant about this, as Mossypaw had asked for a good number of poppy seeds in the past few days. Still, for a stressed apprentices, a deep sleep was best. So she complied and went back to her work. She was trying to figure out where to put the herbs when the shaking of a pelt and a heavy sigh caught her attention.

Her visitor was none other than Reedwhisker. Feeling slightly irritated, Willowshine turned back to him.

"How can I help you?" she asked as politely as possible. Reedwhisker glanced up with guilt in his dark grey eyes.

"I'm sorry, there's nothing…I just needed a breath of fresh air."

"Well, will you really find it in here?" asked Willowshine with a jerk of her head. Reedwhisker got to his paws barely a second after sitting down.

"No, I'm sorry," he said carefully. "I'll just go then…"

"Reedwhisker," said Willowshine, making the deputy turn back around. "I'm just kidding. You don't have to go."

She had startled him enough that he turned back, obviously embarrassed. For a moment, he sat there, as if he had made some mistake and needed to remedy it by staying there for a little while longer.

"How is your work?" he asked. Willowshine shrugged, glancing over her shoulder at the piles of herbs. Quite honestly, she maybe needed to get away from it. Her head was beginning to hurt.

"It's tedious, but that's good for me," she said. "It's good to keep busy."

"Mmm," said Reedwhisker. "I think I'm way busier than I expected to be."

"That's partly your fault," said Willowshine. The deputy blinked twice. "Honestly, you've been running in circles for days. You don't need to do everything."

"But…I'm the deputy…" Reedwhisker scraped for words and pride.

"And you've been getting on the nerves of every cat in RiverClan," said Willowshine. "Seriously. You were doing the work before you became deputy."

Reedwhisker groped for a response but found himself incapable of formulating a proper reply, so he puffed out his chest as if he had taken great offense. Willowshine lashed her tail at him and rolled her eyes. Could he be any prouder?

"Well, perhaps I should attend to my duties," said Reedwhisker. "As you're probably right. This was the wrong place to come for a breath of fresh air."

"Perhaps you should," said Willowshine, bowing low in mock respect. She could feel the peeved eyes of her deputy on her back, but irritating him was making Willowshine smile. When she looked back up, Reedwhisker was still observing her.

"You really think I've been obnoxious?" said Reedwhisker. Willowshine cracked a grin.

"Oh, terribly so," she said, but it was hard to restrain a giggle. The obvious joke made the tip of Reedwhisker's tail twitch, and for a moment, he looked amused as well.

"I should start calling you Willowsass," he said. That made Willowshine actually giggle – maybe it wouldn't have been funny, had it not been Reedwhisker that had said the word.

"Got to keep you ready to go," she said. Reedwhisker got to his paws, but he sported a soft smile instead of the uptight stiffness he had featured all week.

"Well, good bye, Willowsass," said Reedwhisker. "Good luck on your work."

"And you, Reedstickler," said Willowshine as he made his way out of the door. She saw the swish of the deputy's tail as he departed, and then she was left with the snoozing Mossypaw.

Da? You enjoy? The title is "prologue" because this is kind of a prologue to their friendship. :D