_.-'-._Sun Cycles_.-'-._ -Chapter 6 is up

SunClan Allegiances

Leader: Rosestar- A very light red, almost pinkish, she-cat with long, soft fur and pink eyes.

Deputy: Iceheart- A light grey, tabby she-cat with dark grey stripes and a pure white chest marking.

Medicine Cat: Nightshine- A black she-cat with shiny fur and long whiskers. She has white spots and dark blue eyes.

Warriors

Stonefrost- A dark grey tom with stone grey eyes and a cold gaze.

Heavybelly- A large, muscled, gray tom with long, shiny fur and amber eyes. He has white paws and light tabby markings.
Apprentice: Badgerpaw

Lionclaw- A long furred, golden tom, with lightish neck fur, similar to a mane. He is the brother of Goldenwhisker.
Apprentice: Volepaw

Yellowwhisker- A pretty, long furred, golden she-cat with white tabby markings. She has one claw missing.
Apprentice: Foxpaw

Birchlight- A brownish-white tom with black mackerel markings and broad shoulders. He has yellow eyes and brown ears.
Apprentice: Leopardpaw

Juniperfang- A gray she-cat with white swirls and dark blue eyes.
Apprentice: Newtpaw

Quailspring- A graceful, blue-gray tom with a yellow chest mark and brown underbelly. He has a black face with white markings and brown eyes.

Hawkflight- A large muscled, silver-gray tom with dark swirls. He has amber eyes.

Ratfang- A solid gray, heavyset tom with messy fur and amber eyes. He has a scar down his flank and one of his ears has been cut.

Flamefur- An orange tom with white paws and red tabby markings. He has striking green eyes and short whiskers.

Skytail- A lithe, white she-cat with bright blue eyes and gray points.
Apprentices
Badgerpaw- A black tom with a white stripe down his back and tail. He has a scar on his paw.

Volepaw- A handsome, pale brown tom with dark facial markings.

Foxpaw- A reddish-orange tom with black feet and ear tips. He has a white tipped tail and green eyes.

Leopardpaw- A pretty, sleek, light yellow she-cat with orange leopard spots. She has black rings on her tail.

Newtpaw- A quick, dark red tom with a black stripe down his back. He has a dark underbelly and forest green eyes.

Queens
Doeleap- A light brown, lithe she-cat with white spots on her flank and front left leg. She has a bobbed tail with a white tip. Mother of Wolfkit- A gray tabby and Mintkit- A silver, dappled she-kit

Rosestar- Mother of Dawnkit- A cream she-kit with white spots, Duskkit- A pale orange tom with red mackerel markings , and Daykit-A brown tom with a red tail.

Redfur- A short furred, red she-cat with a white underbelly and brown ears.

Elders
Cloudleaf- A white tom with light blue eyes. A former medicine cat

Berryflower- A long furred, white she-cat with red splotches. She has amber eyes and a scar across her shoulders


MoonClan Allegiances
Leader: Turtlestar- A short furred, tortoiseshell tom with forest green eyes. He has a black muzzle and ears.

Deputy: Shellfire- A light gray tom with gray mackerel markings and pinkish tail rings. He has white paws and black tipped ears.

Medicine cat: Ferncreek- A mysterious, dark brown tom with black splotches and shining yellow eyes.

Warriors
Troutsky- A gray tom with dark spots
Apprentice- Blazepaw

Beefur- A pale brown tom with black stripes.
Apprentice- Whitepaw

    Rosestar sat on the Great stump, watching her Clan start to settle down into their nests. She saw Iceheart go into the deputy's cave, and waved her tail to say hello. Iceheart looked up, and nodded, before padding into her cave. Rosestar sighed, and looked into the night sky, feeling lost.

    Just as she was about to jump down and check on her kits, Nightshine, SunClan's medicine cat jumped up beside her."Hello, Nightshine, is something wrong, or are you just looking at the stars?" Rosestar asked. "Looking at the st- agh!" Nightshine said, cut off by a pulsing pain in her chest. Rosestar looked over, shocked to see her medicine cat convulsing beside her. "Nightshine! What's wrong?" she yelped, beginning to panic. If she lacked a medicine cat, her clanmates would have even more of a reason to detest her.

    Just as Rosestar was about to scream for help, Nightshine broke out of her fitful trance. "I've received a prophecy," she said, a far off look in her eyes. Rosestar looked to her, startled, "Is it about me, am I unfit to lead? I knew Stonefrost was ri-"

    "No, it's about something else," Nightshine said, cutting her off. "I saw the Sun on the horizon, and there were all these beautiful reds and oranges, like the sky was ablaze. But then I saw the forest, and... it was on fire, burning. I looked to my right, to our territory, and I heard the wails of cats, I could hear true pain in their cries, but I could do nothing to help." Nightshine stopped, shaking her head. "I don't know what it means exactly, but I don't think Stonefrost and his crew need anymore ammunition to deface you with," she mewed.

    Rosestar nodded her head, taking in all of the new information, "I think it's about Dawnkit, you mentioned a sunrise, didn't you?" Nightshine shook her head, "It could've been a sunset, and how do we know Daykit isn't involved, maybe the end of a day." Rosestar sighed, "Well, whatever it means, I'll be quiet about it for now. Maybe we can organize a meeting at the Skystone at some point to speak with out ancestors." Rosestar was about to suggest a meeting time when she heard her kits mewling from the nursery. "I should get going," she said. "I can't wait until they're eating prey..."

     Duskkit sighed and stretched out his white paws, feeling the first rays of sunshine reach the nursery and warm his pale orange fur. He looked over to his siblings and noticed they were still asleep. Duskkit stood up from his nest and crept out of the nursery, hoping not to be seen. As he slinked outside, he saw that the SunClan camp was just starting to come to life. Duskkit looked to his right to see Stonefrost talking to Juniperfang in a hushed voice. Stonefrost noticed Duskkit outside of the nursery and snarled, “I still can’t understand why we let our leader have kits, I’d hope Eaglestar’s ashamed of himself in CloudClan.” Duskkit frowned. Is he talking about me? he wondered.

    Before Stonefrost could shoo the kit away, Dawnkit jumped out of the nursery, onto the unaware Duskkit. “Surrender, MoonClanner, you can’t defeat my SunClan might!” she yowled, gripping onto his back. Duskkit rolled over onto Dawnkit, knocking her onto the ground. “You can’t defeat me, the great Duskstorm, bane of evil!” he yelled. Stonefrost sighed, “You might as well just give both of them to MoonClan, maybe then our leader wouldn’t be so preoccupied with playing with kittens.” As Stonefrost started to get up from his resting place to get away from the kits, Dawnkit sprinted up to him and jumped on his back. “Stonefrost, give us a badger ride!” she pleaded. Duskkit ran up and started to climb onto Stonefrost’s back too. “Yeah, badger, take us on a badger ride!” Duskkit yowled. “If you don’t get off of me this instance I’ll show you what a badger can really do!” Stonefrost growled, shaking the kits off his back. “Come on, Juniperfang, let’s go.”

    Dawnkit smiled at Duskkit, “We sure showed him.” Duskkit nodded, “I bet Cloudleaf has some good stories to tell,maybe some honey for us.” Just as they were about to see the elders, Daykit bounced out of the nursery, his fur still matted and messy from his sleep. Duskkit smiled, “I’m glad you’re up with us, wanna go see the elders with us?” “Of course, why didn’t you wake me up in the first place?” Daykit asked, trotting towards the elder’s den. “Well, we assumed you wouldn’t want to do any play fighting, you might get hurt,” Duskkit responded. Dawnkit looked over to Daykit and saw his face fall. Dawnkit had always felt bad for Daykit, he was the smallest in the litter, and rumors had circled around him since his birth. Dawnkit and Duskkit both resembles their parents, but Daykit’s brown pelt stood out from the rest of the litter. Rosestar had always claimed that her father looked just like Daykit, but no one could confirm this, because Rosestar had lived as a loner in her kithood. Dawnkit could believe it, though. Daykit’s birth had been witnessed by several cats, and Duskkit was the spitting image of Flamefur, their father.
“Do I hear kits out there?” Cloudleaf jested, welcoming them in with his tail. “Berryflower and I were just wondering where you were.” Dawnkit and Duskkit sat down right next to Cloudleaf and Daykit curled up in a nest beside Berryflower, obviously upset about Duskkit’s comment, but trying not to show it. “Can you tell us a story?” Dawnkit asked. “Of course, that’s why I’m here after all,” he joked. “How about I tell you about how our Clan came to be?” Daykit leaned in closer, “Yeah, that sounds fun, where we descended from lions or something?” Cloudleaf shook his head, “No, we were created by two mysterious loners, Sun and Moon, who came to these territories and helped many cats find food and survive. One day, Sun and Moon came out from a cave under the greatest boulder in the territories, and told the cats that they would have to unite into two groups or leave the land.” “How’d they even come up with that? I’d think any cat would want to stay a loner if they could,” Daykit remarked. “They didn’t come up with idea themselves, they were told by our ancestors to do this. It’s said that Sun and Moon didn’t even want to lead two different groups, and instead wanted to raise their kits together,” Cloudleaf responded. Dawnkit widened her eyes, “They had kits together? Why would anyone choose power over kits?” Cloudleaf sighed, “I suppose they were dedicated to our ancestor’s wishes, . Anyways, Sun and Moon became Sunstar and Moonstar, and they lived across from each other in the Clans they named after themselves. The cats began to call our ancestors CloudClan, because they would watch over us, day or night.

    Flamefur poked his head into the Elder’s den, and acknowledged Cloudleaf, before looking to his kits. “I was wondering where you three went, Stonefrost seemed angry, were you bothering him again?” Flamefur asked. “No, we were sleeping all morning, until we came in here,” Dawnkit responded, a mischievous look in her eyes. “You were loud as badgers outside this morning, I don’t think you were sleep screaming,” Daykit grunted. Flamefur frowned, “Just leave him alone, he’s just an angry old badger, he won’t do any harm.” “I hope I join our ancestors before he joins the elders, I couldn’t bear listening to him talk about ‘how many MoonClan warriors he fought in his youth,’” Cloudleaf joked. “It’s time to eat for you three anyways, your mother caught you a rabbit to share,” Flamefur said. “I’ll race you to the rabbit,” Dawnkit challenged. “I’ll get there first!” Dawnkit called, racing out of the elder’s den.

Just as she got out of the den, Dawnkit skidded to a halt at the screams of Lionclaw, a senior warrior. “Fire! The warrior’s tree is on fire!” 

    Rosestar looked back to the commotion Lionclaw was making, and was horrified to see the warrior’s tree ablaze, and several cats attempting to squeeze their way out of its narrow opening. Is this the prophecy? Rosestar wondered, as she sprinted up the slope, feeling the tree’s smoke enter her lungs. She already saw Heavybelly trying to organize the chaos and get cats out. Rosestar turned to him, a confused look on her face, “What’s going on?” Heavybelly shrugged his shoulders, “I don’t know, the tree just started burning, like magic or somethings.” Rosestar looked at the tree and saw the it was starting to collapse, if they couldn’t get their warriors out soon, there would be a lot of vigils tonight.
    She heard footsteps and saw the Clans’ apprentices run up, fear in their eyes. “Leopardpaw, Newtpaw, I need you to help evacuate the queens, kits and elders. Badgerpaw, Volepaw and Foxpaw, I want you to get get wet moss and throw it at the tree, maybe it’ll help,” she ordered. Newtpaw looked at her strangely, “Aren’t you a queen?” “I’m the leader too, stop wasting time and go help those who need it,” she growled. She turned around and saw that the other apprentices had already left, and moved closer to the tree.
She saw Birchlight was stuck in the exit hole of the tree, that had started to collapse. She frantically, attempted to pull his body out to make room for others, but failed. I can't deal with this right now she thought. As she continued to tug, the pressure of time started weighing down on her.
    She was about to look for a new way when she saw Iceheart run up and grab onto Birchlight’s leg. With their combined strength, they were able to pull his unconscious body out. They pulled him back, and Nightshine ran up with a bundle of herbs to treat his burns.
Once he was gone, several other warriors began to flood out of the tree. Yellowwhisker jumped out coughing from the smoke. “Lionclaw! He’s still in there!” she panted. Before Rosestar could respond, Foxpaw ran up with a ball of wet moss, and starting giving it to her. Yellowwhisker began to relax, as Rosestar tried to plan a way to find him. There was still an opening in the tree, but it was falling apart by the minute. Rosestar knew she had no other choice, though, so she took a deep breath and jumped through, into the tree.

    Rosestar immediately felt the change in air, like a wall of smoke just hit her. She looked around and saw a golden body on the top layer of the tree. She jumped up and pulled on his scruff, attempting to pull him out. His heavy body barely budged, and Rosestar heard the cracking of the tree’s wood, knowing she had limited time. Then, in the smoky darkness, she saw two cats grab onto to Lionclaw. With no other options, she bit into his scruff again, and they were able to carry again. She felt her lungs working hard as they dropped his body onto the bottom floor of the tree. As they picked him up again and pulled hi towards the door, Rosestar felt her consciousness slipping, and saw darkness close in around her eyes. They tugged Lionclaw the last few footsteps of the way, before she collapsed.

Dawnkit looked up in fear at the burning tree. Before she could even process what was happening, she felt someone pick her up by the scruff of her neck, and carry her towards the outside of camp. She hadn’t even figured out what was happening when she found herself in a clearing, surrounded by coughing cats and smoke. She had seen Cloudleaf and Berryflower carry her brothers out of camp as Flamefur carried her, but she hadn’t seen her mother yet. Her father had gone back to find Rosestar, and Dawnkit trusted that he would find and save her.

    After a while, Dawnkit began to nervously knead the ground with her paws. As she started to imagine what might’ve held up the warriors for so long, she heard the deafening cry of some sort of animal. All of the cats that in the clear turned around, startled to see a group of twolegs wearing bright yellow pelts running towards the SunClan camp. What are those? She wondered, before getting pulled into the undergrowth by Doeleap, a SunClan queen.“Shouldn’t we try to chase them off?! They’re going to hurt our warriors,” Dawnkit asked, thinking of her mother. Doeleap shook her head, “I don’t think we’re in any state to stop a group of twolegs from doing anything, the best we can do is stay quiet.” Mintkit shivered, “I hope none of those twolegs come near me, they look dirty. Do they even clean themselves?” Wolfkit shrugged, “I don’t think they’d know how, I wouldn’t know how to lick my fur clean if I didn’t have fur.” Dawnkit looked away, Were these twolegs going to help them or hurt them?

    After what seemed like an eternity of waiting, Dawnkit saw Ratfang and Skytail arrive with Lionclaw on their shoulders. Dawnkit jumped out of the bushes eager to see where her mother was. She looked around for a few seconds, before spotting Rosestar and Flamefur in the back of the warriors. “Mama!” she yowled, sprinting to her parents. Rosestar gave her a weak smile, before letting out a cough. “You mother’s weak right now, she can talk to you later,” Flamefur said. Dawnkit looked at her perplexed. Her brothers ran up beside her and Duskkit looked at her with sympathy. “I’m sure she’ll be fine soon,” he consoled. “Let’s go talk to some others about what happened in the meantime, I want to know what those twolegs were doing here.”

    Dawnkit nodded her head, and they padded over to a group of cats that were around Lionclaw’s unconscious body. She looked over to see Goldenwhisker, with her head buried in Lionclaw’s fur. Redfur was beside her, tears showing in her amber eyes. Leopardpaw sat down next to her mother and grieved in silence, while Newtpaw watched from afar, his usually energetic face cold and emotionless. “What happened?” Dawnkit whispered to Daykit. “I think he’s… dead,” Daykit murmured. Dawnkit gasped, Lionclaw had seemed like a loyal warrior, and had often come into the nursery to check on his mate or give food to the queens. It was strange to think that he had died, especially knowing how strong of a warrior he was.

    Skytail noticed the kits’ murmurings and lightly pushed them away from the mourners with her tail, “You may want to go visit Flamefur or someone, this isn’t a place for kits,” she whispered. Dawnkit nodded turning to where her father was sitting with their mother.

    Flamefur smiled as they approached. “It looks like your kits are here,” he said softly. Rosestar grinned, “Sorry for being a little distant when I got here, I wasn’t feeling myself.” Daykit frowned, “Did you lose a life?” Flamefur gasped, “Daykit you really shouldn’t ask those types of thi-” Rosestar pushed her tail over his mouth silencing him. “Yes, Daykit, I’ll tell you this one time that I lost a life from the smoke, but that’s supposed to be between me and CloudClan,” she rasped. “I heard about the leader’s nine lives from Nightshine. She said that each life you get from one of our ancestors in CloudClan. Did you get to meet a CloudClan cat when you lost it?” he asked. “I did meet one, but I think that’s a story for a different day.” she mewed. “Ugh, my chest still hurts, if it weren’t for Volepaw and Badgerpaw, I’d be crowfood by now.” Duskkit gasped, “Volepaw and Badgerpaw saved you together? They’re always fighting, how’d they manage to not bicker long enough to do anything together?” Dawnkit looked over to where the apprentices had gathered. Like always, Volepaw and Badgerpaw were sitting on different sides of the group. “I don’t know how they did it, but they deserve at least some recognition, I think it’s time I make them warriors, Foxpaw too. They’re twelve moons old now, and they’ve definitely proven themselves,” Rosestar said. “We can do the ceremony here, whatever those twolegs were doing at camp might take a while.

    Dawnkit snapped out of her thoughts. “Oh, what were those twolegs doing?” she asked, remembering their yellow pelts. Flamefur frowned, “I don’t know what they did, but it helped. More of them jumped out of a sort of sky-monster with a giant tube that spouted out a river. I’d assume the water put out the fire, but we left before it was over.” Rosestar stood up, “We can go over more detail later, I have a ceremony to perform. She jumped up on a large boulder, but before she could call the meeting her eyes met with Lionclaw’s body. She stopped for a second, before shaking her head and proceeding, “May all cats old enough to fight a battle gather here for a Clan meeting.” She seemed sad when she looked at Lionclaw, Dawnkit thought. I wonder if she had enough time to find out about his death before she got here.

    Once the cats were gathered, Rosestar spoke, “I, Rosestar, leader of SunClan, call upon my warrior ancestors to look down on these three apprentices. They have trained hard to understand the ways of your noble code, and I commend them to you as a warrior in their turn.” She turned to Volepaw first, “Volepaw, do you promise to uphold the warrior code and to protect and defend your Clan, even at the cost of your life?” Volepaw spoke confidently as he uttered the words, “I do.” Rosestar nodded, “Then by the powers of CloudClan, I give you your warrior name. Volepaw, from this moment you will be known as Voleclaw, in honor of you mentor, whose valor and devotion to his Clan live on in you. CloudClan honors your courage and confidence in battle, and we welcome you as a full warrior of SunClan.” She then turned to Badgerpaw. “Badgerpaw, do you promise to uphold the warrior code and to protect and defend your Clan, even at the cost of your life?” Badgerpaw shot a glance at Voleclaw before declaring, “I do.” Rosestar looked to Voleclaw checking that he wouldn't cause any trouble, before continuing, “Then by the powers of CloudClan, I give you your warrior name. Badgerpaw, from this moment you will be known as Badgerstripe. CloudClan honors your bravery and determination, and we welcome you as a full warrior of SunClan.” Rosestar turned to Foxpaw, the quietest brother, with a smile, “Foxpaw, do you promise to uphold the warrior code and to protect and defend your Clan, even at the cost of your life?” Foxpaw nervously muttered, “I do.”“Then by the powers of CloudClan, I give you your warrior name. Foxpaw, from this moment you will be known as Foxfeet. CloudClan honors your patience and ability to unite others, and we welcome you as a full warrior of SunClan,” she said, finishing up her speech. “Voleclaw! Badgerstripe! Foxfeet!” cried the Clan. “I’m surprised they could get ‘em up there for that long without breaking into full on battle,” Duskkit whispered slyly to Daykit.

    Rosestar jumped down to the floor again and headed straight over to Lionclaw’s body. Dawnkit saw her saw a couple of hushed words to Redfur and Yellowwhisker, before sitting down beside his body. “Alright kits, time to sleep now,” Flamefur ordered, hearing them into a bush. “I’m sure we’ll be home by tomorrow.” Dawnkit sighed, was their home even going to be there tomorrow?

    Daykit woke up early and squeezed out of the charred honeysuckle nursery before any cat had stirred. It’s leaves had been burnt during the blaze that raged through camp, but it’s roots had survived, and it seemed to have a couple of spots of green poking out from the barren branches. He spotted Birchlight looking over the Clan, fully healed after his injury during the fire. Daykit darted into the dirt-place clearing and checked around to make sure no one was watching him before slipping under the bramble barrier into the forest. Once out of camp he sprinted away, down towards the marshes between SunClan and MoonClan. A smile began to spread on his face as he picked up speed. As he neared the Star Pond, he leapt up into the air, as high as he could and went blasting into the pond, feeling its cool water rush around his short fur. He looked up at the sunny sky and smiled, There’s nowhere I’d rather be, he reflected, floating aimlessly in the water. Daykit sighed, taking in all of the beauty of the forest. I won’t be able to do this for long, he thought. I’ll be an apprentice any day now, with rules and schedules every day. As he remembered his upcoming apprenticeship, he wondered if his outings into the woods in the last moon would help his training. He had learned some basic hunting and fighting alone, but not nearly good enough to use. Daykit shrugged, it didn’t matter much, he doubted having to listen to some old warrior would be fun anyways.

    Just as he was about to get out to go for a run, Daykit heard a rustling in the bushes. “Who’s there?” he asked, his voice trembling. A white she-cat then jumped out of the brambles, “What are you doing in MoonClan territory?” she asked, an edge of aggression to her tone. “I...um- I fell down that hill,” Daykit replied, pointing with his tail to the slope. “And I flew into this pond, I’ll be leaving no if that’s okay.” The white apprentice turned around into his path and began to smell in his direction, “You look small for an apprentice, are you a kit wandering around? You’re a long way from your camp if so.” Daykit looked away, “I’m smart enough to be out here, I don’t need to be Daypaw just to go for a swim.” “So you did come out here on purpose, I knew it,” the cat meowed. Daykit eyes widened as he realized his mistake, and he sighed, “So what are you going to do with me? You wouldn’t hurt a kit?” She shook her head, “I’ll let you get on your way as long as you never mess with my Clan again.” Daykit nodded vigorously, “Thank you- um, what was your name again?” he asked the strange cat. “Whitepaw, I’m sure you’ll here more about me by the time you actually are Daykit,” she responded. Before Daykit could respond, he heard a tom’s voice call from the woods. “Whitepaw? Did you find something? I can shred ‘em if you do-
" "No, it’s nothing I’ll be right there,” Whitepaw called. “That’s my brother, you should get away before he gets here, you don’t want to sit through a conversation with that numbskull.” Daykit nodded his head before sprinting away from the she-cat, MoonClan doesn’t seem as bad as they say it is, he thought. Racing back to camp.

    Daykit loved nothing more than running through the woods, so he made sure to take the longest route he could to get back to camp. Once he arrived he was breathless, and was greeted by Rosestar immediately. “Daykit where have you been?! I’ve been worried sick about you- and why are you all wet?,” she scolded. “Daykit, get to the medicine den right away, I’m sure Nightshine will have something to warm you up, I’ll be in later to have a talk.” Rosestar pushed Daykit towards the upper camp with her tail before padding into the deputy’s cave. Daykit grunted, “She doesn’t even care enough to lead me to the medicine den, she’s too busy to ever bother with me”, he thought.

    He walked into the medicine den to see Nightshine immersed in her work, a large group of herbs laid out in front of her. “Daykit! Whate brings you in here?” she asked, noticing his presence. “And how’d you get so soaked?” Daykit looked down, “I was playing out of camp again,” he confessed. “I don’t need any herbs or anything, though. It’s green-leaf, I won’t freeze.” Nightshine furrowed her brow, “I’d be more careful, Daykit, cats like you, ones with restless spirits, can get into a lot of trouble.” Daykit shrugged, brushing off the medicine cat’s strange comment. “I know how to handle myself, I can’t even tell why I need some warrior to boss me around for my apprenticeship.” “I’m sure you’ll be a wonderful apprentice, Daykit, you just need to learn to take your time some more,” Nightshine consoled. “Now, do you want to help me with these herbs until your mother comes back?” Daykit nodded and sat down by the black she-cat.

   When Rosestar finally got back to the medicine den, she found Nightshine telling an interested Daykit about the uses of chervil. She cleared her voice, interrupting their conversation. Nightshine looked over and responded, “Oh! Hello, Rosestar, I talked about the incident with Daykit, he won’t be doing it again, right Daykit?” Daykit nodded his head, “I’m sorry, Mom, it just gets so boring in camp.” Rosestar looked at him with a glint in her eye. “Well, I’m glad you understand what you did wrong, but I think you’ll probably be out of camp a lot more after today.” Daykit glanced at her, confused before a wave of realization hit him. “Wait, are you sure?” Rosestar nodded, silenty. “Oh, thank you! Thank you! I’m gonna be the best apprentice ever,” he said, running out of the den to tell his siblings.

Dawnkit and Duskkit were scuffling over a feather when Daykit trotted up to them, a grin on his face. Dawnkit saw her brother approach and kicked the toy away, sending Duskkit running after it. “What’s up, Daykit? You left the nursery early today again,” she said. “You wouldn’t believe what Mom just told me. We’re getting our apprentice ceremony today!” he squealed, feeling more excited now that the ceremony was upon them. Duskkit returned with the feather and jumped nex to Dawnkit, “I’m so glad you’re as excited about this as we are, What changed your mind about it?” he asked. Daykit shrugged, “I had a talk with Nightshine about it, and it just seems so much more exciting now that it’s really happening.” Dawnkit, unable to hold her enthusiasm any longer, ran towards the Great Stump, “Let’s go get there right away.” The three kits ran right under the stump and waited in excitement as Rosestar padded out of the medicine den and onto the Greate Stump, poised as ever.


    “All cats old enough to bask in the sun gather her for a Clan meeting,” she called, as Iceheart crawled out of the Great Stump’s underground cavern. “Dawnkit, Duskkit, and Daykit, please step onto the Great Stump.” Daykit froze in hesitation for second, before Dawnkit pushed him forward. “You’re going to be fine,” she whispered. Daykit nodded, I can do this, I’m meant to be the fastest warrior in the forest. “You have all reached the age of six moons and are ready to be apprenticed,” Rosestar continued. “Duskkit, from this day on, until you have received your warrior name, you will be known as Duskpaw. Your mentor will be Stonefrost.” Daykit gasped, Stonefrost has always been cold and harsh to him and his siblings, why was his mother making him Duskkit’s mentor? “Stonefrost, you are ready to take on an apprentice, you have shown yourself to be intelligent and strong in battle. You will be the mentor of Duskpaw, and I expect you to pass on all you know to him,” she said to the surprise Stonefrost. The gray warrior shook off his expression and bent down to touch noses with Duskpaw, who practically crashed his head into Stonefrost’s. Rosestar turned to Dawnkit next, still calm as ever. “Dawnkit, from this day on until you obtain your warrior name, you will be known as Dawnpaw, your mentor will be Skytail.” Daykit sighed, That’s a little more reasonable. “Skytail, you shown to be caring and compassionate, and I know you will pass down all you know to this apprentice.” Dawnpaw lightly tapped Skytail nose before turning to sit next to Duskpaw. “And finally, Daykit. You are ready to become an apprentice, and until you receive your full name, you shall be known as Daypaw, your mentor being Iceheart,” Rosestar said. The Clan deputy? Do I really deserve that? Daykit wondered as Rosestar continued her speech. He wasn’t even aware when Iceheart bent down to touch noses. Daykit swiveled hi head, knocking right into Iceheart. The pale grey warrior looked displeased for a moment, but showed nothing as she ushered him over to his siblings. Great, now my mentor probably hates me, and the whole Clan’s seen me embarrass myself.“Duskpaw! Dawnpaw! Daypaw!” the Clan cried, breaking Daypaw out of his worries.


    As they leaded down from the Great Stump, Dawnpaw squealed in excitement, “We got our apprentice names! Give us just a couple of moons and we’ll be the best warriors in the forest.” Duskpaw puffed out his chest, “I might as well already be one, I can fight you like a fully trained warrior now,” he boasted. Dawnpaw rolled her eyes, “It’s just because you’re bigger, you’ve really got to lay off of the fresh-kill.” Duskpaw scoffed, “It all turns into pure muscle and you know it.” Daykit blocked out his sibling’s bickering as he saw Stonefrost’s clouded gaze staring off into nothingness. Skytail stepped between the two apprentices with a smile, “I can see you’re both very sure about your strengths, but let’s just see how they hold up outside of camp, let’s go take a tour of the territory,” she suggested. Dawnpaw and Duskpaw both nodded in agreement, forgetting their argument. Daypaw padded up to Iceheart, who had an emotionless stare forwards. I’m starting to lose my hope for this apprenticeship.

    Rosestar leaped down from the greate stump and watched her kits walk off with their mentors with concern. I hope Daypaw’s okay with Iceheart, I know he was a little concerned about becoming an apprentice, she worried. Nightshine saw her leader’s furrowed brow and approached her. “Greetings, Rosestar, you look worried, maybe you could use a trip out of camp, you’ve barely seen the sky since the fire,” she said, gesturing to the forest. ‘I’m sure we could find some herbs.” Rosestar shook her head, “I have to stay here and watch over the Clan, Iceheart’s out with Daypaw.” Nightshine sniffed, “They’ll be fine, just out Newtstream in charge.” Rosestar laughed, “Sure, and let him convince the camp I’ve died of a bee sting and he’s an honorary member of StarClan. I’ll let Heavybelly keep watch, it doesn’t seem like you’re giving up on this.” Nightshine smiled. “You know I won’t,” she smirked. Rosestar called for Heavybelly to watchover camp and padded out with her medicine cat.


    Rosestar purred as she got into the forest. “You’re right, I’ve missed this since being a warrior.” Rosestar remembered her days as a carefree warrior of SunClan, before it was cut short by Eaglestar’s decision to make her deputy at only fifteen moons after the greencough epidemic killed Stonefall. It was only days after that when Eaglestar lost his last four lives to a mixture of twoleg poison and disease. Nightshine saw Rosestar’s lips turn up into a smile for the first time in a while. “See, isn’t this better than sitting in camp?” she mewed, bending down to pick up a leaf of borage. Rosestar nodded in agreeance and bunched up her legs at the foot of a large oak. She sprang up onto the lowest branch and ran along the treetops until she had circled Nightshine.”If only I was as good at leading as I was climbing,” she joked. Nightshine rolled her eyes, “You’re a great leader, you’ve just been listening too much to Stonefrost’s crew of downers.” Rosestar sighed, “You know, i thought he would stop this whole thing after a moon or two, but it’s been almost a season and it seems like he’s gotten more upset. Even worse, it seems like he’s dragged Newtstream and Badgerstripe into his group.” Nightshine looked at her leader, shocked. “I wouldn’t think Newtstream had it in him to hang around with them. He always seemed so good-natured. I suppose Leopardflame is in on that too, she always seemed to be close with her brother,” she theorized. “She doesn’t seem to notice it much, actually. I think she’s too busy doting over Voleclaw like a kit that lost its mother,” Rosestar mewed, shaking her head. Nightshine looked back up at her leader, “It’s good that we have all these new new warriors, the Clan seems to be coming back after the sickness. Once Redfurs’ kits are here, we’ll be as large as ever. She’s due any day now, you know.” Nightshine smiled, “You do a good job with your kits, don’t let Stonefrost tell you otherwise.” Rosestar sat down on the tree branch and sighed. “I know there’s always going to be times when I’m not there, but it’s the only way I can handle both,” Rosestar lamented. She jumped down from the tree onto a patch of moss. Nightshine laughed, “Oh, good, you’ve stopped pretending to be a squirrel.” “Yes, I suppose my Clan needs me on the ground, we should head back, I want to make sure my kits are doing well with their mentors,” Rosestar added, padding off towards the camp entrance. Nightshine took her herbs and followed.

Rosestar came into camp just before the hunting patrols returned. Yellowwhisker plopped down a large squirrel onto the pile with pride in her eyes. Quailspring and Juniperfang were both carrying large shrews behind her. “Good job, Yellowwhisker, your patrol brought back lots of prey,” Rosestar complimented. She saw Yellowwhisker’s eyes light up at her praise. “Thanks Rosestar,” she mewed. “But- um, can we talk for a moment,” she murmured more quietly, her expression turning more serious. “Of course, we can go talk in my den,” Rosestar mewed, leading Yellowhisker to her nest beneath the Great Stump’s roots. “Now, what do you need to tell me?” she asked, her voice soft. Yellowwhisker looked away for a bit and turned towards her leader. “I think it’s time for me to retire,” she practically whispered. “Retire?” Rosestar gasped. “You’re much too young, Yellowwhisker.” Yellowhwisker shook her head, “I’ve just been so shaken up by Lionclaw, I think it would be better for everyone if I went and became a permanent queen, I would at least get to see Lionclaw’s kits grow up- be a part of his legacy in a way.” Rosestar softened, “If that’s really what you choose, I won’t stop you, but I want you to remember that you’re always welcome to come back to your warrior duties if you want.” “I doubt I’ll go back on this, but if I do I’ll make sure to tell you,” Yellowwhisker meowed. “Thank you for understanding, Rosestar.” Rosestar nodded her head, hiding her displeasure that she was losing another senior warrior. She let Yellowwhisker leave before regaining her poise to meet with the dawn patrol. Hawkflight led Antseed and Birchlight into the clearing. “No intruders, Rosestar, but we found a ton of scent marks out near the Star Pond, MoonClan might be planning something,” Hawkflight reported. “Thank you, Hawkflight, your patrol can rest now,” she said, dismissing him with her tail. Hopefully they don’t try anything, I don’t want Turtlestar to start disliking me, I have enough problems in my own Clan.

   
    Rosestar jumped up onto the Great Stump, sighing with fatigue already. Just as the sun started to come down, her kits walked into camp with their mentors. Daypaw wore a scowl of discontent on his face, and Duskpaw looked injured. Stonefrost seemed to be looking at his apprentice in a new light of respect, but it was hard to tell. Skytail murmured something to Dawnpaw, and the cream she-cat nodded and rushed off into the apprentice’s den. Rosestar frowned at the sight of the patrol and approached Iceheart. “What happened?” she asked with concern. Skytail looked straight at Duskpaw. “A lot, maybe they’ll tell you themselves after Duskpaw and Daypaw head off to the medicine den to get their wounds treated,” the warrior answered. Rosestar sighed, exasperated. I’m too young for any of this, I wish Eaglestar had never chosen me for his successor.

    Dawnpaw looked around at the forest in wonder as her and her brothers walked out of camp for the first time. It’s amazing! I don’t know how warriors come back to camp everyday from this. She bent down to sniff at a clump of wildflowers and smiled. “Everything out here is so wonderful,” she mewed. Skytail nodded in agreeance. “And this is just the start of the territory, we have lots more to see, let’s head off to the Sun Tree, then we can head off to the Gold Stream, huh?” she suggested. Daypaw grunted, “The Gold Stream is closer, we should just go there first.” Skytail looked back at the apprentice in surprise, “You’re very right, Daypaw, but we’re going to head down the Gold Stream to the Gathering Pit after the Sun Tree, and I don’t want to go past it twice.” “I guess those late night runs paid off,” Duskpaw commented. As the patrol headed cheerily to the Sun Tree’s clearing the apprentices grouped up behind their mentors. “I hope they let us climb the Sun Tree, I bet I can scale it faster than either than you,” she bragged. Duskpaw shook his head, “You don’t have my strong legs, I doubt you’d be able to get to the first branch.” “I don’t need tons of strength, I don’t have to work to pull up all the extra weight you do.” Dawnpaw said in defense. “Dawnpaw’s right, she’s agile enough to climb that thing, it’s pretty easy to climb once you get on it,” Daypaw chimed in. Dawnpaw smiled smugly as they reached the Sun Tree.

    
    Iceheart stepped in front of the apprentices, “You won’t be doing much climbing today, I”m afraid. We’ll be back here later when we have time to really train.” The apprentices sighed in unison. “I was looking forward to that,” Dawnpaw said. Duskpaw shrugged, “At least we don’t miss any battle training.” Iceheart silence their murmurs with a flick of her tail. “Here is the Sun Tree, the oldest living tree in SunClan territory.” Dawnpaw looked up for the first time at the tree. Sunshine filtered through the branches and dappled the forest floor with light. Daypaw looked up with a knowing pride. I remember the time I got to the halfway point here, and then I got too scared to come down and almost had to call for warriors to come get me. Duskpaw stared at the giant trunk and wondered how old the tree must be. I’m sure it’s been here longer than SunClan itself! ”Okay, now we can head to the Gold stream,” Iceheart said, breaking the young cats out of their thoughts. The patrol trekked through the woods on a southern path where they came to the Gold Stream.


    Dawnpaw gasped, “It’s so pretty, look at how the rocks shine!” She jumped right into the stream and started to splash around. Stonefrost looked at Skytail in distaste. “You’re just going to let your apprentice splash around like a kit?” Skytail scowled, “I’ll stop my apprentice if they’re doing something wrong.” She then pointedly waded into the water with Dawnpaw and flicked around the pebbles under her feet. “This is a good way to learn to get used to water,” Skytail started, causing Dawnpaw to stop splashing. “They have an advantage in water combat over us right now, but we can change that if we learn to deal with the rivers on our territory better.” Stonefrost tossed his head, “I doubt it matters much if we swim like frogs or not in battle, it’s simple moves that put opponents at your mercy quickly and easily that we should be teaching our apprentices.” Skytail growled, “We don’t need to fight the same way every time, Stonefrost.” As Stonefrost was about to come up with a rebuttal, Duskpaw jumped into the water, sending golden pebbles and water flying everywhere. Daypaw followed more daintily with a small drop into the steam. Skytail sighed, “Let’s get going before we splash the whole river away.”


    The apprentices got out of the river and followed their mentors downstream. Stonefrost lagged back with Duskpaw for a second and whispered into the tom’s ear, “Don’t listen to that she-cat, come talk to me later if you want to know about what this Clan really needs.” Duskpaw nodded, a little confused. I’m sure he’ll tell me later. Daypaw looked up at Iceheart in wonder, She’d been so quiet today, the silver she-cat hadn’t even reacted to Skytail and Stonefrosts’ arguments. Daypaw questioned Iceheart’s feelings of the rebellious cats for a second. She’s so quiet about most things, but she seems loyal to my mother, he resolved.


    Daypaw was broken out of his thoughts when Dawnpaw called from the front of the group, “I can see the gathering island!” Duskpaw immediately rushed from the back of the group, and Daypaw followed, easily overtaking his brother. Daypaw leaped across the shallower part of the stream and splashed the water leading up to the flowing stones. Dawnpaw and Duskpaw followed close behind him and stopped just below the small trickle of water that came down the group of rocks. Skytail was the first to get down to the gathering island, followed by the other mentors. “This is the gathering falls, as you can see it’s surrounded by the Sparrow’s Flight River that Sunstar and Moonstar floated down to get to our Clan. This small waterfall is an offshoot of the one they fell down to found our Clans,” she explained. Duskpaw looked up in wonder at the wet stones. “Someday, I’ll be up there, and I’ll make sure that all the cats in both Clans look up to me for support” he said with a starry eyed gaze. Dawnpaw playfully head butted him, “And when you do you’d better make me you’re deputy,” she joked. Duskpaw nodded, “Of course.” Daypaw felt a jab of pain that the two cats hadn’t included him, but he knew that Duskpaw and Dawnpaw had always been closer to each other. Daypaw smiled through his thoughts, It’s really only my fault, maybe if I didn’t run off to the woods so much… “Let’s go by the rest of the Sparrow’s Flight River and maybe get a glimpse of the Star Pond before we head on back to camp,” Skytail said, interrupting Daypaw’s slight fit of silent anger. Stonefrost huffed in anger. “Always bossing everyone else about, aren’t you,” he muttered under his breath. “Says the cat bossing young warriors into joining a gang of traitors” she snarled. “You have no proof of that accusation and I insist you find evidence to your claims before getting into battles over nothing” Stonefrost snapped back. Skytail turned away and gestured for Dawnpaw to follow her further away from where Duskpaw, Daypaw, and their mentors where. Stonefrost spat with fury, but said nothing to any of the other cats.


    Daypaw sped up his pace before reaching the border patch near the Star Pond. He stared in wonder at how the water glimmered like the night sky even at day. I wish I could go swimming around there again, the water was so cool and calming, especially on a hot day like this. Skytail went back into talking about the territory, ignoring Stonefrost’s glares. “This here is the Star Pond, a small pool of water on MoonClan’s territory. I don’t know too much about it, but I’ve seen them swim around for fun there, and it can be very pretty at night, when the stars are reflected in its water. Duskpaw looked around at the border, “So you say MoonClan uses this place? What if we want to cool off here?” he asked. “We have the Gold Stream, and the Sparrow’s Flight is neutral territory, although you want to be careful around the fast flowing points,” she responded. Duskpaw nodded with understanding, but stopped when he heard rustling in the bushes. He turned his head to see a group of cats padding up the border. Daypaw waved his tail as he recognised Whitepaw, but she turned her head.She must not want anyone to know we know each other, and she is right. Cats will get suspicious that she let me go earlier today. Duskpaw tensed up at the sight of MoonClan cats, but Dawnpaw placed her tail on his shoulder in reassurance. Skytail waved her tail in greeting, “Hello, Beefur, how’s the prey running?” she mewed. Beefur shook off her greeting with a scowl. “I wouldn’t know, it seems you’re Clan has been taking all of it.” Stonefrost stepped forward, fury in his eyes, “And what just are you accusing us of?” Beefur stepped closer to the border, making eye contact with Stonefrost. “We smelled SunClan scent right here, earlier today, and we can only assume you were here to steal prey because you’re leader’s too young to know how to organize patrols.” Iceheart leaped forward, across the border, onto Beefur. “You can take back what you said about Rosestar or I’ll make you” she yowled, biting into the scruff of his neck. Daypaw watched in horror as Blazepaw moved in to defend his mentor. Duskpaw jumped over the border and struck the ginger tom. Whitepaw flashed between the two toms and slashed at Duskpaw’s face. Duskpaw raised up his large white paw and slashed it across Whitepaw’s cheek. Whitepaw stepped back as blood welled from her wound. Before he even comprehended his actions, Daypaw jumped across the scent marker and tackled his brother to the ground. Duskpaw looked up in confusion and anger and shoved Daypaw to the side. Daypaw rose to his paws and heard Skytail’s voice ring out, “Come back here, all of you!” Daypaw saw Iceheart spit on the ground and leave Beefur. Stonefrost approached his apprentice and nudged his upwards, his gaze reassuring for once. Daypaw limped across the border, feeling a pang of shame. Why did I attack my own kin like that? Over some cat I barely know? I suppose I repaid her favor, though. Daypaw looked back over the border to see Whitepaw’s eyes had softened with gratefulness. Daypaw felt accomplishment despite his shame for attacking Duskpaw.


    The journey back to the camp was dead silent, and half of the patrol limped from their wounds. When they walked through the camp entrance, Daypaw could immediately tell Rosestar was upset. She jumped down from the Great Stump and Daypaw avoided eye contact. Skytail sent Dawnpaw to the apprentice’s den before ushering him and his brother to Nightshine’s den. Daypaw padded to the dogwood with no struggle, and didn’t look at his brother as they headed up the camp slope to get to the medicine den. Nightshine looked up from her herbs with concern as the apprentices entered. “Did you two get into a border squabble? Who caused these wounds?” Duskpaw lashed his tail out, finally breaking his silence, “My traitorous brother!” He turned around to face Daypaw. “Why would you do that to me? We’re kin, we’re supposed to stick together” “Well it sure doesn’t seem like that sometimes!” Daypaw yelled. Nightshine moved in between the two toms, breaking up their argument. “Daypaw, you’re wounds aren’t too serious, why don’t you go talk to your mother while I patch up Duskpaw, then maybe we’ll talk. Daypaw nodded and turned away from the den before he had to see the disappointment in his brother’s eyes again. Now I have to explain this to mom? Great.

Coming Soon