Sunpaw saw it - the mouse was only a few tail-lengths away. She crouched and put each paw forward, one at a time.
"Steady now," meowed Stormfoot, watching in anticipation.
"Hi, Sunpaw!" some cat called. The mouse scampered away. Sunpaw groaned and picked up her ears, turning around to see Bluepaw.
"I was trying to hunt," Sunpaw sighed. "I've only caught a vole."
"Sorry - anyways, I just saw the other apprentices training over there."
"Come on, you two," mewed Muddypelt, padding up behind Bluepaw. "It should be mealtime by now." Stormfoot nodded and the four of them walked back.
Back at camp, Sunpaw dropped off her vole and chose a robin to eat. Then she padded to the apprentices' den.
"Where's Moonpaw?" asked Forestpaw. "I haven't seen her all morning."
"Moonpaw? Moonpaw?" Fogpaw yowled, peering into their den. And there she was, a silver mass of fur huddled in her nest. She rolled over and raised her head, blinking her arctic-blue eyes.
"Moonpaw, it's past sunhigh! Have you even trained yet today?" Bluepaw asked.
Moonpaw blinked again, almost seeming confused. "Oh," she replied quietly. She pulled herself to her paws. "Must've overslept."
"'Overslept' is quite a bit of an understatement," remarked Redpaw, who had just walked in.
"She won't get to be a warrior at this rate," whispered Tinypaw to Beepaw.
"Anyone up to patrolling?" asked a voice behind them. The ThunderClan deputy, Stormshadow, a large black tom with brown eyes, stood behind the group of apprentices.
"I will," Forestpaw offered. Stormshadow nodded and walked away with her.
"Of course she'll be a warrior," Sunpaw assured them as soon as Stormshadow and Forestpaw walked away. "Don't be ridiculous."
"I think I might want to be a medicine cat," Bluepaw remarked.
"A medicine cat? Why?" asked Fogpaw.
Bluepaw shrugged. "I know I'm a good hunter and all, but it would be cool to know everything Emberfur knows. Heck, maybe I'll talk to her for mentoring."
Redpaw licked his paw and drew it over his ear. "You could now," He said, pointing with his tail where Emberfur was entering the camp through the gorse tunnel with a mouthful of herbs. Bluepaw muttered thanks, although there was something in his eyes she couldn't make out.
"Why not?" Bluepaw asked herself, and she ran to the den where the tortoiseshell she-cat had slipped through the entrance. Entering, Bluepaw watched as Emberfur put the herbs in a large leaf, wrapping them. Emberfur looked up.
"Can I help you?"
"Well, maybe," Bluepaw murmured, suddenly feeling shy. "I wanted to know if you would be willing to take on an apprentice."
"An apprentice?" Emberfur let out a meow of laughter. "But you have barely started your warrior training, and you're supposed to start medicine training when you become an apprentice!" Bluepaw walked closer to Emberfur.
"I know," Bluepaw mewed, "but StarClan requires no one to harm a medicine cat without good reason, so I would only need to learn hunting and the territory borders."
"I'll consider it, Bluepaw," Emberfur assured her. Her eyes glittered as a sudden breeze shifted the brambles at the front of the den, allowing light to shine in. "Here, put this bunch of poppy seeds in the leaf and put them on one of the shelves. Then take two of them to Littlerose; she hasn't been sleeping well." Bluepaw carefully left out two poppy seeds for the queen, and wrapped the rest. She then picked up the bundle in her jaws, and leaped lightly up to one of the storage shelves, where she scented another wrap, she placed it down, and jumped back down.
"Hey Emberfur, what is in that other wrap?" she asked.
"Oh! Those are borage leaves. They help bring down fevers, and also help queens produce more milk. Speaking of which, take one to Littlerose as well as the poppy seeds, and tell her to eat the borage, then the poppy seeds," Emberfur instructed her carefully.
"Yes Emberfur, I'll be right back to tell you if she says anything." Bluepaw said, and Emberfur nodded.
Bluepaw picked up all the herbs and walked out of the den towards the nursery, where she found the tortoiseshell queen in a dark corner suckling four tiny kits in a mossy nest. She looked up as Bluepaw walked in.
"From Emberfur," Bluepaw mewed, her voice muffled from the mouthful of herbs, and set them by Littlerose. The queen simply nodded and Bluepaw padded out of the nursery. Walking back to the medicine cat den, she remembered something. Entering through the brambles, she called out, "Can I ask you something?"
"Certainly," Emberfur replied.
"It's my sister," she meowed quietly. "Moonpaw. She's always tired now. She's really behind on training too. There's something wrong, isn't there?"
Emberfur paused. "I am not quite sure. I would have to see her." She stood on of the rocks, putting another leaf wrap on one of the shelves. "You know what happened to your brother, Sparrowkit, correct?"
"Not exactly," Bluepaw murmured, shifting her weight on her blue-grey paws. "Vinestripe just told us he wasn't strong enough."
"Indeed," mewed Emberfur, nodding. "But he also had a certain condition. His lungs were so weak and small he was not taking in enough air." She sighed. "It's a shame. Now go with the other apprentices, I have work to do."
"Okay, thank you!" Bluepaw turned and ran out of the den toward the fresh-kill pile, where the other apprentices were. She felt a little better knowing it, even though it was sad news.
"Well?" Sunpaw asked brightly, "How'd it go?"
"She said she would consider it," Bluepaw mewed.
"You'll be the next medicine cat, Bluepaw," Fogpaw grinned.
"Definitely," Moonpaw agreed.
* * *
"Sunpaw. Sunpaw, get up."
"Yeah?" Sunpaw lifted her head wearily. It was Stormshadow again. The sun was just beginning to rise on the horizon.
"I'm going to need you to do the dawn patrol," he said. "I've already picked some of the warriors to go with you."
"Sure thing." Sunpaw bounced up. She stretched and padded to the middle of the clearing and joined two other warriors, Weaselnose and Sandfur. They slipped through the gorse tunnel and and into the dense forest. When they reached the river, they passed the dusk patrol, which included Oakleaf, Lavenderpelt, and an apprentice named Falconpaw, who headed toward camp.
"How long do we patrol?" Sunpaw meowed.
"Around sunhigh. We have to follow the borders, remove scent marks, all those things. Then we can head back," Weaselnose replied. "Feel free to hunt along the way, as long as you stay near us - and don't forget to renew the scent borders. It's very important."
"Of course," agreed Sunpaw, rubbing against a tree where the ThunderClan scent had begun to fade.
Sunpaw caught three robins and a mouse. She buried them near Twolegplace, intending to take them back later. The Twoleg nests were enormous, oddly shaped structures and it made her wonder what sort of creatures would want to live there. Sunpaw sniffed the air and smelled something strange... the smell of cat.
"Sandfur?"
"Yes?
"Are there cats that live in Twolegplace?"
Sandfur scoffed. "Yes," he said, "if you could call them cats. Kittypets have no honor, and no warrior code. They even live with Twolegs, and eat their nasty food. Avoid them if you can." He rubbed her paws over the ground at the edge of the forest, while Weaselnose rubbed against the trees, so the border scent was very strong. Then the patrol headed towards the Thunderpath. Sunpaw had never seen a kittypet, or even heard of one. She wondered how any cat could live without some sort of code to live by. Finally sunhigh arrived, and they walked back to camp carrying fresh-kill for the Clan so they could eat.
Sunpaw noticed that the prey she and the others had caught were not as fat as usual. Surely, she thought as she carried a thrush to her den, leaf-bare could not be coming yet...
"Sunpaw! Sunpaw, guess what!" A grinning Bluepaw and Fogpaw ran over.
"What?" Sunpaw said.
"Emberfur said I could be her apprentice!" Bluepaw meowed happily.
"That's great!" Sunpaw exclaimed.