Duckpaw fought to keep his paws from breaking into a nervous run. Shellclaw hadn't said anything, but his silence was telling. Pigeonpaw and Silverpaw trotted behind their mentors as well, looking equally keyed up, the three apprentices glancing at each other with a mixture of excitement and anxiety. Were this a normal outing, one mentor would be plenty to handle three mature apprentices. It could only be their final assessment.

Duckpaw knew BrightClan territory like the back of his paw. Any other day, he'd have been cheerfully rattling off which would be the best hunting places at sunrise on a newleaf day like today, until Shellclaw told him to shut up or he'd scare the prey. It's not my fault I think out loud, Duckpaw thought, pouting to himself. But that didn't matter now that everything had gone out of his head. He was no good at hunting under pressure. Actually, he was no good at hunting in general, except for snatching fish out of the stream, or the pond near camp. Among the trees, he scared away prey more often than not. It was no wonder he was still an apprentice, while his sisters had been warriors for nearly a moon. He hoped Shellclaw would let him fish for his assessment.

He peered at the other apprentices out of the corner of his eye. Silverpaw noticed and gave him an equally nervous look. Pigeonpaw, however, was staring at the stream as if he could see StarClan.

Suddenly, Shellclaw signaled with his gray-striped tail that it was time to stop. The three warriors turned around to face their apprentices. Brackentail, Silverpaw's mentor, twitched her whiskers with amusement. The heavy brown she-cat sat down on the grass. "As you've obviously guessed, we believe that the three of you have learned enough to take your final assessment."

"And we think you'll all make fine warriors," said Pigeonpaw's mentor, Snowbelly, "so you can stop gaping at us like carp."

Duckpaw turned away to lick his cream-colored flank self-consciously.

Shellclaw purred. "Let's get on with this before you all snap from the tension. Don't worry, we won't ask you to do anything you haven't done before. Pigeonpaw?"

"Huh?" The gray tabby apprentice tore his gaze away from the water for a second.

"Pigeonpaw, focus," Shellclaw scolded. "You want to be a warrior, don't you?"

"Yes," said Pigeonpaw, but before Shellclaw could say anything else, he was staring back at the stream. Duckpaw gave him an odd look, but it went unnoticed.

"To start off," said Brackentail, "we'd like you each to—Pigeonpaw!"

Without warning, the young tom had sprung forward and was galloping toward the riverbank. Duckpaw opened his mouth to shout at him—he wanted to get his assessment over with!—but hesitated. Pigeonpaw was usually the most collected of all of them. What had he seen?

The three warriors lunged after him, just as Pigeonpaw took a flying leap off the bank. He hit the water with a well-practiced dive and began swimming upstream, his narrow body cutting through the gentle current.

Duckpaw scrambled to the riverbank, scanning the river for anything out of place. Nothing caught his eye. But the water was dark, and the slick rocks that were scattered throughout it made it difficult to pick anything out. He felt Silverpaw's presence behind him, also searching.

Snowbelly leaped into the water after Pigeonpaw. But although the warrior could have easily overtaken him, he kept back, flanking his apprentice as if to protect him. Either Snowbelly had seen what he was after, or he trusted his judgement as much as Duckpaw did.

"Oh, StarClan," Brackentail whispered.

"What? What is it?" Duckpaw demanded, forgetting his rank for a moment.

"It's a kit!" Brackentail ran along the bank, looking ready to jump in herself. "It's a kit! Pigeonpaw's got him! Pigeonpaw! Over here!"

Pigeonpaw fixed his teeth in the kit's scruff and held its head above the water. His ear flicked towards Brackentail's call. Paddling laboriously with the extra weight, he swam towards her, with Snowbelly ready to guide him if he faltered.

Brackentail grabbed the kit as soon as he was close enough, while Snowbelly helped Pigeonpaw climb onto the bank. The young tom was shaken and panting heavily. Snowbelly brushed his tail along his apprentice's side as he went to examine the kit.

Brackentail licked the tiny kit frantically. It was a black tom, only two moons old at most. Shellclaw shoved his nose into the kit's fur. "BlazeClan. He's alive."

"He's alive?" Pigeonpaw lifted his head.

Snowbelly nodded. "Good job."

A weak purr came from Pigeonpaw. Duckpaw and Silverpaw came up on either side of him, pressing against his soaked fur and purring with pride.

"That was awesome," whispered Duckpaw. "How'd you see him from so far away?"

"I thought he was a clump of leaves at first," Pigeonpaw admitted. "He's so tiny."

"You reacted so quickly," said Silverpaw, with unabashed admiration.

"Of course," Pigeonpaw replied. "It's part of the code." He let out a small purr. "Anyway, I bet his mother is dying of worry right now. We'd better find her."

"You're right," said Snowbelly. "We'll have to take him back to camp to be looked over, but Patchstar will want to send a patrol to BlazeClan to ask if they're missing a kit."

Duckpaw spotted something on the horizon. "Or," he meowed, "maybe they'll come to us."

He nodded to the pale tabby queen that was loping down the other side of the stream. Her eyes were on the water, and she didn't appear to have noticed them yet.

Shellclaw padded to the very edge of the bank. "Hoy! BlazeClan!" he yowled. "Are you missing a kit?"

The queen froze for an instant, before sprinting forward with renewed energy. "Yes! Do you have him? Is he okay?"

Shellclaw glanced back. The kit was shivering and hacking up water. "Well, he's alive."

The kit blinked up at Brackentail. "Hey," he mewed weakly, "you're not my mother."

Brackentail purred. "Your mother is coming for you right now. Don't worry."

"But who're you?"

"I'm Brackentail. You're in BrightClan."

"BrightClan?" A warbled growl came from the little tom's throat. "Did you steal me? I'll claw your fur off!"

"He's fine," Shellclaw called to the kit's mother.

Snowbelly squinted at the cat on the other side of the stream. "Rosefeather? Hey, aren't you—"

"MY KIT! MY KIT!"

All eyes turned to the fluffy black tom barreling towards his mate. His eyes were wild and his stocky legs were moving twice as fast as Rosefeather's had, and yet he was still far behind her. He skidded to a stop and almost fell over when he saw the BrightClan cats across the river. "YOU!" he roared with all the air he had left. "YOU...YOU STOLE MY KIT!"

"Dear, I think they saved him," Rosefeather said calmly.

"What?" He gawked at her, chest heaving.

"Look, those two are soaking wet," she said, nodding towards Pigeonpaw and Snowbelly. "I think they jumped in to save Seedkit."

"What?" The black cat stared at Pigeonpaw, who squirmed uncomfortably.

"Your son is fine," Shellclaw called. "And BrightClan has its own kits, thank you very much."

Seedkit looked proud. "That's my dad!" he squeaked.

Brackentail twitched her whiskers.

"I love my dad," the kit went on. "My dad's name is Beetlestar, 'cause he's the leader of the whoooole Clan. That means everyone else has to do what he says."

"He sure is," said Brackentail. She looked at the two BlazeClan cats, who were edging towards the water uncertainly. "Would you like help swimming across?"

"Yes, thank you," said Rosefeather, but her mate tensed up.

Shellclaw waved his tail at Duckpaw, who understood. Catching Rosefeather's eye, Duckpaw padded over to the river and hopped in. He had nearly reached the other side when Beetlestar flung himself into the water and began to scrabble desperately.

Duckpaw paused, treading water. He looked to Rosefeather in confusion.

"Please help him," she said.

Duckpaw paddled around to Beetlestar's flank and nudged him forward. The hefty tom tried to shove him away at first, but eventually accepted the help and allowed him to guide him to the bank.

Snowbelly gripped Beetlestar's scruff and hauled him ashore while Duckpaw returned to help Rosefeather. She was much more compliant—not to mention a better swimmer. Duckpaw suppressed a purr at the image of the distinguised BlazeClan leader flapping at the water in a stubborn frenzy.

"Hi, Dad!" Seedkit chirped.

"You," growled Beetlestar, "are in a lot of trouble."

The tiny kit shrank even smaller.

"Every queen in the Clan has told you not to go to the river alone."

"But I was thirsty!"

"Then you ask someone to go with you."

Seedkit slouched. "Yeah...I know."

"We can deal with this later," said Rosefeather. She looked at the BrightClan cats with deep gratitude. "Thank you. StarClan must have sent you here to save our kit."

"It was Pigeonpaw who spotted him," Snowbelly said. "He has a keen eye."

Pigeonpaw squirmed even more at his mentor's praise.

"Pigeonpaw," said Beetlestar, "you will make a fine warrior. BlazeClan is in debt to you."

"Warrior!" Pigeonpaw blurted out. Then he hunched his shoulders in embarrassment. "I-I mean, I was supposed to have my assessment today. I'll get to it!" He hopped up and showed a determined face to his mentor.

Snowbelly purred. "I don't think that'll be necessary."

"What?" Pigeonpaw froze.

"While the rest of us were focused on a test, you were behaving like a real warrior," Snowbelly said. "Come on, let's give our report to Patchstar." He wrapped his tail around Pigeonpaw's shoulders and led him back the way they came, towards camp. There was a noticeable spring in Pigeonpaw's step.

"I'll escort you to the border," said Brackentail to the BlazeClan cats. "Our patrol will want to know what you're doing here. Besides, I think Seedkit likes me."

"Do not, you filthy kit-stealer!" Seedkit raised his spiky, drenched hackles.

"Seedkit! Manners!" Beetlestar scolded.

"You said I didn't have to be polite to cats from another Clan!"

"I never said anything like that!"

"You did too!"

"Did not!"

"Did too!"

"Did not!"

Rosefeather leaned closer to Duckpaw and whispered, "He really is a good leader, I swear." Duckpaw stifled a purr and watched the four cats leave, beginning the long trek upstream.

Silverpaw and Duckpaw looked at each other, suddenly breathless. Silverpaw's eyes were alight. "Wasn't Pigeonpaw amazing?"

"Yeah," Duckpaw agreed, and mewed more quietly, "Wasn't Beetlestar a mouse-brain?"

They both purred under their breath. "Pigeon's going to be a warrior," said Silverpaw. "Wow."

Shellclaw twitched his tail. "Yes, he's going to be a warrior. But neither of you will be, if we don't get on with your assessments. Come on, you two. Let's go."