Dovepaw breathed in a deep breath. The scent of water was obvious on the stream separating ShadowClan and ThunderClan; the stream that would have still been blocked by those…beavers if it hadn't been for her.
A sniff of mouse reminded her she was on her very first assessment. She carefully stalked it, pawstep by pawstep, until – CRACK! The noise startled the mouse and it fled. Dovepaw looked around for the twig she must have stepped on, except – there wasn't a twig in sight. A shadow flashed behind her and her heart filled with terror.
Until she turned around and saw Tigerheart, her friend from the journey.
"What are you doing here? You know you're not allowed on ThunderClan land!" Dovepaw hissed.
"I—I wanted to see you. I think I'm in love with you. Your gray fur, your bright green eyes…" he mewed.
"EXCUSE ME?!" Dovepaw screeched.
"Um, I love you." Tigerheart repeated. "Want to run away with me?"
"NOW WHY WOULD I DO THAT? I AM AN APPRENTICE, I HAVE THE MOST AMAZING MENTOR, AND I HAVE A PROPHECY HANGING OVER MY HEAD FOR STARCLAN'S SAKE! NOT TO MENTION, OUR CLAN JUST FOUND OUT OUR MEDICINE CAT HAD KITS WITH A WINDCLAN WARRIOR. SO NO, I DON'T WANT TO BETRAY MY CLAN FOR A CAT WHO CLAIMS HE IS IN LOVE WITH ME!" Dovepaw yelled, loud enough that RiverClan far across the lake heard her.
This brought patrols from ShadowClan and ThunderClan, even WindClan running. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING, TIGERHEART?" Russetfur yelled.
"Telling the cat I love that I love her," he replied, a moony expression on his face. Obviously, Dovepaw's words had absolutely no effect on him.
"Blackstar, get your cats under control," Brambleclaw hissed.
The ThunderClan group then proceeded to escort the fuming Dovepaw away by surrounding her and walking off. Once they had gone, Toadfoot slashed Tigerheart across the face lightly.
"Mousedung, he really is in love!" he screeched. "LET"S DUMP HIM IN THE LAKE AND CUT OFF HIS FUR!" he cried.
"Yeah!" Russetfur called.
The ShadowClan group shepherded off in the direction of the lake.
Onestar looked around his group of cats and said, "So, whose territory are we gonna take first?"