Two apprentices from different Clans, with different pasts, and different personalities! After all: Silver is very different from Gold! Though they may not to admit it, Goldpaw and Silverpaw are drawn to each other with a sisterly bond: always there when the other needs help. Little do they know that there friendship will get them through life's hardships: through joy, hope, grief, and fear. But then again; every cat has something in common: all they have to do is look inside their hearts.

YAY! Here it is: One of my stories-from-the-heart! I really hope you enjoy this as much as I enjoyed working on it! XP No ALLEGINCEs for once; kay? XP again.

R&R. Actually, just do the first 'R', which I highly assume is, 'read'. If you like, review. XP

pEaRLa

Eye of Silver: Heart of Gold

"Rosepetal!" a young voice cried. "Rosepetal! Can we go on dawn patrol?"

It was mid-morning; the sky was cloudless and sapphire blue and there was the smell of New-leaf in the air. The elders were drowsily lying in patches of sunlight that somehow managed to find there way through the thick clumps of trees overhead, and most warriors were either off hunting or sharing tongues.

It was a fine day: Crystalheart had just had a litter of kits that very morning, and Snowpaw's warrior ceremony was to be held that afternoon.

The patrol was late. All seemed to have gone peacefully, so Flamestar did not seem worried. Surprisingly, they were getting no attacks, not even from the prickly ShadowClan.

Rosepetal, a pretty young she-cat, looked up. Her bright leaf-green eyes lit up when she recognized the voice of her new apprentice, Silverpaw. "What?" she purred as her apprentice scampered over, gray pelt bristling with excitement.

"Can we go on dawn patrol?" repeated Silverpaw, tail waving happily. "Blacksky and Lionpaw are going! And Joyheart is, too! I want to go!"

Rosepetal twitched her whiskers, trying not to laugh at the new apprentice's over-enthusiasm. She was pretty sure that soon Silverpaw would be sick of going on dawn patrol!

It was so good to finally get a taste of mentoring; she had never thought that she would mentor Clan leader's kit! Silverpaw had been the only kit to survive in Flamestar's second litter: Greencough had claimed the lives of her two brothers. Her third brother, Wheatkit, had mysteriously vanished one night, and was found dead.

"Dawn patrol?" she echoed, faking puzzlement. "No, I don't think so. I think you should go check the elder's pelts for ticks. You know that is what all apprentices do."

Watching her apprentice's face fall in horror, Rosepetal had to stifle a mrrw of laughter.

"Yes, Silverpaw, of course we'll go! It will be your first duty as an apprentice. Just wait a moment while I check with Flamestar: she may not like you patrolling on your second day."

Silverpaw watched her mentor pad off, and sank her claws into the soft earth. Her mother was so…overprotective! Just because her brothers were dead; it didn't mean that she was going to end up like them!

Guilt swept over her as she remembered her littermates…and her closest brother, Wheatkit. Her heart fell as she remembered her brother's bravery and kindness. She would never see his face again, never speak to him, or hear his soft mew…

There were no signs of a struggle where he had disappeared. He was found dead with a bite on his neck: no scratched fur, no awful wounds, no churned earth to mark his final battle. He was finished off swiftly; and that was one of the only things that gave Silverpaw comfort about his passing.

The same thing had happened to Rabbitpaw; an apprentice. He had also been Silverpaw's friend: he used to visit her, and had been her den-mate as a kit. Three days before his warrior ceremony, he had vanished as well. He was never found, but this was after Wheatkit's death, so no cat thought he could have lived. He was proclaimed dead by Flamestar herself. But that had been several moons ago, and most cats had forgotten about those specific incidents.

Silverpaw's thoughts were interrupted as her mentor bounded up to her, Joyheart and Blacksky behind her, along with Blacksky's apprentice: Lionpaw.

"Come on, Silverpaw," nodded her mentor. "Flamestar said it was fine as long as you stuck with me. We'd better get going before she claws our tails off!"

&&&

"What do you smell, Silverpaw?"

This question caught Silverpaw by surprise: she had not expected a quiz. She thought patrolling was basically just checking for some signs of an intrusion.

They were padding near the ShadowClan border; but Joyheart had suggested that they hunt as well. No cat had objected; so they were all on the lookout for prey.

Silverpaw closed her eyes, thinking long and hard as she lifted her nose into the air, breathing deeply the scent around her.

"ShadowClan," she said at last, wrinkling her nose. "Well, we are right next to their border, and it does smell yucky," she felt her ear-tips grow hot as Rosepetal laughed.

"And…erm…mouse!" she finished at last as she caught the scent of prey. Rosepetal looked even more amused. "Silverpaw, that's vole."

"Oh." The gray she-cat's face showed her disappointment, but she was not willing to give up. "Let's catch it, shall we? Flowertail said she fancied a vole, and seeing as she's an elder; I'd better get it for her!"

Before Rosepetal could reply, she had dropped into a clumsy hunter's crouch and sprang after a small, brown-furred creature, dashing behind a juniper bush. She didn't hear Rosepetal's yowl of warning, or the scent change in the air. She was just focused on trying to catch that vole!

Unknowingly, she had crossed the ShadowClan border.